TankGirl
Aquarium Advice Addict
I recently redid my 40g tank, selling the Africans, removing everything, replacing the substrate, cleaning out the filters and starting over completely,with rocks, driftwood and sand, in anticipation of obtaining some South American puffers. I decided I wanted to cultivate a breeding colony of snails, so I got that in motion and in the meantime decided to plant this tank and let the plants get established, etc.
Mysteriously, at about week 2 I decided to test the water and discovered off the chart nitrIte reading, and about 40 ppm nitrAte. Why? There was nothing rotting in the tank, nothing living in the tank but plants, so I did not figure this out, but did a PWC and after about another week or 10 days the levels came back down to zero nitrIte and trace nitrAte.
That's when I glanced over and saw more debris than you would expect - wait - there are fry in this tank! There are six little wee fish darting around in there, and I have no idea what they might be. Got pics, but my camera can't focus on them and they move very quickly. They are at the very top, where they mostly stay, and the brown specs are powdered food.
Today I can see that their tails are slightly forked, but otherwise they are pretty much clear and could be anything, lol. I will keep you posted as to an ID as they (hopefully) grow and declare themselves. They could be some kind of rasbora that sticks its eggs onto leaves, rather than a fish that scatters eggs, since I did rinse the plants before putting them in the tank.
Mysteriously, at about week 2 I decided to test the water and discovered off the chart nitrIte reading, and about 40 ppm nitrAte. Why? There was nothing rotting in the tank, nothing living in the tank but plants, so I did not figure this out, but did a PWC and after about another week or 10 days the levels came back down to zero nitrIte and trace nitrAte.
That's when I glanced over and saw more debris than you would expect - wait - there are fry in this tank! There are six little wee fish darting around in there, and I have no idea what they might be. Got pics, but my camera can't focus on them and they move very quickly. They are at the very top, where they mostly stay, and the brown specs are powdered food.
Today I can see that their tails are slightly forked, but otherwise they are pretty much clear and could be anything, lol. I will keep you posted as to an ID as they (hopefully) grow and declare themselves. They could be some kind of rasbora that sticks its eggs onto leaves, rather than a fish that scatters eggs, since I did rinse the plants before putting them in the tank.
