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Thread: Raising fry in a shoe box

  1. #1
    Registered Member John_Nicholson's Avatar
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    Default Raising fry in a shoe box

    I got an pm today asking about artificially raising fry. I have posted this before in the past but decided I would do it again.

    First build a shoe box. It is a plastic box that floats. I use PVC to float it but you can use anything you want. On one end put a lift tube with an air line. That will bring in fresh water. On the other end cut a hole large enough to let the water back out and glue netting over it. I normally do a square that is about 2" by 3" and hot glue down a piece of old fish net. I make sue all of the edges are covered in glue so that the fry cannot get caught in it. Here is a rough pic of it.



    You can put this in a 75 gallon tank. It keeps the fry confined to a small area but they have the total water volume of 75 gallons. When you feed use fresh hatched BBS. Feed twice a day and feed super heavy. The key to this thing is to feed so heavily that the fry cannot swim without hitting some BBS. The extra BBS will eventually get pushed through the net and into the bigger tank.

    It is real simply and has been used for a long, long time. I still think it is best to be patient and let the pair work it out, but if you have to go the artificial route the one above works well and anyone can do it. Once the first batch is a couple of weeks old you turn them loose in the 75 and put a new batch in the box. The older fry will eat the extra BBS that pass through the box.

    -john
    Please check out http://forum.discusnada.org/

    SOS Crew Texas

  2. #2
    Registered Member John_Nicholson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Clicking the pic will take you yo photobucket where you can enlarge it some.

    -john
    Please check out http://forum.discusnada.org/

    SOS Crew Texas

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    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Nice design John and thanks for posting it.
    Grasshopper
    Francis

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    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    good stuff John. TFS

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


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  5. #5
    Registered Member John_Nicholson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Here are a couple of poor pics that I took last night in an angelfish grow out tank.

    -john



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    SOS Crew Texas

  6. #6
    Registered Member Allwin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Like it..
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Allwin

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    Thumbs up Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Quote Originally Posted by John_Nicholson View Post
    I got an pm today asking about artificially raising fry. I have posted this before in the past but decided I would do it again.

    First build a shoe box. It is a plastic box that floats. I use PVC to float it but you can use anything you want. On one end put a lift tube with an air line. That will bring in fresh water. On the other end cut a hole large enough to let the water back out and glue netting over it. I normally do a square that is about 2" by 3" and hot glue down a piece of old fish net. I make sue all of the edges are covered in glue so that the fry cannot get caught in it. Here is a rough pic of it.



    You can put this in a 75 gallon tank. It keeps the fry confined to a small area but they have the total water volume of 75 gallons. When you feed use fresh hatched BBS. Feed twice a day and feed super heavy. The key to this thing is to feed so heavily that the fry cannot swim without hitting some BBS. The extra BBS will eventually get pushed through the net and into the bigger tank.

    It is real simply and has been used for a long, long time. I still think it is best to be patient and let the pair work it out, but if you have to go the artificial route the one above works well and anyone can do it. Once the first batch is a couple of weeks old you turn them loose in the 75 and put a new batch in the box. The older fry will eat the extra BBS that pass through the box.

    -john
    Thank you John for your post,
    I am new at breeding discuss. I have had 3 sets of eggs and so far they have been eaten by the parents. The third time the eggs made it almost to maturity. I am hoping that the parents will stop eating them soon. I have read that it is common.
    Anyways i copied your design and i am saving it for later.
    I am hopeful!

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    I used to use a shoebox system described as above by John. However, if you do same, and have your shoebox floating in large tank containing large discus, beware that at times the large discus will bite into the fine mesh netting glued over the hole in shoebox, attempting to eat the young fry inside the shoebox, often killing some of them, so do what you need to do to prevent this from happening. Eventually, I came to use coffee filters within the shoe box, as described on this site, under "artificially rearing made easy," by Big Tuck, a Canadian. I successfully used such a system back in the 1970s, almost identical to what Big Tuck described as being used by him.

  9. #9
    Registered Member John_Nicholson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    I have used the shoe box methods for at least 20 years and have never had an issue with fry being killed from outside the net. In fact I do not see how there would be any chance for it to happen.

    -john
    Please check out http://forum.discusnada.org/

    SOS Crew Texas

  10. #10
    Registered Member daffyfish's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Looks like a great solution, when you have to pull angel fish fry. I usually let them parent raise. But, sometimes they start a second spawn, too soon. Thanks for the posting.

  11. #11
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Great information John my red melon pair have a good batch of fry this time but wiggles not be able to attach to the parent. Sadly see them slowly die

  12. #12
    Homesteader DiscusLoverJeff's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    I want to thank John for his design and help.

    I recently sold a pair of Snow Leopards but the day before sending them on their way, they left me a present of a clutch of eggs. So not sure if they were fertile, I came home from work the other day and had about 30 wigglers attached to the cone. So with no parents around, I decided to look for some tips on artificially raising them. I remembered this thread John posted and thought I should try and build this.

    Not having the plastic box John suggested, I looked around by countless fish items and remembered I had a blackworm keeper. So I thought this would work. Here is the result.





    Here is a picture of the fry in their new home.



    Thanks John!

    Jeff
    DiscusLoverJeff

    Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
    Confucius

  13. #13
    Registered Member John_Nicholson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Good luck and remember you have to really, really over feed the first few days. To the point that they cannot swim without hitting some BBS.

    -john
    Please check out http://forum.discusnada.org/

    SOS Crew Texas

  14. #14
    Homesteader DiscusLoverJeff's Avatar
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Have two batches of BBS going now!
    DiscusLoverJeff

    Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
    Confucius

  15. #15
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    Default Re: Raising fry in a shoe box

    Quote Originally Posted by John_Nicholson View Post
    Good luck and remember you have to really, really over feed the first few days. To the point that they cannot swim without hitting some BBS.

    -john
    Thanks John a great post I know it's an old posting now , but do you just use normal BS eggs as I cannot get San francisco bay brine shrimp many thanks

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