fish fry out of nowhere

[tracereefer]

so i decided to check out the tank tonight after the lights went out cuz i enjoy looking at the life that comes out that i don’t typically see in the daytime. come to find out there’s THOUSANDS of baby fish swimming around. so small i thought they were amphipods at first. my stocking list: male fairy wrasse, male 6 line wrasse, 2 ocelaris clowns, 2 blue chromis, and a bangaii cardinal. my clowns are still pretty young, so i’m guessing chromis babies? i haven’t noticed them “nesting” or anything... any ideas??

 

[erk]

Chromis lay their eggs on the underside of acropora branches. Do you have any large acropora with nice sized branches? Have you noticed a bare spot under the branch?

I doubt it is blue chromis, but maybe there is a chance. Do you have any emerald crabs? I've caught my emerald crabs spawning and releasing thousands of tiny larvae into the water column before. The corals light up like they are at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

 

[tracereefer]

Chromis lay their eggs on the underside of acropora branches. Do you have any large acropora with nice sized branches? Have you noticed a bare spot under the branch?

I doubt it is blue chromis, but maybe there is a chance. Do you have any emerald crabs? I've caught my emerald crabs spawning and releasing thousands of tiny larvae into the water column before. The corals light up like they are at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

i don’t have any sps.. i do have some red legged hermits and turbo snails. they look like fish fry but i may be wrong

 

[Sabellafella]

so i decided to check out the tank tonight after the lights went out cuz i enjoy looking at the life that comes out that i don’t typically see in the daytime. come to find out there’s THOUSANDS of baby fish swimming around. so small i thought they were amphipods at first. my stocking list: male fairy wrasse, male 6 line wrasse, 2 ocelaris clowns, 2 blue chromis, and a bangaii cardinal. my clowns are still pretty young, so i’m guessing chromis babies? i haven’t noticed them “nesting” or anything... any ideas??

So cute! You only have 1 bangaii cardinal?

 

[tracereefer]

So cute! You only have 1 bangaii cardinal?

yep only 1. can’t be him unless he’s asexually reproducing which fish don’t typically do haha

 

[Sabellafella]

yep only 1. can’t be him unless he’s asexually reproducing which fish don’t typically do haha

Were your clowns at one point acting a little funny? Anyway, that's really awesome. When I had mating clowns, the female (along with the other fish) would just gobble all of the fry once they hatch.

 

[tracereefer]

Were your clowns at one point acting a little funny? Anyway, that's really awesome. When I had mating clowns, the female (along with the other fish) would just gobble all of the fry once they hatch.

not really they were acting normal.. also i don’t think they are quite sexually mature yet. i’m not sure when clowns reach the age of maturity but i’m not pretty sure mine are less than 1-2 years old, not even close to full size yet

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

What inverts do you have? Cleaner/peppermint shrimp?

 

[erk]

Chromis and clowns don't have fry when they hatch from eggs. They are actually at a larval stage. In our tanks they rarely if ever make it past the larval stage. Not enough food and too many pumps to go thru before they can settle out. Bangaii cardinals on the other hand would fit your description a bit better because they are mouth brooders.

How old is the bangaii you purchased and have you noticed it not eating since you bought it?

 

[BestMomEver]

Can you get pictures? That’s very cool!

 

[tupes]

Can you possibly get a photo with lights?

 

[saltyhog]

Get a video if you can. In almost all cases I've seen where people thought they had fish fry it turned out to be mysid shrimp. They do move much like fish and they are often present in large numbers.

Really cool regardless of what they are!