We had another glorious day
Posted by Anja on October 10, 2010 at 23:47 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:18… and did the fall clean-up. The tiger raked leaves, and I heaved the tropicals out of the pond (he helped me with the big one) and potted them up, and cut down the perennials. Most of the water hyacinths landed on the compost. I just left three in there to give the fish some cover, but they do turn very icky after the first frost.
Finally I netted the goldfish babies (I found 5) to overwinter them in the tank downstairs. Two of them are about 1 1/2″ inches and thus prolly big enough to survive on their own, but the other three are under 1″, so they all came out. Easier than trying to catch only the little ones, and why take chances.
The minnows immediately schooled tightly and went into partial hiding, but the suckermouths were completely unfazed by their new tankmates:
Guppy babies
Posted by Anja on October 5, 2010 at 15:29 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:14We came home to more guppies than we had left. Three wee ones were swimming in the tank. We were quite surprised. The parents are so small that I didn’t think they were grown out yet. The female must already have been gravid when I got her.
The hatchlings are huge, compared to the parents. I’m used to the teensy minnows and can’t believe there were three of these inside their still very small mom.
The baby’s swimming right underneath Dad here:
Mini Auction
Posted by Anja on September 27, 2010 at 23:31 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:11Came back from the OVAS meeting with a big bag of snails for my assassins. That should tide them over for a few months. Max objects to them, though. He’s been watching them closely, trying to pick at them and then skulked off pouting to hide in some Java fern. Thing is, they decided to rest in the spot where he builds his bubble nests. He’s not a happy betta.
Also brought home a fairly large bag of frozen spirulina and veggie food for the plecos. Everyone in my tanks will think it’s Christmas early.
Tags: Betta splendens, Clea helena, loot, Max | Categories: 5G Betta | Comments Off on Mini Auction | PermalinkFish Move
Posted by Anja on September 26, 2010 at 23:32 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:10I changed the Betta, the cherries and the assassins over to the new (old) 5 gallon tank that has a real fitting cover and tank light. I’ve been wanting to do that for the longest time. Now I can finally take my desk lamp back to use as intended.
Some of the cherry babies are still in the old tank with only two inches of water. Man, those suckers are hard to catch. I put a makeshift trap in and hope I can pull them out tomorrow.
Tags: Betta splendens, Clea helena, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red | Categories: 5G Betta | Comments Off on Fish Move | PermalinkOVAS Garage sale
Posted by Anja on September 25, 2010 at 19:12 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:07It was great, as always.
I sold some small tanks and fishbowls and some mountain minnows and picked up some guppies, a tank light and hob filter, some wood and some fishfood. As always, I spent about as much as I earned. But then, making money is not really the point of a flea market sale. Cleaning out space is.
Anyway, Since the guppies needed a new home STAT, it was a good thing I had that empty 10g sitting around (thanks, Errol). Only thing I had to pick up new was the gravel; for the plants I raided my other tanks:
So far the guppies (2 at right hand back corner and 1 right under the surface) seem okay. I wonder how many I’ll have at the end of the winter.
Tags: loot, OVAS, Poecilia reticulata | Categories: 10G Tropical | Comments Off on OVAS Garage sale | Permalink8°C – rain
Posted by Anja on May 8, 2010 at 17:39 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:36We got soaked this morning on our way to the aquarium club breakfast. and it’s friggin’ cold outside. We had fun anyway, though (and a yummy breakfast). I gave away my adult White Clouds, cause I have so many babies swimming in the tank downstairs that I don’t know what to do with them anymore. As soon as they grow a bit, I’ll have to start selling those too.
Tags: Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on 8°C – rain | Permalink18°C – sun and scattered showers
Posted by Anja on May 5, 2010 at 16:39 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:35Things are humming blooming and popping open everywhere. It’s a joy to run around outside with or without the camera. Last weekend I finally got rid of the ugly plastic planters in front of the house and replaced one with the tub I had the pond lily in last year.
The lily unfortunately didn’t make it through the winter, so I potted up some of the papyrus divisions and one of my peace lilies in there and today added the baby minnows, who were rapidly outgrowing their refuge in the snail tank.
Tags: Cyperus papyrus, Spathiphyllum, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 15G Mini Pond, 2G Brigs | Comments Off on 18°C – sun and scattered showers | PermalinkShooing fish babies
Posted by Anja on April 19, 2010 at 16:51 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:55I finally cleaned out the minnow tank downstairs. It was really, really necessary, but with all the itsy bitsy babies in there I hadn’t dared so far. And while they grew a bit and are now able to swim more strongly, they’re still only a couple of mm long, so it was a harrowing business of constantly checking the gravel vac and the bucket. Twice I had to evacuate an entrepreneurial youngster from the vac, once I almost sucked up one of the little plecos. But he whizzed out of harm’s way under his own steam. *phew*
Tags: Ancistrus, breeding, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on Shooing fish babies | PermalinkFish babies update
Posted by Anja on February 10, 2010 at 00:14 | Last modified: July 8, 2012 21:28Pulled 15 more babies out of the minnow tank. As for the cory hatchling, I haven’t seen it. I cleaned the big tank today very carefully, and left out the corner where I first spotted it, though I don’t know, of course, if it’s still there.
Tags: breeding, Corydoras paleatus, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River, 25G South American | Comments Off on Fish babies update | PermalinkMore White Cloud babies
Posted by Anja on February 8, 2010 at 23:36 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 20:41I transferred about 10 of them to the brig tank today, since they don’t reliably stay in the breeder. There were five or so left in the breeder, and I saw one or two zipping around free style in the tank. We’ll see how each group fares, I guess.
I tried to take a picture of the little guys, caught one. Note the frogbit above him for size comparison:
