# Unknown fish fry



## Fields of Blue (Sep 25, 2008)

Hey everyone. I've been running a 10 gallon naturally planted aquarium for several months now and I've just recently found a fry fish in my tank! The tank is heavily planted so the fry could already be a few days old and just got lucky hiding in the plants from my other fish, but I was lucky enough to spot him and take him out before anything else could eat him! Now I'm keeping him in a little cup my petco betta came from but I really don't know how to care for him. Hopefully some of the more experienced members here can help me out.

Let me start with a list of all my fish.
3 Harlequin Rasboras
3 Jumbo Neon Tetras
2 Sunburst Platys (Both are female)
1 Betta

I'm pretty sure the fry is a baby tetra, but I've included some pictures so I can hopefully get a second identification.
WARNING: VERY high resolution.
















Can anybody confirm that this is a tetra fry? eep:

Now if this is a baby tetra, what can I feed him safely? I've read that I can culture infusoria to feed him, but would these already be present in my 10 gallon tank water? Maybe I could just spoon some of that water into his cup every day?
If he can eat pulverized flake food then I have a good mortar and pestle and a pair of tweezers standing by.

Lastly how closely should I follow his water parameters in this small cup home and how quickly can I expect him to grow up? I don't expect anything this small to greatly impact his environment, but I've been proven wrong before.

Thanks everyone for the help! I have never raised fish fry before but I hope to save this little guy and give him a happy new home for his adult life.


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

i dont know what it is but i think it needs filtration and a heater. i also think you should try to culture some infusoria. im pretty sure there are more in your tank so you should try to get them all out before they get eaten.


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## Cinthia_Emerich (Jan 2, 2008)

It's a platy's fry....
I know that you have only females but they can keep sperm for a few months....
And yes, the little guy can eat pulverized flake food


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Whatever that fry is (and I reckon platy too, though I may be wrong) it's big enough to eat baby brine shrimp, small granular and powdered food now so you don't need to bother with infusoria. In fact I bet it would starve if that was all it had now!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Congrats on the fry!

I'm 99.9% sure its a platy fry. 

Like Cinthia_Emerich said females can hold sperm for months (I hear up to 6 months). 

Also, tetras are pretty hard to get to spawn, but platies are very easy - just add water.

The size of the fish seems pretty large just like platy babies. Tetra babies are tinnyyy. 

Since platy fry are pretty big, you can feed it crushed flake food right from the beginning. Platies don't usually eat their babies, but the tetras will for sure so try raise it in another tank, or somewhere that it won't be eaten.


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## csaxe21 (Nov 25, 2008)

I am positive that that is a platy fry. Even if your two Platies are females, all it means is that there will be no mating in your tank, but tons of sold females are sold pregnant since there in tanks with males. You have one of them. I did as well, with a few fry.
Also, if you look around your tank, unless they were all eaten, you would probably have at minimum 5 fry depending on the age of your Platy.
You could feed it Hikari First Bites a few times a day (It's important to feed them like 3 times a day when they're young), and once they grow you'll be able to feed them normal food. I think mine were able to at about 4 weeks, and they lived in a small bowl.
I don't know the size of your cup, but you should go to your LFS, and buy something that's a decent size, at least a medium sized bowl, they sell mini heaters for like $10, and a little filter that runs off an air-pump (Mine costed me $3). At first I tried doing the same as you. I had them in a pretty large vase, and thought I could just go from there, but the water will change temperature constantly, so the heater is very necessary, and it is also very hard to give the amount of food for 1 platy fry, so you'll probably always overfeed, so without a filter, it would be a mess. And then the bowl is just necessary so that it could swim around and grow a bit faster.

Good Luck With It!


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## Fields of Blue (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks everyone. I'm shocked but delighted to hear that this little guy is most likely a platy. I was planning on breeding them anyways, but couldn't find a male with the same coloration! 

I'll keep him in his cup for another two days just so I can observe and care for him constantly (He's right on my work desk) and after that I have a 3 gallon tank ready with some small plants to help keep toxins under control and a sponge filter.

I'll keep you all updated to roger's progress (Yeah, roger) and I'll get some new pics as he grows up. I haven't seen any other fry in the tank and I highly suspect they have already been eaten or sucked into my filter and pulverized by the impeller. At least I was lucky enough to save this guy!


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## csaxe21 (Nov 25, 2008)

Alright, good to hear. For breeding, unless you want to breed specifically Sunburst Platies, the males and females don't have to be the same type. You'll just end up with mixed babies.

The 3 gallon sounds perfect, just watch out for the filter incase it's too strong.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

definately a sunburst platy baby. I have those coming out the wazoo


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## Fields of Blue (Sep 25, 2008)

Here is my newly constructed nursery for Roger. I've placed him into a larger cup and cut a hole in the side of said cup. The hole is covered with 3 layers of cheese cloth so it keeps him from leaving the cup and being in danger of getting caught by the filter but it allows for the passage of water into and out of his cup and through the filter/rest of the 3 gallon tank. The tank also has some plants, a nice lamp and a heater keeping the water at a constant 77 degrees F.

WARNING: Very high resolution!









Here's a view of the cup from above the tank. The tank itself is a recycled Eclipse system acrylic tank and is an El Natural style tank. The filter doesn't break surface tension which helps the plants use all the available CO2. You can see the hole in the side of the cup with this picture.









Here he is in his new larger cup home. I've fed him a single pulverized piece of flake food and he seems much more active and happy here than in the last container.

I'll get some more pictures of him in his new environment as he grows a little bigger.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I did tihs today with my betta's epsom salt bath. I keep it clipped to th etank so it is the correct temp.


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## akamasha (Jun 27, 2008)

Congrats on the baby, and good luck to you


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## goldfishes (Nov 26, 2008)

Hello Roger! What a great idea with the cheese cloth! I am totally stealing this thought with my next batch of fry, thanks! And congratulations!


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## Pinto (Mar 22, 2008)

Congratz to you. Shees, what kind of camera you using?


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## Fields of Blue (Sep 25, 2008)

A GE A835 camera which I got as a holiday gift. It takes great high detail pictures, but needs good lighting to avoid blurriness. Thanks for all the congrats and I'm glad to hear that my cheesecloth in-tank saftey container has given some of you ideas as well .

Make sure you put the hole a little above the very bottom of the cup so you can drain the tank for water changes without having to pull the fry out.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Try switch to manual or macro mode and increase the ISO (up to 1600), keep the shutter speed at at least 1/60 and open the aperture (F number up as low as it will go - probably 2.8 F). Those settings will help with darker conditions.


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