Keeping Baby Cory tank clean

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 13 Jun 2004, 21:46

My albino (aeneus) catfish started laying eggs sometimes up to 3 times a week. I placed the eggs into a 6 gallon tank and have about a dozen good size fry right now. What's the best way to keep the 6 gallon tank clean? The sponge filter i purchased (petsmart) seemed useless so i tried putting in a few snails. That didn't work too well so I currently have a mini aquaclear running with mesh tied around the intake. It's turned to the lowest intake because the currents too strong. Debris collects at the bottom so i use a turkey baster to gently bring it up and let the filter clean it without the mesh. I have to watch the baby cories at the same time because they like to scoot up the sides of the tank and I don't want them to get sucked into the filter. Then i replace the mesh. Yikes! there must be a better way. I do partial water changes everyday but i can't use a syphon. If anyone has any suggestions i would be grateful. Thanks.
Carol

Allan · Post by **Allan** » 13 Jun 2004, 22:48

I would use a big piece of fine mesh filter sponge, cut in the same dimensions as the inner tank meassures. To drag water through this sponge, i would use a approx 3/4 inch tube, fitted with an airpump outlet. <br>
I wouldn't be to worried about debris on the bottom though, as long as the water is clean. I would newer add snails on purpose.<br>
I tried to make s short scematic pic to symbolise what i mean, the fry would offcourse be on the left side of the sponge

. Hope You can use it.<br>

I may better add, that this works best with bare bottom fry tank, or with just the tinyes ammount of fine sand spread after the filter is installed.

davidkozak · Post by **davidkozak** » 14 Jun 2004, 07:27

Carol,
This might help(I use them in all my fry tanks that have aquaclears) you can buy prefilter kits that fit on the end of your aquaclear...It's a one-size-fits-all type of thing(they include the extra pieces)...that way you can still run the filter with some current, and most of the debris will collect on the pre-filter without sucking up the fry...then you just rinse the pre-filter every few days or so...here's a link...
http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe ... ?E+scstore
david

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 15 Jun 2004, 08:38

Allan and David. Thanks very much for those suggestions. Tonight i found 3 that had been sucked into the filter. 2 were alive. The mesh i used didn't quite cover a tiny spot and somehow they found it. I won't make that mistake again. I think i'm overfeeding them so too much debris. I have the rounded snails (ramshorns i think) in most of my tanks (6) so i thought a few could clean up things. Trouble with those - they multiply like crazy if there's a lot of food around so i had to remove them. Thanks for the picture Allan that really helps. I've never seen prefilters in the fish stores around here so i will check out MOPS as well.
Carol

Allan · Post by **Allan** » 15 Jun 2004, 13:00

You are very welcome. Offcourse, instead of driving this filter by air, you can mount your pump on the right side of the filter, and put a tube on the pumps outlet and leed it through the sponge, works just as well.

Good luck with Your babies

fishnut2 · Post by **fishnut2** » 16 Jun 2004, 03:56

Nice design Allen!
The large surface area of the sponge...provides a nice area for infusoria to grow as well.The only drawback I see is that you can't clean it until the fry are big enough to move. Did you figure a way around that?
Rich

Allan · Post by **Allan** » 16 Jun 2004, 06:59

This is absolutely not my design, I stole the idea from one of the very best breeders here in Denmark

You're right, can't move the filter till the babies are big, but don't have to with that big filterarea, it won't stop. When doing waterchanges you can easily "vacuumclean" the surface of the filter, this should be sufficient.

Kr
Allan

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 16 Jun 2004, 07:35

It just seems the debris fuzzs (must be fungus) over quite quickly and sticks to the bottom of the tank. I wonder if that's bad for the fry? I feed them powdered flakes, tablets, tetra gel food and the strained water from unthawed food that is fed to the other fish. I bought some liquid fry food from the fish store but I don't know about that stuff. Used it for awhile and a new addition appeared in the tank. I had read about planaria (sp?) but thought i would never see it in one of my tanks. Out came the turkey baster......
Carol

Allan · Post by **Allan** » 16 Jun 2004, 08:42

I think, from expirience, that if you have fungus on left over food on thetank bottom, small fry are in high risk of getting infected with fungus as well. I would use a small hose, in ex. from an airpump, and with that try to vacuum up most of the fungus and left over food, trying to avoid the babies (If they are still very small).

Remember, it is very good to feed the fry often, but not more than they can eat before next feedingtime.

fishnut2 · Post by **fishnut2** » 16 Jun 2004, 10:46

Carol,
I think you are overfeeding the fry. Tablets and powdered flake have to be fed sparingly. 3 or 4 smaller meals are WAY better then 1 or 2 big ones. You might want to try live baby brine shrimp. You can see the bellies turn an orange color when they are full. Live food will survive a bit longer before starting to decompose.
The fry have small mouths and stomaches. Try cutting down to 1/3 of what you normally feed per serving. And if possible...get one extra feeding in during the day. I think that will help you a lot.
Also; while the turkey baster works well for removing debri...it can get to be a big job using it several times a day. Try using a piece of airline...connected to some rigid tubing. Siphon into a small bucket, in case you get any fry by accident. If any fry get too close while siphoning...tap the rigid on the bottom to scare them away. This method should allow you to siphon more water in less time.
Raising fry is a delicate balance, between feeding and filtration. If you overfeed...you have extra maintenance issues. Find a feeding schedule that doesn't create a lot of extra work. Another thing that may help you...is a slightly bigger fry tank. I use 10 gallons for my cories...and can get away with small water changes twice a week.
Best of luck

Rich

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 16 Jun 2004, 20:00

Rich, thank you for the advice. I do have an empty 10g i can use. For some reason i thought you had to flood the fry with food. My previous attempts at hatching brine shrimp haven't been too good but i can keep trying. Despite my clumsie first attempts they appear to be ok and growing. It's quite amazing at how fast they grow. Is pH a factor? My pH comes 6 out of the tap so I have to alter it in any case. It seems that the catfish in the 7.5/7.8 tanks have no interest in spawning while the catfish in the neutral pH 7 are always at it. I'll experiment with the airline and the tubing. Not quite sure where to buy rigid tubing that size but i will look.
Carol

fishnut2 · Post by **fishnut2** » 16 Jun 2004, 20:45

Carol.
Any LFS should have the rigid tubing. It really makes it easier then using just airline (but that will work too) PH can be a factor with certain species...But the albino aeneus you mentioned usually aren't very fussy

The 10 gallon tank should help a lot too. The more water you have (within reason) the less maintenance you'll need, before the situation turns critical. The fry shouldn't have any trouble finding food in the 10...as cories are quite curious.
If you are having trouble hatching the shrimp...change the salt content a little bit. Go a bit higher or lower...until you find what works best for your water. There are other hatching tricks too! I'm sure others can advise you better then I can, for hatching bbs.
Rich

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 17 Jun 2004, 17:42

it's funny as i'm reading your post i see they are madly laying eggs again, quite a frenzy in there. Now i'm wondering if you can put newly hatched fry in with 4 week old fry? Or set up another tank? lol guess you can get carried away with all this....i did some research on the net about hatching bbs and it seems there are all kinds of methods and tricks. Someone mentioned pH even with hatching bbs so that may be my problem as i used my tap water, also the stuff you buy at the LFS isn't much good.
thanks
Carol

fishnut2 · Post by **fishnut2** » 17 Jun 2004, 21:12

Definetely set up another tank. The new fry might be OK with the 4 week old fry...after thier yolk sacks are completely absorbed. By why take a chance? The bbs from LFS is probably on of those small vials. I agree...it no where near as good of a hatch as you'd get from a can. It should be good enough for now...as you don't have that many fry (yet). Congrats on the new spawn

Post by **corybreed** » 17 Jun 2004, 22:33

Carol
I start all my Cory fry with live baby brine. After I collect the eggs I hatch the out in plastic sweater boxes. Depending on temperature and species it takes about 4 days for the eggs to hatch. It takes another 3 to 4 days for the yolk sac to dissolve. At this point I start feeding baby brine. As was already mentioned you can see the stomachs of the fry turn red, this way you know that they are eating. One trick I have learned is to keep a small amount of crushed coral in the sweater boxes. The crushed coral keeps the pH from crashing. Aftre a few weeks I move the fry to larger quarters. You can also feed other foods now. I find that chopped worms puts size on the fry.
Best of luck.

Mark

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 18 Jun 2004, 05:44

Mark thank you for reminding me about the crushed coral. I add it to my tanks but didn't think about the fry tank. Now, i am confused - the book i have says to add liquid fry food as soon as they hatch to promote a growth of infusoria. So this isn't necessary? They will live from the yolk sac for a few days? In that case it will help to keep the water cleaner if i don't start bombarding them with food right off the bat. I know some fish books are misleading, even laughable. I took some thawed blood worms and mashed them in the mortor/pestle. I'll look for frozen bbs in the mean time. I found a new brand of bbs eggs "direct from the Great Salt Lake! sealed in the innovative Nitro Pak and guaranteed to hatch" for $10...i think they saw me coming

Post by **corybreed** » 18 Jun 2004, 12:10

Carol
Don't and anything to the water until the yolk sacks dissolve.

Mark

Carol · Post by **Carol** » 18 Jun 2004, 16:11

thank you kindly to everyone for all the information i received here. I will file the cory book along with the books that say you can keep goldfish in bowls and aquababies are a good thing.
Carol