Noticed baby fish in tank?

Question

Ok, I am a intermediate fish keeper and just noticed two small baby's. I can not tell which fish they came from there for I am not too sure if they are live bearers or hatch lings. I do however want to ensure their survival and have had bad luck in the past with those nets and stuff. Can any one offer up any good suggestions and or informative sites?

My fish are community only and here is a list of what we have.

2 sword tails ( i am assuming they are the parents)

9Albino black tetras

9Neon/cardinal tetras

1 Dolphin Mormy

2 Clown pleccos

1 Rock Shrimp

1 Blue iridescent shark

3 African Frogs

2 Black shirt tetras

1 Cory cat

5 Von Rio tetras

7 Rummy nose tetras

Answer 1

We just found baby fish 2 weeks ago, and I'm still not sure what we have!  We went to the pet store, and got a small, 2 gallon tank for them, until they are large enough to re-join our larger tank.  Maybe try that?  The tank was only $20.  Also look at getting them First Bites food, which is tiny for them to digest, and has more nutrients in it.

Answer 2

Everyone has "bad luck" with breeder traps or nets,they are fish killers. Don't use them. It's likely that your Swordtails committed parenthood. To perhaps help with the frys' chances,put some "bunch plants" in the tank to offer hiding places.

Also,you don't say what size your tank is,but it should be fairly large with that population(55gallonsat least).

One other thing, when your Clown Pleco grow to sexual maturity one of them will kill the other. Keep only one individual of a given Pleco species per tank. And avoid similar appearing types. They are very territorial.  

Answer 3

Wow, you have quite a mixup of fish!

I will just go ahead and guess that these fry are from your swordtails because they are livebearers. Typically when eggs are laid in a community tank, they get eaten so fast they don't have time to hatch.

Since the babies are already loose in your tank, it will be very hard to catch them and keep them separated from the rest of the crew. You should get them some java moss or other mossy plant that they will be able to hide in. The more plants, the better.

Chances are likely that you won't have any survivors though - especially with those frogs in the tank. And speaking of which, they will eventually eat up all your little fish, like all those tetras for starters.You might want to think of a new home for them eventually.

In the future you can get yourself a breeder net - it's a box shaped net that hangs on the side of the tank. If you notice a pregnant female, put her in there and when she has her babies you can take her out and the fry will be safe and sound in the net.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Judging from your list, I'd say they're most likely from the swordtails.  Usually livebearers look like miniature versions of the adults.  It is possible it's one of the tetras as well, but I'd say it's the swordtails.  Best bet, get a smaller tank and rear the fry separate in that.  Those nets aren't the greatest, they don't allow good water flow, and they get dirty very easily-and are hard to clean when they're full of fry.  Otherwise, just make sure there's lots of hiding places for the fry, java moss works great for that.  But you have a lot of potential fry predators in there, including the parents.  Good luck!