Loaches Online Forum

Great pictures. By the way, how do you know Marge is a girl? In other words, how can we tell our male clowns from females?

Thanks all. Glad you all found them interesting!

Marge is 100% a female, her sheer bulk and body height versus fish of almost the same length but without such girth and height (as can be seen in their relatives the carp) is a giveaway. She is well over an inch taller than a male fish of almost the same length. I should add that these determining features are only really accurate when comparing 2 large mature fish of roughly the same size.

And she's close to 12" TL now.

Emma

Excellent pics Emma, Marge is a real stunner

The Emperor looks very nice, I just cant wait to pick mine up

Thank you MD.

Some amazing shots. It's probably been asked before but...what type of camera are you using?

Thank you JD_MAN. I'm using the Nikon Coolpix 8700 (manual focus, macro mode).

Emma

Fantastic pictures, as usual.

Emma Turner wrote:
And she's close to 12" TL now.

Are you saying that she is still growing? What is the speed?

Possibly. When we got her, she was 11.5" TL, and now she is very very close to 12" (measured with a flexible tape measure stuck to the front glass of the tank). So that would be approx half an inch in 2 years.

Emma

Very cool photos and great definition on the details of Marge. Did your use your newer Coolpix for those? Very impressive!!!!

Awesome photos miss Turner. I cant seem to figure out how to take good aquarium photos. Any suggestions or tips? Please PM me.

Thanks all.

Yes Vance, these were taken with the newer Coolpix (8700). My old one (the 5700) is completely dead.... That'll teach me to get water on it, the perils of taking photos of fish! Then again, it was a good excuse to get a new one anyway.

Pixelated_Pirate, I find that patience, practice and plenty of deletions are the best tips! Most fish photographers will only keep a very low percentage of the shots they take, which is the beauty of digital. For close-ups, you need a camera with a macro mode (usually a little flower icon on the camera) and either steady hands or a tripod. If the fish happens to be sitting still, like Marge was in those few pics, it makes it a hundred times easier, but if the fish is moving, it is best to focus on an object that they swim past often, lock the focus, move back a tiny bit (keeping the focus locked) and then take the pic as the fish swims past. This usually yields pretty good results.

Emma

Thanx miss Turner... I shall try that.

Marge looks great by the way!

Hey P_P, 'Miss Turner' is way too formal, please call me Emma!

Looking forward to seeing some of your pics in due course.

Emma