Snail Spirals

The Panda Cory Show has now been running for six weeks, and once again, there has been a tragic development. We are now down to just two fry. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's been a sad week, losing a fry a day.

The remaining babies are the big one (I'm quite attached to him, and am so glad he wasn't one of the casualties...) and one of the younger ones. The younger one is not quite four weeks old, and is at the stage of beginning to lose the finfold and get a dorsal fin. The older one is looking very grown up, and probably doesn't appreciate being called a baby anymore.



He now has a well-developed spot on his caudal peduncle (base of the tail), and the dorsal fin is about half pigmented. I'm thinking he's probably about ready to go in the big tank, but I like being able to watch him so closely in the little tank.

Speaking of the little tank, I ended up getting a real filter for it this weekend. Emma and I had to go back to La Grande to fetch some things from the house, and mow the grass. It was a superfast trip, and went like this:

• left Friday Harbor on the 6:00am ferry on Saturday
• stopped in Burlington to get Emma new sneakers- she wears size 11 now!
  
• stopped in Seattle at Weaving Works just on general principles, and got a Super High Speed whorl for my wheel (!!!) and also an Addi Lace needle in US3
  
• drove all day
  
• got to La Grande around 4:00pm
• played with Cobalt, who was very glad to see us
  
• mowed the grass
  
• gathered assorted forgotten things
  
• ate dinner
  
• watched the last episodes of the season for Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis on Tivo
  
• slept
• washed the sheets we slept on and hung on the clothesline (housesitters will take down)
  
• continued gathering forgotten things
• back on the road ~9:00am Sunday
  
• drove all day
• stopped in Burlington for dinner and Petco
• caught the 8:25 ferry, very last car on (whew)
• home in Friday Harbor at 10:00pm
• slept

It was a long weekend, and Emma and I were both heartily tired of being in the car. The stop at Petco was good, though. I found the cutest, tiniest little filter I've ever seen.



It's a Red Sea Nano-Filter, and it looks just like a regular filter, except that it's so tiny! It's rated for tanks up to 3 gallons. In my little one-gallon fry tank, I have it turned to the lowest flow setting, and it still gives quite a bit of current. I put a sponge over the intake pipe to keep the fry out, and that helps slow the flow too. The fish seem to be doing OK with the increased current. I did put the little java fern on the rock back in the tank, to break up the current and give them some shelter. I'm hoping that the filter will improve the water quality, as that may be what killed all the fry. Plus, it's quieter than the airstone, which is nice.

For comparison, here's the Penguin Mini I have on the big (7 gallon) tank. I thought this filter was very small when I got it.