Update
Posted by Anja on October 12, 2010 at 17:03 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:19The minnows have come out of hiding, the pond tropicals have been moved inside (we’ve had a couple of nights with frost warning, but no ground frost just yet, even though the roofs were white this morning), and the Thanksgiving dishes are clean again (whoot for dishwashers).
Tags: Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River, Pond | Comments Off on Update | PermalinkWe 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:
8°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:
Spawn
Posted by Anja on February 7, 2010 at 22:57 | Last modified: July 10, 2012 04:08We have fish babies. The minnows downstairs have spawned again, and I keep siphoning those itsy bitsy eyelashes into the safety of the breeder inset, but the silly things keep swimming back out thru the slits to where the adults are waiting for a snack. We’ll see if any of them survive long enough to become too big at least to fit thru the slits.
In the big tank meanwhile I saw a single, I believe it’s a cory hatchling, since it hides in the gravel, and the cories are the ones who spawn frequently. I’m always surprised when one of the eggs survives despite the ever hungry tetras, and at this point I don’t think the hatchling’s chances are quite 50/50 yet. Nevertheless both the tiger and I keep peering in to see if we can spot it (we’re a talking about 3mm length here and the thickness of a sewing thread with a pin head attached) and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for it to survive past snack size.
Tags: breeding, Corydoras paleatus, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River, 25G South American | Comments Off on Spawn | PermalinkMinnow update
Posted by Anja on April 20, 2009 at 14:16 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 03:17I fished the largest one out (about 7 mm), so he doesn’t eat the tiny ones (2mm) and plopped him in with his parents. He’s doing well so far. The others I’ll keep separately until they are bigger. They munch happily among the duckweed roots, and infusoria (well, as far as I can tell). So, I think/hope they’ll be ok.
Tags: Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on Minnow update | PermalinkWell, I’ll be darned
Posted by Anja on April 19, 2009 at 11:56 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 04:04We’re sitting peacefully at the breakfast table this morning, when the tiger suddenly bends down to check out one of the big pots we’re overwintering our tropical pond plants in. “There’s something swimming in there,” he says, frowning.
We look at each other going, “Shoot, mosquito larvae.”
It certainly is the right size, but it doesn’t wriggle, looks more like lashes with eyes, and there’s a bluish shimmer to it. “There’s another one.” – “And there.”
To make a long story short, we pulled five WCMM hatchlings out of the various pots, which we now all checked, of course. It has to be said that I use the old aquarium water to water the plants, but the last time I changed the cold water tank downstairs was two weeks ago. You may easily imagine that the water in those flower pots was not of pristine quality.
Weirdly, there are no babies in the tank itself. So, now I don’t know, if they just got eaten there by their parents, or if, maybe the temperature downstairs (18C) isn’t warm enough yet for them to hatch.
Any clues, anybody?
I now have 5 teensy WCMM in a holding tank and don’t know if I should put them in with their parents or not. The only other fish in that tank are two hill stream loaches. Are they baby snatchers?
I’m quite, quite floored. And totally awed at the sheer survival power of those little guys.
Tags: breeding, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on Well, I’ll be darned | Permalink