Feeding newly hatch fry while on vacation

[scotteim]

Hello,

This morning I woke and found some eggs scattered in my metae tank, I harvested 25 good eggs and disposed of some infertile ones.

My problem is this. In a week, my family and I will be going to Japan, we'll only be gone a week, but what can I do with my baby cats?

This came to me as I was cleaning tanks... I just harvested a bunch of java moss out of another one of my tanks and I was thinking of throwing it in a tank along with a sponge filter. Do you think the fry will survive in a setup like that?

Thanks for any tips and info

Scotteim

[Coryman]

The Jarva moss will help keep the water good for the fry, bit if you have a mature sponge filter just squeeze out some of the residue into the tank with the fry, there will be a mountain of microscopic organisms in this and will provide them with more than enough food to keep them going while you are away.

Ian

[scotteim]

Hi Ian, thanks for the reply. I don't have any mature sponge filters running. Do you think if I add one to a tank now, I'll have enough time to "grow" some of those organisms? It seems like a good reason to always have a sponge filter running.

Thanks again Ian,

Scott

[MatsP]

It doesn't have to be a sponge filter, just any filter sponge will be fine - squeeze some of the filter gunk into the tank, and the fry will eat the microorganisms produced from that.

--
Mats

[scotteim]

Filter gunk, I've got a lot of that! Cool, thanks for the tips guys! I'm feeling pretty confident that these little cories are going to make it!


Scotteim

[apistomaster]

The combination of a mass growth of Java Moss, a running sponge filter and filter squeezings is the most likely method to save some of the fry. The larger the tank you use, the more successful you will be. My guess is the 50% of 25 fry in a 20 gal long would live a couple weeks without new food.
I would drop a couple algae tabs in the tank as I walked out the door. These will help feed the micro-chain of life that will form the support larger microorganisms the newly hatched Corydoras larvae naturally feed on . Java Moss helps form a more complex ecosystem which aids in fry survival. You could come home to find most are not just alive but so large.