We got babies!

Hey we are parents in our office!

We've got 7 baby fish swimming away happily in their nursery tank and it's all very exciting.

We've given them some baby food but i'm wondering whether the mother should be in with them or not or whether she will just eat them?

Nobody has a camera here at the moment but will endeavour to post something tomorrow. It kinda looks like the pic below though.

So raise a glass in celebration to the first TT fish.

Anyone got any names?

Must have been all that heat!

Exactly. Considering the heat in the tank the only possible name for them is Small Fry.

The bigger fish will eat them depending on the species. Best to net off the babies or the bigger fish. Of course that doesn't give them much of a sporting chance.

Umm edit: take mom out pronto. They don't suckle.

aw congratulations - you must be so proud!

only 7 babies? They must have eaten the rest. We had one type of fish breeding in our tank and the other fish would gobble them up.

Hope the little suckers survive

what a grand accomplishment. now, be sure to instill good morals! (start with the parents and teach them eye for an eye- you eat your young. i eat you).

wahoo is a great name for a fish

I also like twiddle dee and twiddle dum

I can't wait to see them!! Whatever you do, keep that big shark away from the babies!!

You got 12 hours max before all the appetite suppressing hormones wear off from the mother. She needs to be out quick.

The others will eat them quick as a flash.

We saved 4 babies kinda "by accident" when we brought some new fish home and they gave birth en route. We let them grow for 6 weeks. Let 2 out and they got eaten instantly.

So the need to grow BIG to survive. Unless you have VERY timid tank of other fish. Angels are the worst - evil bastards.

7 is small numbers. 50 is more usual, and up to 150 for some breeds at one live birth. The mother may also now die. 'tis a cruel world.

Can someone please explain to me how fish reproduce? It's been one of those questions that I've never had the answer to... strange I know... chickens are also a mystery!

The egg comes first.

Didn't your parents tell you about the birds and the bees and the fish?

No, I think Papa does.

They obviously forgot to mention the birds and the fish!

But seriously... how do they?

We separated the babies from the rest as soon as we noticed them but they were obviously the survivors as we rescued them from some fairly determined pursuers.

You can choose your own fish to name Wahoo

@frizzyjen They don't have sex if that's what you mean. Mum fish lays eggs, daddy fish ejaculates on them pretty much straight away...

Chickens, on the other hand, do have sex...

Strikes me you need to start watching some David Attenborough! Everything you wanted to know about fish but were afraid to ask!

These aren't egg layers, they carry the eggs internally so i'm thinking daddy gets to be involved a bit more than spraying his stuff over some eggs.

Really? Wow, never knew that some fishes carried eggs internally...I stand corrected...

Edit: She stores sperm for up to 10 months???

Nope the chicken

But how??? I'm baffled

But back to the topic at hand, I remember when one of our fish was preggers, we had a little plastic tank thing that had a kind of v with holes in it, you put it in the main tank & put the mother in the top bit(before she gives birth) the babies go through the holes in to the bottom section, so seems like you may be too late to save any of them.

Google is your friend.

Update : Our 7 babies are alive and well and the mother is constantly circling the kindergarten tank.

Now, is she missing them or is she hungry?

Chuck one of the little feckers into the main tank and I predict you will get an answer.

Judging from the photo you seem to have tetras and guppies in the tank, keep the mammy well away, no matter what you see on Disney as far as she's concerned they're just another meal.

Congrats by the way.

If you're looking for names for the critters, how about naming them after TTers that they remind you of?

If you name one "Green Tea", it had better be cute!

Nice now I remember why i liked ya. I would also recommend the names of the whole crew of Gilligans island. Ya know Gilliigan, the skipper too, the millionare and his wife, the movie star, the professor and mary ann here on gilligans isle... Oh man im so high.

One naming option I've used in the past (primarily to wind up a former girlfriend who felt that four beers warranted a row over my impending alcoholism) was to name them after drinks. It cracked me up no end to hear her greeting them "hello Guinness, Smithwicks, Heineken ..."

Just thought i would give everyone an update on our babies.

All 7 are fine and well and have now transferred to the main tank and appear to be holding their own with no murders having taken place yet.

yay! good. did you name them?

Nope, they are virtually indistinguishable yet apart from the runt of the litter and even Wahoo not picked one yet.