And right on cue, the eggs hatch! I couldnt see them for a while, then i realised that she had moved them. They weren't on the underside of the wood anymore, but instead, the wrigglers had been picked up one by one, and deposited on the side of the wood!
As they were so tiny, and still attched to the egg (they hatch, but stay attached and consume the rest of the egg), and in a dark crevice, i could only guess that there was somewhere between 30-50 of them!
I didnt think that on the side was such a great place though, as the hoover that is Barry could easily get to that piece.
During the evening, we had a bit of a Rambo-fest. I was brought up on those films but SWMBO had never seen them, being that much younger. We watched 'First Blood' a few days ago seeing as i'd recorded it on the V+ box, and she loved it and wanted to watch the rest of them. Blockbusters only had the latest as a rental so i bought the box set instead...
After watching Part 3, it was getting late so we decides to leave the final one for another time. I glanced over and noticed Barry's giant tail swooshing at the side of the bogwood where the babies had been latched...
Oh No!!!!
And there were none to be seen
It looks to me as though mum had seen this coming, and had moved them all again to the underside of the wood though! I cant be sure as its even harder to see, the wrigglers are dark in colour as is the wood, but every now and then i glance a wriggler falling off the wood and being scooped up by mum and put back, so it sure seems like they are in a safe place again.
I still dont know if the other pair have eggs or not, but theyre behaviour reflects that of the bogwood pair. If they did have eggs, they should be at the same stage as the others.
It will be a few days before they are 'free swimming'.
The tension between the 2 pairs has risen, they break out into more spats now, with 'peachy' coming out of her hiding place in the ornament more often to join in with the fights.
The unpaired 'spare' fish are having a hard time of it, theres not many places that they can swim without getting grief from the paired couples.
