Where'd this fish come from?

[bozco]

On Christmas day I had a female swordtail drop a number of fry. By the time they were 2 weeks old I was able to count axactly 20 of them. I just sold them a week and a half ago to the lfs. All 20, recounted as I netted them and put them in a bucket. My fry tank had nothing left but 5 guppy fry and their momma.

Last night I pulled up the undergravel plates as I have switched to a HOB filter. and when everything settled down I found myself a red swordtail. Now that was weird! Exactly 20 went to the store. This one is a little smaller in size. There was only plant in the 5 gal fry tank, no way this guy could hide. The last time I had the stacks for the undergravel filter out of place was at the time I counted the fry back in January. This little fellow must have taken cover down there until yesterday as I have not had the stacks off until then. There was enough water flow under the gravel for him to breathe and enough food made it down for him to eat. His colour is a little off, probably from lack of light, but otherwise he is perfectly healthy. I'm not eactly sure what to do with him. I think my undergravel fish is pretty nifty, but I don't really want another swordtail. At the same time I don't think the lfs would take a single baby fish. I guess I could hold on to him until I bring my guppy fry in for sale in a few weeks.

 

[Dangerdoll]

hehehehe

the same thing happened constantly with my peppered cories..... Honestly, I think because the fry is so tiny when they are first born that they simply fall through the gravel and the plates to make it underneath the filter. I wonder if there were ever anymore. It seemed that every so often, I'd all of a sudden see a medium sized cory swim through the stacks, it was a hassle to get them out because I had to wait until I saw them and rush to take the top off before they'd shoot down to under the plates again, hehehe......