Weird fishy larvae things in my tank...

[ladymahler]

Hi all

So, I washed my gravel today and just before I dumped the water, I noticed these teeny weeny little things swimming in the water, obviously previously hiding in the gravel. My molly just had babies, but these things are way smaller than fry, almost not noticable. Here is a piccie - I circled the thing in red, it is sitting on the inside of the tank, on the glass:

Any ideas???

 

[WILDER]

They are usually due to overfeeding and not doing enough maintanance on the tank, can't see the thing in the pic can you enlarge it.
http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article1.html

 

[abstract]

Mayfly Larvae?

 

[ladymahler]

Thanks for those incredibly speedy replies! I had a look at both articles.

It is definitely not a worm. I'm sorry I can not make the picture bigger, it was incredibly difficult just to get a photo that shows it, the other dozen photos I took just showed a tiny blur. It looks exactly like a miniature fry, so one can see it has a head and a tail piece.

Neither is it the mayfly - there are no legs on this thing.

By the way I also have zebrafish in my tank, but have never ever seen a zebrafish fry (or eggs, for that matter). Any chance that is what it is? Can't seem to find pics of zebrafish fry on the web.

Thanks for help!!!

 

[ladymahler]

Yes! Yes! Look here: http/mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Dreriofry.jpg

This is a zebra fry.... That is exactly what it is!!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy, what must I do now... I moved three of them to my temp tank (3 gallon, if that much...), I have NO idea what to do, how will I keep them alive? They are far too small, I'll definitely keep sucking them up with my gravel thing, and my other tank is also smallish, so I must clean it two, three times a week...


PANIC....

I can't believe I have zebra babies.....

 

[Synirr]

I'm pretty sure you can feed them baby brine shrimp (there's a pinned article on how to make a hatchery and you can buy eggs at most LFSs,) but aside from that I'm afraid I don't have any advice to offer

 

[ladymahler]

Ok, check this out!!!! It's growing. At least 3mm long now. COOOOOOL!!!

Don't you just love'm. That thing is so tiny, I can not imagine how it survives in the wild.

And, just 'cause babies are cool, check out the molly's too (sigh, EVERYONE has mollies, I know, nothing new...)

 

[abstract]

very cool, congrats! keep the pictures coming

 

[black angel]

love the pics of the babies, you never get sick of baby fish pics

 

[Soaup]

Very nice, Small crushed flake food should do the trick, putting it in ziplock and crushing it with your fingers into a powder... Congrads

 

[fawnmodel]

Very nice, Small crushed flake food should do the trick, putting it in ziplock and crushing it with your fingers into a powder... Congrads

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Danio fry - they look like tiny checkmarks and attach themselves to the glass and are free swimming in about a week. Lucky you, not easy for them to make it in a community tank as they are usually eaten in egg form on the gravel. Marbles and lots of ornaments helps protect them in the cracks, until they hatch and attach to the glass.

Moving the adults to the small tank is exactly what they needed to spawn, many breeders move a male and female to a small tank for a few nights, leaving the light off and covering the bottom in marbles. Then removing the adults, allowing the fry to hatch and grow to free swimming