Perhaps my favorite episode yet in fishkeeping came from a really sad one.
On 2.12.2011 we moved a holding demasoni female into our 20Long holding tank so that she could spit out her fry without having them eating in the 55 gallon tank. We also moved a holding yellow lab to the same tank with the same rationale.
The demasoni had been suffering a lot of losses in getting settled, primarily dying from bloat. The day after we moved her to the 20Long, the holding demasoni female also died. When I found her I tried to pry her mouth open, but no babies came out. It was a sad day.
A little over a week later on 2.20.2011, I was folding laundry near the quarantine tank and noticed the holding yellow lab was letting a couple of fry out of her mouth just for short periods. If I approached, she picked them back up. But at one point, I noticed that the fry she had let out looked dark in color. We had lab fry before and they definitely came out pale in color.
With a little patience, I was able to spy the next time that fry came out of her mouth -- and it was clearly a demasoni! The dying female must have spit out her fry, and the yellow lab picked them up to keep them safe.
The yellow lab ultimately spit out about 18 lab fry and 6 demasoni fry. The demasoni fry were raised in the quarantine tank and added to the 55 gallon demasoni colony on 6.5.2011.
I love how life finds a way.
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