Number of Fish Removed: 1
Fish officially started eating today, I observed 10 or more of them surfacing during their feeding time. Approximately 50 are off the bottom and swimming now. Moved the final rock today to get all of the hiders to come out. Most of the hiders continued to stay on the bottom after the rock was moved, this indicated to me that they're not quite ready to start swimming for real yet. Discovered that the weak fry has died which is sad, but I expected it to happen eventually, I'm glad that he is no longer suffering. I found him hidden in a crevice next to the bubbler, I noticed that there was an accumulation of fish food that had drifted here and was beginning to pile up also. The fishes eyes were beginning to glaze over and their were patches of scale-less areas on his body, which indicated to me that he had probably died a day or two ago and I just hadn't noticed because he was hidden so well. Now I know to pay close attention to the crevices and make sure we don't have any food or waste accumulating. This could lead to poor water quality.
Of the swimmers, about a dozen are beginning to diffuse to the left side of the tank where the rocks are piled. Most of these fish are staying out in the open water now rather than hiding in the crevices, they are becoming more accustomed to the tank and they are not as afraid to come out and explore. The swimmers have chosen their own sides of the tank now, there are more on the right than on the left. , but instead of facing one direction, they are facing each other, and there is an empty barrier of open water in the middle, it's as if they are about to face off.
The fish are now a lighter green than they were when they first began changing colors, their dark green bands have become more spaced apart and have faded slightly in color. They are more silvery now than green. All the fries still have their pouches, but they are very slight in comparison to when they had first hatched. Their gills have a solid silver on them, their fins are becoming more predominant, their bellies are now a shimmering peach with some silver, the peach will turn silver in bright light. If you look from below, you can see that the pouch is beginning to disappear behind the gills. Their eyes are not as huge in proportion to their body now and they are a yellow/gold with a black pupil. I fed the fish at 11:00 am and again at 3:30 pm and took a few pictures today, too.
