These two fish were purchased on the way back home from burying our dear old dog, Fred (who some of you may know of). The hope was to breed them in remembrance of him, as a way of saying that "life goes on...."
The were first placed in the 65 gallon "seahorse" tank. At first, the larger of the two was really mean to the smaller one, and would beat it up at every opportunity. The poor little one could hardly come out to eat without getting attacked! This lasted for a couple of weeks, and then, suddenly, they became an inseparable, peaceful pair.
Next thing that happened was that an unquarantined introduction of a Yellow Clown Goby came down with Ich, and the neons, doing their "cleaner" thing, also became quite Ich infested. The two Neon Gobies, the Yellow Clown Goby, and the male P. tapienosoma in this tank were given FW dips and moved to a hospital tank, and treated with copper.
Ultimately, the Yellow Clown Goby died, the P. tapeinosoma never did show any signs of Ich, and the Neon Gobies recovered from the Ich. Unfortunately, I've not had time to deal with moving any of these three fish into other accomodations, so they've stayed in this hospital tank, with some PVC caves for shelter.
Inspired by Tal's recent reports of his Neon Gobies spawning and hatching, I thought I'd check the PVC caves tonight -- just for giggles. Here is what I saw:
I have no idea when these eggs were laid. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes out for a hatch, or else be forewarned, and pay closer attention to the next spawn!