Fry problem in planted tanks (the $2 solution)

[Wulfonce]

Anyone who has a planted tank with live bearers may know what I'm talking about...

I started out with 5 female pineapple swords and 1 male. About 4 months later I have 200+ fry that I cant catch due to the heavy plant growth. I cut the top off a 2L pop bottle, flipped it around, and slid it into it's base, to make a primitive fish trap. No glue required, just slide it in and the slight diameter difference is enough to pressure fit it in place. I tucked the end into the heavy plant growth, where the fry like to hide. It works! I'm catching about 20 fry an hour. I'm not even baiting the trap, they just get funneled in on there own. Then I just pick the trap out and dump it into my 20gal grow out. The system works!

Check it out!

There's a lot of plant debris in the growout from netting, that I'm still trying to clean out. The small HOB filter wont suck it up because I have the intake wrapped in poly fiber. Give it a few more days, It'll be clean

 

[hamster]

That's pretty cool.

 

[IndovinaVI]

yup- had my share of breeding.. live bearers were the worst of them- with all the rock and plants it was damn near impossible. Went to an all male cichlid tank now..


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[sunfishh]

Brillant idea!!!

 

[zappyitaliano]

siphon the tank through a fish net into a bucket. All the babies will be caught in the fish net which you can then separate elsewhere. Then just pour the water back into the main fish tanks and do the process all over again until you have all the babies

 

[MRE]

Pretty clever way to snag the babies. Good idea.

 

[MyGiants]

I usually catch fish I need out in my densely planted tanks at night. After the lights have been off for awhile and the fish are asleep I'll turn on the lights and the fish are still sleeping and I quickly net them out. This method always worked for me.

 

[oscarman2003]

the po bottle method imo is the easiest and the most effective

 

[Pharaoh]

Clever idea. I just can't get the parents to not eat their fry.

 

[Frog111]

My solution has always been to keep a ram cichlid or some other fry predator. Keeps me from being overrun in livebearer fry, I have no interest in saving them, and since I have multiple strains in a tank, the fry are likely even crazier hybrids of strains