# How to separate fry?



## Aquarius (Dec 5, 2012)

This is the second time my bolivian rams have hatched their eggs and I have many fry on day 2-3. They are still in the hole dug by the parents but I have seen some escaping and watched the parents pick them up and put them back into the whole. I am guessing that within the next 24 hours the majority will be free-swimming. I was wondering how to separate them, physically. I have a hang-on fry net that I was planning to use as I've already relocated my barbs to the other tank.

I have a large supply of 2.5mL bulb pipettes that I could use but I may have to snip the ends to make the opening larger. I obviously don't want to hurt them. I am also worried the parents may try to eat them if I were to reach in a start sucking them up.

I also have a divider but in order to put it in, I would have to reach in a move some driftwood which, again, will disturb the parents and nest location. Any help would be appreciated. 


I could also just leave the fry at this point but I have a feeling the 2 angels and 2 other bolivian rams would end up making a snack of the little swimmers.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I will bet your angels get them if not seperated.When my kribs were breeding like crazy in my 180 I used the vacumm tube(without funnel part)to reach right in to nooks and tight spaces and sucked them out to bucket,then to be transfered to wherever.If you try this place a couple inches of water in bucket first so the fry don't get slammed into hard surfaces in the beginning.I have many fry tanks and vacumm them all,I have never killed a fry by just vacumming them up,and they get sucked up every time in the smallest(size of fish) fry tank.It takes me longer to find them all in bucket with debris than to do actuall water change.


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## Aquarius (Dec 5, 2012)

Thanks. It's been so long since I've use the manual (bulb) gravel vacuum that I forgot I had it. I'm thinking that I could probably keep the outlet inside the net and literally "collect" them inside the net without actually needing to transfer them into anything else. I might give it a shot once they start swimming.


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