Need Baby Fish Advice

[Patriae]

I have a 10 gallon tank that I recently (2/3 weeks ago) moved the occupants out of into a 55gal tank. Subsequently the 10gal has been severely neglected for that time period. I went in today to sterilized and begin rebuilding said tank. Imagine my surprise to discover to very small fish swimming around in the thing! I immediately did a water change, filter cleaning, and water test. Everything tests normal except nitrates which are high. It is my assumption that these new guys are swordtails, as I have a pair of those. My questions however are the following: When will I be able to tell the species? How often should I feed, if at all? What are the rules for adding fish to babies?, and How the hell did they survive for so long? Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[Cheeba Cheeba]

I have pineapple swordtail fry, and i can tell that they are swordtails cuz they are the same color as the adult female, You could prolly be able to tell within a few weeks, maybe a couple weeks. I read up somewhere that u should feed the fry about 6-8 times a day. Some fry can survive and some can't, they can hide very good, i find some of mine underneath the rocks in my aquarium and in the plants, my pineapple swordtail had fry in with a bunch of my other fish and i managed to save one but i think the rest were eaten
I hope this helped u out a bit, good luck with them

 

[GuppyDude]

baby fish if they need to can become bottom feeders for a time. the lil guy probably has been surviveing off of uneaten food and fish waste off the bottom of the tank. like cheeda said a swordtail baby gets its color at around 3 weeks of age.
gl careing for him

 

[Patriae]

Thanks to both respondants. It helps some. I have added some plants for them to hide in, and will do the best I can to rear them into healthy adults.