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.
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.
posted by Jammie J. at
3/12/2006 11:26:00 PM
