A new M.A. store, based in Lincoln has recently been set up. Graham Favell who used to be the assistant manager at the Crowland store is managing this new branch, and yesterday we had a phone call from him saying that his other half - Abby - (who also works there) had just found 3 tiny Weather Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) fry in one of the tanks there!
The systems at this store are set up in a similar way to Crowland, except that there are weirs at the bottom of each individual stock tank, whereas we have a different style top-strainer overflow on the tanks at Crowland. In both stores, when livebearing fish give birth in-store, the tiny fry get sucked down the water return pipework into the large 6ft sump tanks below. Apparently Abby was looking in this particular sump at some of the new livebearer fry and suddenly saw something move in amongst the gravel. On closer inspection, and after taking much care to net them out, they discovered the baby Weather Loaches!
They have actually sold out of the only batch of adult Weather Loaches they have had in, so the parent fish have gone to someone's tank. These Weather Loaches were some of the first batch of fish I had ordered in for the shop during their first couple of weeks of opening. The stock tanks had been running for a few weeks prior to the initial addition of fish, but I chose to initially start the store off with hardy species, hence the Weather Loaches. No other loaches have ever been placed on this system. This spawning must have happened during the first couple of weeks of opening as they sold the adults pretty quickly. As the systems are still maturing, there has actually been a low level of nitrite in the water (gradually decreasing) which must have been present when they spawned.
I think that they might have been kept in cooler, still conditions with the supplier, and at the shop, the water is slightly warmer and with a fairly good flow. I can only think that the increase in temperature and the increase in flow triggered a 'seasonal' response and got them going. 
The fry are really, really cute. Complete miniatures of the adults. They are approximately 2.5cm TL, which shows that they have been around for a few weeks now. Graham had them in a little breeding net on the top row of the system in a tank of their own when we got there today. I used one of our Fintro gadgets to get a few pictures of one of them earlier today:
Here's a pic of them in the baby net (you can see all 3 of them):
And the system where the loaches spawned (baby net on top row):
This is the little weir the eggs would have got sucked down into (gaps 2mm wide):
And with them finally ending up in this 6ft x 2ft x 2ft sump tank (currently, and luckily, with no big fish living in it!):
One of the other members of staff, Sam, had a really thorough look through this sump when I was there today, but couldn't spot any more fry. That's not to say there isn't any, as these tanks are very spacious, the fry are tiny, and they are extremely well camouflaged against the gravel! They are not going to put any big fish in there to see if any more 'emerge' and to protect the young livebearers too.
I tested the water on this system today, and these were the parameters:
Temp = 26.5 deg C (so slightly high)
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0.8 ppm
Nitrate = 25 ppm
pH = 8.0
dH = 18 degrees.
So very hard, warm, alkaline water, with presence of nitrite. Not quite ideal, obviously, but it didn't stop these loaches from spawning!
During the time the fry would have been about, the nitrite was as high as 1.6 and is currently on it's way back down. These readings are typical of a new system, but loach fry was very unexpected!
I bought one of the youngsters home with me this evening, so that I can take photographs of it's development (it's now in my little Sewellia fry tank). I would have liked to have bought them all home, but the staff at the Lincoln store seem quite attached to their baby loaches, so I just couldn't take them all.
Emma
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
