Quarantine Bin Surprise!

[H.K.Luterman]

Ok. These are baby fish, right? I feel like I'm going crazy. I had a group of giant danios (and 2 random pearl danios) in this bin quarantining for a few weeks. I removed them and put them in their tanks about a week ago? Maybe? I kept a few snails in to keep the cycle going, and have been feeding them every few days. 

Well, I opened the bin this evening to throw some food in there... and I discovered this:
 

 

The only fish that have been in there are the danios, and I have done 0 maintenance on this tank since I removed them! I don't have any sort of fry food so I put some Repashy Community Plus power in, and also a big wad of java fern. I'm afraid to even change the water, they're so tiny!

My hubby thinks they're bugs. I'm not crazy, right? 😄 

[lefty o]

you may or may not be crazy, but you are correct that those are fish.

[gardenman]

Given the opportunity, most fish will spawn like crazy. We don't always know it because fish eggs and fry are a great and highly sought after fish food. You managed to time it so you removed the parents before they could eat the eggs/fry and now you have a gazillion (give or take a few) fry. In perfect circumstances with 100% survival, we'd all be up to our eyeballs in fish. A big koi (20+ pounds) can lay over a million eggs at a time. Luckily, it's a fish-eat-fish world out there so the numbers stay under control. Well, it's an everything eats fish world out there and it's good that it is. The numbers can get scary when you think of what happens when every egg or fry survives. 

And coral spawns are staggering in the number of eggs released. Hundreds of millions are common on a moderately sized reef. Most get eaten by plankton eaters/filter feeders, but the numbers that get released are staggering. 

 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:37 AM, gardenman said:

Given the opportunity, most fish will spawn like crazy. We don't always know it because fish eggs and fry are a great and highly sought after fish food. You managed to time it so you removed the parents before they could eat the eggs/fry and now you have a gazillion (give or take a few) fry. In perfect circumstances with 100% survival, we'd all be up to our eyeballs in fish. A big koi (20+ pounds) can lay over a million eggs at a time. Luckily, it's a fish-eat-fish world out there so the numbers stay under control. Well, it's an everything eats fish world out there and it's good that it is. The numbers can get scary when you think of what happens when every egg or fry survives. 

And coral spawns are staggering in the number of eggs released. Hundreds of millions are common on a moderately sized reef. Most get eaten by plankton eaters/filter feeders, but the numbers that get released are staggering. 

 

Yeah I was just NOT expecting this at all, it was such a shock to find; this is the most baby fish I have ever seen in my life, lol! I know not all are likely to make it, but I'm going to see if I can raise a few up to add to the school in the 75. I'm used to just raising guppies and endlers in tanks that are well established and basically just feed the fry for me, not something like this kind of setup, so I'm nervous about how much to feed and whatnot (but I started monitoring the water params). If I'm over flowing with babies, I guess I'll have to get a large bin for them and sell them on Craigslist or something!

[Guppysnail]

Congratulations!  I just removed my CPD breeders from a tank and had the same issue. I use a fine sponge prefilter or pantyhose over a siphon hose to do tiny fry tank water changes. I zip tie the sponge to the hose. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:46 AM, Guppysnail said:

Congratulations!  I just removed my CPD breeders from a tank and had the same issue. I use a fine sponge prefilter or pantyhose over a siphon hose to do tiny fry tank water changes. I zip tie the sponge to the hose. 

Oh thanks! I forgot about covering the end of the hose!

[rockfisher]

On 8/21/2022 at 6:22 PM, H.K.Luterman said:

Ok. These are baby fish, right? I feel like I'm going crazy. I had a group of giant danios (and 2 random pearl danios) in this bin quarantining for a few weeks. I removed them and put them in their tanks about a week ago? Maybe? I kept a few snails in to keep the cycle going, and have been feeding them every few days. 

Well, I opened the bin this evening to throw some food in there... and I discovered this:
 

 

The only fish that have been in there are the danios, and I have done 0 maintenance on this tank since I removed them! I don't have any sort of fry food so I put some Repashy Community Plus power in, and also a big wad of java fern. I'm afraid to even change the water, they're so tiny!

My hubby thinks they're bugs. I'm not crazy, right? 😄 

Repashy powder is what I use for fry food. Just a small amount goes a long way. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:01 AM, rockfisher said:

Repashy powder is what I use for fry food. Just a small amount goes a long way. 

Good to know! Should I feed multiple times a day? 

[rockfisher]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:46 AM, Guppysnail said:

Congratulations!  I just removed my CPD breeders from a tank and had the same issue. I use a fine sponge prefilter or pantyhose over a siphon hose to do tiny fry tank water changes. I zip tie the sponge to the hose. 

I use pantyhose as well but you can’t imagine the looks I get when a 40 something man asked where the pantyhose are and if there is difference in the tightness in the material.

[rockfisher]

I do. I use a flat tooth pick and just add a small amount because a little goes a long way. I breed several kinds of fish and fry should be fed 3-4 times a day if you can. I mix my foods live and repashy powder, but unless you are planning on breeding more I would not worry about the live foods. I have used ground up flakes in emergency situation. I have a fish coffee grinder that I have just for fish use. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:13 AM, rockfisher said:

I do. I use a flat tooth pick and just add a small amount because a little goes a long way. I breed several kinds of fish and fry should be fed 3-4 times a day if you can. I mix my foods live and repashy powder, but unless you are planning on breeding more I would not worry about the live foods. I have used ground up flakes in emergency situation. I have a fish coffee grinder that I have just for fish use. 

Awesome, thank you! I definitely will feed at least 3 times a day. I work from home and can easily manage that. 

[rockfisher]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:22 AM, H.K.Luterman said:

Awesome, thank you! I definitely will feed at least 3 times a day. I work from home and can easily manage that. 

Here are some fry I have now 

And here are some that are about 4-6 weeks old

[H.K.Luterman]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:39 AM, rockfisher said:

Here are some fry I have now 

And here are some that are about 4-6 weeks old

So cool! 

[Odd Duck]

I ended up with 3 times as many giant danios as I started with since they bred in QT.  They didn’t work out as dither fish for my Jack Dempseys, so I sold the babies to my LFS after they reached about 1.5”.  Some eggs also managed to hop tanks on some plastic plants I moved from one tank to the other but the plants laid on a towel for over an hour and got mostly dried before moving to the other tank.  I can’t imagine how many I would have had if I hadn’t let the plants lay there and dry out before putting them in the other tank.  🤦🏻‍♀️ 

[H.K.Luterman]

Tiny swimming eyeballs.
 

 

[Odd Duck]

Wow!  That’s a lot of fry for an accidental breeding!  They aren’t obviously swimming like danios in the vid, but still too soon to tell.