Danio Fry?

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I need to know.

I did a water change yesterday and when I sat down to observe the fish to make sure they were ok, I noticed 2 small little "things" swimming in the tank. I thought they were just bug larvae so didn't think much of it when the danios swallowed them up (well one that I saw).

But thinking about it more, I did some searching around and come to find out.... I got the type of danio wrong and it seems as though I have 3 females and one male in my tank right now. So finding this out... I think those little "things" were actually fry.

I did another water change today and lo & behold... I see one pop up. I race to the kitchen to get a glass to put it in, but it disappeared before I could scoop it up. I disturbed the gravel a little and out popped one that I quickly netted and put into the glass and eventually a plastic baggy that I'm floating in the tank right now.
Another had popped up as well, but I lost it while trying to fish it out of the net..
Here are some pics....

Here is just a far away shot of the baggy I have it in now and my 4 oinkers inspecting it to see if it's food.... If ya look cose you can see the little thing sitting in the bag.


& here is a closeup of the fry with a lot of bubbles on the outside of the baggy



And here are some pics of when I first scooped it out and put it in a glass.





There aren't 2 of them.. it's just the reflection




So am I dealing with bebeh fish?
How long will they be hiding in the rocks/gravel?

If they are babies I think we're gonna be getting one of those breeder nets? to put them in.

 

If they are fry

CONGRATULATIONS!!

One of my danios realeased some eggs recently but all the other danios ate the eggs before I realised what was happening.  :-\ I'm hoping 1 or 2 may have survived but it's probably very unlikely.

Yes so like Shollia asked, How long will they be hiding in the rocks/plants/gravel if any of them survived?

Good luck with the fry!!  ;D

Gwenz

 

Heh thanks..  ;D That is IF they are fishies which I'm hoping! I wanted to get a couple more danios so this would save me a trip to Superpets (*ugh* but it's the only petsore that carries these variety) to get more.

More questions.... when we get a breeders net (if they are fish).... should we disturb the gravel and get them into the net that way? Or wait until they come out from hiding? I'm just afraid that when they eventually do start coming out, that the other danios are going to eat them before I even realize they're even there.

Also... when should I start thinking about giving them fry food? Or powdered flakes? This one still looks SO tiny.. like it just hatched or something... should I try to get it to go back into the gravel and leave it alone? Should I just get the breeders net and put it in there? When I get the net... what should I put into it? Some of the rocks/gravel?

 

Alrighty... we zipped over to Walmart as soon as bf got home and got this really huge (least that's how it looks) breeders cage/net thing. I guess it's good though to hold a few in there until they get big enough to get out into the rest of the tank.

Anywho! The "thing" was dumped out of the bag and into the net. It's wedged itself a little inbetween one of the bars and the netting but it looks content.

I really could use some help in identifying this little guy and if it would be ok to disturb the gravel to fish out mroe to put into the net.

 

If you can't see em then niether can the Big Danios. They'll be better off in the main tank with lots of food. If fry aren't eaten like right away they have a good chance of surviving.

Congrats on the fry!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D

 

Oh they saw the one that was swallowed, and they're always on the bottom looking for food scraps.. that's why I'm worried.

I did another water change today since the ammonia was a bit high.. but instead of just pouring the bucket of water down the drain, I took a glass and scooped out all the water to inspect it before I poured it into the sink.

I found 2 swimming ones and one that looks like it's still in a fetus state. I put them all into the net. I'm not sure if one of the swimming ones was dead though. It's so hard to tell since they don't really move all that much unless disturbed alot. The other swimmer was still as well, but perked up once I put them into the net. I have no idea how to tell if the fetus one is still alive though. We'll just have to see about that one I guess.

I'll probably have to do another water change tomorrow.... we'll see if anymore pop up.

 

I still don't think you should be too worried about any loose fry. They will find a nice hiding place and come out when they're too big to be eaten.
There's no harm in putting them in the net for now except I'm just wondering what they're going to eat.

 

I still don't think you should be too worried about any loose fry.  They will find a nice hiding place and come out when they're too big to be eaten.
There's no harm in putting them in the net for now except I'm just wondering what they're going to eat.

Yeah I'm worried about that as well. That's why I dunno if I should just leave them in there or not. I know if I try to put them back in the regular area.. they most probably won't go back into the gravel like the very first 2 that I saw & will eventually get eaten.

 

I don't know much about breeder cage/nets. Is there a place where you can put food? If there is you coul;d try crushing up flakes really small and just feed them a little to see if they eat it.

Just a suggestion

Gwenz

 

I believe crushed flakes are too big for danio fry. they are usually fed little microscopic critters.
Fry are smart...they wouldn't just walk into a Big Danio's mouth. They have a strong survival instinct. I don't think they would all get eaten if they were in the main tank. just my opinion though.

 

Yeah I tryed the crushed flakes thing... I crushed them as small as I could but it's still too big for the fry so I had to fish it out of the net.

I did a 50% water change today since the ammonia was a little high and found 3 or 4 more of them. I put them in the net though b/c tomorrow we're gonna go and get some liquid fry food. Hopefully they'll be ok until then.

I also found what I think are eggs. I put them into the net as well b/c I didn't know what else to do with them. I'm not sure how you're supposed to tell if they're fertilized or not.. but I guess we'll see in a few days if they survive.
I know the ones that are still down in the rocks will be ok without me getting them into the breeders net... I'm just super paranoid that they're gonna get eaten even if there is no chance that they will be heh

 

Unfertilized eggs will soon turn white because bacteria grows on them. They need to be removed immediately or they will infect the healthy eggs too.

Btw, now that you have fry you need to keep the ammonia extremely low. Fry have zero tolerance for toxins in the water. You should probably do extra or bigger water changes to try and keep them healthy.

 

Unfertilized eggs will soon turn white because bacteria grows on them.  They need to be removed immediately or they will infect the healthy eggs too.

Btw, now that you have fry you need to keep the ammonia extremely low.  Fry have zero tolerance for toxins in the water.  You should probably do extra or bigger water changes to try and keep them healthy.

*nodnod*
I'm trying to keep the ammonia under control now that the tank seems to finally be cycling. I hope they're gonna be ok!
Oh and from my last count.. it seems though there are now 7 of them in the net. Could be more if some are hiding in between the net and the plastic stuff though. One of them was swimming around a lot today. They're just So cute! I really hope some if not all of them make it!

 

Most fry that hatch from eggs are too small to eat crushed flakes but there are lots of goodies(microscopic creatures) in the gravel for them to eat. if you want to put them in the net you could feed them infusoria. To make infusoria crush a lettuce leaf, cover it with wter and let it sit in strong light( not sunlight) about 24 hrs. Shine a light through the container, you should see tiny dust looking creatures. These are infusoria several times a day put some of the "tea" in the net with the fry. Doing this you have to keep a very close check on water parameters. Hope that helps
Carol

 

Alrighty... I'll try that cause now I'm not sure if we are gonna be able to make it to a pet store tonight. Totally forgot that my dog has a vet appointment.

Thanksfully we have some lettace left over from taco night! heh

 

Welp...... I know I've said I hated the place many times before, but we went there again tonight (ugh).... to look for some liquid fry food.
Not very surprising that they didn't have any.
We did pick up some amquel? Or something like that. It's supposed to get rid of ammonia, chlorine, and that other chl thing.. so I'll be using that to help keep the ammonia in check for a while so my fish will be ok.

Did a 10% water change today. I should've done more, but everything was so hectic with my brother coming home from the hospital that I almost forgot to do the 10%.

Oh and I found 3 more fry. 1 was still in that curled up shape... but was still moving. The other 2 were swimming. I thought one was dead though b/c it didn't have the 2 black eye dots all the others have. It looked more tannish so thought it was dead, but it swam away when I tryed to scoop it out of the container.
So total in the net now=10 or so that I can actually see heh.

 

Woot! Went to Petsmart today thanks to my brother who drove me.
And thankfully they had liquid fry food.
I can't tell if they ate any that I dropped in there, but I hope so!
There are 2 that have started to swim up to the surface. I guess looking for food. The others are still clinging to the side of the net or laying on the bottom. Some of them are probably dead though unfortunatly We'll have to see though. Since they don't move a lot it's hard to tell.
The 2 that are swimming to the top are just so cute!

 

So... after I disturbed some of the fake plants looking for my missing danio.. I noticed 2 tiny black things had attached themselves to the rock near the tall one in the back. Yep.. there were 2 fry down there.
One of them eventually went back into the rocks while the other hung out on one of the rocks.
I did a water change and am hoping it went back down, but doing my now usual routine with water changes... I found 4 more fry.
Some of them seem to be doing ok while others... not so well. I just hope a few of them survive!

 

Since your tank is still cycling, be prepared that some of the fry might not make it. This is not your fault or anything, it's just fry are sensitive to toxins. They have done well so far so that must mean you are doing a great job keeping the water clean even though it is cycling. I hope the fry continue to do well. Let us know hwo they are doing. I think you will be amazed at how fast they grow, if they are anything like my Guppies were.

 

Unfortunatly... it seems as though a lot of them have died :'(
Before when you looked into the breeders net.. you could see a lot of them clinging to the net walls and a couple had started swimming to the top. Now... there are only a few clinging to the wall and none at the top *sigh*
I know there will be more.... still sad though

 

Alrighty... so I did a 50% water change today and came back with A LOT of fry from vacuuming the rocks.
I think I'm gonna stop doing that every day though. I'm just so paranoid about the gravel getting too dirty that I suck up all the mess when I do water changes.

But yeah... I'll do it about once a week so I can give the fry that are in the gravel time to develop and such.

I don't even know how many I put into the net though. Alot of them still seemed to have that yolk sac thing going on, while a few were still in that fetal state and other were free swimming. I'm still keeping hope alive even though it seems a lot of the previous fry had died.

 

I think you should be cool with every other day or two days. What do you think omorrokh? Just keep up on the water test so you don't get any suprises! How big are they now?

 

Well... I think pretty much all of the previous fry are now dead.
The new ones are the same teeny size as the ones before.
I'm not sure how fast they grow so when (hopefully) they do start growing I probably won't even notice until it's VERY obvious.. ya know? heh

 

what type of danios are these, I like the yellow color.

 

They seem to be long finnned gold zebra danio
They're very active little oinkers! heh

 

I'm so glad you posted pictures--I just discovered that I had Danio fry, too, when I changed water last night! (Mine are the short-finned zebra danios.) My tank is cycling, and I had been vacuuming my pebbles into a large, dark-covered bucket and never looked at the waste remains. But I got too much water in the bucket & poured some into a clear pitcher--then I discovered swimming itsy-bitsy fishies!! And they look just like your photos! My kids are sick, so I can't get a breeders net until they get well...but they seem to be hiding in the rocks/plants.

My question is: how quickly do they grow? I'm hoping that 2-3 will survive even if I do nothing (except water changes w/o vacuuming for now). But I have no idea as to the rate they grow! (will they be 1/2 in long in a month? 2 mos?) I am so new at this!

I am interested in seeing your babies progression--keep us updated!!

 

Isn't it so exciting!?! hehe
I'm with ya though with the whole newbie-ness! I have no idea how fast they grow and whatnot.

I'd post more pics of them, but in the breeders net, with the glare that's coming from the light hitting the white netting.. and then all of the textures.. it's really hard to see the bebehs in pictures taken.
It seems as though the ones in there are doing pretty well though.
I was such a geeky fish mom today.

I dropped a few drops of liquid fry food in the net for them and got SO excited when 5 little teeny tiny fry came swimming to the surface! OMG I was spazzing with happiness when I saw that rofl. I'm not sure if they were eating or not... I was just guessing they were since that's what the adults do.... but it was still UBER nifty to actually see them active instead of just clinging to the side of the net.

 

Alrighty... so yesterday... about 5 of the fry in the net were VERY active and were swimming around all over the place.
It was very cute watching them dart here and there.
But today, there was only one lone fry swimming around for a while, then another teeny tiny one joined it for a little bit, then I guess that one also went to rest?
Least I hope that's where the others went. I saw a few resting on the bottom of the net and on the sides.... is this normal fry behaviour?

Also.. while I was waiting the 5mins for the ammonia test.. I noticed a single fry swimming in the corner of my tank near the heater. It looked a little bigger than the ones in the net, but it disappeared after a while. I later saw another or could've been the same one resting on a leaf in that area, but it did eventually disappear. I just hope none of the grownups ate it and it's just hiding somwhere else! ;D

 

The ones in the tank will probably be bigger like the one you saw due to the abundance of food.
About how big is the one you saw in the tank(the bigger one)? How about the ones in the net?

 

Uhm... gosh I dunno.
The one that I saw in the tank was slightly bigger... that's about all I can tell ya heh. Not sure if it looked more developed or not b/c it was hard to keep your eye on, but you could tell that it was bigger.
There are some in the net that seem to be growing slowly. I've been feeding them regularly, so I hope they're getting enough food.
I vacuumed some of the rocks today and sucked up 3 more... 2 were swimmers, one still appeared to have a large sac on it. I'm trying to leave the rocks alone though as much as possible so I won't get too many of the ones that are down there

 

How do we differentiate a male danio from a female? Can someone explain please?

 

Not sure if all danios are like this, but I can tell ya how mine look.
My male is ALOT skinnier than my females. My 3 females are very plump. I'll get pics of them tomorrow if I remember to show the differences in them.

 

Alrighty.. here are some pics of my danios to show the differences between the male and females.

Here's a pic of all 4 in the same shot. The male is on the far left while the 3 females are on the right. Notice how his body is a lot slimmer compared to theirs.



And here are 2 pics of the male that I took today (well the blurry one I took today).... quality is a little bad b/c he was being camera shy.. but you can still see how his body is slimmer.





And here is a pic of my big Bully. She's the largest out of the bunch and the only one that wanted to come pose for the camera.... still couldn't get a good shot of her though b/c she kept chasing off the others heh You can still see how her body is more shapely than the males.

 

How do we differentiate a male danio from a female? Can someone explain please?

What kind of Danios do you have? I know with Zebra Danios, the females have more silver between their stripes and the males have a more goldish hue between the stripes. Also, like Shollia said, the males are slimmer than the females. I've attached two photos of one of my females.
Sharon

 

Dernit! I wish I could take some pics of the fry! They're getting bigger and looking so adorable!
I really hope they'll live. There are 3 pretty healthy looking ones that are swimming around like crazy and getting bigger every day. I found a few more fry today when I vacuumed the rocks, but a lot of them were still very young so not sure if they'll survive.
My tank is going through nitrite spikes right now so I'm a bit worried. I'm just gonna keep up with my daily water changes & hope for the best.
I need to get something to clean their net though. It's pretty filthy. Whenever I vacuum the rocks.. I scoop ut the water a cup at a time so I can inspect it to make sure I'm not pouring down any fry... but unfortunatly, most of the time the fry will be at the bottom where all of the debris is.. and those fry are hard to catch so I've just been dumping it into the net :-\ I mean I get out as much stuff as I can but those lil suckers are just so small I don't want to smoosh any!

We should get one of those clear breeders things.. the clear plastic ones.. not the net.. least then we wouldn't have this big neon green w/ white netting eyesore in the front of our tank heh

 

Well, I hope your fry continue doing well. Keep us updated. As long as you're doing your water changes that's all you can do so we'll just have ot hope for the best.
How big are the fry in the net? If it is getting too dirty it may be best to release them.

 

Oh they're still pretty small... maybe half an inch. They're filling out nicely though. You can actually tell they're supposed to be fish now lol

 

Congratulations on your babies!
I recommend not stirring up your gravel. For every one that 'pops up', you could be crushing others. Nature spurs these little guys to burrow into the crevices between the rocks for protection. They also find the microscopic food there after their egg sac is absorbed. Try placing a layer of java moss over your gravel. This will protect them further until they are big enough to escape the adults. You may have some losses, but these danios are prolific.
For your water exchanges, siphon closer to the top of the tank and replace your water slowly, as the tiny fry are sensitive to temperature and chemical composition of new water.
Fry food is sold for livebearer and egglayer species. Ask your pet store for recommendations.
Watch these little one's journey as they evolve from timid mites to juvenile super swimmers to adult. Good luck! Guppygranny.

 

Oh I've gotten over the killing the ones in the gravel thing... as terrible as that sounds. We have 3 that are growing great inside of the net.
I'm still dropping in some of the liquid food, but also got this powery stuff last night for them since I couldn't crush up the flake food small enough.

Here's a pic I took earlier today of the 3 survivors... They're about half an inch long still, but they're just so uber cute. I hope they survive long enough to be big enough to put into the main tank without getting eaten.

 

Just an update on the fry.

One had died a few weeks ago. It was lethargic near the top, but at the time I didn't think anything of it. Few hours later, I came back to find it floating at the surface dead.

Today, the other 2 died for no reason. They were perfectly fine when I fed them when I woke. Just as I usually do. I gave them a few sprinkles of crushed flakes.
They came up and started chowing down. Checked on them a few hours later and they were both dead.
It really freaking sucks b/c I was a week away from finally putting them in the main part of the tank with the rest of the fish *sigh* RIP little guys... you're going to be missed terribly :'(

I did an over 50% water change just in case something was in the water, b/c I did notice the other fish acting oddly. I just hope if it was something in the water, it's out now... b/c if I wake up tomorow to find more dead fish.. I'm gonna scream.