Sorry I haven't checked out this part of the board for a while. The last few times I did, there was only my last post. Today -- more New Mexicans chatting!
Pat, my tiny fry, now known as Lucky Buddy Fry, turned out to be a male Australian Rainbow. He went from being no bigger than "o" (not including tail) and hard to see to easily 2", so I did something right and I'm proud of raising him to a strapping young teenager without actually being prepared for him. A fish his size costs $8.99 at Clark's "on sale".
I put him in my 10G tank when he was at 1/2" and he started enjoying himself immediately. He's turned into quite a little pig, eating anything that I drop onto the surface and recognizing me and the chance for more food when I approach. Sometimes I fear for the 4 black neons originally in the tank but they are getting enough food with no one appearing to starve.
Because I'd like to have more tetras and pygmy catfish, but think I'm at optimum stocking right now (one Australian Rainbow, 4 Black Neons, 2 pygmy catfish),
I'm thinking seriously that I need to find Lucky Buddy Fry a new home. Here he won't get anything bigger than the 10G, and though he has fun navigating through all the plants and he's healthy as a race horse and doesn't know any better, I think he'd thrive in a bigger environment.
I'd happily give him away to a good home (that home would have to be fully described), though his new parent(s) would need to come get him and bring a big net, too
I'm not certain how I would catch him, but some preplanning (lowering the water level, cordoning off areas of the tank, etc.) will probably mean success, tricking him into a net or a jar perhaps, using against him his penchant for darting to the surface (but not out of the tank ever so far) to grab food.
If you or any reader knows of anyone with at least a 20G tank and in need of a 2" fish approxiately 10 months old and full of character, a person with transportation or who lives in the Downtown Albuquerque area, we should chat
Oh, and since I last wrote here, I set up a 2.5G tank just for plants, but it looked so nice that I found a homesteader for it at Walmart, a common red betta named Bob, who is as far as I can tell quite happy. Walmart beats Clark's at Bettas at least.