Friday 17 July 2009

Our first baby...

...fish! He's a bit shy and hangs out in the plants. Not very original, I know, but I have called him Nemo! He's about 15mm long.




We have had an aquarium for oh, 10 years now and yesterday morning I spotted our first surviving baby fish! I can't remember what kind of fish it is, but it is sooo cute. I feel very proud!


I think this is mum. She's not a very good mum as she seems quite oblivious. She would have given birth to live young instead of laying eggs and it's a case of survival of the fittest as Nemo is the only one remaining.


The angel fish have sometimes laid eggs, but as soon as the female lays them, the male comes along and eats them! Makes you wonder how they ever survive! This pair rule the tank. They are the alpha fish! They must be both the same sex because since the other two have died, no eggs have been laid.

Nemo needs to keep out of the way of these silver sharks because I'm sure they wouldn't think twice about gobbling him up.

Lurking on the bottom of the tank is this monster. I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but he's a least 6" long and his fin is very impressive. He cleans the tank up by eating the algae.

The aquarium is in the kitchen and provides me with a constant source of entertainment and seems to have a soothing influence too. Every morning before school, Tom would sit in his wheelchair in front of the tank and the angel fish would come and have a nose in the hope of getting more food. The notion that fish have a memory of mere seconds is rubbish! My fish are shameless beggars and think that every time I go near the tank they might get another sprinkle of food.

The other female yellow fish is behaving strangely and so I'm watching like a hawk to see if we get some more babies...

7 comments:

  1. Fish really DO have personalities - Bob (our contender for the largest indoor goldfish ever) is a proper scamp. If he thinks you're ignoring him. he does a huge splash and sends water out of the tank. Just in case you were forgetting to feed him. He was Mark's 6th birthday present and almost 3 years on, he's still going strong.

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  2. It must be wonderful having an aquarium. Congratulations on the new little fishy! If I ever had an aquarium I would need to get a box fish. Have you ever seen them? They look like a little cube with fins!!! x

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  3. How fabulous! Congratulations on your new little Nemo!

    And Ali isn't kidding when she says she has the largest goldfish ever...I think he's really a carp...

    K x

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  4. I hope Nemo finds a good hiding spot amongst those other fish!

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  5. i'm feeling slightly nervous for nemo!

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  6. Congratulations on your new arrival! We have fish in a pond in the garden though numbers are sadly decreasing.

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  7. Congratulations! I read the rest of the post in a 'david attenbourgh' style voice for some reason!! xx

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