Swordtail Fry (macro Photos!)

[Piscator]

These are some pictures of swordtail fry at three days old. I did a search of fry pictures, but have yet to see any taken with a macro lens which show lots of good details. So... here are some for you to enjoy.

I took these with a Canon 50mm macro lens on a Canon 20D body, with flash at 1/60th second. The fry are feeding on newly hatched brine shrimp, some of which you can just see in the pictures.

That's all for now ....

 

[veil92]

Wow, those are great pics. I especially like the last one.

 

[Piscator]

Wow, those are great pics. I especially like the last one.

Thanks! I'm going to continue taking pics every few days. With this much detail I ought to be able to see sex differences way before I normally would without such photo gear. Perhaps I'll post a set of growth sequence pictures on this forum?

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Great pics. They are so cute when they're in that geeky stage with huge eyes and bellies.

 

[paul_219]

Very nice pics. Very cute babies.

 

[Sofia]

Thanks! I'm going to continue taking pics every few days. With this much detail I ought to be able to see sex differences way before I normally would without such photo gear. Perhaps I'll post a set of growth sequence pictures on this forum?

That would be great!!!! Hopefully it'll get pinned too so that other users can be more clear about the stages of fry development. Brilliant photos.

 

[Piscator]

Thanks! I'm going to continue taking pics every few days. With this much detail I ought to be able to see sex differences way before I normally would without such photo gear. Perhaps I'll post a set of growth sequence pictures on this forum?

That would be great!!!! Hopefully it'll get pinned too so that other users can be more clear about the stages of fry development. Brilliant photos.

So... I looked up a whole mess of older threads about sexing swordtail fry, and it seems one must wait 4-6 weeks before any differences show up that one can see with the naked eye. I think with my photography skills I ought to be able to narrow that time span to 2-3 weeks.

Hey, this sounds like the making of a science experiment

Stay tuned........

 

[5teady_2012]

Fantastic pictures

 

[rossyt99]

Quality pics; how old are they??

 

[Piscator]

Quality pics; how old are they??

The fry are three days old in the pictures, and are about 3/8 inch long.

 

[iSnail]

They are so cute I like the metallic sheen on them.

 

[Million]

Well done on those pics - I am very envious of your macro lens!

 

[drewry]

great pics Piscator keep the pics comeing as they develope

 

[Piscator]

Here is an idea... I'm going to be taking pictures of the fry every 2-3 days for the next two months. Eventually I ought to see very obvious sex differences. At this point all I'll need to do is examine the photographs going backwards in time. This way I ought to be able to go backwards in time until I first see the most rudimentary sex organs in the males and females. By using this method I should be able to ascertain very early on the first signs of sex differences in the fry. This ought to be a fun experiment, eh?

 

[Tolak]

I'm liking the idea, great pics. Makes my old 2.1 mp look like a good paperweight.