I have a population explosion!

[catbyte]

Last edited Fri Feb 3, 2023, 06:30 PM - Edit history (2)

In addition to my 3 spoiled rescue felines, I have a large BiOrb aquarium with what I thought were 3 platies of the same sex and 5 Dwarf African frogs. I went to Arizona around the end of December and to my shock, came home to about 6 tiny fish swimming around. Since then, the population has increased to at least a dozen babies. I've had pregnant fish before and I could usually tell, but none of these looked pregnant. They were all about the same size so I thought they were all males. (Females are a little bigger.) Anyway, it's been fun watching them grow. I might have to take a few in to my local independent fish store (great reputation) because I don't know if my tank is large enough for all of them. The cats and I have a great time watching them.








Here's one of my froggies. They're entertaining, too.



Edited to add:

I just noticed, but the little blue blob just to the left of the bubble tube in the 3rd pic is my Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami. He's camera shy, so I don't have a good pic of him. Here are a couple of my snails -- they keep the tank really clean.

[Chicagogrl1]

1. Great pics!

[secondwind]

2. Nice photos.....

[AmBlue]

3. Nice!

I also have a population explosion, of Cherry Shrimp! I started out with just three, ended up with WAY too many in a 2.5 gallon tank no less!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NAmy5Tz1vkR445kg6

P.S. Sorry for just a link, but I haven't figured out how to post photos. Perhaps someone will enlighten me!

[soldierant]

6. Ordinarily,

an image URL will do it. But I went to your link, and could not grab an image URL. It only offers link URLs. So you need to ask someone who knows the app.

[AmBlue]

14. Could you see the image at least?

[soldierant]

18. Absolute;y. I could see it, and I could enlarge it

way past the screem. I could focus in on where the shrimp were mostly congregated.. I just couldn't find a way to harvest an "image URL" Normally I can do that by right-clicking on the image and finding "Copy image URL" in the dropdown menu. And normally pasting that URL into the body of a comment or a post brings it right up. Sometimes it doesn't, and I've learned to preview before posting to make sure.

There are public sites you can upload pictures to from your computer or phone which will generate a URL for the image. I can't think of one, because I have access to a private blog site which has a media library but which I'm not authorized to share access to. Daily Kos has an image library to which you can upload if you have a username and [assword there, and after uploading, you can right-click on the image there and be offered "Copy Image URL." If you use Disqus, any picture you post to a comment there is assigned a URL, and you can right click and collect and use that URL - for your pictures or anyone else's - to post the image here. All that is probably TMI and yet not enough. I do apologize. (I've been called "the queen of workarounds" and this may give you a feel for why.)

[catbyte]

20. What cool little creatures! I thought about getting some shrimp, but I didn't know if

they would like the lava rock substrate of this aquarium. There were some really striking blue shrimp I saw on the Live Aquaria website. Maybe I'll give them a try.

[getagrip_already]

4. Nature will find a way........

Congrats on the free entertainment!

[calimary]

5. Love these photos!!!

Last edited Fri Feb 3, 2023, 08:23 PM - Edit history (1)

Look at all those little fishies!



Just noticed the snails. That’s a really nice little ecosystem you’ve set up there!

THANKS for the photos!

[Karadeniz]

7. Lovely aquarium....

[Bayard]

8. What a nice set up!

Are those all real plants?

[catbyte]

9. No, they're silk. These BiOrb aquariums use lava rock as part of the filtration system, so

there isn't enough of a substrate for plants. I use silk because plastic plants can scratch the frogs. I think silk plants look better anyway. These BiOrb aquariums are so easy -- you just change the filter cartridge every 6 weeks or so, and I do partial water change every week or two. It's almost no maintenance. I've had this tank for about 8 years.

[Bayard]

12. Really?

I might have to check those out. I'd love to have another aquarium, but so busy with all our other critters.

[catbyte]

19. THey really are low maintenance and I love the "fish bowl" look.

The company has other shapes, but I like this one the best. The style I have comes in different sizes from 4-16 gallons. (I have the 16-gallon) Here's their website, but you can get them on Amazon, too.

https://us.biorb.com/

[Bayard]

21. I looked at them last night

They are pretty cool!

[Solly Mack]

10. When the cat's away the platies will play.

[markodochartaigh]

11. At the risk of getting these fish banned in Florida,

I would point out that a close relative of the platy, the swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri, is a sequential hermaphrodite. Platys and swordtails often interbreed and the fish sold as either may actually be hybrids. It might be that you had an interesting situation in your tank while you were gone.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. Congratulations, grandma!

Baby fish are so much fun! I used to have a mated pair of African Jewel Cichlids. They were so much fun to watch especially because of the way they nest. I used to trade their babies for other fish and stuff at my local fish store. Great pictures, too! But I can't find the frog. Thanks so much for sharing this. ❤️

[catbyte]

16. He's about 1/3 of the pic from the bottom and to the left. He looks like a little brown blob with

legs.

[littlemissmartypants]

17. Found him! He's much smaller than I expected but he's cute. ❤️

[airplaneman]

15. You need to start a new handle fishbyte n/t.

[Texaswitchy]

22. I used to keep an aquarium.

Live bearing fish will have babies.

Sword tails and platies will have babies together.

I even had a few guppies with a sword tail .

I had the little Cory catfish also.

Miss my aquarium.