Raising babies.

I noticed that there are quite a few topics on the net about spawning bristlenose, but not too many on raising fry properly. I have managed to spawn 4 lots of fry but i lost my first 3 lots. My first lot got eaten, my second lot died due to high ph levels, and i thought my third lot would be fine in a fry saver but my angelfish managed to pull them through the netting of the fry saver. *sigh*

I have managed to keep my most recent set of fry for about 2 and a half weeks now. im keeping them in a separate tank which is going to be my fry grow out tank. however i have slowly noticed them decreasing. i think i have only lost about 10 out of 50 so its not that bad but i dont want them to keep dying. The temp is 26 degrees, i have a ph of 7, and im feeding them algea wafers, zuchini, and cucumber which they all eat very happily. The water is very well airated and they are in a 2ft tank with gravel on the bottom. I also change 10% of the water daily with treated tap water. There is also a small plant in their tank.

I was thinking it must be a different water chemistry problem but i dont know how to test these? I have heard the terms Nitrite and Nitrate along with Amonia. Is there test kits i can buy for these? or is there an easy way to make sure all these parameters are correct?
Thanks in advance.
-Zane

Raising fry hey zane? ever seen one of these before?

They work great in small (say 2ft) grow out tank, adding a very small power head also compliments the sponge filter performance as it stirs up a bit of crud and gives it more chance be to sucked in to the sponge. Why am I banging on about filters?-
"Biological bacterias" the best and cheapest way to keep water quality in check , the bios help absorb ammonia,nitrates and nitrites and they do it all for the cost of 0.
A medium to large version will cost about $20 and an even better way for it get working properly is to put it in your main tank( or one that gets dirtiest the quickest) and leave it for 3-6 months( Iknow you want to use it now) and let it develope as much crud on it as possible. Take it out and give the mechanics a wash "not the sponge" and add to your grow out tank, the water should become pretty sweet provided the main tank water quality isn't to far out of good parameters. I hope this gets your mortality rate up a bit.
Oh and never wash the sponge under the tap- use tank water in a bucket to remove the bulk of the crud in it.
J

thank you so much for the reply kurosaki j. I really should have mentioned it but i already use one of those filters. the guy at my local fish shop said i should but i didnt know half the things about it that you just told me . i only got it about a month ago after using a small internal filter and i didnt know that you have to leave it in a big tank to get bacteria. i only have a small one at the moment. the sponge is about 15cm tall and about 12 cm wide. should i invest in a bigger one for my 2foot tank? and also, how do i keep these parameters in check in my big tank as i only have a large internal filter in my 4foot? Im pretty sure it is ok as i havent lost any of my adult fish in over a year, but if the water is better then i imagine they will breed more. Cheers again for the advice.

Sorted -half way there zane with having the filter, you don't have to age it in the bigger tank , it will just develope the bios quicker- more fish, more waste and it sounds weird but you need it (IMO) as the bios feed "from it"(not all of it).
The size sounds about the same size I used, but I'd go for an upsized version for the 4 ftr aswell.
And I don't have a clue about water parameters, I can't remember the last time I had it checked- but the few times I have they all ways come up pretty good:
Good Biological control and a few plants is all Ive used+ no chemical water conditioners and the like( only melafix for scratched fish).
J

The first thing I would try to change would be to get rid of the gravel after the sponge filter is seeded with bacteria. That would improve the water quality. HTH