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Today brought one of these:

A Penn-Plax Small World Filter


Cut it up a bit and removed the carbon and zeolite chamber to be left with just the sponge filter section. did a cut and shut job on the filter holder unit, fitted it all together and adapted the air system with some right angled junctions and a bit more air line hosing and bingo.

A super mini filter, perfect for my fry trap, creates a nice flow plus filters the water in the fry trap, along with the oxygen induction to airate it.

approx 4cm wide x 5cm high x 3cm deep.





Cheers, J

nice one!

What exactly is a fry trap and how does it work? I'M new to this and have 6 zebras in a 40 breeder. I am in the process of buying slate and cutting it on a tile saw so I can silicone it together.

Hi will74!

A fry trap is a container that is either floating or attached inside your tank which becomes a temporary home to fry. There are some premade that you can buy and they are made of clear plastic like the one Jamie24 shows in the photos. The other type of fry trap is made of white mesh. I believe there isn't much of a difference between the two, although I think the clear plastic ones are the more popular kind because you can see right through them and I hear the mesh ones are hard to see through to observe the growth of the fry - also I've heard of fry becoming stuck between the mesh and the plastic frame...I think the mesh kind are really best for livebearers as their fry are much larger and less likely to get themselves stuck.

How it works is that it provides us protectors of fish to observe and watch fry as they mature to a phase when it is safe to release back into the tank or prepare them for their own outgrowth tank. You can also add some decor like small pieces of driftwood or moss to provide hiding spots for the fry to feel safe while still being able to observe their growth. Most of the plastic fry traps have thin slits on the side (as you can see in Jamie24's photos), they are usually really thin - enough to allow water flow through and not have the water become too stagnant (sp?).

Hope that helps!

I digress

Jamie24, that's a really nice piece of work! How did you make the cuts so smooth? I can hardly tell a difference on the green holder of the filter. Can you take a photo of the back for our reference?

Very ingenius!

- Angela

Thanks for the idea Jamie. Looks loads better than just a mini airstone.

NetsuaiAngel wrote:Jamie24, that's a really nice piece of work! How did you make the cuts so smooth? I can hardly tell a difference on the green holder of the filter. Can you take a photo of the back for our reference?

Very ingenius!

- Angela

just used a small modeling hacksaw blade and filed evrything down to make sure of no sharp edges to harm any fry. some of the excess plastic i had left i used to cover the slightly uneaven gap that was created from the join. a few more pics below for you...











J