35 Babies Moved.

I was gonna put it off, moving the babies. But I looked at them in there, so many, so little space and decided to just go ahead and do it.

Even though I have a tank divider in the 12 gallon baby tank, a few big ones snuck over to the small side and a few small babies to the big side. Today was the day I was gonna move all the bigger ones, even the ones mixed up on the small side.

I started with the big baby side of the tank and pulled all the ornaments out of that side and went to work catching them with a net. They're getting quicker and quicker, hiding up behind the filter intake and behind the heater. Little stinkers.

Then I pulled the ornament out of the small baby side and a dead baby floated up. There was one I'd pulled out of the big baby side and moved to the small side a couple nights ago that looked like he'd been beaten up a bit, but when I went to catch him again to isolate him, he scurried off and I couldn't get him. I think the dead one today was him. (sigh)

I captured 35 total and moved them to the fish store today. In return, I got an automatic feeder which I plan to use to feed the females in the 36 gallon tank.

Mr. Blue's Tree Rock That He Loves So Much.

Mr. Blue Plays Peek-a-Boo!

Mr. Blue's Emergency.

Tonight something went awry with the heater in Mr. Blue's tank. That would be the 6 gallon tank with the Male Fish.

When I arrived home from work the tank thermometer was reading 72.8 degrees. Ummm, yeah, that's pretty cold for him. I turned the heater up a bit, it's been so warm here lately that I had turned the heater down a couple degrees.

Then I noticed that somehow the water level had dropped about two inches below the rim, I don't know how it got that low. I refilled the level just two days ago. But the filter pump also acts as a secondary heater as it puts off heat. So I thought maybe that was the problem, that the water level had dropped so far that it wasn't touching the filter pump anymore, so I filled the tank to the rim.

When I checked the tank a couple hours later, the temperature was 78 degrees, a little on the warm side, so I adjusted the heater back down as the indicator light was on. An hour later, I checked the tank again and it was at 79.1... WTF???

As I stood there and watched it for a minute, the heater's indicator light came on and the temperature went up to 79.4. Holy Crap! My husband was there, thank goodness, because I kind of freaked out. I'm thankful for his steady mind because he simply unplugged the thing.

Over the next hour, with no heating apparatus turned on in the tank, I watched the temperature fluctuate all over the place -- from 78.5 to 78.2 to 77.9 to 77.4, back up, back down. It was ridiculous, how can that be? But the thermometer wasn't incorrect, I pulled a thermometer from another tank and it said the same thing. Mr. Blue seemed okay, swimming around and stuff. Didn't seem to be stressed. But I was sure stressed. I moved the thermometer sensor around to the back of the tank and then to the side of the tank and noticed a one degree water temperature difference. I don't know how that can be, the tank isn't THAT big you know? Sure is strange.

When the water temperature cooled to 76.5, which is the temperature that I like to run all of my tanks, I moved the heater to the front of the tank and plugged it in. The idea being that perhaps its location in the rear of the tank was throwing its thermometer off? I set it to 73 degrees, which for some reason, this brand of heater runs 3 1/2 degrees hotter than its temperature controller (see how scientific ths is?). When I plugged it in, the heater turned on. Not good. I turned the controller all the way down to 68 degrees and it didn't turn off. I waited a minute, it still didn't turn off. (sigh)

Verdict: Heater broken.

I hemmed and hawed, whined and cried. I don't want to deal with this tonight or ever. The heater is virtually brand new, only what -- less than a couple months old?

Finally, I moved the four white albino babies out of the five gallon tank and back into the 12 gallon baby tank. Either the fish have gotten slower or I've attained a real talent in fish capturing because I was able to get one in the net and then three in the net all at once. That was easy.

When I put them in the 12 gallon tank, I was surprised at how much bigger they are than the other babies. Wow, they've grown BIG. I need to move about 20-30 more babies over to the fish store, soon. Really soon. And I need to replace the heater in the six gallon tank. Crud. Things have been going so smoothly and maintenance free the last few weeks.

Then I moved Mr. Blue's rock into the five gallon tank. He was behind the rock, which has a hole in it that he likes to peer through. As I pulled the rock out, he followed it. I moved it up, he moved up right with the rock hole. It was really adorable. Who knew fish could be adorable? I captured Mr. Blue with a cut off bottle, just cornered him until he had no other option to go into it. The tank is small enough that I can do that and it's pretty stress free for both of us.

Tonight, Mr. Blue is back in the five gallon tank. The tank I was so happy to get him out of not that long ago.

Fish Heat.

I don't remember if I mentioned, a second female went into heat and laid eggs this week. I had two females tumbling eggs and then, I guess they both dropped them, too, since all the females are eating again. So very strange.

I saw the male doing his mating dance the other day in his little 6 gallon tank, all by himself. *shrug* I really don't know. Maybe it's their way of masturbating.

The four albinos that we're growing in the five gallon tank are getting big. They're at 1 1/2 inches long now, I was surprised to see that. I put a white plastic plant for them to hide in and escape from each other. I noticed they were being kind of aggressive with each other last week. The plant seems to break up their aggression, they hide amongst the leaves of it and since it, too, is white, it acts as a camouflage for them and they don't really see each other.

The other babies in the 12 gallon tank are doing well, too. Voracious little eaters, when I lift the lid to drop their food in, they all swim to the top immediately.

Ohhhh, I went downstairs the other night and took pictures of them sleeping. They didn't like the flash going off but I got some of them with their little faces pointed downward and then the rest of them huddled on the bottom of the tank.




























They're so cute and get along so well when they're sleeping. Like little angels. ;)

The Female.

I guess it's possible for the female to lay her eggs without a male around.

The one that was swollen and aggressive got over into the corner and frantically moved rocks so that it created a ramp-like thing. Then she stayed in the corner and swam frantically, I assume feeling the movement of the water of the corner of the tank like what the male would normally do swimming next to her and she laid her eggs on the created embankment, turned and scooped them up.

She took a break or two to chase the other fish away and then continued with laying her eggs and scooping them up. She's been tumbling them since Sunday night. I guess she'll probably drop them in a day or so, as they're not fertilized.

They better not be fertilized. If they are, then that would mean that either Baby #2 or Baby #3 is a male displaying female colors.

40 Babies Moved.

We moved 40 babies over to the fish store yesterday. One more batch of bigger fish and I can remove the divider of the tank and let the smaller ones take over the 12 gallon tank.

I have one female who looks like she's "in heat" -- the area where her eggs would dispense from is swollen, she's been moving rocks and really, really aggressive to the other females in the tank. I'm not quite sure what will happen. She seems healthy, just really mean right now. Weird.

Fish Update.

All of the fish are doing really well.

Babies (12 gallon tank & 5 gallon tank):

The babies are growing big. I still have the tank divider in the 12 gallon and haven't yet taken another batch of fish into the fish store. My husband even commented tonight that, boy those babies are getting big, time to take them in to their new home. Yup. The bigger babies are on the left side and the smaller ones are on the right side. They see me coming and head to the top of the tank. Usually, when I'm in their area, I have food and they know the food will be at the top.

The four albino babies I put in the 5 gallon tank have all established their territories and stick to them. Of course, there's a dominant one and that one swims in the middle of the tank and torpedos whoever dares invade his territory. The albinos are doing well, healthy and eating.

Male Fish (6 gallon tank):

He's still in the 6 gallon tank, patiently (?) waiting for the 12 gallon tank to become available. It's been warm and I've been trying to figure out ways to keep his tank cooler. Since it's in the corner, it tends to get up to 78 or 79 degrees. I like to keep the tanks at 76.5. One of our cats has been demonstrating an unnatural fascination with him and there have been a couple mornings when Male Fish won't eat because he's so upset. When I figured out what was going on (cat prints on the top of the tank), I draped a scat mat (delivers an electric shock to whoever touches it) over the top of his tank and things seem to be okay for him now.

Female Fish (36 gallon tank):

They're all healthy and busy. One female maintains her dominancy, it's the other female's jobs to invade it. They're like the babies in that they see me and swim to the top of the tank to await their food.

The Tanks.

I lost two babies this past week. I think it had to do with the temperature fluctuation when the heater in the baby tank died. I'd thought the heater was dying, but wasn't too sure. But one evening the thermometer read 72 degrees. So, I bought a new heater for their tank.

That night, I lost one baby and the following night, another one. (sigh) They were the bigger ones, not the teensy babies. *shrug* Don't know why. But, that first night, I also separated the teensy babies from the bigger fry, too, just in case it was a show of aggression.

I also bought a little water aerator for the corner of their tank and hooked up the air line to it (the line that had previously been hooked up to the fancy baby birthing contraption). I hooked it up a couple nights after the heater was replaced. That gives some water movement for them on the "still" side of the tank. They were so incredibly curious and were swimming in and out of their new decoration.

Then, we had a couple of hot days here and the inside temperature got warm. The tanks were all nearing 80 degrees. Now we're thinking of leaving the lights off on the tanks during really hot days, because the lights act as a heater, too.

It's time to take another batch of babies over to the fish store. They're growing up so fast now, it seems. Tonight I went over with their food container, holding it outside of their tank and tapped on the container's lid to get their attention. They all swam over and looked at me. I raised the food container upwards and watched all the babies swim upward. Then, I moved the food container down, and watched all the babies swim down. It was so cute and made me laugh.

I feel like a fish mommy. Enjoying my time with them, yet looking forward to them leaving their little tank for larger waters. Wishing they didn't have to grow up, but knowing it's for the best.