Moving to the Bigger.

Tonight I swapped water between the baby tank and the grow out tank. The temperature in the baby tank was 75.7F and the temperature in the grow out tank runs 75F degrees.

Then I netted Momma #4 (she still hasn't delivered) and moved her in a tupperware container into the grow out tank, swapping water in her little container. Then I put her in a breeder net.

Then I stuck a clear bottle in the baby tank with baby food in the bottom. Five little ones swam in and I pulled the bottle out and floated that in the grow out tank, gradually swapping water. Eventually, I just put the bottle in the bottom of the tank and waited for the babies to swim out of it, which they did ... finally.

For awhile they swam around the bottom. It took about 45 minutes for them to venture up higher than 3 inches. And further than a few inches around the bottom. When I turned the lights out for the night, they were quite busy checking out their new home.

I'm gonna wait 24 hours and then, if the first five babies are doing okay, i'll move some more babies over. The first five are my guinea fish, so to speak.

I hope it all goes well.

Poor Wobbler.

The wobbler baby died today.

Rest in peace, baby.

Flip Out Behaviour.

I was watching my fish in their new tank tonight and they were swimming along nicely, when all of a sudden, like a finely coordinated dance, one female right after the other, skimmed down and rubbed the side of their body against the rocks on the bottom of the tank.

Having dealt with "ick" with my husband's goldfish, I knew that parasite is oftentimes associated with rubbing their bodies against substrate because the parasite makes them itch. I freaked out because I just put them in their new tank and anything that goes wrong with them will likely be related to that move. The chemical balance, temperature balance, everything is a finely tuned environment.

I searched the cichlid forum and discovered that the behaviour I saw is called "flashing". Apparently, flashing is normal for most African cichlids. I had seen Baby #1 flash a couple months ago but didn't see him do it anymore since then. Since they've been in the new tank, I've seen that behaviour once yesterday and once today.

On the cichlid forum, it says that behaviour is normal for African cichlids -- not excessively, but maybe 5 or 6 times per day is normal. If their fins are normal (not clamped) and they're actively swimming around and eating normally, they're likely just fine. Huh.

The females are now also swimming like they're a school of fish, whereas in their old 12 gallon tank, they would attack and nip each other, hide in the coral, in the plants and up in the corners. Now they're for the most part peaceful, swimming together and looking around.

I'm thinking that giving them the extra space, assuming that everything is normal and continues to be normal, is likely one of the best things I've ever done for them. I'm also thinking that I will be seeing a lot more "strange" behaviour that is really "normal" for them.

Perhaps they didn't have room to BE normal in their other tank?

Female That's Due.

The female that's holding in the breeder net in the baby tank still hasn't spit her babies. I don't know why she won't let them go. I can't imagine she doesn't feel "safe" all the babies in the tank are smaller than her. Hrm. If she doesn't let them go by this Friday, I may attempt stripping her of the babies.

36 Gallon Setup & New Holding Female

I fell on the stairs this morning, slipped down three before I landed on my butt and found my footing, so to speak. Found my butting would be more appropriate, I think. It jarred me, from my neck to my tailbone. I sat there for a couple minutes catching my breath, knowing that I had wrenched the muscles on the right side of my back and the left side of my butt.

Of course, the fact that I finished setting up the new 36 gallon fish tank today, which meant siphoning water out of one tank, scooping rocks, aquarium decorations, eight fish out and settling everything into their new, bigger home added to my muscle workout. Not a bad thing, I’ll just be paying for it in the morning. Actually, I’m already feeling it tonight.

But, I didn’t let the pain stop me. Oh no! Then, I moved their old 12 gallon tank and stand over to the other side of the room and refilled it to cycle. Eventually, that will be the baby tank and the small, five gallon tank the babies are presently living in will be going to work with me – either with the Male Fish or Baby 1, 2 & 3. I haven’t decided yet.

I’ve been concerned about moving the adult fish into their new home since I bought their tank last Sunday. Ironically, the first fish to swim into the moving bottle was the Male Fish. I rolled my eyes and muttered, “How appropriate. Get over there and set up dominance.” The most difficult fish to catch and move was the algae eater. He kept sticking to the walls of the tank. While I was getting each fish acclimated to the water in the new tank, I left the net in the old tank. The last fish in the old tank defeatedly put herself into the net as if to say, “Take me, too.” I laughed at that.

I had set the rocks in the new tank similar to how they had been in the old tank. I knew things would be okay after acclimating the male, he swam down into the bottom of the tank, looked around for a minute and from the other side of the tank spotted his cave. His fins went up, his eyes got focused and he swam like a torpedo to his rocks, turned around and looked at me as if to say, “You did all that just for this?”

I finished the tank set up around 4 PM today. My husband stopped on his way home from work and bought Inherited Fish an air pump which adds bubbles to the waterfall decor that I also bought last week. It was so pretty I couldn’t resist, but I wasn’t planning on hooking up the bubbles. I have to admit, the bubbles really make the display. HA! Just give me time, I’ll have you buying Inherited Fish presents, too.

All in all, I guess I did something right with the new tank and set up. You’ll be glad to know that Male Inherited Fish christened the tank from 6 - 7 PM this evening. It took them about an hour and, yes, I watched. You know what I mean.

That’s right – I now have another holding female.

Playing Musical Tanks without the Music.

><((((º> -- Momma #3 and Momma #4 swap
Wednesday morning, around 1:30 AM while it was dark, I let Momma #3 into the main tank. Wednesday evening, I bottled captured Momma #4 and put her in the holding cell in the main tank that had just been vacated by Momma #3.

Momma #4 is the smartest of the female fish, she always has been. She wouldn't go into the bottle, every fish but her went in there. I had to keep letting them out. Then Baby #3 swam into the bottle just as Momma #4 looked like she was going in. *exasperated sigh* I grabbed a net and helped her into the bottle. The only problem was, now I had TWO fish in the bottle. One little one and one big pregnant one. It worked out, though, just a little cramped for five minutes or so while I set things up.

Thursday night, I decided to move Momma #4 over to the baby tank until she spits her fry. She's due today, Friday -- but she may hold them a little longer. This is her third pregnancy, so I think she knows what she's doing by now.

><((((º> -- The Wobbler
I spotted The Wobbler tonight, I was able to get a good look at his little body and I really do think he was affected the rock that his momma was also holding along with him and his other siblings. His body is misshapen, indented, as if something pressed alongside him while he was developing. I have a picture of him... I'll have to post it.

><((((º> -- The New 36 Gallon Tank
I'm cycling the tank, have been since Tuesday or Wednesday. I had to take the heater back and get a different one, I had bought the wrong size for my tank. I'm swapping water between the new tank and the 12 gallon tank, a couple gallons each night. I figure by next Monday or Tuesday it should be okay to start moving the fish into their new home.

More BABIES!

The female that was supposed to have her babies last Monday was still holding them today. A week too long, still not eating. Apparently she didn't feel safe letting those babies out in the main tank, even though she was in the baby net. (sigh)

I mentioned to a lady at the pet store that she was holding and was overdue. She made a comment that these types of fish will starve themselves rather than let their babies out if they feel unsafe. It was like a light bulb going off in my head.

When I got home, I moved her into a net in the baby tank. We left to see a movie. When we got home a couple hours later, she had let the babies out. Seventeen of them. She is the smallest female, so I wasn't surprised at the smaller amount of babies. They all seem to be swimming well.

I netted Momma #3 and moved her back to the main tank. I hope all the moving around today doesn't prove to be too much for her. She is eating, though, I think I'll leave her in the holding cell in the main tank for a day and then let her out tomorrow night when it's dark.

The wobbler, the disabled one from the previous batch, is still alive. He sits on the back side of the coral most of the time. I'm glad he's still alive. I just hope he's not in pain or anything, poor little baby.

When I went to the pet store, I bought a 36 gallon tank for my adult fish. This was big purchase for me. But I want them to have more room -- I've read there should be a gallon for each inch of fish in the tank. To my best calculation, I have 25.5 inches of fish altogether (5 adults, 3 juniors, 1 algae eater), living in a 12 gallon tank. They're a little cramped.

All them are still alive.

I'm kind of sad tonight. We're losing one of my husband's goldfish, the calico one. It has fungus but no fungus medication has worked on it. The other one, the orange one, that had dropsy is pretty much all better now. But the calico one has been having a hard time of it. I feel so bad for it. We moved it to a separate bowl tonight so it can just be alone.

All the cichlid babies are doing well. They follow me around in their little tank, looking for me to give them food. It's so cute. I hadn't seen the wobbler baby today, so I reached in and moved the coral, fully expecting to find the little one dead, but I'll be taken for a donkey if the little wobbler didn't come wobble-swimming out into the main part of the tank.

Momma #3 is still holding her babies, so were on a baby watch over here.

The Baby Tank.

I have the fish tank holding the baby fish sitting on a corner of my kitchen counter. When I set something on the counter that makes a sharp noise, they all kind of jump, but then they settle down and come over to the side of the tank where I'm at to see what I'm doing.

I've created a habit that when I'm getting ready to feed them, I tap on the dish that contains their food. All the babies come swimming out of their hiding spots and wait.

Tonight, I was washing dishes. I was making quite a clatter in the kitchen, scrubbing and slinging water about. My husband looked up and said, "All your baby fish are watching you!" I looked over at the tank and, sure enough, all 50 little babies were crammed into the corner of the tank, trying to figure out what I was doing.

They're very curious little critters -- I think that's a good sign. :)

Momma #3

The third female, to my best calculation, is due on Monday or Tuesday (Feb. 13th or 14th). I'm not sure where I want her to deliver her babies, I suppose she'll have to do it in a baby net off the main tank as the baby tank really doesn't have room for any more babies. She's the smallest of the females, so it will be interesting to find out how many babies she has in her mouth.

I decided to try to sneak up on her and net her out of the main tank. That didn't work. I decided to go with the bottle trick, even though I could potentially end up with every other fish but her. She likes to spend her days face down hiding in a big plant in the middle of the tank. I poked the bottle down in that plant where she likes to hang out.

She went around the outside of it a couple of times. The other fish eyeballed the outside of it. I walked away for about 10 minutes, when I came back, she was in the bottle looking out at me. Not in the least bit upset at all. In fact, she looked rather pleased with herself to be protected from all the other fish -- not only by her plant, but by a bottle, too.

I lifted the bottle out and that upset her, but not too badly.

I set up the baby net and hung it off the lip of the main tank and then turned the bottle sideways and let her swim out into her new little home. She isn't thrilled, she feels too exposed. The net is over the plant she was hiding in since January 23rd (her holding start date) and she keeps trying to swim down into it, but the net is in her way.


Ahh well, little lady, it's only temporary.

Baby Fry.

Yesterday, I pulled the breeder net in the baby tank where the 2nd fry has been living down to get the water to flow more freely throughout the tank. The 2nd fry is mostly free swimming now and I thought they'd be okay mixed in with the week old fry.

They are doing splendidly. There is one baby in fry #2 that I don't know if it will make it. He kind of swims wobbly and spurtlike -- maybe it has a birth defect with its swim bladder or something. None of the other babies have problems.

It was so cute to see them when they were first out of their mom's mouth. Their little bellies were like a little balloon (that lasted about a day), they kind of swam in hops and when they "landed" they flopped on their sides. Hee. So cute. They're all doing really well except that one.

A couple days ago, I custom sewed a fish net that acts like a sock around the filter intake. The breeder net I had wrapped around it was just taking up too much room and the lady's nylon that I had on there before was too restrictive and didn't allow enough water in. The fish net is, in the terms of Goldilocks, "just right".

Release.

I woke up this morning at 5 AM with the idea of releasing Momma #2 back into the main tank. She experienced some difficulty distinguishing between food and babies. So, she'd take food in her mouth and spit it back out, thinking it was a baby. When she spit her babies, I also noticed that she spit out a small rock. She's been tumbling that rock along with her babies all this time. My theory is that perhaps that rock threw her "sensation" off? I dunno. Neither of the previous two fish had the trouble she did in distinguishing food from baby.

Anyway, by late Monday afternoon, she started eating. Tuesday she was eating with a vengeance. I wanted her to be eating before I let her back in with the rest of the fish.

Another fish holding.

I noticed today that the female who delivered her fry back in December is holding again today. Her mouth is so full of eggs she can barely even keep it closed. Unbelieveable. I think I'm starting to feel fish panic.

Again with two holding females in that tank.

Momma #4 should deliver somewhere between February 24th to the 27th.

Second Batch of Fry.

Fish Momma #2 had her babies this morning, so we now have approximately 50 baby fish (approximately 25 from Momma #1 last Sunday and approximately 25 from Momma #2 today). It’s a little daunting to have that many lives relying on me. *mops brow* I was able to isolate Momma #2 in the baby net and move her back to the holding cell in the main tank, to be released back in the main tank either tonight or tomorrow night.