HI

I have baby fish that are 2 weeks old got a live plant in with them, (since they hatched), but i think it is starting to die (going brown) should i remove the plant or will it be ok, or will it harm the babys? also my mum wants to top the water level up,will this be ok or should she wait untill they are older? and how can you tell what type they are going to be, got a common goldfish in with fantails, we think the 2 fantails are the females both laying eggs at the same time and the common goldfish is the male as he has been doing the chasing.

Any help will be great.

One of the most important parts of successful fishkeeping is keeping the water in good shape. Adult goldfish are MESSY, dirty fish. They require extraordinary filtration and water changes. Baby goldfish are much the same.

A dead or dying plant only will add more waste to the tank - waste that adds ammonia to the water column. If you have a nitrogen cycle going in the fry tank, that ammonia is eventually changed to nitrate - also not a great thing to have in quantity.

As soon as your fry as horizontal and swimming well, you can raise the level of the water to standard tank depth. Some types of goldfish do not do well in really deep water (greater than 24 inches or so), but they should be fine in less than that.

Feeding the fry well and keeping the water CLEAN are the essentials in goldfish fry raising.

You will most likely have a majority of single tailed fish - but may see a few double tailed.

Hi daryl
thanks for the tips at the moment the fry are swimming around in a two and a half foot tank with about 15inches of water, they seem quiet happy with there living arrangment as my daughter said yesterday i would like to increase the water level but don't want to stress them to much, there seems to be a lot of sediment in the water in which there swimming in also they seem to be eating the algie of the plant and also of the sides of the tank, i want to totaly change the water and clean the tank but i am afraid they will die, as i have never had fry befor this is all new to me also ive only got one tank in which they are now living in would it help to put a filter in? as they have an air stone at the minute.