Babies Growing and Flourishing

As the babies continue to grow, they have become more active. They've discovered they have no predators in the tank so they are swimming further from the safety of Mama's and Papa's fins. They have beautiful vertical fins now. The height of the fins is directly related to the amount of space they have in which to grow, and it sets the stage for the rest of their lives. With Papa, Lindsay Buckingfish, being ten inches tall, these babies have good genes.

The blue thing in the upper corner is a way to clean the algae off the glass without me having to put my hand in the tank. With the parents vigilantly defending their babies against any perceived threats, I really don't want a fish bite when I'm just trying to clean. The blue cleaner has two parts - one on the inside and a magnetic one on the outside. That way, I can move it around on the outside of the glass and the corresponding piece on the inside cleans off the algae.

New Plants

I picked up some new plants at my favorite pet shop, Carroll's Pets in Lumberton, NC.

Angelfish love amazon plants and they gravitate toward brightly colored plants, especially. So I picked up some large red amazon plants.

I also picked up these deep purple plants. They are a bit stiffer than the amazon plants, which makes them stand more erect.

Not only are plants pleasing to the eye, but they can be of practical use when I have more than one pair of angelfish in the same tank. I placed these right in the middle, which creates a visual barrier. Each pair feels like they have more privacy to... do their thing.

On one side, I have the Blues - Jake and Elroy. They haven't laid eggs yet so I'm not quite sure which one is the male and which is the female.

On the other side, I have the Blue Marbles - Billie Holifish and Kurt Ellifish - who jazz things up.

They can easily move from one side to the other, but the plants also help them establish their territory. This tank is 60 gallons and also has a variety of tetra and corys, as well as one pleco who remains well hidden during the daylight.

Struggling to Figure It Out

The koi angels, Robert Redfish and Susan Saranfish, are having difficulty grasping this whole concept of hatching eggs and caring for young.

Angelfish have fins on either side of their body, called pectoral fins. When they lay eggs, the parents should take turns fanning the eggs with those fins. When eggs are separated from the parents, an air stone should be placed under them to keep the water moving and the fungus off.

When the parents don't have the instinct or the experience to fan the eggs, fungus forms. When that goes unchecked, the eggs will not hatch and instead, the fungus will just continue to grow.

This is what has happened with Robert and Susan.

In the picture at right, the eggs have fallen from the arch due to the weight of the fungus. It's the white "stuff" you see in the corner of the picture - and if you look closely, it's also on the snail, who is probably loving this protein-rich meal.

I can do a regular water change, in which I can place the suction hose directly atop the fungus and eggs to suck them up and away. Or, if there were only a few, I can use a turkey baster to suck them up. (Of course, the baster is ONLY used for the fish tanks - no need to avoid my house on Thanksgiving Day!)

Because Robert and Susan have laid eggs multiple times, they will continue to lay them. Eventually, they will figure it out and at some point, the eggs will begin to be taken care of properly (we hope).

Friday Friends - Mattie and Skipper

Last Friday, I mentioned that my foxhound Mattie had passed away of old age. I'd like to tell you about her and her twin brother Skipper. But I'll have to begin with the dogs I had before them.

Years ago, I had an Old English Mastiff named Charmer and an Australian Shepherd we named Buddy because we adopted him to be a friend to Charmer. Both were rescue dogs and they were inseparable. When Charmer passed away of old age, Buddy was inconsolable. He refused to eat and he sat for hours on end staring down the long driveway where he'd last seen us load Charmer into the car and drive him off to the vet. He grieved so strongly that I was concerned that he would also pass away.

So one day, we put a bright red bandana on Buddy and we made a trip to the Richmond (VA) SPCA. And Buddy helped us pick out not one new companion for him--but two. We selected the foxhounds from a litter of five which the volunteers had named "the Butters". Skipper was originally "Peanut Butter" and Mattie was originally "Apple Butter"; their siblings were Nutter Butter, Lemon Butter and Almond Butter.

They were five months old and Buddy, who from this point on would be Uncle Buddy, was twelve years old. He was fabulous with them. One day I was sitting at my desk when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Buddy leading the two pups through the house in a line. Curious, I watched Buddy walk into the bathroom and drink out of the toilet bowl, and then nudge Skipper toward it. Mattie was so apprehensive that it took Buddy getting behind her and pushing her with his nose into the bathroom, where she discovered that big white bowl held the best water. He then walked them to the other two bathrooms, where they repeated the exercise.

We lived in Virginia then and our back yard was over an acre. Skipper and Mattie used to race around the back yard at a hundred miles an hour, with Uncle Buddy barking the whole time. There was the day when I brought home some mulch in bags and left them on the side of the house. When the Twins discovered it, they barked furiously, ran away, then raced back and barked some more, as if the giant bags were going to come after them.

Uncle Buddy had bad knees which at that time were not repairable and one cold winter, he passed away. The next spring, we moved to North Carolina and the Twins had a new home. Instead of living in the country, they were now in town with a wrought iron fence they could see through. They loved watching people walk or jog around the neighborhood and until Skipper's health prevented it, I used to walk them around the neighborhood. Having two large dogs pulling on the leashes, checking each culvert for signs of fox or cats, was better than lifting weights.

Then one day, Skipper became paralyzed from the neck down with an FCE (fibrocartilaginous embolism). We brought him two hours away to NC State's world-renowned Veterinary Hospital and within the week, he was transferred to the Animal Rehabilitation and Wellness Institute, where he learned how to stand and walk again. During that time, I drove each day to see him. When I came home, as long as Mattie could smell her brother on my clothes, she was okay. I'd spend the evenings with her, telling her that Skipper would be home soon.

When he came home, Mattie was ecstatic. She wanted to play but quickly learned that Skipper was weak and still needed help to walk. He grew stronger and Mattie always watched over him to make sure he was okay. (Shown below: Skipper coming home from the hospital. The shaved areas on his back were done at the hospital.)





We eventually adopted Simone, a collie, and Mattie became the Matriarch. When we adopted Eddie the Jack Russell, she became known as Mama Mattie. She helped with housebreaking and she showed them the ropes the same way that Buddy had shown her.

Simone was emaciated and there was a time in which we didn't think she'd make it, which was why we fostered her through the Robeson County Humane Society, fell in love with her, and adopted her. I wanted her to learn how to go in and out of the doggie doors so she would have a freedom she'd never experienced before. But she acted like we were trying to stuff her into a tiny box. So I asked Mattie to teach her. Mattie would jump through the doggie door, bark on the other side, and then jump back through and nudge Simone. Very quickly, Simone was learning that it was okay to go through it and it opened up a whole new world for her.

When I wanted Simone to know she would come to my office upstairs any time she wanted, I tried to get her to walk up the stairs. She was terrified of them. So I again asked Mattie to teach her. Mattie ran up the stairs, barked at the top, ran back down, and nudged Simone. I went on to my office and heard Mattie up and down, up and down, barking. About ten minutes later, there was Simone, coming into the office.

Skipper passed away about two years ago, not from the FCE but from his stomach twisting. By that time, we had Simone and Eddie and we soon added Lucy, another Jack Russell mix who is also a rescue. (We don't buy any dogs; we always rescue them.) Mattie was fabulous with them all. Below is a video of Mattie and Simone playing with Eddie. Skipper was too infirmed to play so he was standing beside me as I filmed.



Simone, especially, missed her terribly in the days after she passed. I spoke to her a couple of times, mentioning Mattie's name, and letting her know that she was with Skipper now. She seems to understand.

In my mind's eye, I see Mattie and Skipper the way they were when they were younger, racing around the yard at breakneck speed, leaping off the deck onto the ground below, ensuring our yard was free of birds and squirrels. And all the time, Uncle Buddy is barking his head off at them and Charmer is still chasing the Frisbee he loved.

Friday Friends - Thunder Shirts and Mattie

I wrote the blog below on Saturday because I am out of my office all week, but late Saturday night, Mattie passed away. The picture below is the last one I took of her.

Mattie was ancient for a foxhound and had touch-and-go moments, particularly over the past year or so. I awakened Saturday morning to her wheezing, and as the day wore on she could not get comfortable but began pacing; she couldn't sit and she couldn't lie down but popped right back up.

So we phoned the vet, whose office had closed, but she immediately dropped everything (God bless her!) and met us at the clinic. Mattie's heart had filled with fluid and her lungs were filling also, signs that her organs were failing and she was passing away naturally of old age. We made the humane decision to stop the pain for her, and helped her slip peacefully away...

Below is the blog I wrote before she passed...

THUNDER SHIRTS

It has rained every day for nearly three weeks straight. It hasn't been an all-day, slow, soaking rain but rather flashes of storms that terrify my two oldest dogs, Mattie the foxhound and Simone the collie. Thunder, in particular, can send both of them into sheer panic as they run from one room to the next, looking for a place where the barking sky can not get to them.

So when several friends recommended the Thunder Shirt, I knew I had to check it out. I bought a Large for Mattie (who is now 55 pounds) and an Extra-Large for Simone, who is 87 pounds.

The Thunder Shirt goes on extremely easy, which was key because if I can't get it on them during a storm, the shirt is useless. It velcros in place and fits snuggly around them. The theory, according to the box, is the gentle yet firm pressure is soothing to them.

At the first rumble of thunder, I slipped Mattie's Thunder Shirt on her. (shown at right) She immediately calmed down. But when the storm continued through the night, she began to stress again - though not quite as badly as she had before.

When I slipped the Thunder Shirt around Simone, it was trickier as she was hiding behind the couch in an effort to hide from the barking sky. She has also long fur and I was concerned about catching it in the velcro. However, the shirt seemed to have calmed her down, even though she seemed more confused by it than Mattie did.

I ended up also purchasing a Calming Collar for Mattie. The combination of the Thunder Shirt and Calming Collar is keeping her from hyperventilating, which is a huge improvement. The Calming Collar emits pheromones that remind the dog of being protected by her mother as a puppy. The Collar emits a chamomile and lavender scent which is quite pleasant.

Simone, so far, has only needed the Thunder Shirt.

They aren't cheap - between $39 and $49 each depending on the size and where they are purchased - but I'd say they were worth the price. The Calming Collar was $12 on sale at PetSmart and it also was worth the price.

When Can Angelfish Be Sold?

In my opinion, a lot of angelfish are sold when they are too young, leading to a higher mortality rate and a lot of grief among people who purchase them.

Technically, angelfish can be sold when they are "dime size", meaning their bodies are the size of a dime. I have seen many angelfish babies sold when their entire bodies - including those beautiful vertical fins - are the size of a dime. This is entirely too young for them to go through the stress of shipping and then acclimating to new water conditions - and then again when they go from the pet shop to the home.

I won't sell Vicki's Angels until their bodies are the size of a quarter. This allows me to keep them on freshly hatched brine shrimp until they can begin to be weaned onto dry flakes. I will begin the weaning process when they are about 4-6 weeks old, depending upon their size.

That means they will most likely go to the pet shop when they are between the age of 8 and 10 weeks.

Growing Angels

I've come to the conclusion that angelfish lay eggs every two to three weeks and lay around 300 eggs because very few of the eggs will actually result in angelfish that grow to adulthood.

But with the last two batches (both in the same honeymoon suite) I tried an experiment. Rather than change the water when the fish were less than two weeks old, I let it go. The result is that I have more angel babies surviving to the ripe old age (so far) of three weeks old.



So this weekend I will change the water - around 25% - because there is algae growing in the tank now. Algae is not harmful to fish unless it begins to completely take over the tank. However, it is unsightly.

Part of the reason for the algae outbreak is the fact that I feed the babies brine shrimp at least twice a day. The brine shrimp pollutes the water. However, because brine shrimp must hatch in saltwater, I am constantly adding that water to the tank - and the salt is also helpful in growing strong angelfish.

One reason Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick may have laid more eggs when they already had babies to care for is the plethora of brine shrimp in the tank. When food is plentiful, they are more likely to lay eggs.

Connect the Dots

I was asked recently why I have a blog on angelfish breeding if I am a writer of suspense.

My Black Swamp Mysteries series features two CIA undercover operatives. And as anyone knows, to remain undercover, they need a "cover story". Theirs is that they are angelfish breeders.

Why angelfish breeders? Because it's a solitary job and to be able to leave at a moment's notice, travel halfway around the world, and possibly be gone for weeks, they couldn't work in an office environment where their sudden disappearance would raise suspicion. (Don't worry; when they're gone, someone else with the CIA helps with their fish.)

Also, I found that most people's eyes glaze over when I mention fish, so I thought it would be the perfect cover. No one would ask detailed questions because they wouldn't care about fish breeding, and everyone would think they were just two boring people... Never knowing they have more excitement in a day than most people will experience in a lifetime.

If you'd like to read about the ins and outs of fish breeding AND being a CIA operative - based on the real United States' psychic spy program - start with Vicki's Key, shown here.

Brine Shrimp

I've often mentioned that I grow brine shrimp to feed to the baby angelfish. Because the babies are barely the size of a pinhead when they hatch, they need something very tiny to fit into their mouths and tummies.

I have a brine shrimp hatchery and I often will pour some of the water and shrimp into a glass grapefruit jar (cleaned out, of course) while hatching more shrimp in the hatchery. The babies eat a lot so they are fed twice a day.

Here's what brine shrimp babies look like up close:



Friday Friends - Lucy and the Blanket

Now that winter is officially gone and summer is here, I've been washing and putting away blankets and heavy comforters.

I washed one blanket and set it on the stairs so I could take it upstairs the next time I was going to the second floor anyway (why put myself through extra exercise?)

Lucy, the Jack Russell-Basset Hound mix, spied the blanket on the steps and tried to protect us from it. Notice how she starts to run away when she thinks the blanket has begun to move!