# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Surprise Baby Rainbowfish!



## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

After my horror experience with five sick Golden Medakas and all the stress and work involved in caring for them, I finally decided not to get any more fish until, hopefully, my health improves. I thought, I'll just concentrate on plants, small aquatic creatures, and the fish I already have for the moment, and get more interesting native fish to go with my native plants in a few years time.

Then I discovered three tiny baby fish in one of my outdoor ponds. The only breeding fish I have are Goldfish and the babies certainly weren't Goldfish fry so I decided that they must have come on some plants I'd bought recently by mail-order. I wrote to the owner of the nursery, who said they keep Goldfish and native Rainbowfish in their ponds.

Talk about fate! Now I have three tiny Murray River Rainbowfish (_Melanotaenia fluviatilis_) swimming around! Of course, they just had to hatch in a very small pond, didn't they. Winter is coming and from what I've read, Murray River Rainbowfish, although they are the most cold-tolerant of the Australian native Rainbowfish, don't tolerate temperatures of 0°C (32°F) and below very well. So I set up one of my two new small tanks with a soil only substrate and native plants from the area the fish come from. I thought I could wait a few weeks until I'd recovered from setting up the tank before I fished around in the pond to catch the babies. Of course, it was not to be. A week ago the temperature dropped to 7°C (45°F), and I was sure the babies would perish. I drained most of the water from their pond and carried it inside, nearly killing myself in the process, but although I put it in a warm room, I saw no sign of the babies the next day or the next.

Well, I drained most of the water again and carefully moved the trailing plant stems around, and found many different tiny water creatures and then... a baby fish! After another half an hour of poking around I managed to catch all three. They have settled into their new home very well. As they swim around the tank, they casually glide over to the tank wall nearest the window, where a school of baby Cyclops and Moina are feeding on algae growing on the glass, and have a Cyclops & algae or Moina & algae snack between meals of frozen baby brine shrimp and boiled egg yolk. The biggest one is already showing some blue colour on its sides.

I will be posting some photos of their tank, which is looking very nice in my opinion, soon. I think the babies are still too small to show up in my photos but if you want to see what adult Murray River Rainbowfish look like, here is a link.

From Alex.


----------



## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

I'm glad you were able to rescue them!!


----------



## javalee (May 8, 2006)

Congratulations Miss Fishy! I'm glad for your surprise, but I know your struggle, and I hope you are doing ok after all that exertion. I too, often harm my health in the interest of my fish, and regret it later. However, they are a joy to watch, and it sounds like you'll enjoy watching them grow and prosper while you rest up. I can't wait to see the new tank and the fish; they look gorgeous in the photo.

I've often heard of these "gift fish" arriving on plants; makes me want to order more plants!! What a fun surprise.


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

What a nice gift! The fish in the photos are lovely.

Those 3 babies are _ever_ so lucky to be in your care.


----------



## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

Last night I was at an A.N.G.F.A Victoria meeting and asked a Rainbowfish expert about the baby fish. He said that going by the area the mail-order nursery is in, they could in fact be Crimson-Spotted Rainbowfish (_Melanotaenia duboulayi_), which are as cold tolerant as Murray River Rainbowfish. Here is another link with a picture of the Crimson-Spotted Rainbowfish.

I'm hoping they turn out to be Murray River Rainbowfish though, because I was planning to plant my 132 gallon tank with plants native to the area that they come from, and I also like the more subtle colours of the Murray River Rainbowfish. Oh well, if they are in fact Crimson-Spotted Rainbowfish I'll just have to make some changes to my planting plans!

By the way, Diana, I've been noticing people looking at and buying the copies of _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ now for sale at A.N.G.F.A. meetings.

From Alex.


----------



## Jane of Upton (Jul 28, 2005)

How cool!

Are you sure there were only 3? Whichever type they are, they're pretty fish!

That's really neat - you were thinking of native fish, and presto - the cosmos delivers! 

And it sounds like they're going to be well fed, too! All sorts of yummie treats from your tanks. 

That's a really neat story!
-Jane


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Hi Alex,

The Crimson-spotted rainbowfish are gorgeous! It must be wonderful to have your pick of any Rainbowfish you want.

Thanks for info about book. I am _thrilled_ that ANGFA is selling my book in Australia!


----------



## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

The babies are all doing well. I have named them Sneechi, Clammus and Maximmiae. They have grown a lot; I can see all the fins of even Sneechi (the tiniest one). They are now eating finely crushed flake food and attacking the poor Cyclops with gusto. They are also getting quite tame and no longer run away as soon as I come into the room. 

Jane, I'm pretty sure there were only three babies but you never know! If there are more I hope they survive the winter outside; there's no way I'm going to drain and carry around that pond again! 

These are the first baby fish I've raised in an "El Natural" tank. It's so great to be able to feed them very well without having to worry about fouling the water or doing frequent water changes! Any extra food disappears within hours as the snails, worms, Cyclops, bacteria etc. get to work on it. I will start a new thread for this tank when I get some photos developed, so for the moment I'll just say that the soil only substrate experiment has been a great success so far. 

I fear the babies will soon outgrow this small 16 litre (4.2 gallon) tank. Yet another reason for me to hurry up and set up the big tank! 

From Alex.


----------



## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

A post from the end of this thread got lost in the move to APC, so I have copied it from the All Wet Thumb Forums and pasted it here for anyone who is interested: 

On 28th April 2006 javalee wrote: 

"I think you have proven that a non-filtered, natural tank filled with invertebrate life is the best fry tank you could have! Think of all the trouble people go through to provide food for tiny fry, and yours just snack on what's growing in the tank! 

Congratulations! I can't wait to see photos of the fish and the tank itself." 

From Alex.


----------



## Miss Fishy (May 13, 2006)

Time for an update. Unfortunately, it is not good news.  Two and a half weeks ago, the three babies got sick. I'm still trying to work out exactly what is going on, and I've posted a thread about it in the "Fish for the Planted Aquarium" section of this site, in the hope that someone can help me work it all out!

From Alex.


----------

