River Tank Babies!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:31 pm
Hi all! I'm back with a nice new computer , and with some baby news (no, not me!!!)...
Last Friday (16th) I was carrying out some maintenance on the River Tank whilst Steve was engrossed in yet another world cup football match. I decided it was time for me to replace some of the filter material in the Eheim external, so I opened it up. I took out the top tray (which houses the fine sponge, phosphate remover, carbon, and almond leaves) and then did a double-take. I saw something moving in the next tray, which was full of ceramic media . I told Steve and he didn't seem to pay much attention - probably thought it was my wild imagination. But then I moved the tray again very slightly, and I saw something move once again! So I said to Steve 'there is definitely something living in here!!!' and he prised himself away from the TV and came to see what I was harping on about. To our amazement, we had several little fish living in that tray, and the tray below (which was also full of ceramic media). They couldn't have been more than about 6mm long. Steve then rushed to the shop to grab my little 12" photo tank, plus an air driven sponge filter, whilst I took a few quick photos of the fish in the trays. We filled the tank with water from the River Tank and added one of the mature sponges from the manifold to the sponge filter. We then carefully transferred some of the ceramic media and babies (not an easy task!) to the little tank. Five days later and they are still doing fine, we think we found 8 in total. We're really not sure what they are, so here are some of the photographs I managed to take:
Inhabitants of this tank are:
A pair of Schistura balteata....
A pair of Annamia sp.....
A group of Sewellia lineolata....
And some Hikari danios (sorry, do not have a picture of these).
They are behaving like loaches, hiding in and amongst the ceramic media in the tank, and under the filter sponge.
What do you all think they are?
Many thanks,
Emma
Last Friday (16th) I was carrying out some maintenance on the River Tank whilst Steve was engrossed in yet another world cup football match. I decided it was time for me to replace some of the filter material in the Eheim external, so I opened it up. I took out the top tray (which houses the fine sponge, phosphate remover, carbon, and almond leaves) and then did a double-take. I saw something moving in the next tray, which was full of ceramic media . I told Steve and he didn't seem to pay much attention - probably thought it was my wild imagination. But then I moved the tray again very slightly, and I saw something move once again! So I said to Steve 'there is definitely something living in here!!!' and he prised himself away from the TV and came to see what I was harping on about. To our amazement, we had several little fish living in that tray, and the tray below (which was also full of ceramic media). They couldn't have been more than about 6mm long. Steve then rushed to the shop to grab my little 12" photo tank, plus an air driven sponge filter, whilst I took a few quick photos of the fish in the trays. We filled the tank with water from the River Tank and added one of the mature sponges from the manifold to the sponge filter. We then carefully transferred some of the ceramic media and babies (not an easy task!) to the little tank. Five days later and they are still doing fine, we think we found 8 in total. We're really not sure what they are, so here are some of the photographs I managed to take:
Inhabitants of this tank are:
A pair of Schistura balteata....
A pair of Annamia sp.....
A group of Sewellia lineolata....
And some Hikari danios (sorry, do not have a picture of these).
They are behaving like loaches, hiding in and amongst the ceramic media in the tank, and under the filter sponge.
What do you all think they are?
Many thanks,
Emma