Updates

I haven't said much in a while. The main news:

* The Macropodus fry continue to grow quite well. I have introduced the two largest ones into the main tank a couple weeks ago, and three smaller ones a few days ago. The first two babies that I introduced have grown well - the larger one was almost as big as the smallest platy when it was first introduced into the tank - it's grown quite a bit since. Two of the new ones are doing ok, but I haven't seen the third one (which was smaller) - it' s possible that it's still hidden in the floating vegetation, it's also possible that it didn't make it.

* The male fighter, which was unwell since the start of the Ich outbreak died a couple weeks ago. He seemed to have swim bladder problems, and they got worse to the point where he could not stay afloat. Eventually we found some medicated food, and we fed it to him for a few days. By the second day he was looking fine, able to swim normally again. The day after he was dead.

* The female platies continue to get fatter. They look terribly pregnant, but there's no way (even given the strange breeding habits of live bearers) that they could still be pregnant after all this time.

* The adult Macropodus laid eggs every weekend for four weeks straight. The eggs hatched after about 24 hours every time, except the last time, when (after I turned the temperature down) they took a little longer to hatch. None of the batches of fry made it very far - the first one was eaten by the male Macropodus, the last two were eaten by the Angels once the Macropodus began to do a less good job of protecting the fry. They have continued to make a show of considering mating, but his attempts at nest-building have been pretty half-hearted.

* After staying small for a few months, the black Angel has done a lot of catching up, and while it is still smaller than the rest of its cohort, the size difference is no longer so striking.