Hiya all!!

[BettaChick84]

I'm new to this forum so a quick hello first off! I'm from NZ & have my first spawn that have successfully made it to 8 weeks old. They live in a heated 2 ft tank planted with java moss & have a shipwreck to go in & out of. I have about 30-40+ fighter fry so I am very pleased with myself so far as I haven't had much luck with guppy breeding at all!!!

ANYWAY.... I'm curious to know if anyone has had 'water fleas' turn up in their fry tanks. The last 2 times I have gravel syphoned I've found these little black critters that stay at the bottom of the tank/bucket. You do not see them in the tank, only when they are syphoned out. They appeared from nowhere & I'm wondering if they may have been in the frozen bloodworms I changed my fry over to. I have all my big fry separated and it's only the tiny fry left in the tank. But most importantly, are they harmful to the fry?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Katie217]

welcome to the tank!
and srry, never had those fleas

 

[Panther28]

Welcome. Never Heard about fleas. This is a first for me.

 

[BettaChick84]

I don't know for sure that they are FLEAS as such... I just thought they kinda looked like them. They don't hop or anything, just scoot around the bottom of the bucket.

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site!

I've had some kind of "flea" type thing in my tanks, and no, they're not harmful. Most fish will eat them, but I guess yours don't. They usually multiply when there's an excess of food, but of course that's almost always the case in a fry tank.

 

[BettaChick84]

Thanks fot that Lotus! I don't even think the fish know that they are in there as I had no idea until I syphoned them up from under the gravel. Where would they have come from? That's got me puzzled for sure!!