Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

It's now 8:35 and since we have to wait in for a delivery I decided to turn my laptop on early and check for any Seriously Fish developments.

It's back, as though it's never been gone.

It's now 8:35 and since we have to wait in for a delivery I decided to turn my laptop on early and check for any Seriously Fish developments.

It's back, as though it's never been gone.

Ah - that'll be because of the message I sent at 08:11, telling them what a great source it was and how much we hoped it would be back online soon.  I'm quite sure it's just a complete coincidence, though, that it happened to be fixed immediately after that - whatever the situation, just as delighted as everyone else that it's functioning once again as I felt quite bereft!

@Andy the minion  it's not a widely known fact, but taking pictures of your tank and sharing them on a forum helps to encourage fry to feed. Amazing, isn't it. Bet you didn't know that.

In reality I'm a bit grumpy because I went to MA yesterday to find out when my large tanks are going to be delivered and was told it was going to be another few weeks, so admiring other people's tanks is what is keeping me going at the moment. Especially as I had deliveries from both Aqua Essentials and Aquarium Gardens with plants for the new tanks.     

@Littlefish Yes I heard that too... but I posted pics a couple of weeks ago, do you mean the effect wears off?
Thanks for the suggestion with the turkey baster, I discovered we live in a baster free zone - at least in the shops between home and work. So I made the Acme fry-o-matic, mm accuracy, I don't need a step ladder or to get wet to my armpit.
Now where's the number of the company that sells bits of plastic crap that nobody wants at petrol pumps to get it into production

Hells bells @Littlefish, well I hope its not too late.... two pics of the babies, one taken tonight and the other four days ago, and then one of Mum? giving me the fish equivalent of 'the hairy eyeball'

@Andy the minion those are amazing photos. Those fry are sooooooooo adorable. Mum certainly looks as if there is some concern regarding the amount of attention the little ones are getting.   
I hope that you will keep us updated on progress (with lots of photos), watching littles ones develop and grow up is a fascinating process, and although I'm not a huge fan of young humans, the sight of baby fish, axolotls, or anything with a similar large eyes/tiny tail appearance is pretty much guaranteed to nearly bring a tear to my eye. 

@adenann many thanks for the link, very handy. 

I'll get some more pictures tonight, the whole brood has been relocated to another sandpit. Perhaps this is how they feed them, by moving to new food locations. Its that or all the attention with camera put the wind up Mum and Dad - but I would think they are getting used to a tropical equivalent of the Perishers 'Eyeballs in the sky'.
I'm rooting for them and will do my best, but ladies please don't get too emotionally attached. I have a nasty feeling this story has a tragic ending as they leave School. Sniff.

Firemouth fry update.
So, I finally have a video clip of an acceptable and in the correct format and this is the third attempt at writing this post as its keeps failing Grrrr.
The fry are now just about free swimming and the parents now have a real job on their hands keeping them where they want them. They are constantly sucking them up and spitting them out back into the ever-expanding swarm.
I didn't want to stress them any more so I didn't fully light the clip so it is a bit grainy but I think you should be able to see some of the detail.
If anybody with a suitable tank would like some of the fry http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/firemouth-cichlid.html I won’t post them as I'm not sure if they will survive so its just sensible traveling distance from Lanark in Scotland if you would like some.

Firemouth fry.
Yep the parents are feeding the fry as well as me I just saw one spit two mouthfuls of collected flake at them - lovely care, questionable etiquette.

Finally, I know that I have 6 stiphodons, 4 males (unfortunately) and 2 females.

Anyone who has stiphodons will know they are sort of a cross between loaches and plecs. Their bodies are loach shaped and they eat algae and can stick themselves to the glass like plecs. They also like to bury themselves. I have never seen all 6 at once, and I have never found the remains of one.
I bought the last two in the shop when I restocked in September, then got 4 more a couple of weeks later when the shop got more in. They were all sold as 'indie blue gobies' but I do not know if all six are actually the same species. With the second batch I tried my best to get 1 male 3 females.

The most I have seen at the same time is 5. Two were obviously female - white coloured with a black stripe down the side. Two were quite plump and male. One is now a gorgeous deep blue-black with a turquoise blue tail, red edges to his dorsal fins (stiphs have two) and when he sticks to the glass his throat is bright turquoise blue. The other plump one is paler with a light bluish body. Number five is a thin stiph, lots of black with a deep blue stripe.
I have just been watching the tank and seen two thin male stiphodons at the same time, more or less the same colour but one darker than the other. I know that stiphodons change colour with their mood so I may well have seen both thin ones on separate occasions and assumed they were the same fish.

And I wonder if they are now colouring up so much because they have settled in and and are maturing.


The thin males and the two females look like the photos here and the pale plump male looks like the paler male in those photos. The dark plump male doesn't look like any photos on Seriously Fish.

I am aware that there are many different stiphodon species and that the collectors won't know what they are. They are sold under many different names, and probably mis-identified in most shops.

Firemouth fry update.
Well there have been some losses in the past week, the 100/150 are now down to 30/40 I haven't see any get picked off but they tended to suddenly move away from the nest as a shoal so its not hard to imagine 20 or 30  getting lost. There is also a pile of rocks close to the nest and a tiny Jack Dempsey shelters there overnight so if they found there way in there they would make a tasty midnight snack.
The one that have survived are now 6mm long and are actively swimming with the parents are still in constant attendance and feeding them. I have stopped feeding as they didn't appreciate the feeding tube going anyway near the nest.