More Babies! Oh No! More Poor Aquatic Photography!

 

Big news again, people! Today there are new babies in the aquarium. First I counted 12, then 16, and finally 18! They're so little and so fast that it's tough to count them.

This batch has white ones, speckled ones, and black ones.

The other babies, which are now such old news, are all still alive and doing very well: 7 black ones and 1 white one.

In the photo, you can see Big Blackie, three of the babies from last month, and one teeny dark baby above Big Blackie's tail, and one teeny white baby under Big Blackie's chin, just in the tips of that plant.

Additional aquarium news: we lost the snail. Poor guy: one day his shell was really badly cracked, and part of it had fallen off. Maybe he climbed up to the top, got spooked by a fish, and let go, falling to his eventual doom. He lived for several days with his damaged shell, and then one day the Algae Eater, who we call "Algae Eater" was cleaning up the remains. His shell remains in the tank as a warning to all other snails to follow.

Speaking of snails, we have what might

[REAL-TIME INTERRUPTION: JASON JUST CALLED TO ME, "I DON'T SEE ANY BABIES!" I HAD TO GO DOWNSTAIRS AND POINT THEM OUT TO HIM. 10-20 BABIES!]

be about 50 or 100,000 baby snails crawling and wriggling around. It's an infestation. I mean, we can use the clean-up help, what with our last wanted snail being dead. But those little guys multiply like crazy, and then crawl around everywhere like they own the place, and make it look...snail-infested. Jason smushes them whenever they climb high enough on the walls for him to reach them.

That's all the news from the aquarium today.

In the Aquarium

Big news, people! Jason is a sort-of grandpa! His mollies had babies!

  Here's a picture of my flash, and all the possible parents, and two specks on the right, which are babies. Also visible is some algae growing on the glass.

The dad might be a molly or might be a swordtail. We've had a black swordtail for a couple of years now, and he used to have friends, but they died. Anyway, when we got these mollies, swordy starting suddenly showing off! He has a big, pretty fin on his back that he's been displaying while chasing the mollies around the tank. We weren't sure if it was mating behavior or fighting behavior. We still don't know, but our guess is mating behavior. We don't know if the swordtail (who has no sword, and therefore, we thought it was a female) is actually a molly. To me, they look the same.

 

Here's a close-up of a baby.


I count 7 or 8 babies. They're tough to count, since they're mostly black (some are speckled, and one is light-colored). The gravel in the bottom is black, so they're hard to spot. Plus, they move really quickly, so I might keep counting the same one. I haven't seen any get eaten so far. Hopefully they'll survive and grow up with us!

 

Here's a rare shot-glass shot of Skeletor, the albino catfish. He likes to hide when I try to take his picture. Too bad you can't see his pink eyes. Also visible: the snail who wants out of his shell.

New Fish

We got three new mollies tonight, two speckled black and white, and one black one. Already, Little Blackie was picking on Skeletor, the white catfish. Skeletor is at least three times as big as Little Blackie. The two Speckles bit each other a few times, too. YES, I put food in there as soon as I let them out of the bag. They seem to have settled down now. Big Blackie, the swordtail we've had for a long time (maybe a year -- I can't remember. At least several months.) doesn't seem that interested in the new mollies. I thought she might like having company, since Skeletor and the algae eater mostly hang out on the bottom.

We also got a new Black Mystery Snail. Don't tell him, but we haven't had much luck with snails in the last year. I think we have had three pass away.
Here is the algae eater, with two empty snail shells behind it!

Skeletor is hiding and he won't come to get his picture taken! What a jerk.