Loaches Online Forum

Martin Thoene wrote: It's the same here at present. My Sewellia tank is 81.5F this morning

Yeah, mines up to 82f as well! I'm doing the thing with the ice bottles and all the hillstreams appear to be fine at the moment. Doubt the white clouds like it very much though. A fan could well be a wise purchase.

The baby tank is on a respectable 77 deg F today, so fingers crossed all will be ok. They are being rather secretive this evening though, so I didn't manage to get very many photos, and what I did get aren't brilliant. But anyway, here they are 04/07/2006:

"I'm not coming out!!!"....


On the side glass:


Hanging upside down from the sponge filter (sorry about blur in the middle of the pic - think that might have been a snail ). I've included this one as the mouth can be seen in quite a bit of detail:


Emma

Cute as always.
I'm glad they are still doing well.

OK, now I'm prepared to consider the radioactive material possibility.

Put it this way Emma, if that blur is a snail, then it's moving too damned fast to be normal.

I thought that "Turbo Snails" were marine?

Martin.

Ha! You'd be surprised at the speed of them! Many times last night did one manage to slide in front of the camera just as I took a photo!

'What are these things called snailius' One must purchase some plants to find out.

Superb pictures! They are 'darkening' up nicely.

I am amazed at how these guys are developing.

Comparing the development i have seen with Cheni these guys are looking solid! I can't say that it isn't an artefact of flash photography but at this age i'm used to seeing Cheni fry looking a whole lot more translucent. They are also looking a bit 'stubby', Chenis seem to grow in length for longer and then slowly fill out. It takes a couple of months from the point when they emerge from the stones before they start losing the pointed nose and start getting the flatter profile you see in the adults. My observations are that Cheni fry like to hide in the gravel when threatened, the slim profile presumably makes this easier as they can squeeze into narrow gaps between the stones. How have you seen these guys reacting to a presumed threat?

It's really interesting to hear comparisons with the cheni fry. I find that when I approach the fry tank (say to feed them), their initial reaction is to 'scatter' from wherever they were positioned, so that they are all completely spread out within the tank and no two fish are together. A lot of them seem to head for positions on the glass, particularly behind the heater or near the little sponge filter pipe. A couple of days ago, one even shot inside one of those ceramic rings - I could just see the end of it's tail poking out. If the 'threat' is slightly more prolonged (for instance when I'm doing a water change) they retreat from their positions on the glass to hide amongst the ceramic media on the bottom of the tank - at this point the tank appears completely empty.

Emma

Loach fry photos from this evening 06/07/2006 . (And yes, once again a few snails were trying to get in on the act!).....

Underside view. I think the fins appear to be overlapping the right way round now:


The individual fish seem to be varying in terms of the development of their colours/pattern. The front half of this specimen seems to be changing to a slightly more reticulated pattern:


Even more obviously so in this shot:


One of the paler coloured ones resting on the substrate:


Little loachie (+ little snail):


I know this one isn't the greatest of shots, but I still thought it showed quite a good head-on view of the pattern and colour of this fish :


Still got the tiny 'barbels':


Another underside shot. The fins can definitely be seen overlapping the 'correct way' in this picture:


Emma

It's interesting on how the facial area's are the first visible changes to what they will become..

They are really starting to look like tiny H. smithi to me.

how can they be H. smithi if there are none around? i think they are going to grow up to be Sewelliae. which would be totally radically cool. they don't look like the Anna..... any more.

I know there aren't any smithi in the tank, I just thought they looked like them.
I'm still not sure what they are, but they are looking more like sewellia than they originally did.
I guess time will tell.

We just need to watch this one play out, I think. What will they be? (Will they be pretty? Will they be rich?)

Fine babies, anyway, and Emma is obviously a worthy caretaker.

Keep on posting as things progress!

Yes Mark. Whatever will be, will be.

Martin.