Picture of Momma and Babies.

This picture shows the female and her fry from the end of January. (See "log of fry" in sidebar for exact dates and "archives" to read her story.) These babies were the first batch that were taken to the fish store. Ahhh, memories.

25 Babies Moved.

I took 25 more babies over to the fish store. Grand total moved, 65. Holy crap. 65 little babies. And yet, it doesn't look like any have left. I removed the tank divider in the baby tank. I wanted the water flow, I'm concerned about stagnant water.

I lost one baby last night from the most recent batch of babies, which upon recount from a 3x magnified photograph was 46 babies -- lost one -- equals 45 babies.

More Babies -- Yay!

The remaining holding female let her babies go this evening. She started around 5:30 PM and let a few out at a time over the next couple of hours. For some reason, she really, really fought letting these babies out. She did NOT want to let them go. The babies were fighting to be free -- she would press her mouth against the corner of the tank, I could see their little heads flailing, almost making it out, she would press harder, swimming firmly in place, keeping them in. I haven't seen anything like it, none of the other females have been like that.

It was simply unbelievable.

She finally let them all out, though. I moved her quickly from the holding tank back to the main tank, once I was certain she had. I fed her a flake of food while she was in the transfer cell, she took it in and popped it back out. Her throat puffed up a couple of times and expelled. The females do that to food just after they've let their babies go. So I knew there were no more.

Then I rounded up and moved the babies into a cell in the baby tank. At best count there are 12 albinos and 30 greys. That's right, folks, we're talking 42 babies that she'd been holding (that includes the one she let go a couple days ago).

Since we're leaving at 5 AM in the morning, I had hoped she'd start eating so I could let her go in the main tank. So far, she has no interest in food. The babies are passingly interested in eating. I think they're gonna be okay. They're all in the "just been born" shock stage, I think.

Since the holding tank is empty now... wow... that's a first in a long time to not have a holding female... I moved the male into the 6 gallon tank (formerly the holding tank). He is, in a word, ecstatic. He's swimming all around, exploring, going behind each crevice, coming back out. He is soooo happy. Who knew that a gallon of water and a different layout would make such a big difference!

Little Stinker!

The female that's still holding looks like she's gonna explode. Her mouth is so full, her throat's transparent, bumpy and lumpy -- I can see the little babies eyes through the skin of her throat, bobbling back and forth as she tumbles them. She needs to let them go; her stomach is all skinny and stuff. (sigh)

She let one of them out a couple days ago. Now she's bound and determined to hold these until eternity, apparently.

I have this whole strategy that I need to put into play, putting which fish into which fish tank, and it's ALL hinging on her letting her babies go.

The thing is, we're going out of town for the weekend and I just know that's when she'll let them go.

GAH!!!

All the Fish Rock Like This...

The Holding Tank.

The females have started a "new" way of letting their babies go. They hold them as long as they possibly can, until their mouth can't even close, the little babies are practically FALLING out, and then one escapes and gets sucked down the tube. The next day, a couple more babies escape and get sucked in the tube and then, the third day she lets all the babies out.

That's what happened last week with the female that was due. Interestingly, it's usually an albino one that is the first one to escape. (shrug) Don't know why. On Wednesday the 12th, she let them all out. Except she had held them for so long, she was hungry and ate a couple before I could get her out of there. (sigh) There were 7 albinos and 15 grey, 22 total, that I was able to save.

I transferred the 22 babies into the Baby Tank, in a little holding cell. That was fun. I don't know who taught those little ones how to swim, but they were good little swimmers, the best so far. Two of them escaped into the Holding Tank and I had to round them up.

Within a day, 12 of them had swum over the top of their holding cell and on into the Baby Tank.

I have one more holding female in the Holding Tank. She let one baby out today, so either Tuesday or Wednesday, she'll let the entire batch out. Probably in the morning, they seem to like to let them go at sign of first light of day.

The Baby Tank.

All the babies are healthy and growing big. I haven't found any more killed ones, so I guess it's key to move the big ones out as soon as they get to that aggression point. I have another batch that needs to be moved to the fish store this week. I have the smallest ones separated with a partition from the bigger ones in the Baby Tank.

The Male Tank.

The male is still doing okay. He swims very frustratedly up and down in his tank, generally making a ruckus because he feels very restricted. I feel bad for him. My strategy is, that once the last holding female releases, I'll move him into the 6 gallon tank. The footprint is longer, which is better for cichlids. Then, once all the babies are taken to the fish store, and the 12 gallon tank is empty, I'll move him into the 12 gallon tank. Then, when I want to breed the fish, I'll put a female in the 12 gallon tank with him. Once she's holding, I'll move her into 5 gallon tank to finish her holding term.

I'll use the 6 gallon tank as a grow out tank for the two albino fish that I want to grow into adulthood and put in the 36 gallon main tank. Hopefully, they won't be males.

The 36 Gallon Tank.

Is now the female tank. There is one female that is highly aggressive, she chases the other females into hiding. Ironically, the big tank looks empty much of the time, except when it's feeding time. I really miss seeing the male in that tank. But I feel somewhat relieved that I don't have three new holding females. (sigh)

I'm tired tonight. I have a lot going on in my personal life right now.

Big Babies Moved.

I took 20 more bigger babies over to the fish store this afternoon. I went to the fish tank where I'd put my other babies and I didn't recognize them. I asked if those were mine and they said yes. Holy Crap. In one week's time, the babies I brought last week had grown A HALF AN INCH. That's unbelieveable. They were big. And healthy. They hadn't lost any to death, in fact, they had SOLD four of them. Wow.

We put the babies I brought today in the same tank with them, I hope they'll be okay, they're a half inch smaller. Eep. The owner seemed to think they'd be okay. (sigh)

I didn't hang out for long, just a few minutes and then went on home. The owner seemed kind of disappointed; I just didn't want to be in his way.

The male fish was swimming rapidly up and down the front of his 5 gallon tank. I guess he's either not happy or that's his way of getting his exercise since he doesn't have a 36 gallon tank and 7 females to harass. Poor thing. He's healthy and eating voraciously -- so I think he's okay.

More Babies.

The female that was holding in the Penn Flax contraption was, indeed, the next due female. She was a little shy in releasing her babies (she was supposed to be due on 3/31/06). So, I put a white lid in the tank, visually separating her from the other two in the tank. Dratted fish.

On Wednesday night, she accidentally let one baby out. I know it was accidental because she kept trying to get him through the sides of the container (she could see him the little baby cell). The next day, she let four more go. I pulled them out Thursday night and put them in a holding cell in the 12 gallon baby tank. Friday morning when I left for work, she had let five more babies out. When I came home Friday, there were 20 total in the container plus the 5 I'd moved to the other tank -- 25 babies.

I pulled her out and moved her into a holding cell off the 36 gallon tank and started to feed her. My goal is to try and keep food out of the 6 gallon female holding tank. Less mess.

This morning I moved the 20 other babies into the holding cell in the 12 gallon tank. The female is doing okay, she's pretty hungry. I've learned to feed her flakes instead of granules, she doesn't mix them up in her mind with holding babies, so she eats easier the first day out.

The next female that's due is the one on the end, so I need to move her into the Penn Flax container. It shouldn't be too long and we'll have another 20+ babies. Oh boy!

I think I need to bring another batch of the older fish to the fish store. I'm not seeing any overt aggression like I was last week, but still, I think it's time.

Females, Male and Babies.

The female fish that was acting oddly last night seems to be doing better tonight. I hope. God, please don't take a bad turn. She seems more active and isn't hiding anymore, those are good things.

The male fish has moved the small rocks from around the big rock (his cave) in his 5 gallon tank, so the bottom of the tank is bare right there. I guess that means he's moved in?

This morning I spent about 10 minutes putting a non-translucent white tupperware lid between the holding female's holding cells. The holding female that was due on 3/31/06 let a baby go tonight. She's still holding the other babies, I don't think she meant to let that one go. Even though the baby was in the little holding cell, she could see him and tried to get him back. Awww. The baby she let go is fully developed and swimming really well.

The little albino baby that I isolated a few days ago is getting stronger and swimming around more. It's really cute, though, because there are times when he'll just stop and sit on the bottom of his little holding cell and stare at me.

I have a confession to make, sometimes, late at night when all the lights are off in the house and have been for about a half an hour, I'll take a flashlight, go downstairs, turn the flashlight on and look at the little babies sleeping. They do sleep, you know. They point their little faces downward, some float in the middle of the tank, others rest on the top of the filter intake or on top of the heater holders. Most of them are resting on the bottom of the tank, it's just heart melting.

Eggs?

Baby #1 dropped her eggs this morning, so she's no longer holding. Apparently, I pulled the male from the tank before he fertilized her eggs. She'd only been tumbling 5 eggs; she's so small it looks like she had a herd of elephants in her little mouth. She's been tamping at the bit all day to get out of her little holding cell, but I'm holding off on releasing her until tonight.

I'm worried about the other adult female that's in the tank. She's hiding in a dark spot, I'm worried that the male was buffeting her, causing her to create eggs but that I may have pulled him and left the job undone, in other words, that she's egg bound. Most of the stories I've read on the Internet of egg bound fish result in the female's death. I truly hope that's not the case with her.

She comes out when I feed the tank and is VERY, VERY aggressive when eating. So much so that the other fish hide. I just hope she's okay.

Cramped Style.

The male fish really had his style cramped this morning when I was leaving for work. He went to swim out into the main part of the tank, except, um, the main part of the tank was about 6 inches instead of 3 feet. He bumped into the glass of the 5 gallon tank and swam back and looked at it in startled disbelief. Then he spent a few minutes swimming rapidly up and down.

I debated turning the light off to soothe him but decided to leave it on, I figured his adjustment would be easier for me without me seeing it.

Tonight he's not happy about the smaller tank, his appetite has decreased a bit. He's still eating and his fins are all up. I assume his appetite decrease is due to having less exercise.

Fish Birth Control.

I pulled Baby #1 out and put her in a holding cell off the main tank. Since I had all the aquarium decorations out, I pulled the male out and put him in the 5 gallon tank. He is not happy with the smaller size, especially since it's an octagon tank, there's not a long footprint for him to swim. I don't know what else to do, I adore him as a fish, he's so pretty, but if this keeps up it will be just him and one algae eater in a 36 gallon tank. Ridiculous.

Just so you have a picture in your mind of what this looks like... one 36 gallon tank in the corner of my living room with Baby #3 in a holding cell, three non-holding females loose in the tank and one algae eater. On the opposite side of the room, off my kitchen counter, we have three other tanks; a 12 gallon, a 6 gallon and a 5 gallon. In the 12 gallon tank I have just over 100 babies. In the 6 gallon tank I have three floating cells with holding females in them. In the 5 gallon tank, I have now placed the male fish.

My plan is, once the three females spit their fry, I'll put them back in the 36 gallon tank and move the male into the 6 gallon tank -- it has a longer footprint. Then I'll use the 5 gallon tank as a grow out tank for the bigger, more aggressive, fry that are in the 12 gallon tank.

I had a minor emotional breakdown watching my beautiful male adjust to the small 5 gallon tank. It was really hard on me. It was then that I realized that I really had bought the 36 gallon tank for him.

I hope he's gonna be okay.

Dude.

I just discovered that Baby #1 is a female. She is only 7 months old and she is holding as of today.

Somehow that just seems so wrong -- her daddy made her pregnant.

Bleck.

Now I've gotta get HER out of the tank. (sigh)

Church Fish.

This morning, while attending church on-line, I decided to move the holding female from the 36 gallon tank over to the six gallon tank with the other two holding fish. Since I'm fairly sure that the one I'd left in the holding cell in the 36 gallon tank is actually the one that is due NOW, based on the lumpiness of her throat.

I pulled the lid off her cell, turned my back to reach for the net and turned back around and she had slipped over the top and was happily swimming to the darkest corner of the tank. I was so ticked, I threw a tantrum. Thankfully, the fish and the cats were the only ones who saw my temper display.

Sooooo, I took another 10 minutes to empty the aquarium of ornaments, grabbed the net and chased her up to the front of the tank, netted her against the glass, pulled her out and put her in the transfer cell.

I had already moved the holding female from the Penn Flax contraption into a floating holding cell, so I put the one that's due in the Penn Flax contraption, put the lid on and made sure it's secure.

Then I went back and put the 36 gallon tank together again with all the ornaments. The filter intake is working, which is good, when I disturbed all their ornaments yesterday and it made the water pretty cloudy. I'm glad the tank has cycled a few times since then.

I missed some key points of the sermon, so I have to watch it again later this afternoon or something. (sigh)

Day of Fish.

This day shall go down in my history as The Day of Fish. I knew it would be, it started last night.

I had called the local fish store that I visited back in January and asked if I could bring in my oldest babies. The ones that were born January 29th. I've started seeing aggressive behaviour from two of the biggest ones, nipping at the babies. I'm pretty sure that the babies I've lost have been attacked by the bigger ones. The biggest ones are just over an inch long and yet, they still seem so small in comparison to the adults.

When I arrived home from work, the 6 gallon tank that I ordered online had arrived. I immediately set about setting it up, pulling water out of the main tank so I don't have to cycle it. The most I have to do is regulate the temperature.

While I was doing that, I selected the four babies I wanted to take over the fish store and put them in a baby net. I continued working on the six gallon tank, turned around and saw the biggest baby attacking one of the other babies in the baby net. It is an image I will never get out of my mind, seeing that aggressive fish seeming to suck the scales off the other one that was cornered facing up. I quickly netted the one that was being attacked, put it in a bottle and floated it in the empty five gallon tank. It was too late, though. While still alive, he was swimming upside down. My heart broke. Within a half hour, he was gone. Poor baby, I felt so bad. I didn't know those babies would do that. They're just babies.

It reinforced my decision to take them to the fish store.

I isolated the aggressive baby into the five gallon tank. Didn't acclimate him at all, I figured he's too mean to die. The other two were fighting with each other, so I netted one and lifted the rim of the net up above the water, leaving him to swim in the net within the baby net. Then I shut off all the lights and went to bed.

When I awoke this morning, I went about the business of catching the aggressive fish that had escaped the baby net and was swimming free in the 5 gallon tank. Boy, was he excited, a five gallon tank all for him. I bagged him and put him in the cooler. Then I re-netted the baby in the net in the baby net that had also escaped and bagged those two fish and put them in the cooler. Then I captured another baby out of the 12 gallon tank and bagged him. Off we went to the fish store.

The four babies were placed in a 20 gallon tank at the fish store. They looked so happy to swim around in that big tank. The kid at the fish store, the son of the owner, was concerned that they might get stuck to the filter intake, I assured him they were big enough to be okay.

The owner came in the store and we talked a bit. He was thrilled to get the babies, absolutely thrilled. He said that cichlids are his fastest moving fish -- he orders 40 cichlids a week and seven days later they've all been sold.

I needed some supplies, like filters, a new bio-wheel for my 36 gallon tank, some floating breeder tanks, etc. I asked the owner if he was going to write down what I was taking. He said no, he knew I would. Hrm. He trusts me. I like this. Really like this.

When I arrived home, my filter intake on the 36 gallon tank had stopped working. This was the second time this week. I couldn't get it going again. Crap.

I disassembled all the aquarium decorations and captured the three holding females, putting two in holding cells in the main tank and one in a holding cell in the new six gallon tank.

Then I captured 16 babies and put them in a gallon tupperware container and placed that in a paper grocery bag, put that in my car, put my coat over top (darkness helps soothe fish). Then I pulled the filter intake out of the 36 gallon tank and took off the for the fish store.

When I arrived, the store was busy. I asked the owner if I could put the babies in the tank, he said yes. After a bit, he came over to help me with my filter intake and, wouldn't you know it, the thing worked the second he plugged it in. *grunt* He said he did push the magnetic assembly in firmly. Okay then.

The 16 babies seemed to acclimate well with the four fish I had brought over earlier in the day. When I left they were all swimming around busily. Their top fins weren't up consistently but the babies weren't on the bottom or hiding in the corners or anything, they were busy eating and stuff.

When I got back home for the second time, I discovered that ALL THREE holding females had escaped their holding cells. Two in the main tank, one in the six gallon tank. *eye roll* There goes another hour capturing them again. This time I rubber-banded the lids on their tanks. All evening long, they've been throwing and wedging themselves against the lids, trying to get out. Making a huge ruckus. Sheez.

I don't have the six gallon tank 100% dialed in temperature-wise. It's close, though. I hope they'll be okay. The tank has been running around 75.6 to 75.1. I've been trying to find the temperature that the heater turns on, haven't found it yet. I guess I could sit there all night and watch. Or not.

There are two females in holding cells in that tank and one in the 36 gallon tank. Of course, now that I've been able to look at each female, the one in the 36 gallon tank is, I think, the one that was due on 3/31, based on the lumpiness of her throat. So I'll need to switch her tomorrow.

Tonight, I'm done with the damn fish.