baby fish

[pelicans]

I have a 12gallon eclipse with tropical fish including barbs and hatchets. I bought what I thought were two baby parrot fish a few months ago. Thet grew very fast and got fat. Thursday night we found many babies. we scooped as many out that we could find and put them in a smaller tank. Someone told us that these are not parrot fish since they are white. They said that they are live bearers and need their mother to live. I dont know what to do. Should we start another tank and put the rest of the fish in there and return the babies to their mother and father or should we just keep feeding whatever fish we got out baby fish food?

 

[alabaster]

Don't worry about returning the fry to their mother or father. No fish species that I'm aware of has fry that are dependant on their mother or father. many kinds of fish guard their fry from predators, but if there are no predators in the tank, it's not necessary to keep the fry with their parents. In fact, many kinds of fish (livebearers included) will eat their own fry upon giving birth unless the fry hide amongst plants. In any case, it will certainly do no harm to remove fry from the presence of their mom or dad. The only thing to worry about is feeding them, since fry often times won't survive unless fed special food, like baby brine shrimp (BBS) or some other kind of micro-food. If you can locate some apropriate live food, the fry will most likely survive (livebearer fry don't need live foods, just feed them crushed flake food). And remember to keep the fry tank heated to about 76-81 degrees Fahrenheit. Good luck!

 

[pelicans]

It appears the babies that are left in the tank are being protected and fed by the mother fish. She puts them in her mouth and then spits them out in the log.

I do have other fish in the tank barbs and hatchets.

 

[pelicans]

Don't worry about returning the fry to their mother or father. No fish species that I'm aware of has fry that are dependant on their mother or father. many kinds of fish guard their fry from predators, but if there are no predators in the tank, it's not necessary to keep the fry with their parents. In fact, many kinds of fish (livebearers included) will eat their own fry upon giving birth unless the fry hide amongst plants. In any case, it will certainly do no harm to remove fry from the presence of their mom or dad. The only thing to worry about is feeding them, since fry often times won't survive unless fed special food, like baby brine shrimp (BBS) or some other kind of micro-food. If you can locate some apropriate live food, the fry will most likely survive (livebearer fry don't need live foods, just feed them crushed flake food). And remember to keep the fry tank heated to about 76-81 degrees Fahrenheit. Good luck!

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