Mysterious fry appear in tank with no adults!
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Here’s a fun one: last week I moved two pieces of java fern from my 29 gallon community tank into an empty but conditioned 6 gallon hexagonal tank. My intention was to add more gallons for CPD grow-out. To my surprise, the next evening as I was preparing to scoop out some CPD fry to move them there, I looked in and saw 8 little fry jerking around at the top of the water!! The ferns must have had eggs in them. Now my guilt is wondering how many others hatched in the community tank and turned into instant fish food!
The suspense is killing me! I suppose I’ll have to grow them out for a few weeks to know who they are. Possibilities: cardinal tetras (group of 7 including males and females; most likely), marble hatchets (group of 5), praecox dwarf rainbows (1 male, 1 female), or sumo loach (2 of unknown sex, slightly different patterning). Sorry I can’t get any decent photos to post — they’re still just wee pin-heads.
They are different than CPD fry — while the CPD fry tend to point head-down/tail-up at first, then just “nose-heavy” later and eventually levelling out, these guys jerk around with their tails hanging down at an angle with their heads pointing upward.
Awesome!
Nice fishies leaving you suprise gifts!I rather doubt they’re cardinals. Those are supposed to be quite difficult to breed. I’d guess the hachets. Rainbowfish have quite big fry to begin with, I think I read somewhere…
I have two of those beauties. A male and a female I believe, but am not sure.
What color are they anyway?
Nice of you to share the suspense. :wink:
– Atlantis
good luck
most be exciting not knowing who’s they are! you’ll be able to see in a few weeks time :wink:
chris
Good luck!
I have a male and female praecox also, how big do they have to be before they will breed? Mine are still barely an inch.I would guess they are either rainbows or the CPD’s.. Both the cardinals and marble hatchets are extreamly difficult to breed and cardinal fry tend to stick to the aquarium glass for weeks after hatching.
Keep us informed and if they are either hatchets or Cardinals then you have bragging rights on here for life :lol: We need photos when they get a bit bigger.Good luck with the fry.
How big do the rainbows have to be to breed? I have a male and a female and would like to give it a shot
They will double in size or more, Crazedpuffer. I’ve been researching rainbows, actually, since one of mine is new, and some people on another forum don’t think the old one is the same species, and the new one is bad quality. :roll: Nonsense! She’s bloody beautiful!
Uhh…going to start a thread in general species to ID my rainbows (gender of both, species of one)
Anyway, they are in the “difficult” class for breeding (though I would love to try someday…)
Lucky for you if that’s your mysterious fry, L777
This ( http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/ ) is an awesome site about all rainbowfish.
– Atlantis
If I can get any decent photos of the potential lovebirds in the community tank, I’ll post them. The rainbows are nearly full size — I’d guess 2.5-3 inches (red-finned male is bigger, and quite taller/deeper than the yellow-finned female). CPDs are out of the question — not in either the community tank or the 6-gallon with the mystery fry. If cardinals are a real bugger to breed, then we’re down to hatchets, rainbows, or loaches. The mystery fry are actually a bit smaller than CPD fry, if you can believe that. Still clear/translucent. More news once they’re big enough to watch for more than a few seconds without eye strain!
Rainbowfish almost certainly. Praecox will breed all the time and hang their eggs on floating plants. The fry are very dark.
mummymonkey,
thanks for the experience. How long does it take for the fry to darken? Mine are nearly transparent still (less than a week old).@mummymonkey wrote:
Rainbowfish almost certainly. Praecox will breed all the time and hang their eggs on floating plants. The fry are very dark.
I would agree with mummymonkey.I once moved java moss from a community tank to put into a breeding tank to provide cover for a female dwarf gourami.It ended up that I had a load of Praecox rainbows in with my dwarf gourami fry.
And the answer is:……..
Praecox!! (Surprise to few). Out of the eight or so that hatched out, half survived (I blame the blasted hydra :twisted: ). One got bigger right out of the chute, and a couple of days ago ate the smallest
. The biggest was big enough to join the 4-week old shoal of CPD young, so he’s in with them in the bushy-nose pleco factory, and the two remaining tiny ones just went into my daughter’s one-gallon for a couple weeks until they can hold their own in the grow-out tanks.Congrats to all for their accurate ID guesses.
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