# Using a siphon to transfer small fry???



## fishlids (May 5, 2007)

I have heard many people say that the best way to transfer small fry is to remove them from the tank using a siphon to suck them up. So I tried it with my small fry and ended up killing almost every single one of them  ! Is there a special technique to siphoning them? Please help fast, my fish are about to lay eggs soon and I don't want to screw up again.

Thanks


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

I use a turkey baster myself. You just have to be really slow with the squeeze bulb. But I find if the fry are free swimming one of the white nylon brine shrimp nets work best.

Andy


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

Depending on the age of the fry the siphon can be fairly traumatic. Try get as slow a suction as possible (but still maintain a siphon obviously) and make sure the other end is as close to the water line as possible. It seems the death occurs most often with the potentially violent deposit into the the other container, et.c


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## fishlids (May 5, 2007)

The Siphon tube is pretty long. does it hurt them to be going through such a long tube before into the container?


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

My experience was a long tube. I also made the mistake of not filling up a container with existing tank water and just siphoning them into it. Classic acclimation mistake. I am not sure about the length. What I will try next time is a slower flow. I think I gave mine too much of a "rapid river ride".


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## fishlids (May 5, 2007)

So I usually use 5 gallon buckets when siphoning. Should I fill the bucket to like 4 gallons, then start siphoning fry? I understand that with the force of the water, the fish will be thrown to the bottom, resulting in their death.


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## wilpir (Jan 30, 2006)

Just sucked out 250 Honduran Red Points out of my 125...no issues...straight into a 5g bucket..maybe 1 or 2 died..the hose I use is 3/4 inch..just sucked up the school of free swimmers, took all of 30 seconds..Wilpir :thumb:


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## wilpir (Jan 30, 2006)

Just sucked out 250 Honduran Red Points out of my 125...no issues...straight into a 5g bucket..maybe 1 or 2 died..the hose I use is 3/4 inch..just sucked up the school of free swimmers, took all of 30 seconds..Wilpir :thumb:


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

My fry siphoning approach:

Take a one gallon container (I use plastic ice tea pitchers)â€¦

I use 3/8 ID hoseâ€¦ about 3~4â€™ longâ€¦

I start a siphon from the tank to the pitcherâ€¦

At this point I can control the speed of the siphon by raising or lowering the pitcher. If I raise the pitcher above the surface of the aquarium the siphon reversesâ€¦

With my left hand I hold the hose in the pitcher and raise/lower the pitcherâ€¦ With my right hand I aim the hose at the fryâ€¦

Whenever you need a break either plug the end of the hose with a finger or just raise the pitcher so the water levels are about even. When the pitcher gets too much water you can raise it above the tankâ€™s water surface and return some water back to the tank (the fry will fall to the bottom and cluster as soon as the current in the pitcher allows them to).

This is the method I use to pull my fry their first day free swimmingâ€¦ I rarely if ever notice dead fry after doing this (at least after I got the process down solid).


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## clgkag (Mar 22, 2008)

If you have a sump, I just siphon my fry into the sump. That way you don't have to worry about acclimation.


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2008)

When I strip eggs or recently hatched fry from the mothers mouth I use a turkey baster to transfer the fry from the bowl or bucket I released them in into the egg tumbler. If they are big enough to swim against the currents of my filters I add them using a net into my fry tanks.

I never tried using a turkey baster on anything larger than the fish eggs or recently hatched fry. Like the others said be gentle when doing it, you don't want to "squirt" the water w/ eggs out but rather gently squeeze so that the water pours out from the baster.

Personally I don't like the idea of using a siphon. Really I'd just use a net...

~Ed


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## fishlids (May 5, 2007)

I appreciate the help, thanks


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