Strange Behavior

[jakeyman_i_am]

I have a 20 USG Long tank, and I have a divider in it about 8 inches from the left hand side for raising fry. The only things in the tank are mollies (common and lyretail) some snails and a ghost shrimp. My divider works great because when a fish has fry a few always manage to sneak past the side of the divider and get into the safe waters of the fry side, not many, usually 4. Anyway the last batch of fry that were born happened about 10-12 days ago, and resulted in two yellow fry (because of the lyretails..) and one jet black one. I keep finding the black one (still very small mind you) in the adult side of the tank! The rest seem to not go over there at all, but he keeps swimming back! The weird thing is that the adults don't touch him! These adults are not nice either, 3 really big females and one small male, and they always fighting and nipping at each other. But this little dude eats right next to them and everything!! How weird is that??

Could it be that they can't see him?? I have black gravel in the tank and it has allot of dark places, but those fish for sure see brine shrimp I throw in every once and a while, so I know that they should see him.

I have no idea why they are nice to this fry and eat all of the others..

 

[theotheragentm]

It's possible that he is harder to see, but it's common to see some fry move around like they're the boss of the tank when they're clearly snack sized still. I don't know why this is the case, but it's totally normal. They may not make a snack of him unless they get real hungry.

 

[jakeyman_i_am]

They may not make a snack of him unless they get real hungry.

Trust me, they do not get hungry! I learned that the best way to get fry to survive, without me getting involved, was keeping the adults well fed.

As a result of this they have fry on a more regular basis, and more often.

Thanks for the insite, I did not know that! I thought they would eat them whenever.

 

[helterskelter]

I rear all my fry of common livebearers with the adults, it's only the rare stuff i will tarp to get the fry and rear on their own.

 

[theotheragentm]

Just remember that when you're feeding more, the fish are producing more waste. Fry are especially susceptible to poor water conditions, more so than the adults, from my experience.