rehomed

I gave away my little green cories. Want to take this tank down and put the betta's tenner in its spot. Here's my last photo of the female and one of the little males. My youngest was sad and misses them- but I know I wasn't going to get more, or put them in the bigger tank, and they need a better home.

little cories

I've let my smaller cories out into the main tank, now. They are still half the size of the juvie one, but now more solid than speckled in the body, and showing blue color on their sides. From the shape of pelvic fins, I think the two smaller ones are male, the larger one is female.

I'm dismayed to see they are reacting badly to water changes, lately. They stop moving, fins clamp, eyes stare motionless and they will drift upwards, as if can't control swim bladder, sometimes roll upside down (head tipping up then over backwards) suddenly right themselves and swim off, only to freeze again. Look very shocky. I don't know why? I add the water more gradually dipping with a cup instead of pouring it straight in fast, which seems better for them, but last time I did it careful like that and still they reacted bad.

My kuhlis and shrimps are unaffected, they dart around excitedly or just chill like normal. Hm. Lately, my shrimps often crowd together. For two days they were all crammed under the sponge cave arch, then I found them all gathered together on top of the heater:

Are they afraid of the fishes now? My striped kuhlis are bolder, out and about more. The female cory is larger, maybe she's been bothering them? I thought perhaps they were all molting and hiding together- but have not seen any shed skins.

I added a few stems of anacharis last week. Bought from a fellow forum member. To my surprise the plants didn't go through a large melt- only the tips of stems that were a bit damaged, disintegrated, overall they look pretty good. There's a few stems in the window tank, and more in the 45 (anchored by a glass bead each).

Also all the subwassertang from the fry box is now across the bottom, which makes the tank overall look quite a bit greener. Dwarf water lettuce up top is slowly recovering from its travels to me in a box. There's new little root hairs growing.

If you look close, there's a little male cory in the middle of the subwasser here:

little green cories

Although I think of them as more 'blue'- the fry in the box have grown! Starting to have a more solid look to their bodies. Just yesterday I saw one perched on top of a leaf in typical cory fashion (instead of lurking underneath everything). I think in a week I'll feel good to let them out into the main tank.

The older juvenile cory has brilliant color- very blue green. Tried to get photos today but it was skittish and mostly a blur, or in the far back of the tank. I think this one is female- the pelvic fins are rounded.

No more notch in its tail- completely healed and grown out.

cory fry on leaves

I swear they get a bit bigger every day, but when I compare these pics to the last, can't really tell. Anyhow, they sure are cute- and lively!

some updates

on a number of things. It's going much better with my catfish fry in the mesh box. Now the amanos hang out picking over the outside of the mesh, the larger one chasing the others off! so what bits fall through or the fry don't eat, gets mostly cleaned up. I'm feeding the fry three or four times a day, either a teensy bit of first bites, or a tiny pinch of pulverized food mix (basically the powder from the bottom of all my fish food containers combined). I can see they pass over some bits and stop to eat others- wish I knew which food they aren't eating, I wouldn't have included it in the mix! Every morning I'm using an airline as siphon to clean the underside of the mesh and then the inside of the box, then use regular siphon to do a 25% water change on the tank. The main part of the tank gets fed once or twice a day, right now mostly protein flake broken into small bits so it scatters enough the juvenile cory can get some. The shrimps are greedy and fast! I'm kind of annoyed at them. My striped kuhlis are starting to come out more though, which is nice. Not so great that all the inhabitants of this tank are bottom feeders, but they're not all staying in here long term...

I think Perry is sick. He looks clamped, sometimes not interested in food, now and then flashes on plant edges. I think there's parasite in the tank, dang. Puzzled why Lady seems unaffected. Maybe her immune system is stronger. I'm debating whether to use a medication and which one, or just do more thorough cleaning and water changes.

I finished the first stage of my garden project. All the blocks for the new raised bed walls are sealed with several layers of waterproofing, and sitting on my basement floor to dry and cure well- at least seven days- before I paint. Then will replace the old walls with new. 

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to plant. So excited that tomorrow is the first planting day. Two days of cloudy weather, then a day of rain before sun again, perfect. I turned over the soil in half the beds to work in the compost. I'm going to plant regardless of the rebuild that will come a bit later- just keeping the plants away from the edges so they don't get disturbed. As soon as I have all the coldframe plants into the ground, I'll have space to move the next set of plants out of their seedling containers into paper pots- and then can start sowing the last group (cucumbers, beans, zucchini, etc). Lots to do!

They've been growing fantastically- only a few mishaps (spilled another tray). Will have pics soon.

catfish fry

I am still boggled, how small these cories are I received. I felt anxious to give them at least three feedings a day to help them grow, but right away that became a problem. Yesterday I put a few sinking wafers in the tank- hoping also to see my striped kuhlis come out of hiding (they love these wafers and hadn't had any in a while). I deliberately broke one up into small pieces first, so the shrimps would get their share. Yep, the amanos all showed up quickly, each grabbing a piece (or two!) and hurrying off with it. The juvenile cory was right there, too- in fact it spent all day at the front of the tank feeding. But my kuhlis never emerged from their rock hideout. Poked their whiskers out, that's all. The smaller cory fry approached, but long after the shrimps had finished off their portions and returned for seconds. They try to shoo the juvie cory away, and barge into the smaller fry making them skitter back into shelter among the rocks and leaf litter. Sigh. I got my acrylic stick out and started nudging shrimps away whenever they tried to drag off the remaining wafer pieces, but of course this startled away the cories also- the juvenile one doesn't go far and comes back quickly but the fry stay away a long time.

Later in the evening I tried again, dropped in one spirulina wafer. This is too big and heavy for a shrimp to carry away, but they sure tried. It was funny to see them- one would land on the wafer, and pedal its swimmerettes as fast as it could, and get nowhere. Then they settled to picking bits off, constantly chasing each other- and the cories- off. It was dimmer light so the kuhlis finally began to come out, but when trumpet snails began to swarm up out of the substrate, I realized it was far too much food. I plucked out the remainder of the spirulina wafer- scattering plenty of small bits that had softened- and fed it in pieces to my paradise fishes.

I did a 25% water change, and set up the mesh breeder box for the fry, with some leaf litter and subwassertang. It took some patience to gently catch those little fry- with a shrimp net. After things were settled I put in a tiny bit of gold pearls. It seems this food was too big? they would nose over it and leave it behind. This morning I cleaned out the fry box with a straw, did another water change on the tank, and then dipped a toothpick in a tiny bit of Hikari first bites in my palm, then into the fry box. It's an amount no bigger than a pinhead. I tried to sprinkled it over a leaf, so I can see how much the fry consume, and it won't fall as quickly out through the mesh. They found it quick enough, and ate most. I see their bellies round and golden now.

This pic isn't quite in focus, but you can see both fry on the leaf!

new cories!

Things are always shifting in the tanks lately, it seems. Yesterday friend from the club came over, and we swapped fishes. I gave him my black kuhli loaches, for three green cories. Last month a kid in the club said his emerald cories were spawning and he's got too many fish, was giving them away. I said "Are they brochis splendens or corydoras aeneus?" He said splendens, and I was thrilled- it's the brilliant blue-green catfish I've thought of trying to keep with my angels. They get larger than the usual cories, so the angels won't attempt to eat them.

Anyway, I set the fish trap for my black kuhlis, but only three went in- on a second try several shrimps crawled in, grabbed the bait and walked in circles with it trying to find the way out. Funny. It wasn't quick like last time. Then I found my zebra nerite dead in the corner- with a shrimp tugging at it. I guess the kuhlis feasted in the night, so weren't that hungry for bait although I hadn't fed them in several days.

I had to use a net to catch the other four kuhlis. I guessed right about the black ones intimidating the striped kuhlis- later that afternoon I found two striped ones hanging out in the favored spots- over the suction cup of the heater, under the cave arch of a sponge.

The new cories are very tiny. One is juvenile fish size about half an inch, and lovely bright blue color.

The other two are tiny. I'd still call them fry. I was surprised my friend thought them big enough to transport!

They're speckled and barely bigger than the substrate particles.

So now I feel have to do frequent feedings and extra water changes for them. And they're not brochis splendens. They have the rounder noses and dorsal fins of aeneus and I can count their fin rays. Green cories.

 Still pretty, and will be easy to re-home when they're grown- they're popular fish. But not the one I wanted to put with my angels. (The larger one has a nick in its tail).

cory family

It's not such a marvel anymore, looking into the little tank and seeing the youngest catfish- as you can tell, because I'm no longer obsessed with taking frequent pictures of Lucky

He's following the adults around more, now- not just at feeding times, it's still easiest to get a photo of them together at that moment

new fry...

On 3/6 I saw something move on substrate that wasn't the tiny heaving of trumpet snails. It was the tiny wriggle of a fry.

So very small- a face with a tadpole tail- it must have just hatched.

With the loop I could see its tiny mouth move, its pectoral fins waving. But I haven't seen it since. I bet an adult fish or shrimp ate it (yes there are shrimp in here now, I'm working on updating the blog). Or even Lucky might have.

Lucky two months

Looks like a proper young catfish now

Near the mother

several days later- I swear the fish grows every time he sleeps!

In the Windelov

On anubias

Seen from above

peppered cories

Lucky on windelov

perched above Leo (adult male)

They're still spawning all the time. Found an egg stuck on the very tip of a windelov frond (it wasn't on the glass).

My fishes in here seem to be out of the woods- no more gill flukes (I hope, and if that's what it was). Improved conditions. But if any more fry grow out, it will be overstocked again.

Lucky inch

I am feeding Perry a bit more now- regularly two times a day, sometimes three. And a bit less the cories, only twice. I feel like that tank is getting too heavy a bioload, the filter can't keep up with it- I have to vacuum the substrate regularly and I just lightly rinsed the sponge filter midweek as well, and still there is fine debris in the water column. Maybe cutting back on feeding will help- or fewer fish would...

I think Lucky is okay with that now because the young fish is bigger than I thought! I eyeballed a buce leaf against the glass that was the same length as the little catfish, and then used a ruler. He's one inch long now.

Not yet socializing with the adults, but joins them at feeding time and doesn't let himself get pushed aside anymore.

He still occasionally looks pale and I don't know what's up with the white speck under the eyes. Maybe its normal?

~
Um, yeah: I wrote this a few days ago and since have plugged current specs of my tank into AqAdvisor (online aquarium stocking calculator). The little sponge filter I had was previously ok for one betta and some snails, but with these catfishes it's definitely overloaded. I'm doubling the filter capacity- adding a second sponge- running on split airline- that's already seeded from the 38's canister. That keeps things just out of trouble for now, but it's still too many fish. If I move out the oto it would be better- if it was warmer I could put him back in the 20H with Perry, but then he'd get lonely... I could relinquish him to the pet store, but I hate to feel like I gave up on this one fish. Like I have a duty to it for life- and it can live a good ten years... but without its own kind now. Sigh.

Lucky update

I think my catfish fry is about a month and a half old now. He's starting to look like a proper little catfish. After this week's water change (removing the last of prazipro medication) it is looking a lot more perky, although still pale sometimes. It's about the size of one adult's caudal fin lobe, now.

I looked back at previous photos and seems he's always had that white line/marking under the eye. I wonder if it will disappear into the pattern in time? Pics:

Hides from me a lot now. Under the buces:

Not a fish pic: one of my buce 'isabella' has a new leaf sprouting and I admire its fresh, paler green and ruffled edges.

fry update

I'm not sure how my fry Lucky is doing. A few days ago I did the weekly water change, and the little fish looked distressed afterwards. In fact, they all did. A day before the dose of prazipro was done, everyone looked better especially the oto wasn't breathing hard anymore. But I saw a few of the adult cories flash once again, so just to be sure I did a second dose of prazi after the water change. I also dosed the usual ferts. Came to look in the tank half an hour later, and the fish all looked poorly. Momma was lying on her side under some buces panting,

the oto sitting propped up in the mouth of the cave

and the males in other spots- Leo so lethargic he didn't even move away when I got close with the camera-

you can see from this side view his tail was a bit pinched too.

I'd never really seen them sit so still. The fry looked worst of all, quite pinched:

And I don't know what's up with its eyes. It seems to have a white mark through the bottom of the eye- is this normal?

I was alarmed when a little later I put in a tiny bit of food to see their reaction. Nobody really moved. The only thing I could think was- did I accidentally put a drop too many of Prime? or did the ferts and medication interact and reduce oxygen content? I did a partial water change.

The fry perked up a little bit, but still acted weak and let itself drift into corners. At which point I got a closer look at it, and the tail fin looks a bit ragged. Sigh.

A day later and the adult fishes act totally normal. They're spawning again. Momma stuck a bunch of eggs under the heater this time.

Fry seems a bit better. It's definitely grown- the belly no longer looks transparent but has white solid color like the adults' now.

It seems to increase noticeably in size every day- these pics on leaf litter a few days apart:

And here in the windelov fern:

on anubias:

But I'm still a bit worried about it. This morning the tail looked pinched again, and even though it was going after the food I sprinkled in, it seemed to have trouble swimming. Wriggling around in the plants and sometimes tumbling as if it couldn't swim straight. Because the tail fin is clamped? did it somehow get neurological damage? I don't know if I'm doing right to feed the tank a bit extra, maybe the water is not kept clean enough or it isn't getting the right density of nutrition.

If another one hatches out, I think I will either: feed the tank normal and let it take the chances (of starving). Or put the fry in mesh breeder box or separately in a tote to raise it where I can feed extra just for the baby fish.... This one, I don't know how it will turn out.