# How to do Water changes for fries



## datboyhieu (May 28, 2011)

i just recently killed all my baby hm fries = ( by doing a water change i did a 20% water changed and they just died when i woke up the next day i was just depressed but im in need to help anyone i nvr had good spawn b4 that grew up and lasted longer then a month and they nvr get that big when i compare them other ppls fries = ( any help


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

We need more information about your set up before giving advice.

What temperature is your water? 
What size is your tank and how much water is in the tank?
Do you age your water?
Do you use a conditioner?
At what point after the fry hatch do you start water changes?
What kinds of food do you feed and how often?
What is the temperature of the water when you add it back to the tank?
How fast do you add the water to the tank?


There are many factors that can cause a spawn that age to die off, including poor water quality and poor nutrition. As to why your fry don't seem as big as others there are 3 factors that determine how fast fry grow. One is temperature, the temperature should be above 82* but no more than 84-86*F for optimum growth. The second is water quality, daily water changes are a must and for the best growth you should do as close to 100% changes as you possibly can without injuring the fry. Food and wastes must be sucked up from the bottom of the tank daily or even twice daily. The last factor is food. Fry need to be fed a lot of good live foods like the ones listed in the Fry Foods Thread. Fry should always look very full. You can see pictures of what a full fry looks like, they look like they swallowed a tiny marble.


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## datboyhieu (May 28, 2011)

my water temp is 82 to 83 my tank is a 10 g tank but i fill it up to 4-6 inches of water in it so looking at bout maybe 3 or 4 g in the tank and not really age my water but i do use IAL i boil bout 2 leaves then pour it in with the water but thats b4 i put the bettas in and when the fries hatch i water change after bout 1 and a half mayb 2 weeks i used bbs and i feed them onces in the morning b4 work and night time when i go to bed but when it comes to changing water i kinda add it medium not to fast but not to slow. and the temp goes to 75-79 ish around there when i add the water but then it goes back up to 83 or 84


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

One fry are free swiming, you want to start slowly filling the tank all the way full. Once it is full, you want (as 1F2F said) to start doing massive water changes 90plus% if possible daily. When you did your water change, you must make sure to heat the water going in to the same temperature as the water in the tank to avoid shock.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Here's what I do.

3 days after the fry are free swimming I begin to feed. At this time I also begin to slowly add water. I first heat the water in a separate bucket and then slowly add it via a drip. This is very time consuming but it eliminates stress on the fry due to fast moving currents and temperature shock.

After 7-10 days from hatch I begin siphoning the bottom of the tank very carefully. This usually takes me about an hour because I have to be meticulous to not suck up any fry and to put any fry I do suck up back in the tank before dumping out the water. Again I heat the water prior to adding it to the tank and add it back in via drip.

At this point I'm only doing about 25% water changes daily, at most. Mostly I am just siphoning the bottom to keep it clear of debris.

At 2 weeks old I begin doing larger water changes, about 50-75%. Again heating the water first and slowly adding it in.

Once the fry are big enough to see clearly (3-4 weeks) I start doing massive 90% water changes daily or every other day.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I think the shock of the temperature change killed them. Going from 82 down to 76 and then back up again is pretty drastic for baby fish. Like the others said, make sure the temperatures are the same between the old and new water.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Also, water changes help eliminate the growth stunting hormone that fry produce.


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## datboyhieu (May 28, 2011)

yea i heard that but man thats y i really wanna try to have a really good spawn = ( and so i can sell just to have a lil xtra money lol...i wanna see wat my babies gonna turn out to b like its a copper red hmpk with a cambodian female ct


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## BettaBetty (May 1, 2011)

*Me too...*

I killed my batch of fry with a water change as well. All but 1 lone fry! Who BTW is doing fabulous.

Sorry for your loss! Keep on trying! Just want to add, breeding animals is hard, and expensive. The chance of you making profit is unlikely. Unless of course you do it on a LARGE scale with fish (good quality animals) that everyone wants.

Good luck!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Yeah I want to second that. If your breeding the right way your are not going to make any money. If your lucky you'll break even on what you spent on the fish, foods, supplies, etc.

HMPK crossed with CT is going to give you all long finned fish, most likely deltas, possibly halfmoons but very unlikely. They're also going to have varying degrees of web reduction which will give their fins a tattered appearance. It will most likely be hard to sell the fry unless you work out a deal with a local pet shop and usually then you get very little money or store credit for your hours of work.

If you keep breeding more generations eventually you'll get some nice fins if you work hard and learn what to look for and how to pick the best from the spawn.


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