The Observer in Me.

I am an observer. Not always a doer, but definitely an observer. The categorizer of habits. Probably the one thing I like the most about my fish is that I can stare at them for hours and they don't mind. People would definitely mind if I had my nose pressed up against their business for hours on end. I likely would, too, for that matter.

The newest babies are doing well in their little section in the 12 gallon tank. Eating, swimming, getting stronger and bigger. The baby that snuck over the top? Well, I can't even tell which one he is anymore. The others are just as strong and big as him. I wish there were a way I could get the other little ones in there without the bigger ones.

The adults in their 36 gallon tank are doing well. I let the momma of the most recent batch of fry out of her holding cell a couple nights ago. Just today I noticed that I have two holding females now, so somewhere in the last couple of days another one started holding. The newest holder hangs out at the top of the waterfall where the bubbles come out.

Their tank looks like a shipwreck happened. The male, during his last mating ritual, decided that he liked the other side of the tank with the new aquarium decorations (something that looks like a tree root) as opposed to his cave. So, for a couple of days, he had no rocks in his cave or under the tree root, all the rocks were stacked high in the middle and deposited on top of the "trees" off the waterfall. (eye roll)

There's a fake blue plant that glows in the dark. He has hated that thing since the moment I put it in the tank eight months ago. I can't tell you how much that amuses me. I mean, he HATES it. He spends hours attacking that thing. He finally tugged it free from under the decoration I had weighted it with and moved it behind the waterfall. And it's upside down. AHHAHAHAHAAA! So funny.

At the end of this week I'll be trying to get the holding females out of there. So, I figure I'll "fix" their tank while I'm anyway taking a bath in their water at that time.

More Babies.

This morning the holding female that was overdue let her babies go. The fancy baby contraption seemed to work well on the unsuspecting ones. Apparently, the tube sucked half of them and the other half realized what was going on and swam to portions of the tank that wouldn't suction them in.

I netted the female out and into the holding cell off the main tank, I'll let her go the night of March 21st after she's had a day to recuperate and eat uninterrupted.

Then I pulled the green insert out of the fancy contraption and shooed the stubborn babies in the tube. All but two went. So, in their young lives, I netted them and put them in the baby cell. That's right, they may be stubborn but I'm bigger.

Then I used a tank divider for a 20 gallon tank and separated a portion of the 12 gallon tank into a small space for the new babies. I don't know what the heck is up with the tank divider but it was too short and barely wide enough for my 12 gallon tank. My husband thinks it's because my 12 gallon tank is a weird size. Hmph. Still. I had to build up a rock bank and set the divider on top of the rocks so it'd be tall enough. I did have to cut off about an inch off the width. I was very careful with my cutting because, as we all know, it's easier to keep cutting than it is to replace what shouldn't have been taken off. That took some time.

Then, it was all done and one of the smaller babies had slipped through. (sigh) So, I netted it out and put it on the correct side of the divider. Fixed the divider and in the process another little one slipped through. Gah! I netted that one back over. Then I took the little baby cell out of the 5 gallon tank and put it in the 12 gallon tank to start adjusting them to the temperature/chemistry.

Finally, I released them and dagnabbit, if one of the smaller babies from the other side didn't swim up to the very top of the tank and slip through a tiny little opening between the divider and the tank wall! I figured since he wanted over there bad enough, he could stay. He's not big enough to cause any damage. Maybe he'll be a leader where once he was the under dog? Hark! Lead the babies!

The best part of all that was after I was done, my husband came downstairs and peered in their tank. "Awww, look, they're so tiny and cute."

"Yes." I agreed.

"Wow, those other ones are so big."

"Yeah, I know. Hard to believe they'll someday be as big as those adults over there."

More murmurs of adoration came from him and THEN he realized what he was doing. He was turning into a fish freak like me! Yes! Yes! I will convert him. I will.

Did I mention, I heard about a cichlid convention in Chicago? And that I actually gave some consideration to attending?

Weekend Away.

I went away this weekend. The fish did just fine without me or food for two days. Who knew. Even the babies did just fine.

When I arrived home, I moved the holding mama and her fancy contraption out of the main tank and into the 5 gallon tank. She's still in her contraption, since she's still holding her babies and she should have let them go last week, I'm thinking she felt too exposed with the other adult fish "sharking" around her holding cell. Hopefully, she'll feel safer in the smaller tank. I put some First Bites food in her holding cell, so hopefully the babies she's holding and the mama will get some nourishment.

Her color is kind of pale and her stripes were standing out in stark relief. I think she's getting weaker by the day. She has expanded her gills to make more room for the babies that she's holding, her throat looks like she has major cellulite from the babies poking against it. Her throat is also partially transparent now and I can see her babies eyes reflecting light. It's kind of weird looking.

In the baby tank, I noticed an albino baby swimming off by itself in the corner. That worries me, in the past that indicates that maybe I'll be picking another dead baby out of that tank in the next couple of days. (sigh)

Lost Two Babies.

I scraped some algae off the sides of the baby tank tonight. It was build up from the adult fish (who are now in their 36 gallon tank), so who knows how old it was.

About an hour after I did that, I noticed an albino baby had died. I netted it out. Then, a couple hours later, another albino baby was gone. Which I also netted out.

(sigh)

I hope it wasn't related, but I have a feeling it is. I hope I don't lose more.

Another Baby Gone.

I lost another albino baby tonight. (sigh)

And another female started holding today.

At last, Success!

The bottle capture trick didn't work yesterday at all for the female that's holding right now. She avoided and maneuvered her way around it every time. The single time she did go into the bottle, the funnel had slipped down to the bottom, so she just back swam right on out of there.

I captured baby #3 three times, baby #1 two times, a couple of other female fish, and the male fish three times. Talk about frustrating.

I even made the attempt of capturing her last night by flashlight at 2 AM. She just swam behind the waterfall and didn't come out. GAH!

Today I cut up a 1 gallon Crystal Geiser water bottle (it's clear plastic) and put that in there and I enlisted the help of my husband. Within 5 minutes, she was captured. The husband is magic with fish, what can I say.

She is now in a complex contraption that will supposedly whisk her babies down a funnel, through a tube and, with the help of an air tube, into their own little baby holding cell which is held off the main momma cell. There is a picture of it located here. Pretty trick. It's called the "Aqua Nursery" made by Penn Plax.

We laughed when we first turned the air tube on without a regulator inline. The force of the air bubbles shot out so hard from the baby cell that it blew the plastic lid off. We clipped the line and added a regulator. I mean, the whole point in having this complex creation is to keep the babies alive, not shoot them like a rocketing treat into the main tank with all the big fish!

The holding female was already in it when we hooked up the air tube. She started frantically swimming toward the top of her little cell. I realized then that the air tube is circulating water OUT of her cell, keeping it fresh and clean. After a few minutes, she settled down and accepted the circulating water as her new normal.

Another Baby Gone.

Last night, I noticed one of the babies acting oddly, going up to the rear of the tank behind the water intake. I crouched down and looked up to see the baby pecking at an albino baby that had died. (sigh)

Just like The Wobbler, this one had no eyes. I had thought it odd with The Wobbler, but I guess this is what aggressive fish do to each other when they die? I felt so bad. I reached in and netted the dead baby out as fast as I could.

I hope it's just a case of the stronger shall prevail and not something to do with the tank. I believe the dead baby was part of Fry #2, the same fry that The Wobbler came from, the same fry that the mom tumbled a rock with them.

Little baby, rest in peace.

Bountiful Babies.

I let the 35 new babies out of their birthing net, so now they are free swimming amongst the rest of the babies. They were no longer spurt-swimming, so I figured it would be okay. I don't know how it will be as they grow older, as far as aggression goes. For now it's okay and I'll keep an eye on it.

I have tank dividers, so if I really need to, I can put the dividers in the tank. I'm hoping, though, that aggression won't be displayed for awhile. Maybe I can get them to the fish store before they get aggressive? At six months they should be old enough to be taken to the fish store and sold.

The month old babies look more like fish, more like their parents, and less like pieces of rice with fins. They're growing up so fast. The little ones are so cute, their tiny little bitty fins go back and forth so fast I can hardly see them. Their little bodies are translucent and all you can really see are their eyes and tummies.

It's interesting to watch them. They segregate themselves by age in layers. The older fish swim more toward the top of the tank and the younger ones swim more toward the bottom. I think it has to do with their swimming abilities? It's interesting to see, though.

About a week ago, I started feeding the older ones miniature granulated food. I still feed the First Bites powder food, but added the granules. What I do, though, is put the granules on my finger and put my finger in the water. The older ones, since they swim at the top of the tank, will come up and peck at my finger taking the food pieces off into their mouth. What was hilarious was when I was doing the tank move I had my hands and arms in their tank moving the bottles around. There was one older fish who thought I had food on my arm and kept bonking into it. Heh. Funny fish.

Another Day.

I released Momma #4 back into the tank tonight after the lights had been out about an hour. She's not been a happy camper today in the holding cell, the other fish keep bonking into the side of it.

All the babies, including the 35 new ones, are all alive and seem to be healthy in their new home.

If there's a next time.

I just spent the last four hours moving 70+ baby fish from a 5 gallon tank into a 12 gallon tank. Using the bottle method.

Next time, if there's a next time, I think I'll just take the ornaments out and DUMP the babies into the bigger tank. For God's sake, it was just ridiculous. And the last five refused to go in the bottle, refused to be netted. I ended up disassembling the tank, anyway, to get those last five babies out. (frustrated sigh) But, they're all in the grow out tank and, so far, they look healthy. Swimming, exploring and searching for food.

Then, I decided to "strip" Momma #4. That poor fish is gonna have some mental problems, if she doesn't already. She always seems to have the toughest holdings. The last time she was holding, she got moved from my office to my home. Rocks banging around, gravel swishing her away. Poor thing. This time she gets moved from the main tank to the baby tank, from the baby tank to the grow out tank, she gets stripped of her babies and then moved back to the main tank, only to discover she had kept four babies in her mouth, sooooo back to the grow out tank where I stripped her again and THEN back to the main tank. Quite frankly, I will be surprised if she lives through the night. I'm feeling so guilty about this.

I don't think I'll strip a fish again. It was far too traumatic for me and for her.

Her babies are mostly free swimming. Their little egg sacs are streamlined into being their tummies, but they're still spurtlike. If she had wanted to hold them a little longer, it would have been fine. I should have just let her do her thing.

She is the largest female, so I wondered how many she would have. At best count, there are 35 new babies.

I'm thinking I may just move the male fish into the five gallon tank and be done with all this baby fish business. Then again, maybe not. I don't know. The babies are so cute.