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Thank you Calla, I bet I hit page 3 a dozen times easily...the first time I actually was rereading wondering what the heck?!?! So how is baby?

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Yeeks... sorry... the old thread really WAS corrupted... I didn't know there were new replies! Sorry about that.

Anyway, I was actually JUST writing about Baby. He and a trio of his guppy companions (the smallest of the fish in the ten gallon) just moved into my mostly empty five gallon mini-bow. The only other occupants are two algae eating shrimp (which Baby showed considerable interest in).

Baby and friends haven't grown much, probably because the ten gallon IS overstocked. I feel horrible about it, but I have no money to upgrade tanks. I know Baby, at least, is going to need a much bigger tank as he grows, but this is the best I can do for now.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

did you ever figure out what baby is?

i think we had settled on rosy barb... or at least barb with a spot.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

He's definitely gold, especially one patch on his head which is quite metallic. I'm going to say 99% sure he's a barb... he looked quite like the rosy barbs and gold barbs I saw at an LCS the other day.

He's a bit bigger than the previous pics of him, but other than that, he hasn't changed much except that the gold coloration has spread. From what I know of these species, though, I won't know if "he" is truly male until he gets his mature coloring? Not sure when that will happen, though.

As I've said, the guppies and Baby are probably slightly stunted from the stocking levels of the ten gallon. There were three danios, one adult female guppy and probably a dozen "fry" in various stages of development. Now Baby and the three youngest fry are in the five gallon to hopefully take some of the stress of stocking off the ten gallon.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Wow... after transferring Baby to the five gallon, I can safely say he's doubled in size in a month. It's quite amazing, really. The overcrowded ten gallon... sigh. It's obviously effecting my fish. I may have to see if my LFS will take some of the guppy girls so that my other ones can flourish. Just a few weeks out of the crowded ten gallon had the smallest guppies catching up in size to their older sibs.

Baby is very active, always exploring his surroundings, swimming back and forth in a little dance when I come near the tank (especially for dinner time) and generally being adorable. I did a doubletake the other day when I cleaned off the front glass of the aquarium (it's in too much sunlight and tends to get algaed over) and saw exactly how big he was. I even scooped him out of the tank into one of my large betta cups to make sure the bowfront of the tank wasn't distorting his size!

Baby is now the size of some of the smaller barbs I've seen for sale in stores. He looks identical to rosy/gold barbs I've seen (not sure which type he is) so I think we're really close to positive ID. I'll get pictures as soon as I can.

I'm taking a guess at Rosy barb, because of the metallic gold he's taking on. From what I can tell of golden barbs, they're more yellow-gold? I'll let y'all decide once I get pictures. Seriously, though, I'm pretty sure Rosy barb is the case. I looked at a tank full of them yesterday and they were pretty identical to Baby. *shrugs*

Of course, I left my cameras at my boyfriend's. *rolls eyes* Much good that does me. Maybe I'll steal my dad's digicam for a few pics. *shrugs*

Not that I have room for it, but I'd like to get Baby a playmate of his own type at some point. So... yeah... I want to ID him and then figure out if "he" is truly a he or not. :%) ...not that I NEED more babies!

As for barbs... is it true that rosies can get to be six inches long?!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I apologise for this, but since we are all so incredibly interested in the progress of Baby the suspected rosy barb, and since the last page of the original thread is UNHAPPY, i thought i would start a new one to save the fools like me who just continue to get confused by the layout of the page#3 of the original

So Kitten, whats happnin!?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

*sobs* Baby's dead!

I don't know what happened... he was FINE yesterday, swimming around, chasing the panda cories... eating (as usual). I even turned on the lights last night for a last photo shoot and he was there, seemed happy.

I went to do water changes on the betta boys and paused to look in the 20 gallon... didn't see Baby. I looked all over. I even moved rocks and ornaments. No Baby. I mean, he's normally all over the tank and very obvious. But I couldn't find him. I even sprinkled a little food on the surface, hoping to tempt him out. Nothing.

I went and did the water changes I'd planned on doing, then came back to look for Baby again... and found his corpse right in front of the tank. His eyes were gone and he was little but head, hollow shell and tail. Apparently his tankmates didn't have an compunctions over eating their deceased roomie.

He'd only been in the 20 gallon for a short time, but no one had ever chased him or shown him aggression, in fact, he was the one chasing the pandas. I don't understand what happened.

*cries* My poor Baby... :#(

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Wow, has been ages since I posted pics of Baby. Baby is definitely no longer a baby... he's getting big. Chunky, really. I don't know if it's results of being stunted in the overcrowded ten gallon or what. He was in the five gallon for a while, then moved to the twelve gallon (it's like a tall ten gallon in dimensions)... it's working, but either he's being an absolute PIG and eating all the food, or he's still stunting. His stomach is HUGE.

Anyway, I've moved him up yet again, this time to my 20 gallon long. It's the biggest tank I have, so it will HAVE to do. The betta girls don't seem to mind him thus far.

The reason behind moving Baby - besides his big belly - was because I've been told he might attack the algae that's growing in this tank. *shrugs* Not like he NEEDS more to eat. However, he'll have more fish to compete with for food in this tank, so hopefully he'll slim down.

I don't see WHY he was stunting in the 12 gallon (if, indeed, his stomach is caused by stunting), as tank mates were three danios and three guppies. I thought that would be sufficient... he's really not that big, maybe an inch and a half, and all the other fish are very slim bodied. *shrugs* Maybe he was eating the leaves shed from the plants? (Some lost leaves as they settled into the tank.) I don't know. Can anyone diagnose?

The pictures aren't very good... he just moved into the tank and was a bit flighty.


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~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Well, Baby's finally in that new ten/twelve gallon (odd measurements on that tank!). Turned out I had to order the parts that I needed for the filter, so it took a bit longer than expected to get him in his new home.

The tank is setup with Onyx plant sand, an interesting piece of mopani driftwood, a few crypt balansae, a dwarf lily bulb, dwarf sag, a banana plant and some glosoo. I was peeved because two plant types that I ordered (crypt blassii and becketti) were out of stock. *sigh* In addition to the plants and driftwood, I tossed in a double handful of colorful glass pebbles to add color.

My project over the next few days (should have done this BEFORE everything else!) is to see if I can attach a bunch of java moss to a piece of plastic canvas to use as a background. I've seen similar with Christmas moss and the like, but I have all this Java moss just sitting around... *shrugs*

I'll get pictures soon... probably when I get the background in, if I can figure that out.

Oh, and Baby was joined by my trio of long-finned golden danios and a trio of fancy male guppies. Everyone seems to be getting along well. Gotta love BioSpira!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Oh, it could quite possibly be a she, it was just easier to dub Baby one sex over the other instead of calling "him" it all the time. *shrugs* I'm starting to think Baby might be a she, though... there's been no color changes to speak of, though that could mean he's not ready to change yet.

I'm going to be setting up the ten gallon for him/her today and maybe drop him in. The new betta boy is flaring at him and has chased the guppy boy into hiding. I do NOT want any harm coming to Baby after I've raised him from a little rescued fry! I've got to run to the LFS soon, and get replacement parts for the filter, so I'll pick up some Biospira to soften the impact of the new tank.

Question... if Baby IS female, how will I determine if she's a rosy barb or a neon rosy barb? Far as I can tell, the two species look identical in female form. I'd like to get him/her a buddy of the same species.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

My female rosys have big fat tummys like that ... sometimes fatter than others. I've always assumed it was because they were full of eggs. Maybe "he" is really a "she" ...

New picture! You can compare him in size to my new betta boy, and his tiny guppy friend. He's getting a tummy on him, don't know if that's good or bad. I don't feed him all THAT much!

I'll be moving him into the new ten gallon as soon as that gets set up. Just need to clean the Onyx sand and wait for my plant order to come in... hopefully soon! [/font]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

same here LMuha, and they are rosier

baby is one lucky little shishy!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

My rosy barbs (fully grown) are about 2.5 inches.

Baby's about six months and I'd say he's a bit stunted by the overstocked conditions of the ten gallon (sad to say), but he's growing quickly since being moved to the mostly empty five gallon.

Yeah, Baby IS a pretty active swimmer, thus the reason the pictures aren't so hot. It's hard for the camera to focus on something moving back and forth and back and forth so very fast! It took the easy way out and focussed on the very still plants.

Right now, Baby will have to deal with the five, and then hopefully move to one of the ten gallons I'm being given this week (freebies from someone who no longer keeps fish). Until I get money, that will have to be his home... I do have a 20 long, but it's fully stocked at the moment, and I don't think the nine betta girls who call it home would enjoy being pestered by a darting flash of golden scale. *chuckles*

I SO want the 120 gallon tank I saw at my LFS, but THAT is not going to happen anytime soon. I'm sure it costs and arm and a leg, especially since all their tanks seem overpriced. Of course, that's why I only buy fish there... supplies can be had for cheap at petsmart!

Smantzer... doesn't a 30 gallon have the same footprint as a 20 long? I know a 29 does... *shrugs* I know a school would be better, but at this moment, I don't even have a proper tank for a full-sized Baby, much less a school of them! Profile says they should be okay in pairs... Guess that's where I'll start off.

I need a bigger tank. And a bigger place to live so I can put it in... If wishes were fishes, I'd be overstocked!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I'd actually say a 30 gallon at least, because they enjoy the company of others of the same species, and can max out at 6 inches.

In terms of minimum tank size, I think she can survive in a 10 -- I had mine quarantined in one that size and they did fine -- but they seem a lot happier when they have more room because they're really active swimmers.

If I had to pick a tank size, I'd say something like a 20 long.

Baby looks exactly like my neon rosy barbs. I'm not sure how old they were when I got them -- close to 6 months, I suspect -- and within six to eight weeks of purchase, and definitely before they were full grown, the males had started to develop a pink cast which has now become a vivid salmon pink. How old is baby? My impression is that rosy barbs color up well before they're a year old.

In terms of whether she needs more of her own kind: I had one hatch in an outdoor rain barrel where I threw wastewater from water changes. When I brought her inside, I raised her with a batch of zebra danios (also born in the rainbarrel) for probably six months. Even though rosy barbs are supposed to be schooling fish, she always seemed fine -- maybe because it's all she knew. I think she thought she was a zebra danio: When I put her in the main tank with her zebra tankmates, I swear she schooled with the zebras for a couple of weeks. And she didn't hang with the other rosy barbs for months.

Now, a year-plus later, though, she seems to have figured out her true identity -- probably because the male barbs hit on her a lot. She's fat as can be right now -- I assume she's full of eggs.

judging from the amount of light reflection given off by the fish's scales, i'm going to go out on a limb and say it's probably a "Neon Rosey Barb".

Neon Rosey Barbs are quite similiar to other rosey barbs but rather than the usual dull colors, they have very intense shiny scales. Neon Rosey Barbs are a very beautiful fish in my opinion, i used to have three