Message from Mike Jacobs -Reply

[William Vannerson <William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org>]

>>It's good to be back.........Bill, how are those
youngsters???<<

Good to see you're back, Mike.

All but two of the fry survived the shipment.  I then proceeded
to kill off most of them.  I'm really not sure what happened. 
Things got (and still are) real crazy at work so I was not able
to spend much time with my tanks.  That plus the extensive
rock work hide them from my view.  I'd see an occasional fry
near the cave entrances and figured the rest were secluded
deep inside.

Anyway, it wasn't until last weekend that I really became
worried because I noticed that I haven't seen a borelli in a
while.  So I started to lift up rocks and moving things around. 
It appears that I have about 6-7 gibaceps and that all of the
borelli are gone (major bummer).

As I said above, I'm not sure what happened.  The Angels (p.
scalare) could have gotten them.  But there was no problem
before when I kept them with the j. transcriptus and t.
bifrenatus young-ins, and the rock caves provide ample hiding
places.  Or it could have been the baby bushynose plecos,
but everything I've read says they should be fine and they are
very small, about an inch.

Like I said, the rock work is extensive.  I plan on re-arranging
the tank this weekend.  Learning from this experience, I'll
make sure that I can see into each rock cave.

I was going to call you, but I, frankly, I was a little
embarrassed by the whole thing.  I decided to post this on
the list so that others may learn from my experience.

FYI - the two fry that died in transport got caught in the pleats
of the bag on the bottom.  Even though you double bagged
with the inside bag inverted (to avoid trapping them in the
corners), the large size of the bags caused folds near the
center where the bag was twisted.  This is where they got
caught.  It have been a fluke, I haven't shipped/received large
bags before.  Or maybe several smaller bags would be safer.

Bill Vannerson
McHenry, IL USA
william_vannerson@ama-assn.org