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Hi My corys are nearly 3 weeks old now and are about the size of 1cm, The are at this moment in a tub with a air stone and heater. I have a spare 2 and a half foot tank that I wanted to set up as a tank for them to be raised in, the only problem is I have no idea what I should put in there, the main problem would be the filter, I have a Fluval 3 plus for the tank, would this be dangerous to the fry by sucking them into it??
Shouls I put some sand on the bottom or leave it bare??
Jo

If you're worried about fish being sucked into the filter, you may want to put a fine-mesh in front of the filter. If you haven't got any suitable mesh, get an old (or new) net that you can spare (or buy), and attach it with some thing suitable around the intake (use your imagination here, drill holes or use some steel-wire, aquarium safe silicon, or something. All Blue Peter tricks allowed... Just don't use superglue, as it's not water resistant, and sticky-back plastic may not work so well either...).

Most fish will instinctively swim against any current, so I don't think it's too much of a risk unless the filter is very strong. But better safe than sorry...

Obviously, with a "pre-filter mesh", you'll also get bigger bits of dirt stick to the mesh, so be prepared to clean it every so often.


Another thought: Cory's are mostly bottom-living, so try to fit the filter-intake as high up as it will go in the tank. Perhaps tilting it a bit might help [I'm not sure what the Fluval 3 looks like, so it may not be a suitable idea...].

A bare bottom is probably just as well for the little fish, as you can then see the dirt that collects, and clean it up, rather than having it fall inside the sand and "disapear" but actually cause dirty water quicker...

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Mats

Wow thank you, always wondered when my Blue Peter making skills would come in handy after watching them all these years LOL

Talking of mesh, what about a thin pair of tights or stocking attached with an elastic band (strong one obviously) The Fluval are put with the wateroutlet flow just below the water line so it only moves the top of the water.

Jo

Anything that has small enough holes to not let the fish through (or worse, half-way through!), but with a decent amount of water-flow-throughput and that doesn't go rotten/disolved in water would be fine. I imagine that tights would be absolutely perfect, especially plain simple ones. Try to avoid the pattern/glittery ones...

And a strong rubber band should be fine. Leave the rubber band in some water over night to soak out any strange stuff that may be water solvable, and it should be safe too.

With some luck, you may even be able to use the toe/foot piece of the tights to just go round the inlet piece...

[Being male, tights wasn't the first thing I could think of to sacrifice...]

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Mats