moving fishes

It was a fish shuffle again. The three newer serpae tetras have been in QT almost two weeks- they look to be in robust health and show no signs of illness. The dominant female has three times been trying to encourage the others to mate. In fact the last time I think they did- I saw the quivering together and springing apart movement, and afterwards the two subordinate tetras were going around picking stuff off the bottom glass- probably the eggs.

This one is the boss female, 'Nito. She is really camera-shy so it was the best I could do for an individual photo. Afraid of me, but bullies the other fish- perfect finnage. Because of her faint shoulder mark that looks like someone erased it, I think of her as the 'incognito fish', thus her name.

Wedge has a shoulder mark very similar to that of Diamond and Spark in the main tank, but flatter on top. Tail is really getting bitten up.

I call this last one Smudge. Its marking is so very like Punk's that when they are in the same tank not sure if I will be able to tell them apart. (The face is not really as red as this picture makes it look)

The close similarity of these fish's markings to others in the main tank makes me think they came from the same set of parents at whatever fish farm they originated... even if a different spawning, I wonder if they would have inherited the same looks.

Anyway, even though they don't look to have fungus or fin rot from the damage, Smudge was starting to hide behind the filter to keep away from 'Nito, and I got worried watching them beat each other up in QT once again. I decided to move them into the main tank already. Keeping QT set up for a few days so if needed can isolate them again. I acclimated them to the main tank in the evening, after lights-off (and they don't turn on again until noon the next day, so a good amount of time to settle in).

As before, when floating the serpaes were eager to get through the plastic barrier into the tank proper - as soon as they saw others of their kind in there. Some of the residents came up to check them out. When I netted them into the tank, there wasn't a large fight as I expected. Yes Diamond is chasing 'Nito around a lot, but they all seem relatively calm. Everyone came up eager to feed in the morning. I don't see any new fin damage, although Lino seems to be really intimidated. That one was hiding a lot today.