survival and interpretive dance

It looks like little Fishbo has managed to find a way to survive! Hurrah! I have discovered he has set up camp in the royal treasury, and comes out periodically to scavenge for food. He is still wee and bitty, but he is scrappy, and darts around the tank at a moment's notice (particularly when Mommy tries to get her camera to take photos). Behold!

Hanging out in the back of the tank.

Hunkering down under the yellow plant in the corner. Expert camouflage.

Meanwhile, back in the net, his buddies are feasting and growing fast! If you look closely, you can see Maria hanging out in the background like a great white shark.

Pigs, all! Heh. Hopefully they'll be big enough soon I can get better photos of them.

And with their children all pampered and cared for, Maria and Captain Von Trapp have taken up interpretive dance.

Oh sure, it looks like they're just swimming back and forth aimlessly, but to the trained eye, it's quite musical.

Though I cleaned the tank a couple of weeks ago, it looks like it's going to need it again soon -- and some new plants, mayhaps? Hmmmm? Anything is possible.

Happy Halloween, all!
Stephanie

too many action movies

"The code name of your assignment will be Boris. And your code name will be -- "
"Natasha?!"
"No. . . Doris."*

Well, folks, the bebehs have been watching way too many action movies, because this week three of them made a run for it after I refreshed their water (with spring water treated to their preferred pH level, pampered little stinkers). I managed to get two back into the net, but I had no idea a third had managed an escape. This morning I woke up to feed the fish, and as I observed Maria and Captain Von Trapp making their way out from the back of the tank to grab some grub, I realized there was a third vagabond hanging out, cool as can be, under a plant in the main tank!

Thank goodness no one else lives in my apartment, because if they did, they would have come into my living room this morning to find me in jeans and a t-shirt, hair wrapped in a towel, toothbrush in hand, talking to my fish tank.

"Daring McDangerson! Do you not realize you are the same size as food? Look! You. Food. You. Food. Ack! You are actually smaller than some food! You are killing me here, because I have class this morning and I, like Auntie Laura, do not have time to save you!"**

(You can click on it to see all the details.)

Let's not kid ourselves -- Maria, especially, is big enough to take him down.

Maria, stalking the net. Cold fish.

While I can only hope he has found shelter in the royal treasury or another plant, I fear this may be a classic example of Darwinism.*** He will be fit and survive, or fall victim to the ravages of the jungle and creationism.

Hang in there, little Fish Rambo! Fishbo. Whatever.

Stephanie

PS -- Some of McDangerson's comrades are starting to get more of their coloring, but per usual, it has been hard to get good photos of this. Hopefully I'll be able to post some soon so you can see how some are a peachy color and some are darker orange with black speckles.

What I've got so far. Adorable!

* If you don't recognize this, you may not have seen the best action movie ever.
** My friend Laura -- gifter of the royal treasury -- is a registered nurse. We were on a flight to the west coast together when she was waiting on her nursing exam results, and as the pretzels and drinks tray came by, she turned in her seat and said to me, "Don't choke or anything. I can't save you yet." Classy.
*** Okay, yes, I don't know he is male because he's so tiny, but most of the action heroes are men, at least until I finish my degree and take a career hiatus to become a film hero who draws her power from Twinkies and hot dogs. I'm thinking about calling her Wonderbread Woman.

settling in

Well, the Swimmers have been in their breeding net for about a day and a half now (not that I, you know, keep super-close tabs on them or anything. . .) and they seem to be enjoying it. For those of you unfamiliar with the volumes of information available on the always-wise interwebs, a breeding net is basically a little box-shaped net you put in the main aquarium so that big fish (like, I dunno, Maria and Captain Von Trapp?) don't eat the little fish, aka, their own children. Because some people are not huge fans of Lifetime / Sci-Fi Channel movie mashups about parental cannibalism and treks over the Alps.*

How this looks to us land-dwellers:



Annnnnnd here is the best photo I have been able to get through the net at the fish in their new environment. I should probably mention that the collection of green gravel-type stuff at the bottom of the net is ground-up algae disks, which smell to high heaven, but which I am assured will help the Swimmers grow strong and, you know, fish-like. Coupled with the tropical flakes I grind up for them and the occassional freeze-dried brine shrimp I also grind for them, they basically eat better than I do. (I just ate a Tootsie Roll pop and pretended it was a legitimate snack, people.)



I also tried to do a fancy close-up so you could see just one. . . to limited success. A friend of mine pointed out they look a bit like, well, sperm. Which begs the question: how is she so well-versed at the general apperance of said entities? HmmmMMMM?

Okay. Yeah. They look like sperm. But someday they will be real fishes! Eye on the ball here, people.

And finally, because my obsession with the new babies is already frightening even to myself, I leave you with a video of them in their tank so you can see how bizarre they seem to be in action. And then I am done for the night, for reals, because I have to read for class.**

Enjoy! I will try to have more when I have time to post and/or if the fish figure out that little goat puppet show, which is easily the creepiest/best thing in a movie ever.

Stephanie

* Yes, I know Sci Fi network changed their logo to SyFy. I am not dignifying their willful misspelling with a response.***

** The real world is so, so inconsiderate of my absurd home life. You cannot imagine.

*** Yes, I checked to make sure I spelled "misspelling" correctly. Don't judge me.

Hurrah again!

I have gotten the babies moved to their breeding net (a mini-box that hangs in the tank so Maria and Captain Von Trapp don't eat their babies. . .sickos. . .) and got the filter working again using the ol' take-it-all-apart-and-swish-it-in-the-water trick. Before I go back to watchin' the new babies, I am happy to present . . . The Von Trapp Family Swimmers!

They are so tiny I've had trouble counting exactly how many I was able to save, but it looks like there are somewhere between 12 and 15 in the net now! Hurrah! They look like tadpoles but, again, they're so tiny it's hard to get a good photo (they're a bit smaller than a shelled sunflower seed, hence why I missed them before). They do look like they'll take after Maria (the orange fish) because they all have wee black dots on their tails and while they're still pretty translucent, they're a bit orangish in the photos.

More updates to come when I have time. Welcome to the world, wee baby fishes!

Stephanie

Hurrah!

Maria did have babies! I was just remarking this morning as I was feeding the fish that she looked about half the size she did a week ago (when I was still not sure if she was pregnant). And lo! As some of the food dropped to the bottom of the tank, a wee bite-sized fishy darted out from under a plant to grab it. I looked closer, and there were many, many babies! I am going to count them and move them to their breeder tank (away from Captain Von Trapp and Maria, who were totally hunting them for food). I also need to get the filter working again. Eep! More later. Promise.