UPDATE: It's been 72+ hours since the Erectus fry were discovered and the batch I scooped out of the adult tank and into a 10 gallon nursery are still alive, much to my shock. I keep mentally preparing myself for the losses each time I look in there and they just keep amazing me. I'm still prepared - I know I am not even close to being out of the woods with them, but according to all I've read they shouldn't have survived even this long.
What amazes me the most, I think, is that they were in some really high ammonia water for several hours right after they were born. I woke up Saturday morning to find the surprise babies and in my sleep stupor hurriedly grabbed a tank out of the basement and turned it into a nursery. Not knowing what to do (had not expected babies) I threw a couple of pieces of rock and macro algae from another tank in there, threw in the babies, and then ran off to an appointment. After that I went directly to several LFS's looking for something suitable to feed newborn fry (all this in a blizzard, of course) and finally returned home several hours later. I then decided to test the water they were in (you just feel like you need to be doing SOMETHING!) and found the ammonia very high! I did a HUGE water change and threw out the macro algae. The next morning I woke up to find them (amazingly) still alive and checked the water again - high ammonia again. I removed the babies, dumped the entire tank, scrubbed it, and started fresh with brand new RO/DI water. No live rock, no macro algae.... just a plastic plant and a sea fan.
I don't think adult fish would have survived the levels of ammonia they were in - I have no idea how these little critters did! (Sorry - I'm rambling)
Sue
