Baby fish!!! Advice needed

[FriendlyGeek]

So two nights ago we spotted some baby fish in our tank, we managed to count at least five but they are tiny and super quick! Very surprised to see them because this is a Tetra only tank .....a mix of Emperors, Rummy Noses and Neons, no live bearers.....we couldn't believe our eyes!!
Everything we've read suggests breeding in a stocked community aquarium is virtually impossible yet here we are, the question is what do we do now? Thinking of adding some java moss or guppy grass for hiding but as of today, they all still seem to be alive. We're stunned!!

 

[fish48]

It seems that your fish are well fed to see fry, Your baby fish have done well to survive more then 2 weeks, Guppy grass or Java Moss can help with extra cover from adult fish out of the 3 species it's more likely to be the emperor Tetra

 

[Back in the fold]

When this happens it means you are doing everything right . Congratulations on your nice aquarium .

 

[Colin_T]

Don't add anything or you could introduce pests like hydra that eat the babies. The only exception to this is if the plants are tissue cultured, then they will be free of pests and diseases.

A lot of fish will breed in aquariums but the other fish normally eat the eggs or fry. If the tank is well planted and the adults are well fed, and there aren't too many fish in the tank, some of the babies can survive.

You can get a microworm culture and some dry brineshrimp eggs and start hatching the eggs. feed the newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms to the babies and adults.

 

[FriendlyGeek]

Thankyou for your replies, still processing the fact that they've survived this long! Great suggestion about not adding anything new, we didn't think of those risks so thanks, maybe we'll just let nature take it's course and see what happens, they've clearly had enough hiding places up to now lol.

 

[FriendlyGeek]

It appears that they are staying in hiding and only appearing when it's feeding time. This is a risky strategy because feeding time is just a frenzy of activity and they are likely to simply get snapped up We're feeding a bit less now just to give them a bit of a chance to get bigger but we can't starve the other fish to save them

 

[FriendlyGeek]

Little update on the fry (or mini fish as I like to call them)

There appears to be seven of them in total and I think @fish48 was right about them being Emperors. Now that they are getting bigger and the colouring is coming in and becoming more visible, they definitely look like Emperors, the black line down the body is clearly visible on all except two of the smaller ones. We know where they are hiding now and they've picked a really good spot to be fair, the other fish just can't fit where they are so they are pretty safe in there They are getting braver by the day though, we see them regularly now peeking out of their hidey hole and going for a little swim and the other fish seem less and less interested in them now, probably because they are getting a bit too big for them to eat!!
We decided against adding any extra plants for hiding as per the suggestion by @Colin_T and we haven't fed any extra either, but they still seem to be doing fine.

We've been desperately trying to take pictures but they are still too small at this stage (and super quick) we only have cameras on our phones and they just can't pick them up yet

 

[AJ356]

Get some amazon frogbit plants. A bit extreme what Colin is saying about add no plants unless tissue cultured. You can get amazon frogbit tissue cultured anyway.

 

[Colin_T]

We've been desperately trying to take pictures but they are still too small at this stage (and super quick) we only have cameras on our phones and they just can't pick them up yet

Video them instead of trying to take pictures. Video will usually pick them up better. Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here. If you use a phone to film them, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

 

[FriendlyGeek]

Get some amazon frogbit plants. A bit extreme what Colin is saying about add no plants unless tissue cultured. You can get amazon frogbit tissue cultured anyway.

Thanks for the reply but we have had frogbit before and will never have it again, it's a massive pain to keep under control