Lily

Hi, everyone! I joined yesterday and am having trouble posting a new thread (I sent a message to the site administrator.) In the meantime, can you all offer me some advice? I have a tank which has been established for about 9 months, but I still feel like a beginner. Early this week, I was watching the fish and saw a teeny tiny baby fish! She's a cherry barb and she's just adorable. She's less than a centimeter in length. I'm so thrilled! And yesterday I was watching her, and I saw another one, must smaller! They have been hiding in a plant and coming out occasionally. Now, what do I do?? Today is the day I clean the tank and I was afraid that in the process of washing the gravel and removing the plants, the big fish would get the babies. So I have moved them to an iced tea pitcher with their favorite plant. I would appreciate any advice you could give as I want to give the babies the best possible chance. Or if anyone would post this question to the proper place for me until I can log in correctly, I would really appreciate it. Thank you! --Lily

Lucy

Hi Lily Welcome to Fish Lore

This thread posted correctly, so hopefully your problem has been solved.

How cute, baby cherry barbs! Congratualtions!
I don't have live bearers so until members who have them can help you, maybe a breeder box? I think it hangs right in your aquarium. It keeps the babies safe and warm.

Good luck

sirdarksol

Hiya Lily! Welcome to Fishlore.
I moved your post into its own thread so it will get the attention it deserves.

Also, just to verify: When trying to post a new thread, did you go to a sub-section of the forum (the various areas, such as "General Discussion" on http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/) and look for the "New Thread" button? It will be below any sub-sub-sections (in General Discussion, there are four of these) and above the blue bar that says "Threads in Fish Forum..."

Okay, on to your question.
There is no need, in my opinion, to remove stuff from the tank. In fact, washing the decorations will remove the bacteria that turns fish waste from ammonia to nitrates. These bacteria are necessary for healthy fish. In general, my cleaning involves a partial water change and a bit of vacuuming, which requires only a bucket and a siphon vacuum (which is a length of flexible tubing with a wider tube at the end. You start the siphon, then use the wide end to stir the gravel a bit.) This pulls fish waste and uneaten food up without removing any of the gravel.

With the babies, there are many methods of dealing with the potential for harm. I go with a more natural method. Any tank where I'm trying to encourage breeding has a lot of frilly plants (I have live plants. Java moss is great for this task) for the babies to hide in. I'll likely lose a few babies, but they're born with a fear of the things that will hurt them, so they tend to hide in the plants.
You can also set up a separate tank (best if you can find a way to heat it, though), or use a breeder net to separate the babies from the parents.

midnightwolf

i would go with the breeder box it keeps them safe from harm but they stay warm and with proper water conditions. when they are large enough not to fit in the mouth of your largers fish you can release them. good luck.

Lily

Thank you for the advice and thanks for moving my post - I really appreciate it! I have found three more babies! It looks like I should get a breeder box, and perhaps I should get another tank, too! I appreciate you letting me know not to remove/clean the plants - I didn't know that. So, I'll keep the babies that I can catch in the iced tea pitcher and get a breeder box, or return them to the tank after I clean the gravel? --Lily

Lily

I cleaned the gravel and, as suggested, didn't clean any plants, just put them back in. I have 1 large (tiny) and 4 small (teeny tiny) baby cherry barbs. Do the different sizes suggest two different spawns (is this the correct word)? At some point I'm going to have to make a decision if all of them live, because that will be too many fish for my tank. These are my first babies and they weren't planned, so thanks to all for the great advice to a first-time, accidental breeder!

Blub

Just a little note - if you have livebearers (Guppys, Platys, Mollys, Swordtails etc.) it may be a baby from them - they breed much (MUCH MUCH MUCH) easier than Cherry barbs - and breed much more readily in a community setting. Just check - as the livebearer fry look almost nothing like adult livebearers.

NUMB3RS

Cherry Barb Fry that must be amazing to find out... I would take an empty canister and poke holes VERY small hose so the fry cant get out then i would find a suction cup and attatch it on and let it stick to my established tank!

prairielilly

would loooovvveee to see some pictures!

Dark_Rider2k3

Yes you should post pictures!!

and cleaning the gravel is different then what your probably thinking. If you are removing the gravel from the water then that's wrong. Everything should stay in the tank.

What should be done is you get a gravel vacuum, and vacuum up the ground. I'll post more on how to do this later but it's 1:16 am and i'm tired LOL!

sirdarksol

With that said, it's not that removing the gravel from the tank is wrong, it's just that it's a lot of extra work that you don't need to do.

Lily

This is great info. I have been vacuuming the gravel. I now have three teeny tiny fish and one larger and I think they're cherry barbs. I am going now to try to take a picture of them. I have another post about new eggs and I'll try to attach the photos here and there, if I can get a good photo.