Abnormals are Fun

It is with much regret that I must report the loss of the CFZ-NZ mascot Oscar (fish), he mysteriously disappeared out of a totally enclosed tank. And after some hunting was brought in by the dog, carrying him ever so gently in her mouth. There was not a mark on him, and he had been dead for some time as he was quite dry.

This led to a very large empty fish tank. I decided to transfer the whitebait and reset up the current maker to simulate a river bottom.
All went well for a few days and then I suddenly found I was down to 2 whitebait. The next day was down to the large female so I was determined to sort out this mystery.
Now Nelson was a very big fish, and considering this fact and the amount of waste an Oscar producers I had removed the need projective funnel from the bottom of the filter tube, the mystery of the missing whitebait solved and the filter funnel was replaced. I am now down to one large female whitebait but should have no problem getting more once the whitebait season starts again in September.

The highlight of the week however, was while browsing the local pet shops I came across three fish tanks full of frogs. Someone had thoughtfully segregated the deformed one's from the normal ones. Most of the deformities, and there were quite a number of frogs.
I suspect a large number of deformities are due to some toxins in the water where they would gathered. Regrettably the owner of the shop had no idea where they had been gathered from.
What caught my attention most was that four of these blind frogs, and they are blind as there is no sign of vestigial eyes whatsoever, the four  that caught my attention were a golden colour. Although at the transitional stage I had never before heard of golden litoria aurea, so was very anxious to get my hands on these animals.
I set them up in a tank at home and they seemed quite happy, although regrettably one found the only gap in the lid of the tank and was found dry and dead on the study floor. It has since been preserved and a jar of methylated spirits.

After Jon referred me on to Richard fish food was recommended and as the frogs mature hand feeding. I am ever so grateful for your help Richard, thank you.

Even though I have not seen them eat their bellies seem to look full and they seemed quite content.
These new abnormals were quite a delight to my granddaughter who remembers the last time we had frogs and she had to run around with a net catching flies to be put into a jar and then into the freezer to slow them down for transfer into the frog tank.

It should be very interesting to see how these abnormals develop and they are extremely fascinating to watch.
Judging from the percentage of abnormals however it is easy to see why frogs worldwide are in danger.