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What is the reason that we use fry traps as opposed to just leaving the baby plecos in the tank? Im guessing that it would be to prevent them from being eaten, but Ive read a few articles about people not having any problems like that and they just leave the fry in the tank. Is it so they have a better chance at their food?

Thanks,
Patrick

It entirely depends on what else is in the tank - if you have no fish that will predate on the fry, then there is much less reason to keep them in a fry trap.

Some people also feel that they have more control over what happens to the fry if they are kept in one place, and can ensure the fry gets the food intended for the fry, rather than some other fishes eating the food.

I lost my first ever brood of bristlenose fry to a "predator" goldfish that was in the same tank... I moved the goldfish to another tank to avoid a repeat of that particular problem.

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Mats

I agree with Mats!

It is also convenient if you know your planning on moving them to a grow out tank as they are all right there. You don't have to tear the tank apart later to collect the fry.

It is also easier to take pictures of the fry and watch their development

It's easier to keep track of brood size and loss ratio if your into that stuff

If you have multiple breeding pairs you can separate the fry from different males

Males often reproduce more quickly if you remove the young sooner than what they would if they left on their own

Having said that I quite often leave them in the tank. But I do sometimes use fry traps for the above reasons or because a male might have kicked a group of eggs out of the cave and I don't trust them out in the open like that so I'll put them in a trap.

PlecoCrazy wrote: Having said that I quite often leave them in the tank. But I do sometimes use fry traps for the above reasons or because a male might have kicked a group of eggs out of the cave and I don't trust them out in the open like that so I'll put them in a trap.

and plus if that happens, the eggs will probably die because maybe a female in the tank might get close enough to the eggs and eat them if they get kicked otu and eggs also need circulation

but it really depnds tank size and what other fish are in there-usually with fry savers i say its more annoying cleaning up there popp while doing the big tank but that means the babies will also have a higher success rate-but i havent bred plecos before but my first batch of cory eggs fell out of the home made (dodgy fry saver) but the eggs survived the whole time and i have a few miniture versions of cory's around my tank and in never noticed them before until they fully grown!!!

Hi
I have my fry in the fry trap at the moment because the alpha male is killing the fry as soon as they hatch,he used to look after them and did a very good job,now he does this I don't know why but does.
Now all fry hatch after removing them,I remove them the day before they are due to hatch.
But hope when they have a longish break will try the fry with him again.

Jerry