The population boom in my 10 gallon aquarium gave me a reason to purchase a second tank. The second tank should be twice as big, right?
The second aquarium gave me a way to divide my molly fish family by gender. Molly fish are born looking female. As they age, the anal fins either remain fan-shaped or narrow. Observing the fins during feeding time became part of my daily routine and health check. As fins narrowed, the male molly fish were separated from the females.
Now, the number of molly fish will remain at eleven. Since there are more females, they get to reside in the larger tank. The mother, Molly, was “queen of the tank,” but has been dethroned by her daughter, Stretch. The other mollies in the tank are Slim, Jim, Dot and two with no names. It just gets harder to tell them apart…
Life, finds a way
I managed to get the molly population under control, but the catfish keep coming! Since I cannot tell the difference between catfish genders, I have no way of keeping their population totally under control. One has moved into a friend’s tank, with more invited over to join.
The families of catfish are soooo fun to watch! Throughout the day, watching the various sizes swimming around together makes me smile. Survival of the fittest is the rule of life for any new arrivals.
Company when dining alone
Having the 20 gallon aquarium in the dining room is nice when eating alone. As someone who struggles to eat, having a tank full of fish to watch while dining is great!
The 20 gallon tank currently houses 7 female mollies, the original pair of catfish plus an unknown number of their children, two nerite snails, a hillstream loach and a couple of cherry shrimp. Betta spent a short time in the 20 gallon tank. As he got older, the stronger current was harder to navigate. So, he was moved back into the smaller, calmer tank.