Linwood
Aquarium Advice FINatic
There is a bit of story here. I caught three very small minnows in a freshwater pond. Here is a photo at the time of two of them.
After some quarantine, I threw them into a large tank with hungry fish like angels and congos, expecting them to be lunch, but all three survived. One ended up being male, and grew out to be very pretty:
And a female, who was larger than the male.
The third I can't find a photo of at the time, but looked like the male except half the size, and not yellow -- but with the clear sail on the dorsal.
The two males harassed the female relentlessly, but about the time of the first brood being born, the male grew lethargic and died. No obvious cause. The female let loose a brood, and a surprising number survived; the little male continued after her, I thought might grow out, but he stayed small.
The first brood grew and now has some pregnant females as well (one below).
Despite the same size photo this 2nd generation is about half the size of the original female, who we had started to compare to a mac truck. But seemingly the same kind of swimming stomach and breeding factory.
Here's the thing -- despite having a lot of Congro tetras who are very aggressive, some rainbows, and an angel -- they are breeding and other than maybe after first born, appear not to be eaten.
I don't know why they are not eaten -- they are very small. These Congos cleared out about 50 ghost shrimp I put in the tank (some pretty large) in no time, grabbing them from the bottom. But these guys swim right out in plain view and nothing bothers them.
And that's a problem. I have Plecos breeding, and about 98% get eaten, so I get a couple more every few months. Eventually I'll have to remove some, but no real issue (it's a big tank).
But these things are incredibly prolific. There are probably 30-40 very tiny ones all down in the bottom (where there are crypts and other plants to hide in, as well as rocks).
Any suggestion how to deal with them? Should I just try to catch and remove them all? That's actually going to be tough - pretty fast, very tiny, deep tank (and they tend to stay at the bottom). Lots of plants and rocks.
Is there any such thing as a trap that might work? Thought about minnow traps but they are a bit big for the tank (I need something small enough the congos and SAE won't go into it).
Any natural predators that might help?
Some kind of birth control?
After some quarantine, I threw them into a large tank with hungry fish like angels and congos, expecting them to be lunch, but all three survived. One ended up being male, and grew out to be very pretty:
And a female, who was larger than the male.
The third I can't find a photo of at the time, but looked like the male except half the size, and not yellow -- but with the clear sail on the dorsal.
The two males harassed the female relentlessly, but about the time of the first brood being born, the male grew lethargic and died. No obvious cause. The female let loose a brood, and a surprising number survived; the little male continued after her, I thought might grow out, but he stayed small.
The first brood grew and now has some pregnant females as well (one below).
Despite the same size photo this 2nd generation is about half the size of the original female, who we had started to compare to a mac truck. But seemingly the same kind of swimming stomach and breeding factory.
Here's the thing -- despite having a lot of Congro tetras who are very aggressive, some rainbows, and an angel -- they are breeding and other than maybe after first born, appear not to be eaten.
I don't know why they are not eaten -- they are very small. These Congos cleared out about 50 ghost shrimp I put in the tank (some pretty large) in no time, grabbing them from the bottom. But these guys swim right out in plain view and nothing bothers them.
And that's a problem. I have Plecos breeding, and about 98% get eaten, so I get a couple more every few months. Eventually I'll have to remove some, but no real issue (it's a big tank).
But these things are incredibly prolific. There are probably 30-40 very tiny ones all down in the bottom (where there are crypts and other plants to hide in, as well as rocks).
Any suggestion how to deal with them? Should I just try to catch and remove them all? That's actually going to be tough - pretty fast, very tiny, deep tank (and they tend to stay at the bottom). Lots of plants and rocks.
Is there any such thing as a trap that might work? Thought about minnow traps but they are a bit big for the tank (I need something small enough the congos and SAE won't go into it).
Any natural predators that might help?
Some kind of birth control?
