I am..perplexed

[EVoyager31]

So I recently had something happen and 9/12 of my juvenile boesemani rainbows died.... the last 3 still in QT. Never figured out what happened to them because water and all that were good.

BUT

I was looking in my nearly empty 75g today and I see a tiny, baby fish. Smaller than my fingernail. Coloration reminds me of a cherry barb, which have been in this tank before but they were moved out over a month ago. So..I am very confused. Maybe it isn't a cherry barb? I just have no idea where he came from because after my rainbows died I did a massive water change, added gravel, rescaped, etc. and then he just appears.

Who are you..where did you come from.... who do you belong to...HOW DID YOU SURVIVE.

 

Excuse terrible photos...he is small and hanging at back of the tank.

[gardenman]

Fish often pop up where you least expect them. Barbs and tetras are egg scatterers and will often shower a tank in eggs with most getting eaten before they can hatch. Any hatchlings then tend to become live food. Even with the heavy predation a fish or two can sometimes sneak past the hungry mouths and emerge as a young fish. At least one egg survived your tank redo and the fry grew up.

[EVoyager31]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:01 AM, gardenman said:

Fish often pop up where you least expect them. Barbs and tetras are egg scatterers and will often shower a tank in eggs with most getting eaten before they can hatch. Any hatchlings then tend to become live food. Even with the heavy predation a fish or two can sometimes sneak past the hungry mouths and emerge as a young fish. At least one egg survived your tank redo and the fry grew up.

How long do eggs take to hatch though? I haven’t had any barbs or tetras in my tank for well over a month! So crazy

[Levi_Aquatics]

After doing some research, it takes 2 days for the eggs to hatch and 2 more days before the fry are free swimming. They take about 5 weeks to reach 1cm and obtain their distinct cherry barb coloration. 

[EVoyager31]

On 1/10/2022 at 3:30 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

After doing some research, it takes 2 days for the eggs to hatch and 2 more days before the fry are free swimming. They take about 5 weeks to reach 1cm and obtain their distinct cherry barb coloration. 

I suppose this sort of timeline works but it still doesn’t make sense in my brain 😂

[Levi_Aquatics]

@EVoyager31 yeah it would be tough for him to survive all that but not impossible. 

[PedroPete]

Definitely a cherry barb. Congratulations! Super cute 🙂

[Odd Duck]

I once had giant danios hatch in a tank where I pulled plastic plants out of a QT to catch out the parents to go into my main tank at the time.  I laid the plants onto a towel on the desk in front the tank.  Caught and moved the fish.  Drained 95% of the water, refilled the tank, put about half the plants back in.  Put the other half into the tank next to it that had tiny Jack Dempsey fry in it (about 2-3 weeks old).

Maybe a week later, I notice dust specks with eyeballs zipping around!  Looked and moved completely different than the Jack fry.  They were giant danio fry!  From nearly dried plastic plants that laid on a towel for almost an hour all together.

A few days later as I’m watching all the fry, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye in the cleaned, “empty” QT tank.  More dust with eyeballs!  More had hatched from the mostly dried plants I put back into the QT.  So I raised giant danios alongside Jack Dempsey fry.  Got about 15 or so fry out of dried up plastic plants, completely unintentionally.

Congrats on your cherry barb!

[EVoyager31]

On 1/10/2022 at 5:04 PM, Odd Duck said:

I once had giant danios hatch in a tank where I pulled plastic plants out of a QT to catch out the parents to go into my main tank at the time.  I laid the plants onto a towel on the desk in front the tank.  Caught and moved the fish.  Drained 95% of the water, refilled the tank, put about half the plants back in.  Put the other half into the tank next to it that had tiny Jack Dempsey fry in it (about 2-3 weeks old).

Maybe a week later, I notice dust specks with eyeballs zipping around!  Looked and moved completely different than the Jack fry.  They were giant danio fry!  From nearly dried plastic plants that laid on a towel for almost an hour all together.

A few days later as I’m watching all the fry, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye in the cleaned, “empty” QT tank.  More dust with eyeballs!  More had hatched from the mostly dried plants I put back into the QT.  So I raised giant danios alongside Jack Dempsey fry.  Got about 15 or so fry out of dried up plastic plants, completely unintentionally.

Congrats on your cherry barb!

Thats crazy!! Amazing how fry can endure that much.. meanwhile my juvenile rainbows die out of nowhere. 
and after much staring it is now TWO cherry barbs! 😂

[Odd Duck]

On 1/10/2022 at 4:20 PM, EVoyager31 said:

Thats crazy!! Amazing how fry can endure that much.. meanwhile my juvenile rainbows die out of nowhere. 
and after much staring it is now TWO cherry barbs! 😂

I think I likely transferred eggs caught in the little fronds of my plastic plants.  😆 

That’s great, they can grow up friends.  😂 🤣 You might still spot more!  It’s shocking how well fish can hide.

[Mydonkeyfish]

Looks like a female cherry barb😄