I went to Ocean Aquarium today to buy another Rasbora maculata to replace Muninn, who died during the heatwave. Huginn, the other tiny rasbora seems fine on his own, but I was disappointed to learn that Justin had just sold his last R. maculata yesterday.

So, he introduced me to a couple of ultra-tiny killifish. He called them Rocket Killifish, which I've seen refered to as Clown Killifish, Epiplatys annulatus, and banded panchax. Although they are one of the first killies identified, they are rare, like R. maculata.

You can view pics of them here, here, and here.

Our recent heatwave in San Francisco (not very hot, but hot enough to matter) raised the temperature in both my tanks to about 82 degrees Farenheit. Not good. The 10G tank fared better, with no casualties, but Asgard lost two fine citizens: one of the Norns and one of the Rasboras (the female). Thor (SAE), not surprisingly, fared exceptionally well, as did the remaining Crystal Red, Lifthrasir.

I'm going to add one or two of the mini Rasbora maculata, but only after I know the weather is going to settle down. And after I'm sure I've taken care of the Tiger shrimp population explosion from the Norns' breeding frenzy back in February.

Otherwise, the tanks are healthy and lovely to look at.

Since last I posted, the Norns' active breeding created a population explosion, which required me to remove and destroy over a dozen very young shrimp (before they, themselves, could begin to breed). But I now have a manageable stable of great young shrimp, some of whom I'll transfer to the 10G to assist their elders in grazing on that tank's slow and unthreatening algae.

In the meantime, the experiment of packing the tank with cryptos and letting some willowy grass go wild has been enjoyable. I took the following photo tonight. Tomorrow, I plan to prune the Ludwigia and Rotala to create some needed bushiness (not too much, or even as much as what I had in the previous Asgard crop). The Hygrophila is massive in its growth, dwarfing the normally dominant Rotala. I like how it opposes the fountain grass on the right.

Compare this image to the photo from March 26, the day I replanted.