I still wouldn't let it get outta hand. You should be fine with the sponges filters. Just keep the tank aerated. If your gonna let the algae go crazy... Keep a battery pump incase of power outages. There are plenty of advantages to algae with fry!
Fry tank algae
- Thread starter Beetlebug515
- Start date
I would encourage algae in a fry tank, but not let it overrun.
Great for fry to feed on, not so great as mentioned at night when using oxygen; however with an airstone running that's a great positive.
Good luck with them
Great for fry to feed on, not so great as mentioned at night when using oxygen; however with an airstone running that's a great positive.
Good luck with them
so if you want to do that, why not just set up an algae scrubber?
I have one I'm currently testing on my piranha tank, just an old POS hob filter with some plastic knitting mesh weaved inside and some LED's sitting over top. The mesh is a great place for algae to grow, and encouraging growth in a scrubber doesn't allow for any algae to grow in the tank, its more controllable and you can always just harvest some off the scrubber and toss it in with the fry for some added grazing nutrition.
I have one I'm currently testing on my piranha tank, just an old POS hob filter with some plastic knitting mesh weaved inside and some LED's sitting over top. The mesh is a great place for algae to grow, and encouraging growth in a scrubber doesn't allow for any algae to grow in the tank, its more controllable and you can always just harvest some off the scrubber and toss it in with the fry for some added grazing nutrition.
I always let algae grow in fry tanks, beside the algae itself, the algae encourages the growth of other microorganisms that the fry feed on along with the algae.
The constant supply of grazing seems to make fry grow faster, than if I keep them in sterile conditions. I will also move algae covered wood or rocks into fry tanks, as algae gets used up
above grammodes fry grazing, below ceibal fry grazing algae down to bare spots on a pond liner
free floating algae is also great for fry, I had the tank below outside in the summer and never added any food, all they ate was algae, and daphnia
below, a shot when I pulled them in a fall
parents didn't look bad either
The constant supply of grazing seems to make fry grow faster, than if I keep them in sterile conditions. I will also move algae covered wood or rocks into fry tanks, as algae gets used up
above grammodes fry grazing, below ceibal fry grazing algae down to bare spots on a pond liner
free floating algae is also great for fry, I had the tank below outside in the summer and never added any food, all they ate was algae, and daphnia
below, a shot when I pulled them in a fall
parents didn't look bad either
Algae is great, right now i let algae grow on the back of my goldfish tank as a grazing supplemet between feedings
those dragonfly nymphs didn't kill and eat any of the fish???I always let algae grow in fry tanks, beside the algae itself, the algae encourages the growth of other microorganisms that the fry feed on along with the algae.
The constant supply of grazing seems to make fry grow faster, than if I keep them in sterile conditions. I will also move algae covered wood or rocks into fry tanks, as algae gets used up
above grammodes fry grazing, below ceibal fry grazing algae down to bare spots on a pond liner
free floating algae is also great for fry, I had the tank below outside in the summer and never added any food, all they ate was algae, and daphnia
below, a shot when I pulled them in a fall
parents didn't look bad either
I'm sure the nymphs ate plenty of fry, but I still pulled out hundreds at the end of summer. I figure the nymphs would get the slowest, sick, mutant fry first, leaving the best to survive, and saving me the job of culling.
Update! I ended up losing all of the fry that the algae tank was intended for. Rearing is not one of my strong point yet. After that, I added a 3 inch srd flowerhorn to the tank. As of right now, he's gone 9 days without a water change (doing one this morning) and his Nitrate reads near zero. I tested 3 times just to be sure. This is with 2x per day feedings. The tank looks horrendous, and there's about 6 different algae growing, but it appears to be working. Pics.
I always encourage algea, it's beneficial in many ways and I like the look of it.Many aquarium plants use up oxygen at night,even so called oxygenation plants do this.
I have never had an issue.
The tank below is full of algea and the tank stays stable a healthy.
I have never had an issue.
The tank below is full of algea and the tank stays stable a healthy.
