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Unidentified fry?

970 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Confused 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Back story: Have a 10 gallon that I had minnows in. Eventually they disappeared (handed off as feeder fish or died on their own), and decided I'd experiment with the tank on balancing the pH so I could breed some CRS I have (note: they are STILL not in the 10 gallon tank). The pH swung below 6.0 on me, so my thought process was nothing fish wise could've survived that - hell, the moss I have in there seems to have barely survived. Got the pH back into the 6.6 range (almost to the 6.8 that I want it at), and went to do a 10% water change today. Pulled 1 gallon out using a mason jar, and this little guy was swimming around in it. I'm not sure if he's somehow a surviving minnow fry that didn't mind the acidic water, or some other fish fry that maybe came over in an egg attached to the moss. Also not sure if it's too soon to tell. Any ideas what I've got here?

(Side note: reintroduced him to the tank after the pictures. No, I'm not keeping fish in test tubes. Had to use it to fish him out of the mason jar, and saw a perfect opportunity to get some pictures real quick)
 

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#2 ·
Rasbora or tetra?

(Side note: reintroduced him to the tank after the pictures. No, I'm not keeping fish in test tubes. Had to use it to fish him out of the mason jar, and saw a perfect opportunity to get some pictures real quick)
 
#5 ·
I have no idea - I have zero experience with fathead fry, or fry in general for that matter (I guess I decided on breeding the CRS I have only because they're pricey to replace, or I'' just masochistic like that). I mean, for all I know, this little guy (and he's the only fry in the tank that I know of) is too young yet to identify ?
 
#6 ·
is too young yet to identify ?
YUP!
It is pretty tough to ID some adult fish so making an early ID is pretty much doing what you have done. Look at the potential breeders and do a guess from that. Nature has a way of spitting out lots of some things and letting some live and some become food so others can live. You may have found one that is lucky to have made it this far.
My move at this point? I would decide if it is likely to be something I would want or not. Then I would balance the value of the potential fish against the problems of trying to keep it alive versus the value as food for somebody else that I like better. He has made it this far so when his luck runs out is still an open question.
 
#7 ·


Technically that is still more a larvae than a fry at this stage. Raising small numbers of fry has its own challenges as it is really hard to not overfeed this tiny creature... in terms of polluting the water. Unless it lives in the glass tube, it will have a hard time finding the tiny spec of food it would need. Best bet is an established planted tank with no other fish, in which case no feeding will be required until it is about the size of a grain of sugar, and even then it could still find food in the tank that fits its mouth for a while. Maybe a spot in a sump?
 
#8 ·
If it's back in the tank it came from, maybe you could give one of your other aquarium filters media a couple swirls in the fry tank's water to help bump up the local infusoria count, it will also help cycle the tank a little better.

it will probably be a few weeks to month before you'll be able to tell what kind of fish this is, probably a a good chance there's more fry in there you're not seeing.
 
#9 ·
Since the initial post, the 10 gal I have has finally completed its cycling process, and the pH has balanced out, so I switched out the fry with the CRS I have (CRS into the 10 gal, fry into the 3.5 gal). Both sets seem pretty happy with their new environments, and the 3.5 gal has been established for quite a while now. The fry has grown a few more millimeters, and I've begun adding a small portion of a flake every other day or so to the 3.5 gal, both to make sure the fry is fed when it does start with bigger food than insufuria, and to keep the bb going (the colony I have in this tank is used to a higher bio load than a single fry produces, as demonstrated by regular water quality checks - still 0, 0, <0.20, even after the couple of days I have accidentally dropped a little more feed in than I had intended to). No major issues yet, but I do have a move coming up here pretty soon, so we will see what happens.

I will keep this post up to date and include more pictures once the fry hits the 1 cm mark or sooner if any potentially identifying features appear.
 
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