Any DIY solutions for Fry cover?

[poysen]

Hey all I have a 10 gallon tank and big time fry issues. The issues lie in the dilemma that NO store around here (I've been to several) has ANY sort of fry cover. Either live or artificial. In a 10 gallon tank with 5 other fish, you can imagine survival rates are low at best. I have 3 fry from the only drop that I've seen, not that I even know what fish had them, they all look as plump as ever and fry are over a week old.

~ANYWAY~ I have 3 VERY pregnant female guppies in this tank. I have a seperate tank that the 3 fry are in and will move any new fry in there after a few days in a breeding net. My issue is this: I have fake plants.. but there's still a good deal of swimming room between the row in the back and the row in front. I'm aware of products called breeding grass, but I cannot travel 90 miles out to the only store I know that has it, and even then they could be out. I have exhausted all the local options to no avail.

Is there some sort of, I don't know, thing I can make (not involving live plants as those are not sold here either) that will not cost a bundle since I have well over $30 of fake plants and just cannot afford any more at this time. This would have to be something I could make and have in tank ASAP as one of my females is already squared off and has been spending a great deal of time at the surface by the heater.. and we know that's probably a good indicator she's close. Another female is squared off as well, but has yet to show symptoms of being close. Aside from constant 'fry patrol' waiting and peering at bellies and hoping for fry after seeing a change I have nothing to do. :sad:

Thank for any and all help any of you can provide.

P.S. Would something like this be suitable and safe for all fish in the tank? I have 3 female guppies, one male long finned guppy and a platty in the tank in question.

 

[manna]

If I understand correctly, you just need to provide a place for fry to escape to until you can capture them and move them to safety, and you don't have an lfs nearby to get breeding grass or a livebearer trap?

Could you pile some or all of your plastic plants on their sides in one place to provide a hiding place? Might not look pretty, but if it's just for a few days that may not be a problem.

Let me think about this one some more. $0 solution... hmm....

 

[manna]

Here's another question for you. Do you have a hobby store locally where you could buy some needlepoint plastic canvas? You could probably make a simple livebearer trap with some plastic canvas. I don't beleive the individual sheets are that expensive. I suppose you could even put the plastic canvas in your 10g tank, covering the bottom so that the larger fish couldn't get down to the fry, who could fall through.

 

[poysen]

Yeah I could find some plastic canvas at walmart here in town. I actually have 2 LFs's in our town, neither carries any sorts of live plants or breeding grass.. (they have a few fake plants but just the same types I already have in my tank..) nor do either of the walmart stores I've been to carry breeding grass. There is a Walmart 90 miles away where a friend lives that carries it, but he's taking his time to get me some, in that time one has dropped and 2-3 more due very soon. I think I'll try the plastic canvas thing. Just kinda cover the bottom areas of the tank with it? And they should hide in there for cover where the adults can't get to them before I do? Hopefully this will be a temp fix until either my friend sends me that grass or til around New years when I can check trading posts for some live plant cuttings to use (currently without a light timer and will be out of town 2 weeks for the holidays, so any live plants I got now would be dead.. lol.

I also might try taking some of the plants from the left side of tank and lay them on sides (I like to have the right side pretty heavily planted so that the pregnant females can hide there by the heater if they wish)

Thanks for the suggestions, btw. Hopefully I'll recover more than 3 fry this time

 

[manna]

You might check with your lfs's and see if one of them has a livebearer trap. They are generally inexpensive, and work great for catching all your fry. That way the fry don't ever end up in the main tank until they are big enough to get away from those that want to eat them.

 

[poysen]

Hmm. Is that one of those things that you put the mother in and she drops in there? I've heard bad things about females stressing and either dying or aborting because of not feeling the right conditions in the trap and in some cases with the V traps injury.... Not to mention I'm not familiar enough to know when the time is to put them in without having to put them in and let them go a few times, I'm sure. That's pretty much why I don't use my breeding net for anything other than housing the fry for a few days before releasing to the 10 gallon fry tank I got here. Our one LFS does have a couple traps, they run the same as the plants $6. A 2 way and 3 way.. though I really have no idea what that exactly means to be honest. They keep them behind the counter so its kinda hard to look at them.

I was thinking of buying those really tall plants and laying them across the top or maybe on sides on bottom to kinda form a small hideout for them. I haven't gotten the OK from my husband on buying MORE plants yet lol.. I think maybe one large-x-large plant would do okay.. and they run I think $6 each at Walmart.

 

[manna]

Interesting. Keep in mind that almost every item you put in your tank or near it has some horror stories associated with it, lol! -- I haven't kept guppies, so I am no expert on how guppies react to a trap, but I have kept mollies and platy's on and off over the last 20 years or so, and I have never had issues with the mother reacting badly or getting hurt by a livebearer trap. I'm not denying that it might happen.

What I generally have done for timing, is watch the mom, and catch her when she starts dropping. I may miss a few fry, but hey, what's one or two here or there? hehe. If I know she's really close, and I can't be there to watch, I put her in before I go. I try not catch and release the mom. I'm usually not trying to raise the maximum number of fry, so I can afford to wait till the last minute, and risk missing a few fry in the big tank before I net mom and put her in the trap.

Sans using the breeder net or trap, it looks like your best bet will be to provide as much cover as possible for the fry in the main tank, and accept the fact that you'll have some losses. Guppies are prolific enough that the losses shouldn't be a major issue. I wish you the best in raising your fry. It's fun grow fish from eggs/fry!

 

[poysen]

You are probably right there. I suppose I'm just overly paranoid as I'm pretty new to this (we set up our tank late August) and I didn't even see the one drop the 3 fry I have now.. they all look as pregnant as before the fry were in there.. so go figure LOL. I'm bad at guestimating thir timing to drop.. a great example. For the last 2 weeks I said our one female would be dropping in a week max ROFLOL. Well ... that's not right. Looks like the other one will beat her to it. She's kinda going off on her own and sometimes by heater, but then again she's been doing this for 4 days now and no change in belly nor any fry. Knowing my luck they'd drop when I'm not around to get them in there anyway.. I'm up all hours of the day and night too.. stinkers.

As for the losses. I accept it probably is inevitable, even though natural I just *hate* the thought of the babies being lunch. Not that we are kepping them anyway, once big enough they will go to the local shop to hopefully find new homes. Arrangements have already been made. That is unless there's one I gotta have. My son really enjoys taking care of the babies. He feeds them their flakes and flakes off the worms for them too. It's a really big thing for him and he gets mad if I do it. I'll peek at those traps and give it another thought.. if I actually think I can even get close to the drop times as I read they are not supposed to be in there more than 24 hours. If no drop release and try again (this is what I particularly disagree with as the in and out of trap seems incredibly stressing.. and I heard moving them too much close to dropping is bad as well) I guess there is no 'perfect' solution, is there?

 

[manna]

I guess there is no 'perfect' solution, is there?

Short of having a specially designed breeder tank setup, not really. As I said before, all my experience has been with mollys and platy's and I've usually been able to tell fairly well when the females are ready, and I've had many eyes watching for the first babies, so I guess I had it easy on that score.

As far as keeping the females in the breeder, I wouldn't want to keep them in for more than 24 hours either. I usually try to minimize the stress on the female by netting her, then dunking the breeder under the net, and gently ushering her into it. She never leaves the water that way. If you already have a breeding net, you may simply want to go with that, although I haven't used one, so I don't know all the ins and outs of it.

 

[LiLangeL181]

you can make an inexpensive fry hold out of some gauzy material and popsicle sticks or something else fairly rigid. just make a pouch using a needle and thread and attach it to the tank so that the other fish cant get in.

hope it helps!