Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A clean house can kill you!

(People who've been here, stop muttering, "How would YOU know?" :)

So last night, I was cleaning the big fish tank. I do it twice a week, vacuuming the left side the first time and the right side the second time. (I can't vacuum the whole thing at once because the tank's top has a divider between the halves, and I'd have to re-start the vacuum hose, and I do that (although I know it's gross) by sucking on the hose, and I'll only do THAT when the hose is safely dry. :)

Vacuuming along, watching the bottom to make sure no fish have decided to get too close, seeing bits of debris floating along and snagging them with the hose. A little piece of black something takes off ahead of the hose, and I chase it. And chase it. And just as I'm about to get it, I realize...

It's a baby fish!

A while back, I mentioned little Val, the tiny orange baby fish. Val is still with us, and still in the plastic breeding trap. This baby is black and maybe a tiny bit bigger than Val (who is no longer eyeballs and a back fin but has an actual body with a teeny little top fin). This is a free-range baby fish!

The gravel in the tank is black, and the baby is black, so I lost sight of it almost immediately. I'm guessing maybe the full-grown fish in the tank are also losing sight of it?

So I finished vacuuming the tank, then let the bucket of water sit for a while before flushing it in case I'd caught the baby. Nope. Good!

There's no chance I'll get a picture of the baby, and given how bad my last picture of Val was, I won't bother taking another one at the moment. But I'm excited! Val has a little friend! :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cool! Another baby, I am so glad you didn't catch it.

mini witchy said...

What a nice surprize! Can't wait to see them when they're big enough to photograph. :)

Heather Wardell said...

I COULD photograph them now, or you could make a smudge on a glass window and look at that. It'll look about the same. :)

And I'm so glad I didn't catch it either! I have decided to name it Black Bart. Why not. :)

Jennifer said...

Black Bart! Funny. Any idea who the fish's mommy is? Or do fish just randomly give birth? I have no idea myself...

Heather Wardell said...

Freshwater fish do pretty much randomly give birth. Given the dark colour of the baby, I have a few suspects, but I'm not 100% sure. Perhaps a paternity test at a later date? :)

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