Random baby neon appeared

Hi,
I posted elsewhere too but can't figure out what to do. After I finished doing a water change and extensive vacuuming and moved all the sand around, I decided to mag cleaner the glass. I accidentally bumped my driftwood with the scraper and out jumps a baby neon! I was so surprised. It's about half a cm or so big. People recommended dividing the tank so my other neons and Betta don't kill it but I have a huge piece of driftwood spanning the entire tank bottom. He hides under it. Then someone also recommended a breeder tank. All the reviews I keep reading say the babies can swim right out of the slits. Can anyone identify how old this baby is and if I could use one of the breeding tanks?

 

It's definitely old enough a breeding bin would contain it. At the same time the, the betta would probably be the only concern. You're looking at something around 2-3 weeks tops for 5mm.

 

It's definitely old enough a breeding bin would contain it. At the same time the, the betta would probably be the only concern. You're looking at something around 2-3 weeks tops for 5mm.

Ok that makes sense.. I went out of town back on Aug 4-9.. so lights were off. I did a large water change on the 4th before leaving and didn't change it again until the 13th. Guess it happened then lol. It's a bit bigger than 5mm I think now that I'm comparing it with the jewel rock thing. Probably closer to 8mm. Thank you! I'll try to get a breeding bin tomorrow.. is the one from PetSmart or Petco ok btw? I was trying to show my daughter when and it kinda zoomed super fast to the other side of the tank and I haven't been able to figure out where it went since then. I hope I didn't accidentally get it killed doing that! Our Betta is super lazy and doesn't care about the neons but I have no idea what it'll do to the baby fish. He barely does after detritus worms. Oh another question.. is it big enough to eat hikari pellets? Is that how it's been surviving? Where it was hiding is right by where I feed the adults.

 

That's kinda exciting. Those usually take alot of work to breed.

 

Aquarium bettas, males* tend to be very poor active hunters. I don't know about food size, but if it's like bug bites it should be fine. Odds are it has lived off of mulm and copepods and other rotifiers. Perhapese the corpses of its siblings and pieces of fish food too. They're little carnivores so anything "meat" based would be good.

 

I was so afraid I accidentally got him killed getting him out of his hiding spot and him dashing to the other side of the tank yesterday. I couldn't find him after that. But this morning I was reattaching the Betta hammocks I accidentally knocked down yesterday and moved the wood a tiny bit and found him! He's in the other side of the tank and looks like he's found food. He's got a big belly.

 

What are your water parameters? It's very hard to breed the whole genus of Paracheirodon. I haven't heard of successful breeding in community tanks.

 

It seems to me like this little guy is doing well right where it is. I am sure it is finding all the food it needs from the microscopic life that grows in our tanks. I have had corys hatch in my tank. I don't feed anything extra and it seems they find plenty to eat. So much in fact that my numbers have gone from the original 3 albino and 3 bronze up to about 25 or so in there now.

It is a miracle that this little guy not only hatched but also seems to be healthy without doing anything extra for it. If it were me I would let it be instead of chasing it down, confining it to a breeder net and feeding it processed food.

 

It seems to me like this little guy is doing well right where it is. I am sure it is finding all the food it needs from the microscopic life that grows in our tanks. I have had corys hatch in my tank. I don't feed anything extra and it seems they find plenty to eat. So much in fact that my numbers have gone from the original 3 albino and 3 bronze up to about 25 or so in there now.

It is a miracle that this little guy not only hatched but also seems to be healthy without doing anything extra for it. If it were me I would let it be instead of chasing it down, confining it to a breeder net and feeding it processed food.

Ok he hides really well. I was trying to think of how to make the breeder hanging tanks similar by sticking a bunch of plants in it lol.. but I think he's probably eating the worries near the sand/wood as he hangs out on the bottom..

What are your water parameters? It's very hard to breed the whole genus of Paracheirodon. I haven't heard of successful breeding in community tanks.

Ph 6.5-6.7, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrates. Cycled tank. 79-80 degrees ( we like our house warm/my husband says it's a waste of energy lol). I have a heater but it never turns on, I'm in SC. Huge mopani driftwood that spans the entire bottom diagonally and then it bends back towards the front so the water is usually pretty dark besides after my weekly water changes. Have one large purple Jade rock. I have the amazon sword plant, anubia nanas, Java ferns, and some tall plants and 4 moss balls. So not super planted but some hiding places. I feed the Betta in his log with northfin Betta bites and hikari micro pellets for the tetras once a day. Also once a month the mystery snail gets an algae wafer. There's always a good amount of detritus worms floating around when I clean.

So I went away for 6 days (no light 6 days), fed them a bunch the week before and huge water change the day of leaving. Also washed the rock, one large silk plant, and one decor plus the two Betta hammocks and Betta log in old tank water and glass scraped so the tank was super clean when we left. I did not have time to do another water change until 4 days later. But Im pretty aggressive in cleaning and probably sucked up a million babies during that change . I move everything around and attach new baby Java ferns to the wood during these changes too. It's been 26 days since that first day of vacation. I thought all my neons were male. I can't tell the difference! There's maybe one where the blue bends a little? But otherwise they all look the same!

 

You... basically have a blackwater tank... and no lights for a week (which is important as eggs and larvae are photosensitive). This is an amazing coincidence of parameters coming together. I'm surprised just how the pH is almost to high for this to work. Wow.

 

You... basically have a blackwater tank... and no lights for a week (which is important as eggs and larvae are photosensitive). This is an amazing coincidence of parameters coming together. I'm surprised just how the pH is almost to high for this to work. Wow.

The stars aligned for this little guy XD

 

Just to update.. still alive and his stripe is getting longer! Becoming more blue.

 

So baby still alive but tomorrow is my water change day. Should I avoid vacuuming for now? Just scoop water and replace? I hate seeing all my snails poop everywhere lol. I just want to suck it all up but I'm afraid baby will accidentally get sucked up.

 

I think I would dip for a while. At least until the little guy gets bigger. this is a miracle baby. We all want to see it grow up

 

I think I would dip for a while. At least until the little guy gets bigger. this is a miracle baby. We all want to see it grow up

Ok thank you!!! He's so good at hiding I'm amazed everyday. He doesn't just hide in one place too.. he roams the tank but stealthily!!

 

His underside is becoming silver! Also he seems to be eating either the biofilm or some worms I can't see under the driftwood. Maye that's how he's been surviving. He pecks at the underside of it.

 

Aww, so cute!

 

Omg overnight he had a growth spurt and is no longer hiding! Is it ok his stomach looks extra big? He's joined the adults though not as jumpy as they are. He also sits right in front of our lazy Betta and has confirmed our Betta is indeed a lazy Betta. I had their food skip day yesterday and expected him to be skinnier and was concerned when I didn't see him under the log. Then I started looking at the other fish and saw him hanging out! He's about 1.5 cm or maybe a little longer than that now.

 

Guys.. so I've been doing light water changes and less vacuuming and the baby fish is maybe 2/3 the size of the adults now but the tank was getting pretty gross. Today I finally did an extensive clean taking most things out and lightly rubbing in tank waste water. I decided to take out my log so I could rub the plant leaves and out pops another baby fish!! A single one yet again. So a few weeks ago we had a causality of one of the adults. I never tried feeding our mystery snail any vegetables yet and we finally decided to give it a piece of blanched zucchini. Oh he loved it and was one it all night long into the next day around noon. At noon he finally vacated it and I got busy preparing lunch for my kiddos and decided to take the zuc out after lunch. Two hours later a dead super bloated neon. Guess he over indulged when the snail left anyway, I thought that one had to be the female. Apparently not as how is there another baby fish now. The eggs couldn't have survived weeks right? Anyway, once I saw the fish I stopped my cleaning so I haven't dug into the sand just swirled to clean so it's still a bit dirty. I guess one of the adults is a female! I did not have any extensive light off time this time. Maybe it just dark enough under my large log?