How long can I leave fry in their hatching tank? There are 40-50 I estimate in a tank 60 x 30 with 20cms depth of water. They are about 1.5 - 1.75 cms long. I do a 50% water change with a gravel siphon every 2-3 days and 2 x 1 litre jugs daily. They have two pumps with bubbles and an airstone.
Hope I haven't duplicated the questions.

firstly, dial back the water changes. you will send the tank into a new cycle doing the big 50% changes so often. i do about 25% every 3 days of so with new fry in the tank. and you can leave them in there as long as you want. if you are goin to move them to a grow out tank do it before they hatch (with dad) or wait til they are about 2cms min otherwise the move will kill them. but they will be perfectly fine in the tank with dad til such time as you want to move them.

Thanks. I will cut back on the water changes. They hatched in the 'nursery' tank & dad has gone back to his home tank. I hope they do well they are so cute.

Okay. There's mention of it being alright to leave the fry with dad for as long as...well, tank conditions can be maintained. I'm wondering the opposite. Is dad needed for a certain amount of time to be kept with the fry and what pros and cons would there be to each scenario? There's been mention of eggs getting kicked out and kept in a fry saver, so I'm guessing its possible to raise the eggs/fry without dad, but I'd like a little more discussion, if you will, please. Thanks.

for starters

http://www.bristlenoseworld.com/the-breeding-cave-f8/where-to-raise-fry-t1878.htm

http://www.bristlenoseworld.com/the-breeding-cave-f8/remove-or-not-remove-t2079.htm

lots more threads like them, they are just two of the more recent ones.

It is ok to take the babies away from dad at any stage, from egg to fry but unless you have a good reason for doing so i wouldnt. Simply you will not be as good a dad as he will be. hatching rates are always higher with dad rather than in a tumbler etc. plus there are the benifits of bacteria from poo...though this can come from any mature bristlenose poo.

if you want a discussion on the issue then start a new thread.

great info on this post but i have a couple of questions and I hope i am not repeating any...

Where would i be able to find a fry saver, i have looked on a lot of websites but can't find anything, and i don't think i should try and make one, I have seen someone use an old seive before, is that OK?
I think if was going to start breeding bristlenoses a fry saver would be essential from what i have read about fry being kicked out of the cave by the male, or if he kicked them out too early.

Also, how would i go about moving the male, cave and eggs to a grow out tank? this is a little difficult for me to understand. OR would i just move the eggs in the cave and have an air stone or pump next to the entrance, sorry if any of this sounds silly or has been answered already. One last question, what would be a good sized size grow out tank?
Thanks, any help appreciated

James

This is my experience.
I have now had about 5 spawns and have wanted to save these so I left dad with the eggs in my main tank for about a week and then moved him over to a smaller tank (fully cycled) with his eggs.
I did this by putting a large transparent food container next to him and moving his cave with him in it to the container and then putting the container in the new tank very carefully and lifting the cave out. I keep a lid handy to cover the container just in case he jumps in transit!
He didn't move and stayed with the fry for another week. I left him there until all the fry were out the cave and then replaced him in the big tank. He didn't kick any eggs out but TBH there are so many you will be inundated with baby fish. I would only be concerned about this if it was a rare type of BN.
On one occasion dad left the eggs and another male BN took over and when I moved him to the nursery tank he left the eggs so I put an airstone in the entrance and this seemed to work quite well.
I try to place my caves so that I can see into them if necessary.
Dad is with eggs again but I will leave these in the big tank to take their chance as I have saturated the local market with albinos and common browns and still have some quite large ones to go yet. He produces 50-100 every 5-6 weeks. I doubt many, if any, will survive as there are some zebra loaches in the tank with huge appetites for fry.

Good luck with yours.

June

thanks june, this is valued information

I will try to buy a grow out tank since it is my birthday coming up, and i have a freind who is willing to give me one of his females...the food container idea is very good, if i don't manage to buy another tank will they breed in my community tank?

More importantly, will a featherfin catfish eat eggs or fry that were kicked out prematurely? this shouldn't be a problem as it will be a few more months before my male BN is ready to breed...and by that time i should have another tank but i would like to make sure

Thanks for the help

James

They will breed in your community tank given the correct conditions.

I would imagine that your Featherfin will eat eggs and small fry given the chance, young fry will also be taken by some of the other fish you.

It's possible to make your own fry savers have a look HERE. If you have a look around you should find more ideas for DIY ones.

thanks for the heads up jim, good website but i think i will try to get a small tank for the fry, will 30-40 litres be OK?

OK jim, thanks,

if i was to get a smaller tank (30-40 litres) i think it would only be temporary. I would probably sell the fry on here or give them to the LFS, i hope to soon get a 6 foot tank, at this point i could use the 180L tank i have as a community tank now for the fry

wow this is an awesome post i have been reading everything

about filtering is a sponge filter ok with an additional airstone?