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 9 of 13
Baby amano shrimp cannot be raised the way most home shrimp babies are: the females carry eggs, but the newly hatched young are tiny drifting larvae that need brackish water and microscopic plankton food, so almost none survive in a freshwater community tank. In practice, home care means keeping berried females…
A baby siamese algae eater needs more than the algae its name promises: juveniles graze soft algae along leaves and glass, but they grow properly only when you add sinking wafers, blanched vegetables and small meaty foods to the menu. Give the youngsters a long tank with swimming room, plant cover to retreat into and…
Baby cherry shrimp, called shrimplets, arrive as fully formed miniatures that graze biofilm from their first hour, so the kindest nursery is a mature, stable tank rather than a freshly set-up one. Feed powdered shrimp food or finely crushed algae food in pinches small enough to vanish, keep a sponge over any filter…
Baby pearl gouramis come from a bubble nest tended by their father, and the fry that rise from it are dust-small, needing infusoria and a tank surface left almost still. Keep a tight cover over the water so the air above stays warm and humid while the youngsters' breathing organ develops, run only a gentle sponge…
Caring for a baby kuhli loach means thinking like a fish that lives hidden: give the youngsters deep, soft sand to burrow into, leaf litter and low cover to shelter under, and food that sinks to the bottom after the lights dim. Young kuhlis are slender, shy and easily outcompeted, so target-feed them finely crumbled…
Baby bristlenose plecos care for themselves in one way and need you in another: once the male releases them from his cave, the fry graze biofilm and driftwood all day, yet that grazing alone will not grow them well. Keep a piece of driftwood in the tank at all times, offer blanched zucchini or green beans weighted to…
Baby harlequin rasboras need softer, gentler conditions than their hardy parents suggest, starting with water that stays soft and slightly acidic in a quiet, dim grow-out tank. Their fry are exceptionally small, so begin with infusoria or liquid fry food offered little and often, and graduate to baby brine shrimp only…
Caring for baby zebra danios starts with food small enough for fry that can barely be seen against the glass. For the opening days after they begin swimming on their own, offer cultured infusoria or liquid fry food, then move to newly hatched baby brine shrimp and finely powdered fry food as their mouths grow. Keep…
Care for a baby corydoras by keeping it on soft sand or smooth fine substrate that protects its delicate barbels, feeding sinking foods it can actually reach, and holding the water warm, clean, and well oxygenated. Cory fry and juveniles graze along the bottom, so powdered food, crushed sinking wafers, and micro worms…
Care for a baby angelfish by keeping it in warm, stable, gently moving water with vertical space and plant cover, feeding small live or finely sized protein foods several times daily, and protecting it from nippy or much larger tankmates. Young angels grow tall rather than just long, so depth and calm matter, and…
Care for a baby guppy by keeping it in warm, clean, gently filtered water with plant cover, feeding tiny protein-rich meals several times a day, and separating it from adult fish that would eat it until it is too large to be prey. Powdered fry food, finely crushed flake, and baby brine shrimp suit a guppy fry mouth,…
Care for a baby goldfish by giving it far more room and filtration than its current size suggests, feeding small meals of suitable fry or crushed food several times a day, and changing water regularly to keep pace with a messy, fast-growing fish. Keep the water well oxygenated, avoid tiny bowls entirely, and plan…
Care for a baby betta by keeping it warm in a filtered, cycled tank with very gentle flow, feeding it small protein-rich meals several times daily, and changing part of the water regularly so growth never stalls in dirty water. Give it soft plants and resting spots near the surface, keep it without tankmates while it…
Set your just-bought baby betta up in a warm, filtered, cycled tank with gentle flow and soft cover, acclimate it slowly from the shop cup or bag, and feed small meals of tiny, protein-rich food several times a day once it settles. Keep the water clean with regular partial changes, watch that fins and appetite develop…
Protect baby shrimp by giving them dense cover they can vanish into — moss, fine-leaved plants, and leaf litter — and by guarding the filter intake with a fine sponge so shrimplets are not drawn in. Check your tankmate list honestly, since many community fish treat a newborn shrimp as live food, and move either the…
Acclimate tiny young fish slowly by floating their sealed bag to equalize temperature, then adding small amounts of your tank water to the bag over a long, unhurried period so chemistry changes gradually instead of all at once. Keep the room and tank lights dim, open the bag only when you are ready to begin, and…
Ask how old the young fish are, what they are eating right now and how often, and what water parameters they are being kept in so you can match or gently bridge the difference at home. Ask how long the batch has been in the shop, whether the fish have been treated or quarantined, and whether you can watch them feed…
Move juveniles once the new grow-out tank is fully cycled, matched in temperature and pH to the nursery, and set up with gentle filtration and hiding cover already in place. Catch the young fish in a soft net or a submerged cup rather than chasing them around decor, float or drip them into the new water gradually, and…
Young fish should get their first full set of water checks as soon as they are settled in the nursery or grow-out tank, not after weeks of guessing, and sooner still if they came from a shop bag into a newly prepared setup. Test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH together, then repeat on a regular rhythm while the…
Keep one log per batch rather than one per tank, and give each batch a simple label tied to its parents or source and the day the fry appeared or arrived. For every entry, note the current count, the food offered and how eagerly it was taken, any water change, and one size observation measured against a ruler held…
You hatch baby brine shrimp by floating their dry cysts in warm, strongly aerated salt water under light for about a day, then harvesting the orange nauplii that gather toward a light source. Use a simple cone or bottle hatchery, keep the water moving so cysts do not settle, and rinse the harvested shrimp before…
In outline, raise baby corydoras by moving their sticky eggs away from the adults, hatching them in shallow, gently aerated water, and feeding the fry tiny live and powdered foods once their yolk sacs are gone. Adults will eat their own eggs, so scrape eggs from the glass or lift the leaf they are stuck to into a…
Fry can join the adults when they are too large to fit in the biggest adult's mouth, can compete for food at feeding time, and are strong enough swimmers to handle the main tank's filter flow. For many small livebearers that point arrives at several weeks old, but size matters more than age, so compare the fry's body…
Young snails build new shell almost constantly at the growing edge, so they need calcium coming from both directions: mineral-rich water they can absorb through the body, and calcium-rich food they actually eat. Keep the water on the neutral to slightly alkaline side, add a plain calcium source such as a cuttlebone…
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