Teeny Tiny Babies

OpalHeart · Mar 22, 2008

My guppy and black molly dropped the same night and I'm still finding frye in the tank hiding in the plants or under the decor. So I did a gravel vac/water change today and was slowly pouring out the water checking for frye and I see something tiny moving against the flow. I put my bucket down and after watching the fish poo and rotting plant parts settle for a while I see a TINY baby fish and then another. So there are at least two tiny baby fish in the bottom of my 5 gallon bucket.
I have danios, blood tip tetras, and bronze cories. These frye are basically black dots with transparent tails. They are too small to even make out eyes. They can stay still for a long time which makes me suspect they are cories but I just do not know.
These babies are SO tiny that I do not even know how to get them out of the bucket and even if I did manage it, where would I put them? I just cannot pour out the bucket knowing there are live fish in there so I have put the bucket aside for now. As I have no liquifry or anything tiny enough to feed them, I doubt they will be swimming long. Does anyone watch for tiny babies during water changes? What do you do with them? How long before they aren't snack size? I actually bought a small tank that I was going to use as a hospital tank but it is not set up yet. I do not know if it is worth the effort but I would appreciate any advice. What would YOU do?

darknirvana217 · Mar 23, 2008

I would at least try to save them Set up the hospital tank and fill it with some water from the old tank and some new. Then I would use a sponge filter in that tank. If you have a piece of foam or sponge in your filter then tear a piece off and add it to the hospital tank. You could try maybe Hikari first bites or baby brine shrimp, frozen will be ok. Its risky setting up the tank this quick, but so is leaving them in a bucket. Also, net them with a brine shrimp net.

OpalHeart · Mar 26, 2008

We turned heat off and opened all the windows to air out the house on a warm day and after we put the windows down, we forgot to turn the heat back on. The house got down to 66 degrees so I was sure the babies in the bucket were gone. I went to pour it out today and saw four moving around. One of them has a pink tint so maybe they are glo-fish (danios).

OpalHeart · Apr 7, 2008

Well....I have about 30 fry in the newly set up tank. Its a cheap triangle impulse buy. but right now I have heathy pink tinted, teeny, tiny frye. It takes me FOREVER to change the water now because I have to examine each bucket. I refuse to think about how many I watered my flowers with before I finally saw the tiny dot in the bucket of dirty water.

I do not know if I have the patience for these little guys to grow up!

shelaghfishface · Apr 8, 2008

why not make life easier for your self and look out for pregnant fish instead

then put her in a net/trap and they can be born in there.
baby fish food is not expensive so just put them in a little tank ( go and get one!) and feed them, they dont deserve to die just because you cant be bothered with them
have to say that i was really upset at your attitude towards them,you are a fishkeeper they are fish, whats the problem?
and if you have to watch"" the fish poo and rotting plant parts settle for a while"" maybe the maintence on your tank is a little on the " cant be bothered side too"

get a grip and start looking after them !!
and good luck i hope they turn out to give you many years of pleasure

shelagh

Colin_T · Apr 8, 2008

They aren't livebearer fry. They sound more like danio fry.
Put them in a 2litre icecream bucket and float that in the main tank. Change the water each day with tank water. Use a peg or something similar to hold the bucket to the side of the tank and stop it tipping over.
You can use the yolk from a boiled egg to feed them. Put the boiled egg yolk into a handkerchief and squeeze it into a jar of water. Put the lid on and shake it up. Let it settle for a few minutes then pour some of the cloudy liquid into the bucket with the fry. Do this a couple of times a day but change the water regularly otherwise it will go off and the fry will die.

I get rainbowfish eggs in the bottom of my buckets when gravel cleaning. I pour them into a spare tank to grow up.

nicnak · Apr 8, 2008

Last tues i bought 4 balloon mollies and the next day there were about 10 fry in my tank.I now have about 20-25.They seem to be doing well,eating tiny bits of flake food... but my question is... what do i actually do with these fish if they all grow up?