Tales from the Tank #27

Date: Nov 19, 2012.

Subject: Wigglers

Yep. Houston...we have wigglers. Lots of wigglers. Itsty Bitsy Teeny Tiny Wigglers.
They were on the side of the glass, and as I was watching them, the parents began to move them to a log we have in the tank that has a slight flat spot. According to our source...the parents will move them back and forth until they are free swimming to keep them away from predators. These parents are definitely working overtime.
 
When I got home from work, I checked the tank - THEY WERE GONE. No longer on the log, no longer on the tank...OMG did they get eaten? Bad Parents...really BAD parents.

Wait! What's that fuzzy stuff on the heater? It's the babies!  In about 12 hours they went from little clearish nothings to little grey fuzzy things hanging on the top of the heater.

Now you need to understand that during the last few days, Terry and I have been having the conversation about "letting nature takes it course" because I was not setting up a separate tank and raising brine shrimp and making paste in order to feed them.  So we now have a "gentleman's" agreement to "No heroic measures".

Then Kathi stopped by to see the little miracles.  During the course of the conversation I mentioned about the whole nature taking its course - and what did my most devote animal lover friend say?  "You've come this far - it would be a shame not to watch them grow".  Ok, so $16.00 later...so much for "no heroic measures".

So off to Petsmart I went... to get a tank divider. After the divider was in, we put the filter net over the intake valve - so the little suckers don't get sucked into the filter. 

Yes Virginia, you can baby proof a fish tank.LOL

By the time we went to bed, they were back on the log. It's so funny to watch. One parent was moving them to the glass and one parent was taking them from the glass and putting them back on the log.

I guess that's how you argue over the kids when you're underwater.

Tuesday they were even a little bit bigger - and a little more thinned out.  Hum...some of them must not have survived the tug of war their parents were having.

I must say that I thought Angel fish were very peaceful fish, gliding around, barely moving a fin...but to watch these two continually hound, pound and force the other fish - even the pleco - to stay on the opposite side of the tank - my opinion of these first time parents has steadily risen (except of course when they eat their tank mates). 

The tank is more peaceful, but the parents are still moving them back and forth - last night to the air tubing. This morning to the log and tonight back to the heater.

I wonder where the little buggers...opps I mean wigglers will be tomorrow. 

Tales from the Tank #26

Hello November 2012.

It's has been approximately one year and eight months since we began our adventure with Angel fish. 

In Tales from the Tank #15, you got to hear about how we ended up with our... oh, i don't know...third tank filled with five itty bitty little marble angel fish about the size of a dime.

Besides a couple cases of "swim bladder disease" it's been a pretty healthy happy tank.

That is  -- until now.

During the first week of the month, one of the Angels, (we'll call him Junior for this story), was discovered one morning floating on his side....again.  So in goes the "baby net" in order to quarantine him from the others and out come the frozen peas and blood worms.

After about a week or so, he was swimming fine and Terry said, "When are you going to put him back in the "general population?". Oh...soon I said.  So on November 11th, 2012, as I was getting things ready to have a few friends over (can you say Mary Kay?), I found half a fish.

Crap.  If you are faint of heart - skip this part.  When I say half a fish, I literally mean half a fish. There was just one side of his "skin" left even with the empty spot where his eye would go.  Sick right?  I've decided that all fish are carnivorous - especially when you're weak or sick.

I quick grab the net and "fish" it out (pun intended) and of course - flush it, all the while I'm ticked off for putting Junior back in "general population".

Then last Sunday Jared came over and I dont' exactly remember why we were looking at the tank, but Jared noticed this white spots on the glass.  He said "those look like eggs".  To which I replied "no way"....it's probably some kind of weird disease thing knowing my luck."

Then Terry gets down on his knees at eye level and starts really looking at the stuff.  Then he says, "Junior isn't gone....it's the Smokey one that's gone".  Low and behold, he was right. I assumed it was Junior that was eaten - but some how the pretty smoke colored angel we had gotten at the last auction (a "breeding" pair), had been eaten and I didn't even miss him. Geez.

So right away we ran to the computer and googled "what do angel fish fry look like" and low and behold there popped up about a gazillion videos of Angels and their fry. 

After watching a few videos, we diagnosed the little white spots as actual Angel fish eggs. Yep. We have entered into the twilight zone of Tales from the Tank #15, where I said I did not want to become an Angel fish breeder.  So for the last few days we've been watching this amazing miracle take place.

When the eggs are clear, those are "viable". When they are white - they are not.  At about day five they start to develop "wigglers" where as the fish grow, they eat part of the egg sack and they begin to look like a little tadpole stuck to the side of  whatever and wherever the parents put them.

Since we hadn't noticed when the fish laid the eggs, I told Terry, according to the video - worst case scenario is that we are day four and they will begin to hatch soon.

I hate it when I'm right.