Hi everyone,
On January 1st, I responded to a FB Marketplace ad for water sprite plants. When I got there, the guy gave me a big bucket of plants for $5. It looked like he just pulled out all the watersprite from his tank, and I am guessing it had been sitting around for a while. I took it back to my classroom (I’m a teacher) washed many of the good looking plants and planted some in a number of my aquaria. There were still lots left, so I set up another tank, dumped them in there (no substrate, no filter, just a light) because I figured they would grow infusoria and my students could look at those under the microscope.
Last weekend (about 6 weeks later) I decided to wash out some of the mulm and decaying plants, so I scooped out the green plants and then netted out the crud. When I looked in the net, I found a wee fish flapping in there. It must have been an egg, or a very tiny fry, when I got it on New Years Day, because I saw nothing like that while working in the bucket and sorting/washing plants. Anyways, I looked more and found another 5!
Does anyone have any guesses what they are? I have contacted the guy who sold me the plants, but he hasn’t responded yet. The fish are now in my quarantine tank eating live brine shrimp, daphnia and fine flakes. They seem to be doing OK! I’d love to hear your thoughts on what they might be. 😊