Clicking Clowns and Eggless Wonders

I’m afraid the cichlid eggs vanished (into fishes mouths?!) a couple of days ago. The smilers are happily swimming together, flaring their fins and looking fine so I’m sure they’ll conjure up some more eggs in the future.

The top-dog red rainbow is still a beautiful sparkling red and asserting his authority. Nancy is still the most skittish fish I’ve ever seen. Any slight movement from us non-fish folk and she is zooming under her bogwood. I was pleased to creep up on her today and get a picture….before she swam off at top speed.

For the first time, I heard the clowns ‘clicking’ at one another while competing over a food pellet like a couple of snuffling piglets. Hooray, my fish can talk!

Cichlid Eggs? Already? Great!

All fish are still doing very well and the tank looks great again. I spotted the two Dwarf cichlids (Laetacara curviceps) circling around a flat leaf which seems to be scattered with eggs. Perhaps I don’t have gay fish after all… I’m not sure how long they will last in this tank but it is exciting to see.

The Elusive Sparkling Gourami

I’ve managed one photo of one of the five new Pygmy Sparkling Gouramis. They are tiny. They hide in the biggest, bushiest plant. They are sparkly and their blue eyes catch the light. That’s fish facts!

Pucker Up

Have I mentioned that I love my cichlids?!

Mr and Mrs

What a handsome couple. They display such interesting behaviour following one another around and best of all their trademark ‘stop/start’ comedy swimming style. Their colours have got brighter since joining the community too. Mrs C has more prominent markings in brown and orange with some blue. She coordinates beautifully with her mate who has a glistening blue sheen. They always look a little grumpy too. Ah the glory of Cichlids!

George Sucks!

George the dwarf suckermouth catfish and Speckled Jim the shrimp are still alive today! George has been confidently swimming from leaf to leaf and Jim has scurried about, hung upside down from a plant and has made a home in the end of the bogwood log. Busy.

I used a magnetic algae cleaner on the tank today and it looks a lot better; there is plenty of algae on the plants for those who want to eat it and I have bought a pellet food for them too, so they won’t starve. All is well in aquarium world.