baby white clouds!

My white cloud fry are three weeks old tomorrow. They're growing fast! 

I'm feeding them four or five times a day now- most of the feedings are first bites, and once a day they also get something pulverized from my regular fish foods. I'm doing partial water changes every other day now- two gallons- and have filled the tank a bit more, it's holding eight or nine gallons now. 

They all have a bright sky blue streak from the eye across the body now, and I can see red color in their triangular tail fins. Five fry in this photo-

I do see them picking at things off the leaf litter

and filter sponge now. 

These photos are from today. 

Blue streak!

Although not in clear focus, these are my favorite photos so far:

fishes update

My angelfish completed third dose of kanaplex on thursday. Yesterday I did a larger water change- over thirty percent. She looks better! The fins have stopped degrading, the rip in dorsal is healed, pelvic and anal fins are starting to grow back out, and edges of caudal and pectorals look cleaner. Redness on body edges is lessened. Still looks inflamed at the joint where pectorals join the body, but not as much as before. I'm trying to decide if I should dose another round of kanaplex or do something else . . . 

Paradise fish still baffles me. I'm starting to wonder if maybe he has a physical obstruction in his throat? maybe a bit of shell from eating snails? Two days ago he was lively, looking at me through the glass, interested in food. I watched close as he ate. He got down one NLS pellet just fine- although the chewing seemed to take a while. He took another, and struggled with that one. Chewed and chewed, then food bits started shedding out the gills and finally he spat out the half-masticated pellet. Made that clacking noise with his throat working again, then darted for air and now hangs around listless again, not seeing me, not interested to eat. Backlit here so the photo is pale...

Meanwhile the other fishes in his tank are doing great- the white clouds chase around, the female plump already I bet they'd spawn if I put them with the subwassertang again. It looks like I didn't actually sort the male guppies from females soon enough with the second generation- my three younger females are all very fat now, and I've found a few babies in the 33L. I net them out and feed to Miss Beautiful. The two older females aren't getting fat again, and that's the only way I can tell the moms from their daughters!

garden full

I haven't been out there much this past week, nor taken any photos in a while- but we have been eating something every day out of the garden. First to ripen were the cherry tomatoes, and cherokee purple

The larger tomatoes are now starting to blush. So far no hornworms, no squirrels stealing bites, no blossom end rot. I didn't think they would do so well in my new bed without the well-established soil, but looks like I'll actually have good tomatoes this year!

Zucchini have grown

and grown- here sprinkled with cinnamon to try and slow the powdery mildew.

Bright yellow cuke and cantaloupe blossoms-

Cantaloupe sprawling out of the bed

The root bed is full up-

we've been eating the beets. Pulled at golf-ball size, their greens are very nice cooked with olive oil and garlic

detroit red beets-

and golden beets-

Had turnips a few times, too. Not too fond of the greens, though I eat 'em because they're healthy- I've tried cooking several different ways and still can't get away from the bitterness. Found the way I like turnips best is cut into small cubes, cooked with fresh dill, butter and green peas. It's good alongside fish.

Carrots all ferny, but none ready to pull yet- maybe not till fall.

Herb bed full-

view from the end- still haven't eaten those green onions yet

Lemon balm is bolting to flower. I've started cutting it back, using all the little leaves off each section for fresh tea and freezing the larger ones for winter use.

Sage isn't as large this season- got overwhelmed by nepitella on one side, sorrel and winter savory on the others. I cut the savory and nepitella down periodically just to scatter their pungent leaves in other beds.

Sculpit did better in the garden spot this year- funny little balloon flowers

I finally got tired of the lettuce towers filling up space in the greens bed, and pulled them out for compost yesterday.

Now it's easier to see the blue collards gone to seed- starting to fall over and dry out, soon will collect them

Collards in the next bed are done now- too bitter. Caterpillars have been eating them more often than us. I'm going to cut them down this week,

let regrow in fall -as these glaze collards are already doing.

But we are still eating leaf beet chard and swiss chard!

About a week ago I planted out the newer tokyo bekana into the garden. On a day of thunderstorms, to avoid transplant shock. They did okay- except got riddled with slug holes.

Put out beer traps and caught some slugs- now the newer leaves look a bit better, so maybe we'll get to eat some of this after all.

Sugar snap peas are pretty much done.

A few pods that I missed the last time I picked for eating, are left to develop seed for next year.

Behind them the purple pole beans are climbing! I trimmed a few before they got out of my reach, but missed others which are winding into the euonymus shrub and across the top support string.

I really like standing behind the beans against the house, where it's cool.

Starting to flower!

My one pepper plant died. I was about to give up on the 'callaloo' amaranth also, but glad that I just cut it back instead- it recovered and although has a bit of insect damage,

looks good enough to try and eat now!

This other plant in that bed is new one for me this year- the sunberry.

It's doing well! looks like I'll actually have berries to eat, if the birds don't get them first.

That's the update on all my edibles- excepting the herbs in pots. More for next time.

infection?

I think my angelfish has septicemia. For a very long time- years actually- she's had redness where the pectorals meet the body. I came up with septicemia before but thought that couldn't be it, as all the accounts I read said that fish die very quickly from the disease. This week, in spite of the fact that I've been feeding more lightly, doing larger water changes and cleaning the filter sponges more frequently than I used to, she's got redness on the body margins, and fin rot on all. Her dorsal is split, anal fin shortened, pelvic and tail fin edges ragged. I feel like I'm failing her.

I started reading more, and somehow my searches turned up a different set of case studies this time- several with fishes that lived years with septicemia. Damn, the symptoms match. I bought kanaplex and started treatment on sunday- today was the second dose. I don't see any improvement yet, although the fin deterioration might have slowed down, it's hard to tell. She still has appetite, but hides in the back nearly all day and doesn't come out to greet me as often, or as eagerly.

baby bird!

The catbirds have fledged! Or at least, one of them. Saw it on edge of the lawn near garden. One of the parents was on the deck railing while I stood outside (much closer than they usually get), chat-chat-chat at me constantly. I figure now the parent was probably warning the chick to stay still, and it sat absolutely motionless for a long time. Later in the day I saw the fledgling again (or another one of the brood, no idea how many there are) in the far back yard, edge of lawn near fence. The parent once again was making alarm calls, the baby sat very still, just a grey lump in the grass.

After a while I noticed there was a hawk sitting in the tree above. I walked across the lawn in an arc, not near the baby bird but angling towards the hawk. It flushed and flew away. Small birds around me immediately stopped yelling. Went back to garden edge and sat with my youngest, we watched as the parent approached the young one, flitting for a long time on the fence, on a shrub, on the edge of compost bin, until apparently it felt no danger was near, then it flew down and fed the baby- three times put something in its mouth. My daughter laughed to see the baby bird still holding its mouth agape for more, as the parent flew away. She helped me pick caterpillars off the collard greens, to set on a stepping stone in the perennial bed, and we watched the parent come back, pick them up, and feed them to the chick.

second cull

This morning I took another twenty fry out of the 20H, fed them to the angelfish and tetras. So I've culled out fifty total now. And there's still more than twenty remaining for me to grow out. Most of these appear to be eating the first bites without trouble.

minnow fry- 1 week

It's been a week since my first white cloud mountain minnow fry showed up in the 20H. Some of them are probably a few days younger; there's a visible size disparity. On the larger fry, I can now just make out a spade shape of caudal fin forming, and a brilliant sky-blue sparkle of color near the eye. The smaller ones are still moving dots with thread of tail, to my eye. Yesterday was the last feeding of egg yolk I did. Today I gave them first bites powder food, and the smaller fry couldn't eat it. Waited half and hour and then I did the first cull- removed some of the smallest ones whose bellies didn't plump up with food. There are way more than I estimated at first. Using a medicine cup and waiting for them to come near surface, I scooped out thirty tiny fry- counting by tens- and fed them to my dwarf guppies (that's how small these are!) and the tank of black skirt tetras and angelfish. Tried to count the remaining fry- there's still easily twenty-five or thirty in there.

I did try to get a few photos- this first one can make out five smudges and blobs that are baby fish, one in center between leaves across the cord is a bit sharper.

Fry in this photo is just above/right of center, where the fake plant stems meet base. Can kinda make out the bit of color and shape of tail- I can see this much better with my naked eye than my camera manages to capture.

garden notes

I think soon I will be able to plant these tokyo bekana seedlings into the garden.

The pole beans are nearly up to my shoulder, now. There's yellow flowers on the zucchini plants, and I've started eating cherry tomatoes. They never make it into the house- I pick a few when I'm out working in the garden, eat them on the spot.

My favorite thing to do right now is feed cabbage loopers to the catbirds. I pick them off the collard greens, then put a few on the brick edge of another garden bed- on the path the birds usually take through the garden. Then sit and wait for them to come by again. It really pleases me to see the birds come flitting through, hop-hop stop to inspect everything, flit and hop again- then quickly pick up the caterpillars I've left- often adding them to a beak already holding a worm or insect- and fly off into the shrub where the nest is. I picture those fat caterpillars going down into hungry baby bird bellies.

more fry

I can't count them- but there's definitely over two dozen. Easily thirty, probably forty or even fifty. Some are smaller than others, I don't know if that means they hatched later (the female probably laid eggs several days in a row) or are better at finding food. They couldn't quite eat the first bites powder- I saw them darting all over after it, but none of their bellies plumped up. So I've been giving them egg yolk.

I boiled an egg, set aside about a quarter teaspoon of the yolk, and made a delicious deviled egg with mustard, fresh lovage and dill from the garden. For a feeding, I cut a small bit of cloth from an old, clean cotton pillowcase. Put a tiny crumb of yolk on the cloth, fold it up around, and pinch the yolk through the cloth with my fingers in a medicine-cup of tank water. It turns the water cloudy, then I drip that into the tank with a straw, near where the fry are hanging out. Not really difficult, and the small lump of egg yolk should last me almost a week in the fridge- maybe by then the bigger fry can eat the first bites. Before I feed them they look so slender- dot of eye and thread of tail. After feeding I look again and can just make out different shape- little pot bellies full of food. I'm feeding them three times a day, and in the late afternoon do a small water change with the siphon hose in the mesh box. Take out about a gallon, replace with half gallon fresh conditioned tap, and a half gallon from the parents' tank. I also spot-clean some mulm off the bottom with a pipette- this stirs some stuff up into the water column and then the fry seem to be feeding again. I do see little specks skittering around- copepods maybe but can't really tell if the fry are eating them. Thought I'd see the fry picking stuff to eat off the subwassertang, the leaf litter or the sponge filter, but nope- they always seem to be in the upper half of the water column.

I'm only going to keep a fraction of these to live in my 33L- Aqadvisor tells me a dozen white clouds is max for that tank and my filtration. So when the fry are larger, I'm probably going to cull the smallest ones and just grow out ten or twelve. Even with daily cleanings I don't think I can raise forty-plus fry to adult size in ten gallons (with a 24" x 12" footprint). I have to grow them out that big or Laddie will eat them in the home tank. Ten maybe I can manage. When it gets to be fewer fry on cleaner food (first bites as soon as they can manage it, then I'll give then gold pearls, crushed flake and pulverized hikari bio-gold) I can probably do every-other-day or twice-a-week water changes.

white cloud fry

First thing this morning checked on the minnow fry in there. Half a thought maybe the parents ate some. Nope- there's more little specks darting around- I count at least a dozen, probably there's twenty or so. I shouldn't be so surprised, really- but I feel so giddy happy about this! I wanted more white clouds way more then I ever wanted extra guppies. Kept wondering when I'd feel comfortable enough to go buy some at the LFS, now I don't have to.

Glad now that I tested nitrates a few days ago when cleaning tanks- I skipped doing a water change on this 20H because it actually had below 5ppm. Phew- didn't unknowingly siphon out all the eggs/fry, and don't have to worry about doing a wc for a bit- if so, I can put the hose in the fry box that's still in there, so it pulls the water through the mesh and doesn't get the babies.

Going to spend wayyy too much time crouched down in front of that tank just staring delightedly at the tiny things.

it worked!!

The separation I did.

I fed all the fishes just now, and was thinking of moving the white clouds back into the 33 and tearing this 20H down- but sprinkled in some crushed betta flake and bent down to watch them eat. Thought I saw a speck of fly moving against the glass. Then realized it's in the tank. Then realized it was a tiny baby fish. Then saw there's lots more. I have white cloud fry!

Can't get a photo. They are so very small. The parents don't seem to be eating them- went after the food. I fed them well just to be sure. They get excited and gobble down the first bites alongside the fry. I did think the male was flitting his pectorals in a begging gesture over the subwassertang bed- but then had doubts because the one I assumed female is nearly as bright in colors as the other two, and still looks plenty plump. Maybe she's not done laying eggs. Only reason I kept holding out thinking this was a female was because I never saw her spar and display alongside the other two.

Well, now I can well re-populate the white clouds that died too soon in my 33L- and then some! I'm so very pleased! Of course, down the road it would be best to get a few more unrelated adults to mix in, as these three adults are probably siblings (just like my first guppies were), but I'll just enjoy what I have for now.

the wildlife

A few days ago my husband and I saw a fox, walking on the path through the woods behind our neighborhood. We were just at to the end of the trail where it loops back to the street, the fox came trotting straight towards us, then saw us and veered off cutting corner through someone's backyard to circle around behind. So close! I love that.

Haven't seen the blue jays in a while. Still a wren or two, robins, the pair of cardinals, sparrows and the cheeky little catbirds. If I sit under the deck a long while I can observe them closely. The catbird has a regular route from its nest in the euonymus by the corner of the house, across one side of the garden and down the other, poking through the tomato bed last. Then it circles around and comes back down the opposite side of the same beds, before flitting back into the shrub. Usually with some insects in its beak.When I'm not sitting there, I've seen it take a shortcut to the tomato plants, stopping halfway to perch on the arm of my chair! But I haven't seen a jay anywhere, or a tail sticking over the nest rim, in a week or more. I wonder if the squirrels finally got to the nest.

This year I have all my herbs lined up in a row on the deck against the house- here in the pic you can see left to right: chocolate mint, bay laurel, three basils on the shelf and two dill below (cut back because I harvested a bunch), further beyond are the other mints, rosemary, chervil, etc etc. I'll get a better photo soon.

But this! I had to move all the shelves so my husband could rip out some rotting planks on the deck and put new boards down (the news ones are the natural wood color, not the old red stain) and I found this guy

his face, trying hard to ignore me

Now I can try identify: I think it's a gray treefrog.

I let him be after the few photos. He was tucked behind the pot of chives, and didn't move at all when I lifted the whole shelf to shift the plants. Still there when I moved them back again!