# How long have my females been holding?



## Shelby1965 (Jul 31, 2020)

How long have my females been holding? I have a relatively new 55, wasnt expecting my females to be holding, I know they are, but is there anyway to tell how long they have been holding, so I know when to move them to a nursery tank or isolate them? Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

No way to know. What you do is watch them eat and the day they stop eating is the day they started holding.

Why not move them now? How many fry tanks will you have...one/female ideally.

You need the nursery tank to be cycled...you can run the nursery tank filter on your established tank for 2 weeks if you have enough time.


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## Shelby1965 (Jul 31, 2020)

Thank you for the reply,
I conveniently have a two week old 55g (that was not going to be used for this purpose, lol) that I have set up with one of the sponge filters from the tank the females are in now to help it cycle.

There are two definitely holding, have been for at least a week, maybe more. I have a nursery, (in their current tank) I'm guessing that it is only good for one female at a time considering the size.(it looked a lot bigger in the picture, lol)
should I get another nursery for the other female? 
Maybe pick up a couple 20g for each one? if so think I could get a 20g cycled in time? I hate buying from petco, but they do have their $1 a gallon sale on right now.

I think I have options, just looking for advice on the best way to proceed.


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## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

Make life easy on yourself: move the holding females into the unoccupied 55. Rock hiding places at each end of the tank, and you should be fine. If you really want to be extra careful, install a tank divider. Good luck. :fish:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Don't use the in-tank nurseries, agree on using the 55G. Do you really want 40 new fish? Choose one to raise and let the other spit in the tank.

If you DO want 40 new fish...yes set up several tanks for various batches/sizes of fry. A couple of 20G tanks will work.


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## Shelby1965 (Jul 31, 2020)

Update, in tank nursery is junk, not enough room for one fish to move around at all. I transferred all three females to 55g tank they spit during the move, made a couple of egg tumblers from old sponge filters and put the eggs in there, going to pick up a couple 20g tanks today start cycle and move the fry into them when they're ready. I appreciate all the information, suggestions, and help, Ill let you know how they turn out,Thank you guys,


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