Um, surprise? Who's the deadbeat dad??

[threnjen]

So for no particular reason I looked behind the tank into our overflow box and for no particular reason managed to spot this tiny, itty bitty little swimmer, no more than 2mm long at most.

What? the? heck? This is some sort of fish fry right??
All my fish are juvies, can they be sexually mature already? I wouldn't even know spawning behavior if it bit me in the face.

Any clue what it might be or is it way too small?
I don't even know what to do with it. We put it in an open top mason jar with tank water and I pulverized some flake food as small as I could make it.
I'm sure one little lone fry is not going to make it, but I have to try.

Tank has:
Boesemani Rainbows
Cardinal Tetras
White Fin Tetras (had, no longer)
Harlequin Rasboras
Punctatus (spotted) Cories
Dwarf Cories

 

[threnjen]

Anyone? Can we rule OUT any of those?
Also I should note, the Boesemani Rainbows actually have been engaging in a lot of courting behavior. But I read they need a mop nest and we have nothing that fits the bill.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

It sure looks like a cardnial tetra fry! If it is this would be very incredible as they are very hard to spawn in captivity. Feed bbs and Finley crushed flake food. A second opinion would be good but just my 2 cents. Look at the second picture and you can see the very faint trademark red and blue of cardnial tetras.

 

[DragonFish71]

I would say the rainbows actually. I had my australians spawn while in quarantine with nothing but a little java moss wrapped around a pvc tube (for a hiding place). No floating plants, nothing resembling a mop at all. It also has the sheen that most of the larger rainbow species has when they're fry. I would definitely say not the cardinals or any of your others.

 

[threnjen]

Well whatever it is, we're going to make an effort. I don't particularly want to care for a baby fish but what can ya do.
I should have mentioned we put the mason jar in the sump, so the fry's water is also appropriately heated. Man that sump is sure coming in handy.
At least a single fry doesn't have much bio load, hopefully I can just change the water out every day?
We have a HOB isolation box for the main tank so that once the fry is big enough to not fit through the return flow slats, we can move it in there.

Hubby had to go to the fish store for a different reason, so he picked up some fry food just in case I wasn't pulverizing the flakes small enough

I hope it lives, I want to know what it is! It's a fun mystery.

 

[threnjen]

Does anyone have any favorite links for caring for fry just so I can look over some do's/dont's. I would feel bad if I killed it through ignorance.

What are its chances if I feed it and keep its water clean? One lone little fry lol

 

[DragonFish71]

Fry for the most part are pretty hardy. Crush flake food up very fine and make sure the water stays clean, that's pretty much it. I feed my fry 4 times a day until they're about an inch long then twice a day until juvi sized and ready to be sold.

 

[toddnbecka]

Some years ago I received a shipment of cherry shrimp and live plants that I put into a 10 gallon tank (cherry shrimp startup.) I was quite surprised to find a tiny fish fry, then another appeared a week or so later. I didn't feed them anything, they simply snacked on whatever micro-critters they found among the live plants, and after several months they were large enough to identify as praecox rainbows. Apparently a couple eggs came along on the plants.
Quite a few years ago I raised a few zebra danio fry pretty much the same way in a 2.5 gallon glass tank with hornwort. Not even a sponge filter or heater, tiny fry don't produce much bioload.

 

[threnjen]

Great! I've just been changing the water in the jar out with tank water twice a day. It's hard to add the right amount of food for ONE fry so there is usually too much in there so I want to keep the water clean.
This is quite interesting! I'm still going to be curious, if it turns out to be a Boesemani, where they spawned.

 

[toddnbecka]

Rainbows are egg scatterers, without spawning mops to catch the eggs they'll just drop to the bottom. The cory cats would get the eggs, looks like they missed some. Any fry will of course be snatched by the larger fish.

 

[threnjen]

Interesting. I can't believe this guy made it into the overflow. Maybe it's a sign that he is hearty and hale! Crossing my fingers!

 

[toddnbecka]

Most likely the egg got pulled in before it hatched. A number of folks have found Synodontis petricola catfish fry growing out in the bottom of canister filters. Really tiny eggs, similar to rainbow eggs, and if they sometimes get dropped near a filter intake.

 

[Kittykat364]

Congrats!

(S)he is so cute I found random fry in my livebearer tank once, but that's so much easier to do LOL. If you are worried about food I would get some floating plants such as hornwort because the fry eat microorganisms off of it and you don't have to worry so much.

 

[Kittykat364]

Sorry wrong thread. (I don't know how to delete messages)

 

[threnjen]

Fry is still alive. He or she now lives all alone in a 10g. Concerned because it has no bio filter. But there was nothing to be done because the main tank has a serious outbreak of something so I had to stop using its water. At least one fry doesn't have much bio load. I need to get a new picture.

 

[threnjen]

I don't know if anyone is following our saga of the lone mystery fry
It's fun for us, though. He's such a little survivor!

He's now about 3mm long (up from 2mm) and is definitely growing. He is getting a split tail and is growing a nice round belly.

Husband has named him Squirt.

He enjoys putzing around his 5g (10g tank with a divider, to keep him away from the filter) with the whole thing to himself.

Any ideas how long before I'll be able to tell what he is?

 

[GreenLily]

Tagging along! I'm interested in seeing this little guy grow! No idea what he/she is but it's adorable!

 

[twiddlemuffin]

Also tagging along!

 

[Golfball98]

I'm tagging along too! This is a very interesting thread

 

[Kittykat364]

I'm following too, I have a lone fry in my breeder net right now. I think I might have to call him squirt!