# Mystery Fish In Fish-less Tank!?



## MissLissa (Dec 13, 2013)

I am a long-time fish keeper with a passion for planted and aquascaped tanks. So naturally, when a good friend of mine expressed interest in 'scaping a 10g shrimp tank I was all for it!

So tra la la, we cycle the tank for two weeks, then head off to our local LFS for a few plants to continue the cycle. We dip the plants, and put them in the tank. Of course, even with the dip, we had to deal with an influx of snails, but no big deal. Also, NO FISH. This is very important.

Another two weeks in, we test the tank and it appears to be fully cycled. So since she likes crystal red shrimp and they like a well-cycled and mature tank, we pop in a couple guppies to help it mature. Of course, they breed.

This is where it gets weird. 

About the same time as the guppy fry arrive, two totally different fry show up. They are about twice the size of guppy fry and so have obviously been there for awhile, but we did not purchase any fish, and the plants came from a fish-free shrimp tank, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed two extra fish in the guppy bag. They must have come in as eggs or wigglies on the plants, but we bleach dipped it! I mean, I've had snails survive a bleach dipping (as evidenced by this tank) but eggs and/or non-free swimming fry? That's crazy.

What's stranger? I have no idea what they are. I thought originally that they were siamese algae eaters, but now at about 6 weeks old and about 1.25" long, they are starting to look and act very different. I don't have a recent picture (the ones I have are very blurry) but I did up a quick computer sketch: 
(I'm sorry if the image is incorrectly imbeded, I'm not good with this technology stuff)










Like the image says, they have an upturned mouth, not a sucker mouth. They are pretty placid, though the larger, more colourful one has started to chase the smaller one a fair bit. The two do spend a lot of time together, though, like schooling fish. Both leave the guppies and the guppy fry entirely alone. Their mouths are really tiny; I'm not sure they would even be able to eat a newborn guppy fry if they wanted to, but they don't even try. They hang out mostly in the plants near the substrate, but aren't timid and will come out to eat voraciously when the fry food is in the tank. I have not seen them picking at the plants, or algae, or try to eat anything other than very small pieces of crushed food. The look kind of like a pencilfish, but they have the wrong tail, and the dorsal fin is not the right shape. The larger one has started to get a very nice red on his anal fins and belly, and his back has turned a striking steel blue. The other is mostly still gray, black and white. The next time I'm over at her place, probably this weekend, I'll grab a few photos.

I've spent hours on the internet, looking at pictures of fish, and I don't even know what family they are from. Does any one have any ideas? Because I'm drawing a blank. We are currently calling it "_Chloe loricus_", after my friend!


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## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

To me, it looks like some kind of pencilfish... But i not sure....
Sub as i really interested in this!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

it *does* resemble a pencil fish! I hope you get it ided!!!!


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## MissLissa (Dec 13, 2013)

I'm heading over to her place today to check on her plants (she is constantly worrying about her plants, lol) so I'll grab some pictures and post them later today.


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## aquabruce (Jun 26, 2013)

Looks like some type of killifish. Their eggs can survive some pretty harsh conditions.


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## Agent13 (Apr 23, 2013)

aquabruce said:


> Looks like some type of killifish. Their eggs can survive some pretty harsh conditions.


I totally agree . Does resemble a killifish! And it's not uncommon for people to ship the eggs to different continents instead of the fish and they survive that just fine! Can't say which killifish though from that drawing.


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## MissLissa (Dec 13, 2013)

Oh my god! It's totally a Bluefin Killifish!

Thank you so much; you guys are awesome! Now to research... Pictures to follow!

Bluefin Killifish, Lucania goodei with tropical aquarium fish statistics, care and photos


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

that was awesome! XD
They're your miracle babies <3


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## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Congrats!
Such a cute little fish too! LUCKY! :-D


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## MissLissa (Dec 13, 2013)

They are really adorable, and very personable little fish. Here are some pics I took today; please forgive the terrible quality as they were taken with a really old phone:

Here is the pair, the male behind:









The blue on the male's dorsal is really starting to come in, even if it doesn't show up in the pictures. He's changed a lot in the last week:









And the female, who is more likely to hang out with the guppies:









Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know that the little killifish are doing well!


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## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Awww, they little cuties!
Love the pics!


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