Very Unexpected Babies!

Hi All,

I have a 200L aquarium set up and running (if you have seen it in the gallery its the Eco 200 project).Anyway my Buenos Aires Tetras were originally in a smaller tank in the kitchen. I moved them out into the new 200L tank to cycle the tank. They are about 8years old

What I didn't realise was how much damage they do to plants! I put in some Pogostemon helferi and Alternanthera cardinalis which both got mostly eaten. Now I had left the tank in the kitchen still running with filter and a huge amount of snails and too my frustration algae as well. I moved the battered plants out and put them in the kitchen tank around mid June.

So this morning I am looking at the poor plants and realise there are two healthy fry (silvery colour) swimming around! I really dont want to kill them off so advice on food etc please! I didn't even know I had a female tetra.

It depends on how big the fry are. Newly hatched fry from egg layers are usually very small. If you moved the plants in mid June, they should be around 3 weels old by now, and have presumably been feeding on micro-organisms on the plants. Things like microworms (you would need to buy a starter culture) and baby brine shrimp (you would need to hatch some) are good for fry. I have read of people buying frozen baby brine shrimp but I have never noticed it in any of my shops. I have something that looks like red dust which I bought as fry food - I have an idea it might be decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. If you use powdered food, it will need to be ground up really small.

I've used that in the past and it's OK. One tip I will give you - put the drops in a small tub and add a bit of tankwater. Stir it up then add it. If you add the drops straight to the tank they stick together in a big clump and fall to the bottom of the tank.