Mystery Fry!

[BigJim]

This morning I had to take my AC70 apart to get my black khulis out again (stupid fish) and I found five mystery fry! They're about 3/16" long and orangey-pink in color. I had to replace the filter last Friday due to an accident and the fry aren't very good at swimming yet, so they aren't even that old and they're huge for the fish in my tank.

Here's my list of suspects:

- Trio of swordtails, pair of blacks, one red female: Hasn't happened before, but they're livebearers.

- Dwarf neon rainbows: I already have one little rainbow that, as an egg, survived the trip from one tank to another on a plant.

- Bettas: Never saw a bubble nest, so it's doubtful.

- Khuli loaches: I know it's a long shot, but my black khulis started swimming into my filters a few weeks ago and khulis are the only other fish I have potential pairs of. I hope it's the khulis. They owe me. The last filter fell off the counter while I was returning the khulis from the filter to the tank.

The fry are now in my breeder trap. I'll transfer them to guppy tank after they've grown a little. After a 13 hour day at work yesterday and a busy day planned today, my fish come through and make my morning!

 

[meegosh]

Is the intake on an AC70 really that much bigger than the AC50? I have kuhli's and have never had them work their way into the filters. I suppose it could be the kuhli's but I would still guess the swords since they are such prolific fish.

 

[BigJim]

It's only my black khulis that do it. My stripes don't bother. The blacks are about 4" long and smaller than my stripes though. Don't underestimate how small of a hole the khulis can fit through. When I was netting them out of the filter this morning, I had on khuli appear to magically swim through the net. Turns out that he swam through the tiny 1/4" hole in the corner where the net doesn't cover the frame.

 

[HN1]

Very cool. I dig baby fish and surprise fry are even better!

I'd suspect the swords as well, but who knows. Have you tried a pre-filter to keep the kuhlis out?

 

[BigJim]

I'm going to try a media bag over the intake. I tried to get one last week, but the stores I went to were out and I didn't have time to go to the rest of my usual stores.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Are you sure the khulis are swimming up through the intake? Seems like you'd have about 500 pieces of khuli if they did since there is no way to avoid the impeller on an ac... could they be swimming through the current up in the filter that way? Has to be the case, right?

 

[BigJim]

I haven't seen the khulis actually enter the filter. I look in the filter when I don't see the loaches in the tank or I see the loaches in the filter when I'm watching my fish. It was my first thought that they were swimming up the discharge side of the filter, but I always find them in the intake tube side. I've had fry and shrimp go up the intake of an AC filter and survive. The khulis might just be crafty enough to squeeze out through a little gap. See my other posts here for a net example.

 

[dkpate]

Oh yes, Kuhli's are very crafty and can get anywhere! Although I haven't had any of mine go into the filter yet LOL.

 

[mattrox]

any pics of the mystery fry?

 

[BigJim]

No pictures yet. I've been crazy busy since I found the fry. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow if I remember. Judging from their fins, I have a feeling they're swordtails.