How to make a DIY Fry Trap For Breeding Aquarium Fish

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How to Make a DIY Fry Trap for Breeding Aquarium Fish

In our previous article How to Raise Baby Fish Fry in Your Aquarium, we mentioned several techniques that help prevent the adult fish from predating on their offspring. DIY fry traps have been used by many fish breeders and fish farms to increase their fry survival rates. These simple enclosures are small enough that the young can swim through, but not large enough to allow the parents to pass. To allow the eggs and fry to escape, you can place all adults or a pregnant female livebearer in the trap. For safety, parents can be placed outside of the trap while the fry can swim within. We’ve provided instructions below for both Cory, our CEO, and Dean, the master breeder.

How to Make Cory’s DIY Fry Trap

1. Gather all the necessary materials. You can usually find most of these items at arts and craft shops. 1. Acrylic yarn 2. Rectangular sheet in plastic craft mesh (size #5 & #7) Circular sheet of plastic mesh canvas (size #5 or #7) 4. Plastic yarn needle that can pass through the mesh holes Scissors 6. 2 binder clips 7. Binder clips 7

1. Use a running stitch to join the ends of the craft mesh. 1. Insert the yarn into the craft mesh with the needle and then pull it through the cylinder. Make sure you pull through enough yarn to complete sewing the entire edge. 2. Pull the remaining yarn through the cylinder by pushing the needle up through the next hole in craft mesh. 3. Continue repeating steps 4a through 4b until all edges are sewn together. Take the yarn ball and tie the ends.

1. Cut the circular mesh canvas so that it fits the bottom of the cylinder.

1. Thread the needle again with yarn and sew the circular canvas to the bottom of the cylinder using a whipstitch. 1. The needle should be inserted into the bottom of the cylinder. Next, angle the needle upwards so that it passes through circular base. Pull the yarn through so you have enough to finish sewing the whole edge. 2. The needle should be inserted through the hole at the base of the cylinder. Pull the yarn through. 3. Repeat step 6b until the entire bottom seam is sewn together. The yarn ball should be cut off. Knot the ends of the yarn together.

1. (Optional) To attract baby fish, make a few spawning mats without the cork. Tie them to the outside of the cylinder. 2. Place the cylinder into the aquarium. To keep it from floating, add gravel or rocks to the container. The cylinder should be tall enough to allow adults to not jump over it.

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How to make Dean’s DIY Fried Trap

1. Gather the materials. Gather the materials. Pond plant basket 1 Scissors

1. Make sure the caulksaver is cut to the right size for the basket. 2. You can reinforce the caulk-saver by pressing it into the basket’s rim. The caulk saver should not fall out. If you wish, you can line the basket rim permanently with 100% silicone sealant. 3. Place the basket in the fish tank. The basket can be placed on the tank rim for a 10-gallon aquarium. A larger aquarium can have the basket floating in the water.

DIY fry trap basket with pregnant female guppies inside

With your new fry trap, the number of fish you breed and raise should increase substantially, so consider selling the extras to your local fish store or directly to hobbyists. Our article, How to Breed Aquarium Fish to Make Profits provides more information.