Guest manini Posted July 13, 2005 On June 13, I discovered that my fish had babies. I now have 4 fry who are about one month old. They have been dining happily on liquid food which I feed by dropper 3 times a day. BUT... I have to leave town for 3.5 days! Is there some kind of vacation feeder or weekend feeder for fry??? I saw one in the pet store once - it was one of those slow-release solid chunks that will inevitably cloud up the water. Will this be okay? I have an airstone, but turned off the filter (I'm afraid they'll get sucked in). I can clean the tank when I get home. I'm hoping that someone with a little experience with this type of situation can help me here. The trip is coming up SOON, so I need to be prepared. Thank you!!! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest yabbie Posted July 13, 2005 Have you got any underwater plants with a bit of algae on? They tend to provide a bit of food without ruining the water. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marco 0 Posted July 13, 2005 yeaa if you buy some plants that are eatable then they will munch on them for the coming days.. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted July 13, 2005 Ooh, I have only one plant, and it's silk... I do see them nibbling at it, but I just thought that they were scrounging for food. I didn't know there's actually stuff on there that they can eat! The kid at the pet store told me to put one adult-fish-food-pellet in, and it'll slowly dissolve, and they can pick at that. He showed me a bag of them, by Hikari, and they looked like little cookies. Kind of dark brown. About the size of a contact lens. Is that a good idea??? Maybe I should buy it and try it now, to see if it'll last 3 days, and if they'll eat it... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Chishower Posted July 14, 2005 I would worry about that screwing up your water. Is there anyone you can ask to come feed them? Or why not just buy a few live plants for them to pick at? If you disenfect them they should be ok. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ranchugirl 17 Posted July 14, 2005 I would definetely not turn off the filter, Manini - a simple solution to prevent the fry from being sucked into the filter is covering the intake tube with either a sponge (made as filter media) or a piece of nylon stocking. I usually use Aquaclear sponges for that purpose. I only cut a small hole in the center of the sponge, and push the sponge onto the intake tube, so the tip of the tube fits snug into the hole of the sponge. Voila, no more fry disappearing into the filter.... As for food, you wouldn't believe the small things that fry eat - things that we don't even see. Plants would be one source, then fry nibble on things that are on the glass or ornaments, things that we wouldn't even consider food for them. You don't have anybody who would feed them though, do you? That is usually your safest bet. Adult fish can be left alone for the amount of time that you are gone, but unfortunately fry need their daily food dose to stay healthy. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted July 14, 2005 Wow, thanks a lot, everybody! I'm glad I didn't listen to the kid at the pet store. I'll stay away from the contact-lens-sized-cookie thingie. And thanks, Andrea, for the pantyhose idea! I never thought of that... what a terrific use for pantyhose - God knows I HATE wearing them!!! I'll have to go out and look for some plants this weekend. BIG MAHALO 2 ALL!!! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest yabbie Posted July 14, 2005 Rinse the plants and put them in a bucket of water somewhere sunny for a few days... a) to make sure there are no nasty bugs on them that could infect your fry B) to grow a little algae on the leaves Personally, I find fish sitters always overfeed which ruins the water and is more dangerous than underfeeding. I've heard there is a live food that stays alive in the fresh water for a couple of days. Glass eel worms? Something like that wouldn't deteriorate in 3 days if you overfed a little when you left. Koko and other goldfish sites have descriptions of live food. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted July 15, 2005 wow, thanks for the info... uh, I'm not really big on worms, or eels, or eel worms... but I will try the plant idea! is washing the plant in just plain water okay? I've read that a small amount of bleach is recommended to kill unwanted parasites. I don't use bleach as a cleaner, so I don't have any handy, and I'm not wanting to go out and buy a big jug of it. what about like, vinegar, or hydrogen peroxide... I'm just trying to think of things I do have around the house... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted July 17, 2005 Okay, I bought a little bunch of Anacharis. I think I got ripped off, it's so small, and it costed $2.29. Oh well. I'm going to do exactly as my KOKO advisors instructed, rather than listen to the dude at the petstore (who told me to just dump the plant in, water and all - and there were all KINDS of icky snails in that tank!!! sorry, i know they can be beneficial, but they're just not for me.) I like Yabbie's suggestion, to let it sit in a sunny spot so it can grow algae. Once again, you all have saved the day for me! Tank you! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ranchugirl 17 Posted July 17, 2005 Good for you, you found the anacharis! I would definetely pick off all the snails you see, and then wait for some more to appear. Those are nothing but pest snails, and if just one makes it into your tank, it'll multiply like weed. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maniacholic 1 Posted July 17, 2005 ... 4 months, wouldn't the fry be atleast 1 inch by now? I don't think micro-organisms are substantial after they become 1 inch... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest yabbie Posted July 17, 2005 (edited) It isn't really and it is a bit of a risk that Manini has to decide upon. This is what I see: 3.5 days. Manini will be back on the last half day. So that only leaves 3 days. Manini feeds a little extra on the day she leaves which means the fry are only without food for 2 days. In my experience, fry without food for two days is safer than someone coming in everyday and over feeding. I think water quality is more important than food to fry. I would rather see hungry fry than unwell fry. That is the choice I would make but if it sounds wrong to Manini then she should do what she feels comfortable with. On the other hand. Someone overfeeding for three days is probably not going to be able to do too much damage to the water particularly if Manini explains ten times and leaves specific measures of food. Then the fry will be overfed less... but still overfed. It's the duty of all fish minders to overfeed. Nothing in the universe can convince them otherwise. My fry are 18 weeks old and just over an inch and only just starting to nibble at gel food which I leave all day in the bottom of the tank to keep the biggest fry busy. I don't think Manini's are old enough for anything other than liquid or powdered food. They are only ONE month old. Still young enough to eat green stuff off leaves. The petshop block may be too much food and may break down into particles that are too large for fry but it may be worth leaving a tiny portion of that to dissolve. Manini could test a portion in water over a day or two before she leaves. Edited July 17, 2005 by yabbie 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted July 17, 2005 Yes, they are only one month old. What is GEL food? I've been frequenting the fish food aisles of several pet stores, and I don't think I've seen that. When will they be old enough to try it? If it stays at the bottom all day, is it something I should look into? I'm just curious. For now, I'll stick with the anacharis, since I'll only be gone for a long weekend. And it's true, everyone who sees my fish (not the fry) tell me "they look hungry. shouldn't you feed them?" Even when I just fed them, and they're sorta picking at the bottom. If I get someone to feed them, they'll probably end up dropping food in every 5 minutes until they bloat! Either that, or they'll entirely forget to come over. So I don't think I can't trust anyone out here to do it. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ranchugirl 17 Posted July 18, 2005 Well, gel food is actually food that we all cook up ourselves in our kitchens. There are quite a few receipes on top of the food section - and once the block of food is cooled down and hardened from the gelatine, all we ever do is cut it in cube sized pieces and feed it to our fish. The rest of it goes either into the fridge or the freezer, depending on how much we made. Yabbie is probably right - a couple of days won't do much harm to the little guys, and is safer than somebody dumping loads of food in there because the fish "look hungry and beg all the time".... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest manini Posted August 6, 2005 Hi everyone who reads this! I'm back from my little road trip (actually had to leave town for a wedding - not my wedding, but, whatever). and... I'm happy to report that all 4 fish (they're 6 weeks old now, are they still considered fry?) are doing fine!!! The anacharis, on the other hand, has been completely wiped out. There're a couple stray leaves here and there. When I got home, one of the fish had a poopie hanging down, so I'm assuming that the plant lasted long enough. I think I'll go out and buy more plants. Looked cool (while it lasted) and I read up on how to care for them, and the benefits they can provide. Thank you thank you thank you everyone!!! You've given me great support and advice. Much mahalo! -manini 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tazz Knight 1 Posted August 7, 2005 my fry ate of the algea that was graoing on the walls as well as the algae on the plants they hatched from. I think that they will be okay if you have them enough things to nibble on 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
