Day 5: BABIES!

Last night was a late night with a dear friend and a couple bottles of wine, so I didn't have a chance to update. By about 9 pm last night I was starting to see some little tails! Neptune has been taking good care of his tiny fry, keeping them in the nest and gently retrieving them when they fall. It's amazing how dedicated he is! He doesn't sleep or eat while tending to the nest and the fry. He ventured from the nest a few times today and I thought he may have been looking for food. I put a few bites of food in for him, but he refused to eat so I had to remove them. It's been nearly five days since his last meal.

It's easy mode for me right now; daddy is doing all the work taking care of the fry until they are free swimming, and I shouldn't even be touching the tank. I try to be very careful when I am looking at the fry, so as not to disturb anything. If the male feels too threatened, he may decide the best thing to do is eat all the fry and destroy the bubble nest, and we don't want that. In another day or two, once those babies are swimming on their own, daddy will come out and get a much needed rest and I will officially become the sole caregiver and provider for a currently unknown number of fry.

Neptune tending to his fry