Newbie to baby fish

[Katie Andress]

When is it okay to release baby fry from the breeder net and into the main tank with the rest of the adults?? I've got some fry that are 2-3 weeks old and getting pretty big and I just found 5 brand new babies!! so i need to make room for the new ones. Someone HELP!!

 

[Thyra]

It kind of depends on what kind of fish you are talking about and whether your tank has plenty of hiding places. If all of them survived you will be overrun with fish and then have a new problem.

 

[Katie Andress]

I have platies, guppies, and mollies in my tank; also, a couple of albino cories. The first batch if babies I had are platies and only about 7 out of 18 survived. I've caught 6 of these newborns and I'm not sure what they are. They look like the other ones I had, but I figure that they all look the same when they're born. Am I correct on that?

 

[nanu156]

I would just release them. The platties guppies and mollies are all very prolific breeders, that being said you really don't want ALL of them to survive. So I would suggest discontinuing the breeder net and allowing the fittest to survive.

 

[Katie Andress]

I just like seeing them grow. haha. If I take them out of the breeder, I won't know where they are in the tank. :/

 

[nanu156]

yeah i mean they will still grow, anywho you are eventually going to end up overrun, as your fish have more and more batches of babies they also produce bigger batches... It's like letting your cat have kittens anytime it wants to, the first litter is real cute and real fun but after a while you end up with too many kitties.

 

[Sageofstupidity]

If you really want them all to survive you may sadly have to cull some. I use a 10 gallon with a filter and hornwort to raise my fry so they all get a chance to survive, at least the ones I find before it is too late. The problem with this is you will be over-run with fish, I plan on donating or selling my extra fish so find a place that will take them off your hands before you do that. The fry will likely leave the net on their own when they are big enough, or fast enough. As soon as the fry is large enough so that it does not fit into an adults mouth or fast enough to out-run them they are fine, until then just offer hiding spots. Another benefit to using a nursery is choosing your own fish, prettiest fish does not mean strongest so it may not survive. Fry also metabolize food faster and grow fast given the right conditions, a nursery allows you to feed them more often and heat the water more than the parents could comfortably have but unless you have a plan for the fish or extra tanks I would say let nature take its course or you will be grossly over-populated very fast.

 

[Kiara1125]

Don't worry, you'll still be able to see them grow. My fry tank is covered in Java Moss, yet I have 2 week old baby Guppies that come up to the surface to feed. None of my fish chase them or eat them, although all fish are different. They get more confident over time and they are unbelievably fast. So, IMO, they would be better off and even healkthier if you just release them into the tank. Just make sure that they have a lot of cover.