Surprise! Baby fish!!

[DogFish]

Spent some time looking at the Cherry shrimp in my 40 Display tank. Mostly bring to see if any of the girls were berried. I noted something small moving fast. Way to soon to be a Juvie shrimp as I just added the young adult Cherries two weeks ago. Them I see it again a baby CHERRY BARB!

I had my colony of Cherry Barbs outside all summer in my Whiskey Barrel pond. I brought 2 - Trios into this tank. When they came in both females were gravid with eggs. I had no plans for them. We plan by Darwin rules in that tank.

I figure that between the adult Cherry Barbs, Neon Blue Goby, SAE, Amano Shrimp, Cherry Shrimp, MTS & Ramshorn emails no egg would survive to become a fry let alone a baby fish.

I have a patch of about 45 C. Becketti in between two pc of driftwood. Among the leaf stems a lot of Taiwan Moss has collected and started to get rather thick. I'm guessing it was a great place for an errant egg(S) to develop away from a lot of hungry mouths.

This hobby never stops amazing me .

[rodcuda]

That's pretty cool, wonder how many more are in there? I have some baby least kilifish and they are almost impossible to find, can only spot one now and then.

[SpecGrrl]

Congrats gramps!

[Merth]

Congrats

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by rodcuda

That's pretty cool, wonder how many more are in there? I have some baby least kilifish and they are almost impossible to find, can only spot one now and then.

Anyones guess? I'll be keeping a close eye on it for the next few days. It's funny I have a Trio of Rams I'm trying to get to breed in another tank they are not cooperating

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by SpecGrrl

Congrats gramps!

Originally Posted by Merth

Congrats

Thanks, but really, all I do is change the water & toss in some food 2-3Xs a wk.

[shloken38]

Awesome.....gives me hope for my black skirt tetra that is about to burst!

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by shloken38

Awesome.....gives me hope for my black skirt tetra that is about to burst!

I think lots of most and plant cover to hide in is the answer. The great thing about a mature planted tank is how close to a natural environment it can be. This is the 2nd sp. of fish that has spawned in this tank. I had Celyon Combtails pair off and Spawn in there last April. That of course was not a surprise.

The old school way to breed barbs was a bare tank with the bottom covered with marbles, or round stones marble size. The female(s) were placed in and conditioned with lots of food & w/c until they were gravid. Then the boys were added. After they spawn the adults are pulled out. Filtration was a sponge filter.

[acitydweller]

congrats daddy!

[DogFish]

I saw the baby again last night. It's getting a bit thicker, easier to spot. Still hiding around thick cover of the Taiwan moss on the driftwood and tangles of Java roots. But the little guy/gal is getting a little more bolder.

Both of the females are getting gravid again. I'll be adding more Taiwan boss to the Crypt patches to hop full provide a spot for a few eggs to develop.

[GMYukonon24s]

Congrats

[tomfromstlouis]

I am sitting here enjoying this happy story and the thought occurred to me that most of us probably maintain tanks that induce spawning and I'll bet that quite a few of us never even know it is happening or has happened.

I noticed my 3 white cloud minnows acting strangely one day and 2-3 weeks later sure enough a very tiny minnow is sighted. Lots of shrimp in that tank so maybe it is happening all the time and this one got lucky - who knows?

Anyhow, this kind of surprise is a huge reason to have densely planted tanks. We deserve it.

[DogFish]

Finnally she's big & bold enough for open water.

[HighDesert]

She's so pretty!

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by HighDesert

She's so pretty!

The pic doesn't do her justice