Fish Abundantly.

It’s all about the fish and nothing but the fish… I have two fish tanks now: The Main Tank and The Baby (Holding) Tank.

The two holding females have been in the “Holding Tank” for a week or so now. Momma #1 was agitated most of last week, rubbing against the rocks in the bottom of the tank. I noticed her gills were swollen and inflamed and I fretted that she had some sort of infection. Then I learned that sometimes, when their time is close, they expand their gills to make more room in their mouth for the babies. How cool is that?

One baby escaped from her mouth Saturday morning. She seemed a bit startled at that, nipped at him and brought him back in. Then later, she let another one out, but he wanted back in right away.

Sunday morning, the Holding Tank officially became The Baby Tank. She let them all out. (Video 1) (Video 2) The babies looked like little crickets, swimming in short spurts, appearing for all the world as if they were hopping across the bottom of the tank. Whereever Momma swam, they herded after her (Video). She would pause and they would “hop” up and bump against her lower lip, knocking for entrance. She let them in and pushed them out several times that first day (Video). When she perceived a threat (someone entering the room, for instance), she pulled them in, sometimes 10 at a time. And at night, all the babies were in – for protection, of course.

I bottle-captured Momma #1 out of The Baby Tank today and put her in a breeder net in The Main Tank, we’re waiting for all the other fish to go to sleep before I let her back in The Main Tank. The idea being that if she is introduced during the night while the fish rest, she’s less likely to get beaten up than if I were to put her back in during daylight.

Then I bottle-captured Momma #2 and put her in a breeder net hanging off The Baby Tank, so she won’t harass Fry #1 or accidentally mix them up with hers once she spits her babies. I mean, can you imagine keeping 25 kids straight in your mind? Well, 50 kids, once she spits hers.

So, I was thinking about what lesson I could pull from all this fish stuff. The biggest one, I suppose, is aren’t you glad you didn’t have to birth your kids 10 times a day?

Fish Strategy.

I've been fretting but everything seems to be okay in the baby tank. I plan to take momma #1 out today and release her in the big tank tonight when it's dark. I thought I'd try the bottle-catch trick but so far no luck with that. She continues to eat well and herds the babies around. She holds them at night, presumably to keep them safe. It's been interesting, to say the least.

I don't have a divider in the tank; although, the only aggression I've seen was right after momma #1 spit her fry on Sunday. She turned and spotted momma #2's tail hiding in the plants. She swished around so hard and so fast she sent rocks and babies scattering throughout the tank. Momma #2 found a better hiding place behind a fake lily pad I have attached the side of the tank and there have been no further problems. Momma #2 isn't interested in moving from that spot, which I assume is okay.

I have my breeder net wrapped around the filter intake to prevent the fry from getting in there. I tried the pantyhose trick on it, but that restricted the water flow too much, so I switched to the breeder net and that works much better. So, I reckon I should go get another breeder net for momma #2.

The day after I pulled the two mommas out, the male got a 3rd female and now she's holding in the main tank *rolls eyes*, that male is a lusty fellow.

Momma Fish Move.

We moved the two momma fish out of the main tank last night. My husband is becoming a real pro at this. Inherited Fish aren’t like goldfish, where you just reach in and benignly scoop them out. No sirree. Inherited Fish see that net coming and they lead you on a merry chase through the water. Swim up, flip, swim down, flip, swish, swish, swish. They’re jumpers, too, hopping right out of the net just when you think you got ‘em. Moving them is a challenging and somewhat time-consuming project. Who knew little pregnant lady fish could move like that? Add to that the confusion factor of, “Did we get the right one?” “I don’t know, I can’t see her chin… NO! Don’t lift her out of the water! Just bring her in the kitchen where there’s better light!” Yeah, I’m a bossy sort when it comes to Inherited Fish.

Did I mention I bought a digital electronic water thermometer? I guess I should mention that little tidbit of news since our evening last night was consumed with conversations that went like this: “The temperature went up from 75 to 75.4. That’s a lot.” “They’ll be okay, babe.” Lakers game noise. “Now it’s down to 75.2. I hope they’re gonna be okay.” “They’re gonna be fine.” Lakers game noise. An hour later. “The temperature’s to 74.8. Why is it fluctuating like this?” After numerous stressful questions about the temperature and my husband's reassurances, I hear, “I’m gonna take that thermometer away from you if you keep worrying like this.” And my tearful response of, “Noooo, don’t you dare!” Yeah, I’m a barrel of monkeys to be around when my fish are pregnant.

Yeah, and just now, I went downstairs and discovered that hot to trot male fish has impregnated yet another female. I think I’m gonna start mailing fish to creditors as payment.

How Fish Do It.

I stopped at a local aquarium store yesterday and was chatting up the owner. He told me that if I can get my next Inherited Fish Fry to live that he’d be happy to take them AND give me money or a store credit! This is a good thing, because we presently have two females that are “holding” right now. That means we’ll start out with approximately 50 little babies. I’ve just gotta figure out how keep the wee ones alive and not devastate my emotions when I lose some in the process. Hrm.

The one thing I didn’t like was he tried to talk me into bringing in my Male Inherited Fish. As if I’d wanna sell Male Inherited Fish? Please. If I didn’t have him around to watch, whatever would I do all day? Really. He’s very fascinating to watch. I present to you Inherited Fish Videos.

“Why would I do such a thing?” You ask. “Why, because It’s your lucky day!” I reply.

Step #1. It all starts with the charm: Link
Step #2. Then he cleans their nest (watch closely at the end when he dumps rocks out of his mouth): Link
Step #3. And cleans their stump (almost falls off of it, hee hee): Link
Step #4. And, finally, fertilizes her eggs (really seems anticlimatic to all the rest of it, if you ask me): Link

Crazy Male Fish.

Yesterday seemed to be the day for diarrhea in the butt for me (stress/hormone related, not turkey related, thank you very much), so I figured I should just make it an all around diarrhea week and write about something that I just can’t stand to not write about anymore. It’s making me crazy, I tell you. Loopy crazy. I must write about it, I just can’t not write about it.

INHERITED FISH!

There. I said it. They are making me crazy. They have taken over my living room. They are noisy and troublesome and they bother me. I never knew they were so LOUD! Did you hear me? LOUD, I said, LOUD! They hypnotize me, I can’t stop watching them. Then, if I’m able to concentrate on something else, they make noises, *tink clink tink* on the glass, calling me to come stare at them.

The male fish is being overly aggressive. I’m not kidding. He is chasing all the other fish and nipping them. So much so, that they’ve crammed themselves up against the side of the tank, between the coral inside of the tank and the glass that keeps them off my couch. These are fish that normally don’t like each other, but apparently they’ve looked at the situation in the rest of the tank (i.e., if they’re caught in no-man’s land they’re dead) and decided they’ll put up with close quarters as long as they don’t get nipped in the tail fin. The thing is, I can clear the room with my gas but male fish is clearing the tank with his attitude. I am impressed.

Four fish are visible. Baby #3 is inside the coral, but I can’t see her.

My husband has gently reprimanded me on a number of occasions that I need to “let go” of the fish. That I’m too concerned with them. He’s right. I freely admit that. Then, last night, I was on the computer and I heard, “Stop being such a buttnugget!” I turned around and said, “Did you just talk to my fish?” He tried to look all innocent and made the false claim of, “No. No. It wasn’t me.” I grunted, thereby letting him know that I knew he was faking. He continued to proclaim his innocence. I grunted again.

The thing is, Male Fish was dumping and bulldozing loads of rocks right near Tony’s head, then turning around and swishing more rocks with his tail. That’s what makes the *tink clink tink* noises that call to me. When he got bored with that, he chased the other fish while doing acrobatical performances, flipping and nipping, that’s his routine. He is a Buttnugget.

Link to Video of Rock Pushing.

The reason for all this madness on the part of Male Fish? He wants to mate. What is with this “mating” thing that’s going on?

**Update, 4:55PM** During the time I stepped out for a meeting, one of my female fish started holding. Oh boy!