Baby Help. Thanks Sorted

amylw1 · May 9, 2010

hi,

i hope that someone can give me some advice. i am a novice with fish keeping - have kept coldwater and tropical over various yrs but most have died after about a yr. in my tank are 5 neon tetra adults, 2 catfish and 2 guppies.

anyway, i have gone to feed my fish tonight to find about 8 baby neon tetra's swimming about! they are just over 1mm in length. so not very old. what do i do? how do i keep them safe? obviously i dont have a breeding net/tank and no-where is open this time of night to get 1. they are hiding in my fern plants at the back of tank.

i am very shocked to have babies as the tank has only been set up for 7weeks and every website i have looked on for advice says that tetra's are hard to breed, let alone get to fry stage without special care and water treatment. i set the tank up and left it for a week b4 buying fish, tested water Ph and nitrates etc as well.

help/advice/ideas greatful. i am going to ring the aquatic store where i got them in morning.

amy

Floyds mum · May 9, 2010

They are likely to stay hidden in the ferny plants you have, if you have a spare tank then try and catch them and move the fry over, if you dont have a spare tank then you could always try using a washed out pop bottle and use something very small to pierce lots of holes in it and float it in your tank with the fry in?
Good luck with the fry and pics!!!! :drool:

Wills · May 9, 2010

not to rain on your parade but I think they are more likley to be baby guppies, do you have any pictures of your guppies?

The reason that neon tetras are so hard to breed is because the eggs will die if exposed to any amount of light they have to be 100% in the dark.

Like I say its possible that it is them but the chances of 8 eggs making it is quite slim in uncontrolled situations...

chesterscot · May 9, 2010

agree with wills they most probs are not neons at all

scot :good:

Jonty · May 9, 2010

yep, they're guppies

amylw1 · May 9, 2010

i only bought the guppies yesterday afternoon, so is it possible??? the fry have a "blue tint" round their eyes which is why i thought tetra's. it doesnt bother me if they are guppies so your not raining onmy parade at all. i was very shocked to babies as the last lot of tropical fish i had (4yrs ago) all died within a yr - my heater went bang! so i turned tank to cold water.

i dont have a spare tank or breeding net as they were being kept for pleasure, i am going to shop where i bought them tomorrow to get the breeding net and liquifry, i then have the fun of catching them and putting them in it.

Wills · May 9, 2010

yeah the guppies could have been pregnant in the shop, do you have a male and a female? If so they wont be your last lot of babies

amylw1 · May 10, 2010

hi,

we bought 2 females (apparently!)

i went back to the shop this morning to get a breeding net thing, and told them what the babies are like and they said if they have a blue mark round eyes they could be tetra's, but as others have said they are hard to breed if your a novice but it's not impossible. they also said that it shows theres nothing wrong with my water whatever breed they are.

i managed to cacth 10 babies and put in the floating baby tank, not sure if there is anymore. i will try and get some pics of them. and then hopefully someone can say what they are.