Trying for Fry.
Last night, since I knew I'd be awake anyway (Sunday night insomnia), I decided to move Mr. White into the tank with The Ladies. We're gonna try for some fish babies. It's something I've been talking about doing for nearly a year now, but had to work up the nerve.
In addition, I wanted to be certain that all the fish are healthy. As far as I can tell, they are.
Earlier this month, I thought I was ready, but then Mr. White went and broke his tank thermometer and had an injury, so I wanted him to heal. Then, last week I thought I was ready, so I pulled out the fish transporter tank and realized Mr. White is much larger than it was. Eep! He's done some growing and I'm suspicious that he's a bit larger than Mr. Blue (his dad). So I had to order a larger transport cell.
The cell came last week, but I was going away this weekend, so I waited until I got back yesterday. I did their water changes as usual and then turned all the lights off in the house around 11:30, so the fish would go to sleep. Then I came downstairs with a flashlight, only to discover that the cats had overturned the bucket that I'd drained some water into earlier. Egads!
My husband came downstairs and helped me clean up that mess and then I tried again. Turned off all the lights and waited a few minutes. Turned them on, netted him in one clean swoop and put him in the transport tank and, with the net over the cell, I walked across the room and lowered the cell into the big tank to start acclimating him. Apparently that jolted him awake and he flipped upwards into the net, immediately went lax and floated on his side.
He was in the water in his little cell, but I couldn't get the net away from him. I was pushing on his nose to make him back up and then I got the shakes. I finally got him out of the net and he went to the bottom of his little cell and swam there. He seemed fine, but I had to settle down.
It's been over two years since I've moved him and I had forgotten that he does that... plays dead when he gets into a net. It's the weirdest thing and none of my other fish do that.
While I was acclimating him to the water, I moved his favorite rock into the tank. Then I turned off all the lights, waited a minute or two and then let him free. When I checked with a flashlight, he had settled behind his rock.
When I checked on them early this morning, they were all swimming around together. Later in the morning, they were establishing hierarchy. He's such a big fish, he dwarfs all the females in there. Yet when I fed them this morning, he was at the very bottom near the gravel, all the others were above him nearer to the food source. He and the smallest albino female seem to be pairing off & circling each other more than the other females. Not sure yet if that's a mating thing or just a getting to know you thing. The other albino females kind of trail along with him, like a school of fish. It's funny to see. The golden female also joins in on that school toward the rear. I think she is one of the babies from one of the previous "litters" before Mr. White. The other two gray females just kind of ignore him, which makes sense because they are of the original five fish, so they would be much older than he is.
This afternoon, Mr. White began to frantically move rocks and the medium albino female was watching with interest from above. Every few minutes, he would break away from his rock moving, go up and chase her around. It appears that she may be his mate of choice for now.
In addition, I wanted to be certain that all the fish are healthy. As far as I can tell, they are.
Earlier this month, I thought I was ready, but then Mr. White went and broke his tank thermometer and had an injury, so I wanted him to heal. Then, last week I thought I was ready, so I pulled out the fish transporter tank and realized Mr. White is much larger than it was. Eep! He's done some growing and I'm suspicious that he's a bit larger than Mr. Blue (his dad). So I had to order a larger transport cell.
The cell came last week, but I was going away this weekend, so I waited until I got back yesterday. I did their water changes as usual and then turned all the lights off in the house around 11:30, so the fish would go to sleep. Then I came downstairs with a flashlight, only to discover that the cats had overturned the bucket that I'd drained some water into earlier. Egads!
My husband came downstairs and helped me clean up that mess and then I tried again. Turned off all the lights and waited a few minutes. Turned them on, netted him in one clean swoop and put him in the transport tank and, with the net over the cell, I walked across the room and lowered the cell into the big tank to start acclimating him. Apparently that jolted him awake and he flipped upwards into the net, immediately went lax and floated on his side.
He was in the water in his little cell, but I couldn't get the net away from him. I was pushing on his nose to make him back up and then I got the shakes. I finally got him out of the net and he went to the bottom of his little cell and swam there. He seemed fine, but I had to settle down.
It's been over two years since I've moved him and I had forgotten that he does that... plays dead when he gets into a net. It's the weirdest thing and none of my other fish do that.
While I was acclimating him to the water, I moved his favorite rock into the tank. Then I turned off all the lights, waited a minute or two and then let him free. When I checked with a flashlight, he had settled behind his rock.
When I checked on them early this morning, they were all swimming around together. Later in the morning, they were establishing hierarchy. He's such a big fish, he dwarfs all the females in there. Yet when I fed them this morning, he was at the very bottom near the gravel, all the others were above him nearer to the food source. He and the smallest albino female seem to be pairing off & circling each other more than the other females. Not sure yet if that's a mating thing or just a getting to know you thing. The other albino females kind of trail along with him, like a school of fish. It's funny to see. The golden female also joins in on that school toward the rear. I think she is one of the babies from one of the previous "litters" before Mr. White. The other two gray females just kind of ignore him, which makes sense because they are of the original five fish, so they would be much older than he is.
This afternoon, Mr. White began to frantically move rocks and the medium albino female was watching with interest from above. Every few minutes, he would break away from his rock moving, go up and chase her around. It appears that she may be his mate of choice for now.
Labels: getting frisky, moving the male, rock moving
posted by Jammie J. at
10/05/2009 03:16:00 PM
