Freshly hatched Montecristo fry (a Central American cichlid, scientific name Oscura heterospila). While I was collecting them, I noticed something very interesting: this batch is smaller than any other fry clutch I’ve pulled, and when I siphoned them out (using the air hose), they scattered everywhere. But only about 15–30 minutes later, they’d found each other and gathered back into a cluster. Remember: newly hatched fry can’t swim yet — they can only move along the bottom by fluttering their tails constantly (more crawling than swimming).
This shows a very clear schooling instinct, which is a decisive factor for survival. I could sit and watch these little ones all day and not get bored. It feels like I want to follow them all the way to adulthood.
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