Baby Fish In The Tank!

[rachellouise]

Ok ive no been on here for some time but i need some help!

My partner went to feed our fish and turn of the light and to our shock we have 5 TINY baby fish in the tank-swimming along happliy and have even eaten some flake food. We think they are Silver Dollars but in the whole time we have had our tank(- 3yrs maybe???) we have never had any baby fish!

We are of course worried that they will be eaten by our other fish.

We have a 200L tank-
3 X Silver Dollars(+ 5 Babies!)
1 X Black Red Tailed Shark
3 X Silver Sharks
1 X Clown Loach(one died soon after purchase)
2 X Neon Tetra(some died a long while back)
4 X Rummy Tetra
2 X Bottom feeders-these have stayed fairly small but i can't remember their name!
1 X Bigger bottom feeder

Sorry i cant remember all of the breed names but i will find out as i have them written down somewhere! We also had one lovely large Angel Fish which suddenly died a month or so ago which was a shame and we are not sure why? I am thinking maybe thats why these babies have survied as the Angel is no longer there?

Any help would be fab and i just hope they are not all eaten by the morning

 

[Biulu]

Put them in a maternity, a margarine tub floating in your tank (with water from your tank and if possible some plant cover) or in a separate tank.

 

[england]

If they are free swimming then they've done good thus far.

As to what they are,i know silvers have bred in home aqauriums but its unusal.

I would think more alone the lines of either the neons or rummys, also you say two bottom feeders which stayed quite small,iam guessing they are a type of plec? something maybe bristlenose plec? does on have like a brush effect on its nose, wilst the other looks same but without the bristles?just that bristlenose plecs are very easy to breed in home aqauriums...
have a look at my old breeding pair, notice the new batch in the pot,does the fry look like this.

clickity click

 

[shroob]

Agree with nelly, I would leave them. From my experience, ages ago in the past when I had a community tank, my mum got all maternal about the appearance of baby fish, so she spent ages trying to net them out and put them in a breeding trap. The majority of them died but those she left managed to stay alive and survive.

 

[rachellouise]

Good Morning-Thank you for replies!

I have checked this morning and we can definatley still have 4 although the other may be hiding?

They have a definate rounded body with red tail and fins top and bottom so they are not Neons. The rummy nose do no have red fins either. They are only 3 or 4 ml long so are tiny!!

The two bottom feedes are cory and we have had them years.. the other is a Bristle nose catfish-he is much chunkier. Sorry about that had the check this morning as i couldn't remember off the top of my head what they were called!

The margarine tub is a good idea.

Will let you know how they get an- will try and post a pic too.

My other question is about cleaning the tank?? They are that small they would just get sucked up? I am thinking this is why they have suddenly survived as we are over due to clean the tank-other wise surely the eggs would have just be sucked up too?

Thanks again

YEY! We have all 5 still! Just found the last one

 

[rachellouise]

Just looked at your pics and that is what our larger bottom feeder is- a bristle nose. We only have the one so babies are definatley not those!

 

[VaegaVic]

Just looked at your pics and that is what our larger bottom feeder is- a bristle nose. We only have the one so babies are definatley not those!

Interesting, best thing to do is see how they develop.

 

[rachellouise]

We have safely netted them! We have used the head off one of the childrens fishing nets and left it at the top of the tank-plenty of room

Have just fed them some flake food which they have eaten. We are now looking to see if we have any more than 5! Can't see any at the moment.

I have tried taking pictures but you can hardly see them. I am 99% they are Silver Dollars as they have a rounded body with red fins and tail and a silver glisten to them.

How rare is it to have Silver Dollars breed in a community tank?

This is all very exciting as we have never had babies before!

 

[rachellouise]

We now have 6 babies!

 

[soph_betta]

Just remember if you have netted them that their first food would have been by forraging around in the tank and also eating naturally ocuring bugs in the tank so put some moss/plants in the net too for them to feed.

 

[MrPandaram]

pic..pic..pic..