My new beauties

As promised. a couple of pictures of my new fish. Unfortunately, taking pictures of fish is a tad harder than i expected... ;-) So i had to cheat with one of them. I got it from the net :-/

First a picture of one of my blue gourami fish. Its dutch name is "blauwe spat" because of its blue colour and signature black dots (3). They are very peacefull, friendly fish. Except towards one another... I was a little worried about the little one (which i expect to be male) because the bigger one (female, picture) kept nipping at it. After a few days he got fed up and started fighting back. They fight dirty by the way. Nipping at the other when its back is turned! At the moment there is a truce only occasionally broken by a few catfights. Especially when i stand in front of the glass. They always seem to greet me when i get home (food, food!). I'm still can't be sure about their gender because the telltale elongated male spinal fin develops when they are fully grown (12 cm). They are now about 6/7 cm long. I'm going to add one gourami. Once i've figured out which genders i currently have. The ideal combination is one male and 2/3 females. 2 males results in vicious fighting...

Second a picture of 3 pink tetra's, all female. The males have beautiful black elongated spinal fins. I have 2 males, 6 females and one yet to be determined :-) When i get my new aquarium i'm going add a couple. They are more beautiful and happier in bigger groups (12+). They are related to the piranha by the way :-) It's a lot of fun watching them at feeding time.
 

Last but not least. My corydoras punctatus, or "cory". They are very shy fish so i have not been able to take a picture of mine/ Instead a picture of the net. Mine are darker. Probably because i have dark gravel (they adapt). I have 6 at the moment but i'm going to at least double that number. I hope they'll get a little less shy when i do. They are really cute when they are grazing. Like a little flock of hyperactive sheep :-) They don't look very pretty in most pictures but they (mine) have a beautiful golden sheen. Like the gourami's they are capable of "breathing" air. They swim to the surface (fast) and take a big gulp of air. They use their stomach to extract the air. The gourami have a special organ (labyrinth) to extract the oxygen.