Hi guys, A couple of weeks ago, i pulled some plants out of my tank and set up an outdoor tub to try to regrow them and today, when i went out to check, i came across this tiny little critter that when i look more closely, appears to be a tiny fry

I wish I could take a good quality pic but the best i could take was this



I couldn't believe it could survive out there but the water is primarily good, no ammonia or nitrites so my question is this, should i keep him out there? Or should I set up my little 5gal and filter? How does a change affect them? He's very energetic out in the tub so should I just continue to change the water out there?

Sheesh, i'm such a novice here and could do with some help

Now, will you look at that - a surprise fry! So, he basically can't be older than 2-3 weeks, right?
How cold does it get out there at the moment? Wait, Australia has summer right now, so no cold? He definetely can survive out there, the plants and small particles in the water provide him with enough nutrients to munch on, and he is a single fry, so there is plenty just for him alone.
The question is, would you rather have him someplace where you can control better how he eats, and even get him a little filtration? How big is that tub he is in now? Maybe if you stick a small sponge filter in there, it'll make him really happy. Or you can always get that 5 gl tank and stick a sponge filter in there, preferably one that has been in an established tank already, so its cycled. The move shouldn't stress the fry too much, since you would be using water from his tub right now, without adding any other water at the moment.
Baby, baby, baby.....

I'd say he's definitely only 2 weeks old if I count how long the plants have been there

The temps here are fairly hot right now and the water outside is about 85degrees

I have a small sponge filter - one of the ones with a little spray bar but I think even this will be too strong for him/her.

He looks so happy out there but i really do want to see how he gets on in the 5gal. I just don't want to mess up the balance - the tub is 25 gallon with no filtration unfortunately.

I think i'll bring him in <talk about indecisive>

The thing is - you have filtration! The plants do the filtering, and provide the oxygen for him, at least during the day time. At night they take oxygen, which isn't all that great for the little guy.
A plant isn't enough of filtration for a whole tank, but for a little guy like this its perfect. Maybe you can take a plant into the 5 gl as well? The spray bar sounds a bit too much for the fry though. I don't know what kind of sponge filters you can find in Australia, but here I love those kind...
Hydro sponge filters

They come in different sizes, and are fairly cheap and easy to operate....

Well the good news is I rigged up a small hang on filter (and it's cycled) at the lowest level and covered the intake with clean pantyhose, plus there's an airstone (this is in the 5 gallon)... He's not eating yet (tried the egg yolk) but he's still there and swimming all over the place

Now to go and get some fry food

Thanks Andrea

Well go figure!!! Jen's a Grandma! Good for you. My daughter kept her fry in a tub like that and it was amazing how fast they grew.I can't wait to see this lone baby a little bigger.Any idea who Mummy & Daddy are? Congrats!!

So cute! Good luck with the little one!

What a nice little surprise! The things we find when we least expect it.

Good luck with him, and keep us posted!

Thanks guys and lol Sharon - I definitely know who the father is, my frisky male moor

As to the mother, I honestly don't know

It is definately the weather for it here! I have the same problem. I bought for my fry this liquid food which i found good and there is also in the Sera brand a baby food called micopan which looks like tiny baby flakes small enough for them to eat. I also fed mine frozen baby brine shrimp. Does he need any friends? I have a heap here again!

Karen.

Lol - no thanks Karen

I pulled a few more eggs out of the big tank and placed the leaves in the 5 gallon - will wait and see what happens but so far for me, it's still the one

If those eggs ever hatch I can tell you what will happen to them - your older fry will eat them! Yes, he definetely will try as hard as he can.

Those guys are just buggers, even at that age. I put once 2 month old shuby fry together with 1 month old ones, and within a couple of hours none of the younger ones were around anymore... Just watch those eggs!

OMG, I'm so glad you told me this Andrea! My one surviving fry is now about a month old and roughly about 4 days ago, about 4 of my new eggs hatched. Do you think I can find even one of them? They were all swimming happily in the 5 gallon and then poof, vanished

I have more eggs again this week so as a project, i did a massive waterchange in my outside tub (it's turned into a greenwater project now) and placed one of my hardier fish out there. I brought him inside today and placed the new eggs into the tub. Hopefully this will be a good place for them to hatch and spend their first month or so.... My elmer thrived out there this week (after i rigged up a pump)

Congrats Grandma Jen.... you must be so proud. haha.

Wow.. I'm so surpised that you were able to see the little guy. Wow... you've got a trained eye that's for sure.

aw! congrats Jen!

Hey Jen,How's that fry doing?Any new pics?

Awwww Gramma Jen! What a cute lil surprise-Good luck with the lil fella. Hope you can post some more pic's of him soon.

Lucky You!!

I tried to get more pics, but they're still so small (like the way I blame them when I haven't read my camera manual to learn how to take clear shots of really small things? )... anyhow, here are my only 4. The first one I found in the tub was in the 5 gallon for about 4 weeks, meanwhile I managed to save about 7 other eggs (only 3 survivored) and they were out in the greenwater tub growing big fast so I put them all out there.

Hopefully you can make out the little blips that are my fish





And this is their tub



Hopefully I can get some clearer shots as soon as I figure out how

Hi, they are heaps bigger than mine yet were born aournd the same time. Its amazing the difference between raising them indoors and outside. (Mine are inside.) Once my computer stops being too slow, i will post some of mine so you can see the difference. As for what setting on the camera, I use macro, looks like a little flower. It helps when taking close ups. As for what else I have no idea. I would not know what half the settings on my camera mean.

Karen.

Ohhh, so that's what the little flower means

I look forward to seeing what your guys look like - and admittedly, they do grow like wildfire out in the green tub. I do have to do 2 x 50% waterchanges weekly but it's a much better place for them and outside, you can just turf the used water into the garden. Speaking of which, the plant i've thrown the water on has never looked better

Aha greenwater fry tub!! Looks very very good, Jen! Btw how are the plants doing in the tub? I would think they won't have any chance of getting any nutrients, no?

Thanks Riz - the tub is a happy place for them

The plants are doing well because I also have a bottle of Seachem's Flourish which does a good job of supplying calcium, magnesium, iron and other nutrients the plants need - and it doesn't harm the fish

I'm going to do a waterchange now so will try to take some pics of them with the macro setting, see how they come out ....

Jen,you sound like me when it comes to reading"How too's "on my camera.
The babies look great by the way

I really hate instructions, especially when presented in 1 point type over roughly 600 pages.... and all without pictures

I'm still trying to work out what they are... or will be when they grow up

OK, hopefully this works. I will put the links up for my guys. Some are of my five week olds and the others are five months old. The smaller ones look big, but it is decieving in thepic, they are smaller than yours Jen. They are currently living in my ghost shrimp tank (he died) with plenty of snails for company.

five week old


another five week old

five month old

my biggest five month old

Wow, your little guys are wonderful How many do you have roughly?

I don't think they are smaller than mine because mine still have that transparent appearance and you can see their internals when you look at them from underneath. Their fins are now developing well although they're really only about 1.3 cms long head to tail (I think the next pic shows how puny they really still are)



.... So your 5 week olds are really well developed (especially when I look at my slow poker at the same age)

The one you saw in my pic would be my biggest, he is about 2.5cms but then the smallest i have is barely 1cm. I have six left from 20 originally. My biggest is a bronze colour but the others are transparent/white. They are living in a tank with those tiny snails that breed non stop and i have discovered they are eating the snails eggs so it is good, it will control them breeding for a bit as it was going crazy there for a while with masses of snails.

Out of my older guys, the five months olds, there is 21 of them. Some of them are not much bigger than my news guys, others are huge. Some just dont seem to thrive as well as the others. My bigger guys are still all varied colours. They are a mix of comets and commons and one of the fathers is a transparent white so a lot are the same as him. You can see their gills and insides. Looks strange. When they get a bit bigger i am going to have a problem with so many of them. I am going to have to start digging a pond real soon.

Karen.

Hey Karen,your fry are now looking like fish. Great pics and cute little bugger's.

Cute fries, Jen!
How are they doing now?

Oooh Riz, they get bigger every day Well, all except my pip (short for pipsqueak) who is still only a little bugger.

They absolutely love the tub outside

Well, today I had to bring my 3 bigger fry inside because Andrea's right when she says they'll eat new fry. I took my usual morning position outside at my tub to look at the new babies when i discovered one was being chased by my bigger fry

So I'm going to give my 1 day olds a chance to thrive in the outdoor tub while my other guys settle inside in a 12 gallon tank. They've adapted well and this way I can actually watch them

I took some more pics of them tonight and while they're still tiny, they're much bigger than the last time I took pics.

I wish I knew how to take good pictures

Wow!!! They are growing so fast!!!!

Awww..... they're very sweet. I remember that baby color too. Bronzey-grey. Wait till they start going thru their color changes......... it's CRAZY how many colors they can go thru till they get their "adult" colors. I remember when Spud was blue!!!!!!!

Wow, will you look at those guys!! So big already!! The one day olds will love it in the tub, and it cuts down on feedings, since all kinds of stuff is around for them to eat. I think I put mine into a tub as well, I just have to find a breeding net, because otherwise my big fish will eat them....