DehvidWV

First off I wanna say hi, I'm new to this forum but not new to forums in general. I have a rather odd dilema. I guess I should first start off with my tank and setup and Fish.

29 Gallon Tank (heater, underwater gravel filter with ammonium stones up top, whisper 30 gallon filter)
2 Black Moors
2 Calico Fantails
3 Corydoras
1 Rafael Catfish
1 Pleco

Seems the Calico female and Black Moor Female have started to spawn ALOT. when we introduced a log which had silk plants attached to it. So I decided to try and salvage some young in a an ice cream tub and later transfer them to a breeding net. (only like 3-4 hatched and after transfer they died shortly after). This time I wasn't sure if they would survive in the breeding net alone so I put half the eggs in the icecream tub and the other half in the breeding net. we have about 15 2 day old fry (8 in net and about 6-7 in tub) ... I do have a second Tank BUT it is VERY old... and I am not sure of the steps to get it up to par for putting delicate fry in it. I also have 2 whisper 20 gallon filters. Just curious on feedback about what all the steps I can take to get the old dirty tank up to par for next time. (considering not sure I will have time to get it ready for this batch) and will the ones in the breeding net be ok? and the ones in the tub? (process of possibly transferring them without shocking them to a new environment)

Also since they are 2 days old and NO yolk sacs on ones in the breeding net... whats should I be trying to feed them? not many pet stores close by. I have seen a few posts about substitutions for Infusoria(sp?)

Thanks all in advance!

David ... or Dehvid (my Canadian pronounciation) lol
Canadian livin in West Virginia!

agabr123

hi and welcome

you can feed them crushed flake food, microworms, and the infusoria like you mentioned.

to get the dirty tank ready, i'd take it outside and fill it very slowly with a 1 part bleach 19 part water mixture, that will kill anything that may have gotten in there. make sure you rinse it very, very well until you can't smell bleach anymore, and add lots of water conditioner.

also, as a side note, long term the 4 goldfish will probably be overstocked in a 29 (general rule is 20 gallons for the first goldfish and 10 for each additional, so for four you'd need a 50 gallon tank) and also the best temperature for them is a bit below 70.

midnightwolf

im not sure on what to feed them but you could try newly hatched brine shrimp. to set up an old tasnk you need to make sure its completly clean and add Tetra safe start then you can add the fish within 24 hrs any longer than that and the cycle will start over. im sorry to bring this up but your tank is really overstocked, it may not seem like it but goldfish produce high levels of waste and the babies are most likely being killed by your high ammonia levels in the water, if you want to keep your fish happy and healthy i would suggest getting another tank, a larger tank or gitting rid of some of your fish. untill then i would sugest making 25% WC every couple of days. good luck and welcome to the Fish Fourum.

DehvidWV

Yeah, I was worried about ammonia levels (so I went and bought special ammonia rocks for tops of undergravel tubes) and check the ammonia levels regularily and they never seem to change much I do 10% water changes every couple days as instructed by a pet store owner "adding" de-chlor or "aqua safe" whichever I have on hand to get rid of chloride and chloramine etc.

Never thought of bleach but does sound reasonable to kill any bacteria.. I was just worried traces of it might be left in tank and when I went to add fish it would be harmful... but great idea and thank you

We also have a 55 Gallon Tank in the basement with a Huge stand... still negotiating with the wife for her to allow me to bring it up

I'll try and post a video or some pics of my fish when I can. Will check for Microworms at store but the only other option was making my own brine shrimp and seems I been doing plenty as is.. so trying not to make this too much work when its spose to be enjoyable

Thanks David

agabr123

yep, that's what i generally recommend using when cleaning an aquarium, new or used. lots of my tanks have been used and required pretty intense cleanings, and i also needed to check for leaks to keep gallons of water from ending up on my floor, so i try to kill two birds with one stone

you can always convert your basement to a fish room if i had a basement that's definitely what mine would be!

i know a few members have done brine shrimp hatcheries, but i haven't so i couldn't really comment on the level of work involved

gremlin

Baby goldies will also graze on moss if you have any. You can grow your own also. Put a bucket of old tank water and some small rocks (for the moss to grow on) out in the sun. Keep it topped up with old tank water (when you do your water changes) and you should have moss growing in a couple of days. Of course, if you know anyone with a pond, they may have moss for you. The babies will hide in the moss and graze on it. You can crush whatever food you feed your adults and sprinkle a bit of that in for the babies too. Use a mortar and pestle or just a couple of stainless steel spoons. Crush the food into a powder and put just a pinch in at a time.

DehvidWV

Well its now day 3... and we have 8 fry swimming horizontally (they seem more interested in exploring right now then anything else) I have tried to use a shrimp pellet and let it go to mush in a spoon with aquarium water. couple swam through it but not sure they are 100% interested in eating quite yet and not sure if the shrimp mush disolves too fast and goes right through the bottom of the bredding net cause it seems to disolve so quickly... not sure I should be using a full pellet as it might pollute their lil breeding net will have pics as soon as I can.

agabr123

you can try to crush several of them with the back end of a spoon instead of just letting them get soggy, they might be a bit easier to catch that way

DehvidWV

The pellets are really condensed and hard to crush.. mushing them up seems ok and does not go all the way thru bottom of net... will they eat off the bottom of tank? or feed strictly as its dropping or off top?

They were born in 2 days after spawning so I am wondering if maybe they are slightly behind schedule, they are free swimming but still more or less eyelashes with 2 eyes, they are very curious about new things in their net and my face when I get close

Bought Brine Shrimp Eggs and have set up a brine shimp jar (mason jar / hole in top for airline hose, couple other small holes for ventilation) I went with half a teaspoon of eggs compared to the packaging recommendation 1 teaspoon... not sure I am gonna need a ton right away for 8 hatchlings and went half on the aquarium salt, and a pinch of baking soda, set a nice lil light next to it to try and keep it fairly warm and well lit so I can see whats going down! (they suggested a turkey baster to extract them, don't have one in the house and not sure if I can siphon them out without getting too many shells or unhatched eggs)

Priced a 10 Gallon tank "new" was cheap 16.99.. and a sponge filter. Priced em for now cause "eventually" being optomistic I'll need to X-fer them somewhere bigger to grow before finding them new homes.

Appreciate all the help and comments and feedback, was so glad to find a very active fish forum.

Thanks David

midnightwolf

good luck with your fish and i might just have to have on of your fry for my pond.

DehvidWV

Well seems I was counting the hatchlings when I woke up and, instead of 8... found 10.. I couln't understand why, as I looked closer seems 2 are not as big and are clinging on the OUTSIDE of the net. Seems they were from the second batch of eggs that the Galico released and not the Black Moor. I think if I move the net too much they may just swim off but would like to try and catch them and put them in the breeding net any ideas?

Also.. the Black Moor is Spawning her eggs AGAIN!

Man this is gonna get messy. :P

David

catfishtabbi

I didn' read ALL posts but heres what i got for you. It sounds like your looking for a recipe; fry food, A medium hard boiled egg yolk smashed up ! Fry can find food as easily as adult fish, so don't panic. You have no choice but to use an uncycled tank. LOOK UP fishtank cycling. the best you can do is to fill, treat your water, if you have a superbac to help with cycling usi it. You'll have to do daily water changes to control the ammonia and nitrites, due to use of an uncycled tank. VINegar is choice cleaner. Larve do not inbed into silicone but bleach does.

DehvidWV

Wanna make sure they are eating properly, Before I buy the 10 gallon tank at the LFS. Also I think 4 days is a lil premature for me to know for sure if they will survive, and not sure I wanna stress them out to a new environment "just" yet.... so I may have time to cycle new tank when I get it. Also its been 24 hours since brine shrimp have been in my homemade hatchery, I checked on it and seems to be very lil movement on bottom but quite a few open shells floated to top. I added a lil more salt and turned it back on. Not sure I should have cut salt to half when I cut the shrimp egg amount to half. Trial and Error *sigh*

If not many shrimp I'll go with the egg yolk.. and I appreciate the suggestions.

David

DehvidWV

Okies so we decided to go for a new 20 gallon tank with sponge filter for the Fry so the Adults stop trying to suck their food through the bottom of the feeder lol.

I know about Cycling The Tank and Have read through it thoroughly.

Any other steps I ned to be aware of, I went through the setting up a new aquarium article in these forums BUT that was for adding adult fish I beleive.


Also since we will be getting homes for these goldfish fry and plan on using the 20 gallon tank for "Guppies" any suggestions on how the tank should be set up? best kinda plants etc? I know our goldfish love Anacharis but they do tear it up alot. Will we need an Algae eater or any kinda bottom feeders to help with keeping the tank clean. Also the plant for the Guppies if its good for the goldfish fry we may start off with that plant too.

Thanks for all the advice everyone and let me know if I need to start a new thread as far as the Guppy part is concerned

Thanks
David and Shelly in WV!

midnightwolf

if you need to get fid of the fry i could take one for my pond.

DehvidWV

Not even sure how I would get the fish to you. and it will be a while before they are ready to be moved etc I think. still up to 15 Fry so I guess they are doing well so far in breeding net with brine shrimp and some crushed flakes overnight, alot of people have suggested cleaning their breeding tanks / nets siphoning with airline hose, I was a bit skeptical and worried about sucking up fish and went with a HUGE turkey baster bought at walmart. It seems to work perfect at getting the unwanted waste out for those of you looking for an alternative way to remove waste.