Sexing P. Cheni

[Graeme Robson]

Wow! Yes indeed newly hatched p. cheni.

Amazing pictures.

[Martin Thoene]

Whoah! No Les, that's a first. Short of them being goldfish fry what else can they be? Great photo of what I know have to be tiny fish. As you've noticed, the babies appear as true little fish and this is the first I've seen of tinier fry Way COOL!

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

I've seen the eggs and watched them develop, I've seen the fry in the gravel and newly out of the gravel, but, as Martin said, this is a first!!
Great job capturing them in this stage!!!

[LES..]

Great photo of what I know have to be tiny fish.

Well i did cheat by caching them and placing them in a small plastic jug so they were all corralled into a small area with little water in the way and lots of bright light, shooting fish in a barrel you could say ;-)

They are about 3-4mm long at the moment.

It is pure fluke we did the big baby hunt today, i suspect that a couple of days ether side and we would not have seen anything.

At the last count we have 2 ~8mm fry and 10 of these little guys. We have decided to feed them liquifry 1 food, even if they do not eat it directly it is supposed to stimulate the growth of micro organisms which they i'm sure they'll enjoy.

[Hendra]

Congrats !! LES

Wow !! Its very interesting!! At least, they looks have (pectoral and caudal) fins

[LES..]

I have been trying to get an updated shot of the tiny loaches alas this is the best i have managed:

It is astonishing to see the change over the last 24 hours (i just wish i could get a picture to show you!) there is much more definition to the head with the eyes really starting to show through. I can just make out the start of some blood vessels.
Behaviour wise, they seem more active today, one of the fry has been free swimming while i was watching but they are easily spooked, especially when the net gets attacked by the other fish. Most of them seem to be hiding in the stones this evening but a good number were out on top of the gravel when i turned on the tank light this morning, much excitement as they dived for cover :-)

The camera i used for yesterday's shot has a much better macro lens but i have an underwater housing for this one which means shots like this of my 2-3 week old loaches:


I now have a misssion to get some good shots of the fry over the next few days :-) I Hope this is of some interest to you guys, from the sound of it the early development of p. cheni fry has not been fully documented.

[Jim Powers]

They do develop quickly. I have a pair that tends to lay eggs against the glass. The little fry are visible within the eggs on the third day and look similar to the yellowish fry in your pics., they hatch soon after and disappear into the gravel. I think that they must be a little light sensitive at that point. If I shine a flashlight on the eggs with the fry in them, the little fellas start wiggling. I think this must be a survival strategy that keeps them in the gravel until they are better able to fend for themselves.
Keep those pics coming!! They are very much appreciated!!

[Graeme Robson]

Excellent pictures. It's always a joy to watch the developments of fry, epically loaches.

[LES..]

Day three and i managed to get this shot:


It's the best of a bad bunch (i.e. all the rest just show gravel!) but you can see the decrease in the size of the egg sack and how the eyes are much more prominent.

[Martin Thoene]

These are great shots LES. As the other members of the Hillstream Collective are saying, the documentation of this is way cool and cutting edge.

Oh by the way......have you realized that you've been assimilated?....You didn't even resist

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Once again, great pic! These little guys should be starting to color up in the next few days. That will be interesting to watch.

And yes, resistance is futile....

[Martin Thoene]

Indeed Jim...........



We are Hillstream......

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Hmmmm... That's kind of creepy...If you look on that map and see the huge blob that is Chicago, look to the southeast and see that big dot (that's Indianapolis) then look at the first small dot to the southwest of that .....THAT"S ME!!! Of course I already knew I had been assimilated.

[Graeme Robson]

Nicely set!

Although i would think a Asian map is more appropriate.

[Martin Thoene]

The Collective did not make entire composite. Asia is assimilated.

All your base are belong to us

Martin of 1