Look at what I caught...

[webcricket]

A danio fry! This is the 3rd time I've spotted one in the several years I've been keeping them. I always see the danios spawning, but I assume the eggs and fry normally get munched pretty quickly since they are in a community tank.

The last 2 fry I spotted over the years got eaten before I could retrieve them from the tank. This one was lucky...it was under the gravel line and not 1/2" from a hydra. I picked away the gravel with tweezers and sucked it up in a syringe. The little bugger put up a fight too!

Right now it is in a small cup floating in the puffer tank (the puffers seem amused). The fry appears to be free swimming. Unfortunately, I don't have a safe tank for it to be put in. I'll freshen the cup water a couple times a day for now and see how it goes. If it gets just a tad larger I could make a breeder net of sorts to float it in.

 

[bettagurl]

aww,its adorable!I hope he lives for you

 

[ReignsAngel]

Very cool pictures. Are the puffers drooling? Good luck with the little guy.

 

[webcricket]

Thanks! I checked the gravel line in the tank some more and spotted another fry. I wasn't able to nab that one though, it escaped deep into the gravel. I did spy what look to be eggs though - I was able to suck up 2 of those and put them in the cup as well:

I can't tell if they are fertilized or not.

 

[webcricket]

The eggs are fertile! I can see little tails and eyes attached to the yolk sac - they are really twitching now and bouncing the eggs all over.

I was also able to catch another fry in the gravel, the same size as the first.

I'll try to update the thread with more growth pics as long as the fry progress and don't die on me. I'm curious to see what color and finnage they are - the mother is a long-finned blue, then I have regular males, an albino male, a regular long-finned male, and long-finned blue males.

 

[CaitxSith]

...lucky lol

if only i had some danios... but i heard they have a habit of nipping and i'd happily get rid of any fish that nips, alpha or not.

oooo they look like tadpole eggs! lol

 

[webcricket]

Eggs today:

I imagine they'll be hatching sometime tonight or tomorrow morning, the fry look well developed and are doing lots of twitching inside the eggs.

Danios can be nippy, but I have found that if you keep them in a group with at least 1 female, they will spend their time displaying, chasing, and spawning amongst themselves and ignore the other fish. I find them to be really delightful fish.

The only danio I have that nips other fish is 4+ years old and he is blind - he nips at feeding time because he doesn't know other fish from food.

 

[CaitxSith]

blind?? how??

wow. you can see them developing in the eggs :

man how can i tell if they're females? oh darn i forgot that the only danios at my LFS are glofish

 

[fish_freak]

Awesome webcricket. I used to have the same problem with my african cichlid's they would spawn all the time but the fry would be eaten up in the tank, which was fine because they where all hybred's, but every once in a while one of them would make it. My parents have the tank now and there is still a few of the offspring living in it. Well now that I am done hyjacking your thread awesome job with the danio spawn. Before you know it your tank will be overflowing with them lol.

 

[jennfier]

You can go get a breeding net at the LFS for $3 or so. It's cheap and with just a few fry, it should be adequate. That way, you won't have to worry about water quality since it'll share either the puffer or the danio tank whichever you put them in.