Tuesday 13 February 2007

Dramatis personae III: the fighters

And rounding off the piscine participants are the fighters. I figured that in a 55-gallon tank with a decent amount of plants, I could probably get away with a female fighter or two. I actually find female fighters to be as interesting as the males - while the males are impressive fish, sometimes I think they are too big and long-finned. I really like the basic Betta shape, and these show up in females and juvies. Males are impressive, but the basic shape is lost.

Anyway, we narrowed it down to two females, but we couldn't make a decision, so be brought them both home. Once we got them home I realised that introducing them into the tank would have a devastating effect on the fry. I thought about putting them in the old fighter tank, but the water was too cold, so they spent the night in their little jars on top of the aquarium. The next day, once the fighter tank was warmed up a little, we put them into the tank...and I discovered that one of the females was probably a short-finned male.

So for the time being the female female is in a breeder box floating in the big tank, while the probably male female is in the old fighter tank.

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