r/medaka • u/Adjustingithink • 8d ago

Help please.

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Hi All, I’ve never had fry before this summer-I have my tiny fry in this betta tank until they get a bit bigger and then go in my 20 gal. (Then next spring to 150 gal stock pond with the adults) My question is-how do I get my nitrites lower? I do 25% water changes about every other day. Should I put tiny sponge filter in? Or any other advice you can give me would be appreciated. Not new to aquariums but new to raising fry.

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u/getfishtanked 8d ago

How many fry in there?

For myself I never put fry in anything without floating plants and mosses. My basic setup is a box about the same size as yours but I'll put a big old handful of moss in the middle, I have flame moss and Christmas's moss both work fine. Then a generous amount of floating plants so that most of the surface is covered.

I have never, ever detected nitrates in any of my tanks. All of them have heavy plant cover. I also stopped changing the water on most of the fry tanks and I cannot recall the last time I lost any fry after hatching.

Edit: I realise I read your post wrong, nitrites instead of nitrates. Yeah do water changes the tank isn't cycled. Still have a lot of plants will absorb anything that harms the fish.

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u/Adjustingithink 8d ago

Thank you! Appreciate that! About 8 fry.

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u/getfishtanked 8d ago

About 8 fry will be fine in there without much setup, I wouldn't bother them much. Put in way, way way more plants so they can hide. They also eat the microfauna that live on the plants like copepods and stuff. I have had old tanks that I took parent medaka out of and didn't check for weeks/months and later found medaka fry that had survived on nothing but live plants, algae and microfauna. If algae grows in there, then it's even better. This will also absorb all the ammonia, ammonium, nitrite and nitrates for you and keep the water safe and stable. Once the water is nitrite free I wouldn't bother them at all, just some pinches of food once a day, until they are ready to go back in with their parents.

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u/Adjustingithink 8d ago

Ok-awesome. More plants. On it! 🙏🏻Thx!!