why did all my fry die?

mad cam

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had about 30 new fry from 2 different mother, had them isolated in a breeding net in the tank, but after a few weeks none of them seemed to get any bigger,

then within a week they all died, now i only have two left.

any tips, hints. please
 
30 in a breeder net is too crowded for them to grow well, in my experience, so I usually keep 10-15 per net and I've had better success. Also, how many times a day did you feed them, and what? How often did you do water changes, and what are your current water params? :)
 
mad cam said:
had about 30 new fry from 2 different mother, had them isolated in a breeding net in the tank, but after a few weeks none of them seemed to get any bigger,

then within a week they all died, now i only have two left.

any tips, hints. please
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Can you give us as much info on your current and past situation as posible please?
How often and what did you feed them?
How often did you clean out the net and how did you go about it?
How long has the tank itself been setup up and do you have any recent test results for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and how do you go about cleaning the tank out and how often(as much detail as posible please :) )?
 
FED THE FRY 3 TIMES A DAY ON DRIED FRY FOOD.

WATER IS TESTED OFTEN AND APPEARS TO BE OKAY.

TO CLEAN NET, I TRANSFERED THE FRY TO A SECOND NET, THEN CLEANED THE FIRST NET BUT IT WASNT TOO DIRTY, THEN LATER THEY ALL DIED.

ALSO I WORK OFFSHORE AND I DONT THINK MY WIFE IS A KEEN AS ME, WHEN IT COMES TO CARING FOR THE FISH!

HAVE RECENTLY BOUGHT A GLASS CUBE TANK, ABOUT 5INCHES BY 5 INCHES SQUARE, HAS TWO FRY IN THERE, WHICH ARE DOING REALLY WELL. HOW MANY CAN I PUT IN THERE?

I REALLY WANT TO SUCEED WITH MY FRY, ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRICAITED.
 
(please do not type in capitals as it indicates you are shouting)

Can you post us your exact ammonia, nitrate and nitrite stats? Fry are very sensitive to these things and if your tank is fairly new i would suspect somthing is amiss in it.
A 5inch by 5inch tank is incredibly small, more a bowl, and is too small to put a filter and heater in it which the fry will need. A 10gallon tank is far better for raising swordtail fry as swordtails can take a year to mature, anything under a 10gallon tank will only be able to raise 1 or 2 fry to full grown at best.
You need to know about cycling tanks and how the ecosystem in fish tanks work to be a successful fish keeper and breeder. Aquarium fish are essentially living in their own toilet and fish poop creates ammonia which in turn is lethal to them in any small quantity.
This is where the tank filter comes in, its main purpose is not to only make the tank water oxygen rich but to grow beneficial bacteria in its sponge inside it capable of breaking the ammonia and nitrites(nitrites are also lethal to fish and build up when there is nothing to process them) down into harmless substances, but when you buy a filter for your tank there is none of this bacteria capable of keeping your tank healthy in it so what do you do?
We do a process called cycling, you can do it with fish and also without fish. The good bacteria needs an ammonia source to break down so it can survive and fish create ammonia but ammonia is lethal to the fish themselves so to help create the right balance you need to understock your tank and do small water changes once every day or so.
This where your second issue comes in, tap water contains chlorine which kills bacteria and simply dumping in fresh tap water into your tap or washing the filter out in it kills off all your hard earned filter bacteria. You need to buy dechlorinator(somtimes called water conditioner) from your lfs(local fish store) and add to your tap water before you do anything to it and the tank related things to remove the chlorine from the water, chlorine not only kills filter bacteria but it can burn fish's skin over time, lower their life expectancys and make them stressed and ill- so dechlorinator is essential for having a healthy tank and fish.
You can also do a thing called fishless cycling as an alternative to cycling with fish where you simply buy pure ammonia and add it to the tank over a period of time before you stock it with fish, the benefits of fishless cycling is that you do not put any fish's health at risk and it takes alot quicker to do than cycling with fish.
The other alternative to getting the filter bacteria you need is to buy a chunk of mature filter sponge from your lfs and place it in your own filter sponge, this is called cloning.
However you go about cycling your tank you will need to test it for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites at least once every couple of days during the cycling period of time to help you know exactly at what stage your tank is cycling at or wether there are any water quality issues.
Fry of any sort of very sensitive to water quality conditions and can die off at the slightest sign of ammonia or nitrites and this is likely what happened in your scenario.


ps: for more info on cycling tanks check up the topics in the pinned articles in the beginners section :)
 
my tank has been going a while, ammonia and nitrate levels are all minimal. I understand the cycling system and understand that tap water needs a dechlorinator before putting in the tank.

i cannot give exact levels of ammonia, etc, as i dont keep record.

the cube tank i have, has a small filter pump and micro heater, and the two fry (guppy) are growing quite quick. and seem quite happy

I have a larger tank spare in the loft, by the sounds of it, i think i will have to get it out and ready for my fry, if im going to have any sucess.
 
Try and post us the exact results asap anyways, ammonia and nitrites should be 0 in a mature tank and nitrates should preferably be kept under 40- if there are issues in the water quality we can help you combat them :) . A breeding net would have been too small for the amount of fry you had anyways and was overstocked pretty much as soon as you put them all in, the lack of space in the breeding net or simply poor genetics in the fry could have been to blame if water stats are good.
You should also try to find out the gallons your tanks hold if not only to make sure they are not overstocked, its just a basic thing you need to know :) .
 

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