# Mystery Fish



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Over the years I have been in business, this has happened to me several times: I find a fish in a plant only tank that I never put fish in, which means the plants I bought from Florida had eggs on them, and they hatched in the tank, and grew living on nothing but algae. When it has happened in the past and now it has only been one fish. I can not undestand how only one egg would hatch, or only one fish would survive. Also in the past it was always a small fish with yellow fins that I could never identify. This time it is a whole different looking fish that I have never seen in my tanks before, and I don't know what it is. I don't know if it is a Florida native, or an escaped aquarium fish which Florida is full of.

It was in a 20 gallon long tank overgrown with Myriophyllum and duckweed on a high shelf that I hadn't cleaned in months, and the only reason I even noticed it wsa because most of the plants in the tank were sold and I was about to clean it. I moved the fish to another tank holding my blyxa plants. I am guessing the fish is full grown or near full grown. Its about an inch and a half long. I have no idea what to feed it. The only thing it could have been feeding on all this time would be algae, plant material, and possibly amphipods. The tank I put it in is pretty clean, so if I don't feed it, it might starve! Anyone know what this is?


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Someone just posted a similar thread. It's a native killifish, "The Bluefin Killie" _Lucania goodei_.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

A killie? Really! How cool! Your photo link isn't working. Where is the other post?


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I googled it, and yeah thats what it appears to be! I'll be darned. Do you know what it eats?


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## AnneRiceBowl (Sep 8, 2006)

They will eat anything. I fed my group flake, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, and frozen fish foods. These guys do better in groups, and they can be nippy to other fish in the tank. The specimen you have there is a male. Females are a little larger and rounder and have clear fins.

I got mine out of ghost shrimp tanks in shops along with mad toms and swamp darters.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Thats good to know Ann. Well he expired. I guess the stress of being moved to a new tank was too much. I swear this has happened every single time! Every time I have found a wild fish in one of my tanks that has beaten all the odds to survive from an egg to adulthood, it dies within a few days of when I discover it! I think the most I ever had one live was a week. I just don't get it. It lived apparently at least several months before I found it, and then I jinx it! Oh well, at least I know what it is now. This is a reason NOT to sterilize your plants. Sometimes they have more than just snail eggs!


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

^ True. My rainbows love to spawn on plants. 
We recently moved some red root floater into a rearing tank and a baby danio choprae hatched out!  

Oh, and killiefish are AWESOME! I can't wait to get some breeding projects going once our fish room is up. Who'd have thought we have native killies? There's some in Ohio too.


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## Blitzhill (Sep 2, 2006)

I actually noticed one of these in the mix of "White Cloud Mountain Minnows" at a WalMart (I know...looking at fish there--how disgraceful) and promptly purchased it. You just never know what you'll find!


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## trashion (Jan 6, 2008)

Blitzhill:
i worked at a petco for a few months, and it was amazing what would randomly come in with shipments. we got a few espei rasboras with some lemon tetras, a ghost shrimp with some platies, etc. sometimes random people would just drop their unwanted fish in our tanks! we ended up with a beautiful rock kribensis that someone mysteriously "donated" when our backs were turned. he was a lovely fish, and he was just sold under the "assorted african cichlids" SKU.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

What's wrong with that fish's tail? Looks like some kind of fungus.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

trashion said:


> Blitzhill:
> i worked at a petco for a few months, and it was amazing what would randomly come in with shipments. we got a few espei rasboras with some lemon tetras, a ghost shrimp with some platies, etc.


Those are usually called "contaminants". Searching for them is one of my favorite things to do.



> sometimes random people would just drop their unwanted fish in our tanks! .


Seriously? Hopefully they weren't sick. I'm surprised no one would see people opening tanks and fiddling around, wow.


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## trashion (Jan 6, 2008)

our petc0 was set up a bit differently than the "standard" petcos, with the octagonal shape. since they bought out small, locally owned pet shop (*shakes head*) we got a whole system built in, that was actually just an expanded back room, with biowheel commercial filtration. unfortunately i only worked part time, otherwise there would always be someone back there keeping an eye on things. what with the understaffing, and the fact that the system was ancient and therefore some of the tanks were missing their tops, it was pretty easy for them to do that.

and yes, occasionally there were sick ones :\


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