In anticipation of my female releasing her third batch of fry within the
next week, two days ago I performed about a 50% water change. In recent
weeks, I've kind of slacked off in my water-changing duties, in the hope of bringing down my water bill a bit. These are difficult times in a financial sense for many of us.

It was obvious that a water change was needed, as my fish haven't been their usually aggressive, lively selves. In recent weeks there has also been an
algae die-off, which of course has only added to the pollution level in the tank.

In addition to the water change, I also changed the four sponge filter pads
in both of the Penguin 330 Bio-Wheel filters.

I am a bit concerned for my holding female. Aside from the fact that she is
now quite thin after not eating for a few weeks, yesterday I noticed that
there is some serious deterioration in her left gill fin. As it is, she is breathing quite rapidly due to the ever-growing cluster of fry in her
throat, so having a damaged gill can only be adding to her level of stress.
I will be happy when she releases, as she will be able to begin her recuperation period.

Finally, I am suspecting more and more that Junior is a female, and not a
male. Not only is he/she growing slower than I expect -- a possible sign
that it's a female -- but the body shape and faded colors strongly suggest
that Junior is female. Another telltale sign is the fact that he/she has
been fearlessly hanging out near one of the adult male's lairs...usually
with impunity from the male. If Junior is indeed female, this may possibly
be a sign that she has already chosen him as her future mate. In four days, Junior will celebrate the third full month since he/she was released by
his/her mother.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


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