Mystery Fry

shaynablizard

shaynablizard

AC Members
Sep 9, 2008
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Shayna
So my son pointed out a baby fish in my 90 gal tanganyikan cichlid tank. While I've kept up on water changes I haven't been cutting back plants and its quite the jungle. I never would've noticed this half inch fish that looks a lot like a guppy. I'll post a pic later. I do have guppies but never moved anything between the tanks that would allow for a stow away. The top of its head is kinda flat with a high mouth, almost like a killifish face. It was swimming along the surface of the water too. Plain gray side from some yellow appearing in the tail, which unlike a guppy is a lyertail. The tank contains cyps, paracyps, juli ornatus, multis, neolamp buescheri zaire gold, and temporarily a couple brevis. I've seen fry from all these fish except buescheri but it looks like none of them. It has buescheri like tail but looks so much different in the face. Had rounded belly like a live bearer. Weird. I don't have a clue what it could be hybrid of. anyone have a buescheri fry picture for me to compare? This is driving me crazy!
 
Ok seriously, what IS this fish? Unless it grew legs and walked from room to room, it cannot be a guppy. It doesn't even look exactly like a guppy, especially when you look closer at the tail. Looks more like a neolamp. buescheri, which as I said in my previous post, those are in the tank. I posted a picture of one of those too, but they still look nothing alike. Could this be some hybrid? It maybe swims more like a paracyp than anything, but doesn't resemble them at all either. I know some fish (like calvus) take awhile to start to look like the parents. This is an odd one though. I am so confused.... See pictures of the baby and one of my buescheri:
baby fish.JPGbaby fish (2).JPG baby fish (3).JPG baby fish (4).JPGbuescheri zaire gold.JPG

baby fish (4).JPG baby fish (3).JPG baby fish (2).JPG baby fish.JPG buescheri zaire gold.JPG
 
The more I look at this fish and compare to my other fish, I realize not one tanganyikan cichlid I have, has fins like this baby I found. It looks like a livebearer. It doesn't look like the kind of guppies I have, and I haven't moved anything tank to tank that would even allow for a fry to get transferred. What is this and how did it get into my tank? I don't even know where to put it, but I'm certainly curious to see how it grows out.
 
Wow, that looks like a livebearer fish to me too - that's so odd! Definitely not an African cichlid, that's for sure...
I'll be watching along too. This is such a curiosity!
 
Do you think the tail looks like a guppy too? I have no lyertail guppies, so that tail is really throwing me off. They have a tail like a buescheri or daffodil. If it weren't for the tail, I think i could accept somehow a guppy managed to teleport into another tank. I haven't moved any nets or any decor etc between those two tanks. Aside from water changes and feeding, haven't really touched the two tanks - which are in different rooms. The two tanks are fed different foods also. Very bizarre. (Aside from a guppy tank which includes a few mollies, I have no other livebearers. I'm pretty much a cichlid hobbyist.)
 
Is it possible for a fish to get lodged somewhere in a 50 foot python and then come out later in another tank and live? This means it would have had to remain stuck when the guppy tank was refilled, and while the tang tank was drained, then dislodged when refilling the tang tank. That's the only thing I can think of that would allow a guppy to transfer. Even then, this guppy does not resemble my other guppies at all. Yes, this is truly driving me crazy!
 
Not sure what to make of the tail - it might just change into a more normal type of tail as it gets older. It's certainly not a cichlid though - it's finnage gives that away pretty easily. All cichlids have those dorsal fins that run down the full back, and are fairly spiny.
 
Ok guppy it is. I'll move it out of the cichlid tank. It seemed to be quite at home with the cyps along the water surface. It's in a floating breeder at the moment.
 
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