I finished spinning the red Romney last night, plied it, and washed it. It came out nice- 7.2 oz, 572 yards, about 12 wpi. I spun this semiwoolen, drafting forward and letting go to allow the twist to pop into the fiber mass before drafting again. Lustrous and fairly soft, considering it's Romney, though that's outerwear-soft, not next-to-the-skin-soft. It would be a great sweater yarn, if it were three-ply (this is two), and if I had a couple more pounds of it. I may weave with this, or put it up in my shop. Haven't decided yet.



The panda cories are doing well. Perhaps too well. All four babies are still swimming around, and yesterday, I found 11 more eggs in the main tank. E.L.E.V.E.N. I picked them off the java fern and put them in with the fry, but I don't know what I'm going to do with 15 more cories if all these grow up. If the adults keep this up, the eggs will have to stay in the main tank and take their chances against the gauntlet of adult fish. (I'm not even thinking about a bigger tank, no no no no no......)

The fry's yolk sacs are noticeably smaller today, but I can't tell if they are eating the powdered flake food and mashed egg yolk I've been feeding them. I've been doing twice-daily water changes in their little tub, and they are definitely using the java fern as a refuge. This is such a fun process to watch. I do indeed feel like a proud mama.

Panda cory fry, less than one day old.



The fourth egg hatched last night sometime between 10:00 and midnight. I put a small tuft of java fern in their tub when I changed the water this morning, so they have something to hide under. I have the tub floating in the net breeder, so it's really close to the tank light, and I don't want to stress the fry out too much.

Floating the tub in the net breeder is working out very well, I think. It's easier to clean than the net, and there's no danger of the babies getting crushed between the net and its plastic framework, yet the tub water stays the same temperature as the tank water.

Yay for fry!

Oh my goodness!! LOOK!!!



The eggs hatched! Three so far, and the fourth looks very promising. I can see the little larva wiggling around inside! I can't figure this out, because as recently as this morning, none of the eggs looked like they were developing- I couldn't see the dark spot of a larva at all. Then some time between noon and 7:30 pm, three little fish appeared!

They are so cute! About 1/8" long, with delicate transparent fins, tiny little eyes, and a big yolk sac.



And just because I can, here's a video clip:



I'm so excited that they hatched!

Still no big news on the pands cory eggs. Meaning no babies yet. I lost one of the eggs (the one we were watching, that I was sure was developing) to mold, unfortunately. Waaa! I'm still not sure if the remaining four are doing anything. I guess I'll let them go as long as I can. It's been six days since they were laid.

I do have fibery activity to report, shockingly! I spun for a while yesterday! I've been in such a slump recently. I brought the wheel out onto the back patio yesterday, and spun while Emma had fun with bubbles and on her swings.



(That's the spiffy denim rug I wove, under the wheel!) It was a lovely couple hours outside. The fiber is from the 2002 Sheep to Shawl event in Friday Harbor. It's a Romney cross that we dyed in the fleece. We didn't use it all at the Fair, and I snagged some of the uncarded leftovers. I carded it sometime in 2003, and found it again last fall when I was reorganizing my fiber closet.



It's very easy to spin, though typically Romney in it's coarseness. After plying, though, I think it'll be nice.



That's about halfway through the spinning session- I finished filling the bobbin last night before bed. Maybe I'll fill another tonight!

Panda cory eggs, 3 days old.



Well, it appears that I made a mistake when I said that all five eggs are developing. The top egg here is definitely developing. See how much s/he has grown since yesterday! And yes, I've shown the same two eggs every day. They're stuck to the side of the tub, so they don't move around.

The lower egg, though, doesn't seem developing. The crescent that I thought was a larva is in fact the shadow of where it's stuck to the tub. Oops. I looked at them with a hand lens, in really good light, and it was obvious that it was the surface adhesion that was making that crescent. Based on this, I may only have one developing egg, unless the others are just going slower.

Even one is still exciting, though!

Panda cory eggs, 48 hours old.



They don't look that much different than yesterday, do they? I hope they're OK. The larva in the top egg seems to have sunk to the bottom of his/her egg. I got a net breeder today, so they can live in the tank instead of a separate tub.

Panda corydoras eggs, 24 hours old.



You can see the larvae inside the eggs now! They are C-shaped, curled in their eggs; the one on top is horizontal and seen from the end, so it looks like a dot, and the one in the middle in seen from the side so you can see the "C". All five eggs are developing.

I'm so excited about this!