# How long does it take to grow out fry?



## shaguars7

In peoples experience how long does it take to grow fry out to around 1.5"
I know it will vary between species but most of the fish i have will top out at 5 inches....yellow labs is an example.
second what kind of things do people do to get better results for this..ie water change regime and feeding regime.
last question. obviously the newly released fry or freshly stripped fry cannot go into a tank with bigger fry so my question is if you have 2 fry tanks...one for brand new fry and one for larger fry...when do people introduce the newer fry to the more established ones.? Because i am guessing 1 inch fry will eat fry a week old.
Thanks for responses


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## ladybugzcrunch

It takes quite a long time to grow out fry. Yes, it is variable between species. My yellow labs seem to take the longest, but I have them in a mixed fry tank with more aggressive species. Clean water, multiple smaller feedings per day, a large tank, and higher temperature will increase growth rates. New fry up to about 10 days should be in a tank of their own. After that, I would not mix fry that were and more than 1/2 the size of the largest existing fry as they will be out competed for food. With only two fry tanks you will not be able to keep every batch of fry, not even close, if you want a large number to survive and grow quickly.


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## GaFishMan1181

I notice the size of the tank and how often you feed them to be the biggest factors for me. For example my parents have a 55g tank at their house and i had a lot of extra fry. So i put some in their tank. My fry were in a 20g tall. Within 2-3 months the fry i put in the 55g were 3x bigger than the fry i had. The reasons were the larger tank size and my dad feeds the fish alot. ALOT.. I am always telling him he is overfeeding but he doesnt seem to care. Also i am not always able to get to their house to change the water as much as i would like. I changed the water 2x-3x as much in my 20g fry tank compared to my dad's 55g. Also i do not feed my fish as much as he does.

So i would say tank size and how often you feed them.

Alot of people will say water changes which i agree makes the fish happier and grow faster but the water changes alone doesn't make up for tank size and how much you feed them in my opinion. Dont slack on water changes though because that is obviously one of the most important things to make your fish happy and healthy.


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## shaguars7

so it is safe to say that if you had 3 fry tanks and bumped each one up it would be ideal..
ex...tank #1 10 gallon-for under 1 month fry.
tank#2 20 long or 29-for half inch to 1 inch fry
Tank#3 38-for 1 inch and up..well till get sold or put in adult tanks...
Does this seem ideal? i have all of those tanks empty so that chain if good could be setup.


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## GaFishMan1181

Yeah that will work. Very similar to my set up.

10g for newborns. 
20g long for when i have new fry to put into the 10g (i dont mix fry if they were born more than a week apart)
30g tank- anything over 1"

I use the word born loosly (i consider them born when i strip them).


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