at least ten

fry are still alive- I wasn't sure this morning if I accidentally siphoned some out doing the water change. I did run the siphon hose on the farthest end of the tank from the fry area, but the parents bolted and hid, washed out, behind the other filter instead of scooping up their wayward babies or attacking the siphon end, like I expected. So some of the fry wandered around while I was cleaning the tank. By the time I was refilling the water- very slowly, and using a candy thermometer to try and match the new water exactly- the parents showed their stripes again and were cautiously patrolling the tank.

Now the mother has them gathered in the back center of the tank, behind the driftwood chunks that hold up anubias. I can just see them if I peer between the anubias clumps. They're more or less swimming in a little drift around their mother, but a few keep going down to the tank floor among the leaf litter. I think I see them biting at stuff in the water column. I tried to give them a bit of hikari first bites twice today, but I'm not sure if they found it. I swirled a tiny pinch in some water in a little jar, then used the acrylic pipette to put it near the babies- but the parents attacked that. And I don't see their bellies getting fat with colored food.

I boiled and put a new handful of leaves in the tank, hoping its biofilm would also feed the fry. Can't tell if it is, yet, but the two nerite snails moved in on the leaves fairly quickly!