Yemminie

Hi everyone,

Stirling, one of my platies, had fry last Wednesday. I have since moved them into their own 3 gallon tank, and I've been feeding them powdered food several times a day. They're little piglets, just like their mom. Anyway, starting tomorrow, my parents are going out of town, and I have to stay at their house for a week to look after 2 of my siblings. I live and work about 35 miles from where they live, so it's going to be a fun commute. I would really, REALLY prefer not to have to drive to my apartment before driving to their house every day after work, since public transit will make the commute much easier, and having to go to my apartment first would really throw a wrench in the plan. But I also don't want the little babies to starve to death. If I only come back to my apartment every other day, will they be ok? Even if I do that, though, they'd still only be getting fed once every other day, instead of several times each day. I'm planning on going home tomorrow to feed them, then again on Thursday, and then on Saturday, and again on Monday, and then I'll be back home for good on Tuesday. Will they be ok on this schedule? Alternatively, I could take about half the water out of their 3 gallon tank and take them in their tank up to my parents' house, but I'm afraid they'd be incredibly stressed by 2 long journeys in a week. Are they as fragile as they look? And then I still have to come back to feed the adults every other day and do a small water change or two, since the tank is still cycling. Although I think my dad has an automatic feeder he could loan me, so that might solve that problem. My parents also have a 5 gallon tank at home - what if I bagged up the 3 adults and a few gallons of their tank water and got them set up at my parents' house? Would I be risking lots of dead fish if I did that?

Any advice would be welcome!

Thanks,

Sarah

COBettaCouple

It might be hard for them to go to being fed every other day i think. I would go with an automatic feeder or one of those feeding things (pyramids, fish, etc.. they have all kinds of shapes) that feed for 7 days. the feeder would be best, but either would at the least be a stop-gap measure so they could get food every day.

The 5g at your parents would involve this: what you would want to do is put the filter and gravel from their tank in a sealed container (like a cooler) where they can be submerged in tank water. this would keep the good bacteria alive for the trip. then you can setup the 5g with the filter and put the gravel in it.

You could take the 3g up with the filter and gravel as described above, and fill it with water when it's put back together at your parents. To transport the fry, keep the fry in a good sealed bag with lots of air in it. put it in a container with crumbled tissues or newspaper or towels around it for cushioning on the bags.

Yemminie

FLBettaCouple to the rescue again! You're a gem.

Ok, so what you're saying is there's really no easy way to do this. I was afraid of that. I really wish I'd remembered this familial obligation when I decided to set up the tank last weekend.

I will have to ponder on this, but I guess I'll probably have to take the fry with me, since I really can't get back to my apartment every single day, and I'll have to get one of those feeder things for the adults. Hmmm.

COBettaCouple

lol.. well hopefully i can save some fry, if not our own.. we're down to 9 now.. 1 just disappeared mysteriously, nowhere to be found and 1 died of disease suddenly. unfortunately Daisy, their mama, most likely got pregnant thru a 'brother' since they end up with a lot of inbreeding in those pet store tanks so the fish are sickly and 2 of the 9 have curved spines, poor things.

yea, no easy way unless you had someone real close who'd come in and feed them at your place. the adults definitely can go a day without food - our adult platys get fasted on sunday along with all the other fish except the fry.

Yemminie

I *finally* made it back to my apartment to check on Stirling, Venice, and York, and all 3 have survived their 5 days of fasting in grand style. I had intended to come back a couple times to feed them, but between my 2 teenaged siblings and all their pets, it just wasn't possible. All the fry survived the trip to and from my parents' house. Well, except for one that had been hiding in the big tank, and who I finally managed to net right before I left for Roswell. I think he may have been injured in the chase, and he was dead within the hour. So fry numbers returned to 12. But then, imagine my surprise when I got home today with the 12, and set them back up in their tank, then proceeded to do a water change for their poor elders (ammonia levels are going up - even after I changed 3 gallons, levels are between .5 and 1.0 PPM), and found ANOTHER rogue fry! Still alive and kicking after 5 days of no food and ever rising ammonia levels! These platies are tough as nails! He was clearly weak, though, because I was able to net him without much trouble. I transitioned him and stuck him in with his siblings, and I'm hoping he'll do ok. He's smaller than the others. They all seem to be thriving, though, which is exciting.

On an unrelated note, what are appropriate ammonia levels for a cycling tank? I can't find anything that gives specific numbers. All the articles just say that the ammonia will spike, and then it will go down. How high should I let it get before doing a water change? So far, there is no sign of any nitrite.

I'm so pleased that everyone did well this week.

COBettaCouple

Sorry to hear the 1 fry didn't make it, i've had that happen trying to net them myself. those platies are hearty, that little 'survivor' fry would especially benefit from some vitachem if you could get some.

I think the ammonia can go thru the roof on fishless cycling. i'm already up to 4.0 on mine. I think it sort of varies and with fish in the tank you won't want it to go so high. I guess the thing to watch for is when the ammonia stops going up and starts to come down. I wouldn't let it get too high because of the fish.. i think that's why it takes longer to cycle with fish. Even leaving it at 1.0 makes me nervous with fish in. Maybe one of the members who know more about the cycle can give you an exact number to set as your ceiling, but for us it's 1.0. it might have ammonia a bit before nitrites show up.

I'm glad that your fish all made it thru, aside from the 1 fry, and wish you well on the cycle.