another fish shuffle

It's time for some updates on my tanks. Last friday I moved some fishes around. My two serpae tetra that had been in QT (a good long five weeks) still looked pretty good. I didn't see any reason to keep them separate any longer. They were pretty eager to get out of the bag while floating to equalize temperature,

and the other tetras came to check them out. That's Spark bottom left corner, with the rich liver color.

They grouped together immediately. New pair a bit paler than the others for a day or two, now I have to look at their markings to tell them apart.

On the same day I moved my peppered cories out of the window tank, into the tenner. My poor otocinclus in here has been looking listless and thin. I think it was lonely. Over the past week since I introduced the cories, the oto has plumped up a bit again, looking perky and active once more. I wonder if it remembers the cories as individuals, recognizes them? or is just glad of company.

Oto is hanging out regularly with the cories- nibbles alongside them on algae wafers again, even when they are feeding on shrimp pellets or catfish wafers, the oto is often nearby on a leaf.

It's really hard to get a photo of the cories. They are pretty skittish in here- look content and alert but if I approach closely with camera, they flee and hide. Here's a quick photo from the day I introduced them (lights out).

Them seem a lot happier in here. They are out and about frequently, not seclusive as in the window tank (so I think Perry was harassing them to some degree)- only hide at the camera (someone mentioned on fish forum that the dark camera lens must look to a fish like an open mouth approaching!)

Here's one in the front corner. It's nice to see activity in this tank again- their tails waving about as they seek food on the bottom. It's fun to see them flock out of the skull cave together. The other day I saw them spawning. They are definitely getting more to eat on a regular basis now. I know the tank is too small, and their numbers too few, for long-term success in here, but it's better than where they were and I will have to figure out to get new digs for them, or re-home at some point.