River Tank Babies!!!

Gary Herring · Post by **Gary Herring** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:08 am

Got to be Sewellia surely!?!

That would be my (admittedly fairly uneducated) guess anyway. It's the fins, particularly the dorsel in the top picture - both the markings and the way the fin is raised seem very Sewellia-like to me.

And as for getting bored of this thread - NO WAY!!! The first thing I do when I get into work every morning is log on to check the developments of these fry - and I don't think im alone in that either - so keep the pictures comin!

chris1932 · Post by **chris1932** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:05 am

The young fry are changing so fast. I love looking at the pictures. I finally got all of the inhabitants that are not hillstreams out of my river tank and into a more tropical setup. Temp is now down in the high 60s and has it ever changed the way the fish act and interact. I am having fun. Hope to someday have the luck of others and get my hillstreams to do some egg laying. Your posts are a valuable asset to everyone, your photography is phenomenal. How would I post pictures on here? I am kind of new to this

mamaschild · Post by **mamaschild** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:15 am

OH....definately DON'T stop posting and updating us. This is FASCINATING

I love the pics

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:28 pm

Thank you to everyone who has responded with such enthusiasm! I'm so pleased that everyone is enjoying watching the development of the fry!

chris1932 wrote:How would I post pictures on here? I am kind of new to this.

Chris and Denise Moscarell

To post pictures, you first have to upload your photographs to a web page. All is explained here in this thread: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=5

Hope this helps,

Emma

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:39 pm

Here is today's photographic update (10/07/2006).......

First off, a view from the back:

Apologies for the shadow on this one. I included it as I thought it showed the pectoral fins and mouth 'barbels' quite clearly:

Friends on the glass together:

The pattern and colouration on the darker loach here is amazing:

And a little closer....

Emma

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:20 pm

Hmmmmm..........

Lookin' good!

Martin.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:38 pm

That dark individual is beginning to develop sewellia like markings on the front half and the head shape definately seems to indicate sewellia.
Whatever they are it has been very fascinating watching the metamorphasis they are going through. Certainly more than do cheni and disparis fry.
Speaking of disparis fry, I ran accross this pic the other day of my disparis fry on Bob Darnell's Loach Gallery. Sorry for the quality (or lack there of) of the pics. But they do indicate that while the pattern of bars changes greatly on disparis as they mature, the shape is very much like the adults. This makes me think Emma's fish could, in fact, be Sewellia instead of Annamia.
http://www.bobd.lunarpages.com/loaches/jim022.html

Mark in Vancouver · Post by **Mark in Vancouver** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:54 pm

Surely these younsters could have arrived as contaminants in a shipment, no? Once I discovered miniscule tetra fry after I brought a plant home. Any chance of eggs being deposited in substrate - or even on/in fish, Emma? They still don't look like Sewellia to me, but I think we have ruled out the alternatives.

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:41 pm

She's pretty much R/O any contaminant ingress into the tank Mark. Nothing introduced in the required time frame.

I'm going with Sewellia now based on what I see developing and my theory of evolutionary snapshots (pages back) in the development stages seems to be on the money.

Martin..... Usually more Drawin' than Darwin.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:53 pm

Notice how they appear to be turning yellow, not only on the fins, but the dorsal edge of the body and the head.

Mike Ophir · Post by **Mike Ophir** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:53 pm

Wow, Emma! Simply amazing. I would have to change my opinion after viewing these photos and say that what you have look to be like Sewellia fry.
Keep those photos and discussion comiing!
Any chance you want to send those fry to me?? hehe

Mike

Mike Ophir · Post by **Mike Ophir** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:27 pm

I said annamia fry earlier before seeing this latest pictures. Interesting development now that I have taken the time to read over all the posts and look over all the pictures regarding fry development. They sure do look like Sewellia.

Mike

Mark in Vancouver · Post by **Mark in Vancouver** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 1:06 am

I hope you're right, Mike - and Emma and Jim and Martin. The fins are right, but the transition of the flattened head and the lateral stripes will be something to see. Glad to see it here first, whatever happens!

If these are Sewellia fry, the question occurs... Surely the mature patterns would only be for mating purposes. I cannot think of another evolutionary reason for going from well-camouflaged to garishly camouflaged. Perhaps the mature pattern is really well suited to the substrates and surroundings in the habitat - but... Sewellia are kind of like show-loaches due to their pattern.

We need more pictures of fry from all species, I think. Meanwhile, it's pretty cool to watch.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:46 am

I thought it'd be interesting to compare one of the pics taken early on, to one of the pics taken yesterday.

This one was taken on Jun 22nd:

This one yesterday (10/07):

To me it looks like the head is 'flattening' out, and the markings are becoming very much more defined.

Mark in Vancouver wrote:Surely these younsters could have arrived as contaminants in a shipment, no? Once I discovered miniscule tetra fry after I brought a plant home. Any chance of eggs being deposited in substrate - or even on/in fish, Emma?

Nothing fits the time frame, Mark. We haven't added anything other than a few female Sewellia lineolata (oh and that Cryptocoryne from the Clown tank). Even if we had added something, the chances of the eggs/fry all making it through the catching and acclimatisation processes, then floating around the tank in front of the voracious Danio hikaris and Schistura balteata (who grab anything that moves) and making it into the filter, are pretty low.

Emma

Mike Ophir · Post by **Mike Ophir** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:33 am

Indeed. It will be interesting to see how these fry develop. How many fry are there? Please keep us updated, this is great stuff.

Mike

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