New loach pics, lots with external light.

[Vancmann]

Hello everybody, its been a long time since I have taken pictures of my "little Orcas". Now I have new additions, my baby loaches, to the tank that make photography of my fish exciting again. Besides the obstacle of the top of my tank being covered with plants, I was able to fit an external flash above the tank in the thick bushes to get the lighting.

I will start off with some begging for food pictures. Also, I apologize for the condition of the glass of my tank. It is an old tank that I bought used. It is quite scratched up and dirty from water marks.

But first a pic of my whole tank. The plants have cut off about 90% of the lighting which makes focusing of the camera a bit of a challenge.


Now some begging for food pictures:
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Now some other pictures.
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[andyroo]

Lobster???
Spoiled, apparently. Happy as well, apparently.
Brilliant and well inspiring.
A

[Vancmann]

Lobster???
Spoiled, apparently. Happy as well, apparently.
Brilliant and well inspiring.
A

Good catch. They go crazy for the stuff and it keeps them working to suck the meat out completely from the tails.

[Donna]

However hard they may have to work for their food, they sure look like they're eating more calories than they burn ... they're fat and sassy, like they should be. Oh, I love their little barbelled mouths!

[andyroo]

I give mine full leg-sections separated at the joint. The long tube of meat keeps 'em well busy. The gleeful clicking is deafening.
A

[Vancmann]

They have had such an appetite lately, I could probably hide the food in the plants above the tank and have them work harder to get it so they dont get so fatty.

BTW Andyroo, one of my clowns can easily eat a couple hundred eggs. If its from the Giand Danios off course.

[chefkeith]

Very nice.

[Vancmann]

Thanks man

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hey Vancmann!

Aren´t there too many plants on top? How can you possible do WC and vaccuming on this tank?

Fishes looks very beuatifull, happy and healty. Nice job. Keep going!

[Vancmann]

Hey Vancmann!

Aren´t there too many plants on top? How can you possible do WC and vaccuming on this tank?

Fishes looks very beuatifull, happy and healty. Nice job. Keep going!

Exactly, its a pain in the behind. Plus I destroy some plants everytime i have to do anything more than a WC.

[Barracuda518]

Incredible tank and loaches. Well done.

[glenna]

those are beautiful loaches! fat and healthy. From the picture I also get the sense that they get along and like each other! (I am such a sap)
and I love that cool tank.. the plants on top really work for you, I'll bet and I am sure the fish appreciate the water quality

your tank is an inspiration

[Vancmann]

Glenna, Barracuda518, Thanks for the compliments

Glenna, I try not to get them fat but a couple of them get lots more than their share. I am working on an exercize program for them. lol.
Also, they actually, for the most part and I will explain, get along very well with each other, good intuition. There are seldon fights with the occasion of the new younglings figuring out pecking order. The only main grumpy one is the largest female (alpha female). She is extremely agressive around feeding time and even does damage (surface?) to the little ones as well as the other big loaches. After the food is gone and she calms down all is back to normal loving community. Loaches sure are forgiving with each other. I also think that is natural for the alpha to be aggresive to discourage any potential challenges.
I think they are all much happier with the plants sucking up any extra dissolved matter in the tank. It shows by their eager appetite and lack of shyness.

I will be starting a new post with some videos of them.

[Botia Robert]

Nice pics V-man! As usual good looking clowns.

[Vancmann]

Thank you Rob. I will be posting some videos soon. First, I have to figure out how to upload videos from my old camcorder to my computer. Missing some software.