On baby fish – part 3

(Late March 2014)

At 3 1/2 weeks old, baby fish are still really really small, as in, small enough to be barely measured in millimetres.. They are also incredibly fast swimmers. Adult discus fish can swim fast but don’t very often, they can spend hours practically not moving. The babies didn’t spend 3 seconds not moving.

The DB set about catching them with a net and carrying them from the big aquarium to their new home. I counted them as they entered the water. The process took 2 evenings, with a few days in between to give the fish a break. Stress is very bad for fish.

There were 20 the first evening, and another 17 the second. Two were so successful at hiding/refused to be rescued so we left them where they were.

One of the two didn’t make it, but the other one grew up all the faster for it. Much faster than the others. It had all the secrete from both parents to itself.

Of the 37 babies in the new aquarium, 3 didn’t recover from the move.

(Is it bad to say “5 down, 34 to go”?)

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