3,895 answers about fish & aquatics
A healthy aquarium is a balanced one — water chemistry, filtration, stocking and feeding all work together, and most fish problems start with the water. This page gathers the fish and aquatics library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic for freshwater and saltwater keepers alike. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
297 answers in Young Pets — page 13 of 13
Raise betta fry on a strict food ladder matched to mouth size. Fry usually swim freely at about three to four days old and need infusoria or similar microscopic food through roughly the first week, then newly hatched baby brine shrimp from about day five to seven onward, then finely crushed dry food alongside live…
Protect tetra fry by separating eggs from adults from the very start. Spawn a conditioned pair in a small tank over a mesh grid or a thick bed of fine-leaved moss, and remove both adults straight after spawning, since tetras give no parental care and eat eggs and fry readily. Eggs typically hatch within about a day to…
Judge readiness by size against the actual mouths in your community tank, not by age. A fry is ready when it is clearly too deep-bodied and long to fit into the mouth of any adult fish it will live beside, when it feeds boldly in open water instead of hiding, and when it swims strongly against the filter current…
Shrimplets survive early molts when the tank feeds and shelters them without swings. Keep the colony in a mature tank rich in biofilm, moss and leaf litter, and guard every intake with a sponge filter or fine cover so tiny shrimp cannot be drawn in. Match replacement water closely and keep changes small, because a…
Young fish are ready for the main tank when they are too big to fit into the mouth of the largest fish already living there, not simply when they reach a set age. They should also be swimming strongly, holding their fins up, and eating confidently at every meal in their grow-out tank. Move them only when the main tank…
A single betta in a heated, filtered tank of at least five gallons is the simplest good start, with guppies, platies, or a small group of white cloud mountain minnows as lively alternatives in a larger tank. Avoid goldfish, which grow large and make heavy mess, and avoid tiny unfiltered bowls for any fish. An adult…
Baby shrimp feed almost constantly on biofilm, algae, and microscopic organisms growing on plants, wood, and sponge filters, so a mature, planted tank is their first and most important food. Supplement that grazing with tiny amounts of finely powdered shrimp food, crushed leaf litter, or powdered greens scattered…
Give the fry somewhere to hide: adult guppies, including the mother, will eat them, so add fine-leaved plants, move the fry to a breeder box, or net them into a separate tank of main-tank water. Feed tiny foods — crushed flake powdered, baby brine shrimp, or fry food — three or four times a day, and keep up water…
Separate the sexes — that is the only measure that actually stops it. Move all males to another tank or rehome them, because a female guppy can store sperm and keep producing batches of fry for months after her last contact with a male, so numbers will keep rising for a while even after separation. Do not buy a…
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