The story is this I have a 5 gallon tank, I had 4 Wag Platy. Hubby got me a new 10 gallon tank for Christmas so I set it up and moved the fish out in the the new tank only to discover 14 little baby fish... how can i move them? or how do i filter the water with them? they are so small I am afraid the water vacuum would catch em and kill them...
Just a warning, once inseminated, platy have a nasty little habit of continually giving birth. Even if seperated from the males, the female can hold onto the sperm for a while. I had one in a 50 gallon. She was a gift. She probably had about 50 babies in the month I had her, at least those are the ones that survived long enough for me to catch them. The fish store she was purchased at was all too happy to take her back along with her babies.
She was the first fish in the tank, I guess she was trying to save me some money by populating it herself, lol.
Lol, I have moved babies in the past I used nets (took soooo long, but works)
I never had problems with filters, but she was saving your money,callmeconfused, lol.
This is what I did I found over 50 danio babies in the unused, and no longer on (filtered, lighting, nothing!) tank after I rehomed the danios!! So, I sucked them up with the tube of a gravel siphon (or, the hose for bubblers!), acclimated them to the filtered tank, added them...
As for the filter, an aquarium sponge is generally cheap. I got a big one for 8.... With scissors cut a hole halfway through the middle, then slide onto the filter. and presto! A makeshift sponge filter without making an entirely new filter
Yeah, if you use the siphon hose, just suck them up, they go for a ride and end up in a bucket. If you can suck them up with a minimum of water, it might be easier to cup or net them.
Second the sponge filter. Not only is it safe, but after a few weeks, it grows microorganisms that your platy babies can eat so you may see them picking away at the filter.
Ooo! there is also baby food for that small of fry... it's like pellets, but made for small fry - a step up from powdered food, personally. If you want them to live, that can work :) otherwise they'll forage on the bottom, on live plants, microorganisms like infusoria... etc... which I have done with some small fry breeds
Would those super tiny New Life Spectrum Small Fish pellets work for guppy fry? Personally, I fed mine frozen baby brine shrimp and Hikari First Bites (not using First Bites again).
Oh man I wish I got some of this a long time ago when I had like 50 babies.. That was years ago. I just fed them flakes, lol! I have four babies currently, still feed them flakes.