NANFA-- River Reef Report 7/18

kahley (kahley7_at_ptd.net)
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 05:41:55 -0500

Tuesday I peeked at the nest and the swarm was gone....Poof!
I'm so glad my buddy and his wife had a chance to see them
before they moved on. It was good timing for a mess of new catfish.
There used to be a solid pack of six that came and went. I remember
the first time they showed up. This was years ago, more than a decade.
I was just beginning to expand the first small reef and becoming more
comfortable with the fish when the reef was invaded by a school of
catfish.
They were no where near full size...maybe 12-15 inches but with the
mag factor, looked huge to me! I was "schooled" by my fisherman father
in the proper way to remove a catfish from a hook without getting
"stung"
<g> so I considered them a threat and scrambled onto the reef and
watched them circle and vacuum the bottom for the crumbs from my feeding

the minnows and such.
I'm quite used to them now, of course and Curly still begs in my face
and
butts me from behind if I ignore him (or her <g>). Curly and Moe are
the only two survivors or at least the only two who come by anymore,
so it's nice to know there are more born and hopefully growing into new
reef residents. I looked around and there are babies to be seen under
rocks and in the leaf litter on the bottom. It was just last year, I
think,
that I first saw a young, as in under six inches, catfish. I wonder how

big they have to get before they come out from under the rocks in the
day time. I'd dearly love to have night vision snorkel goggles if such
things exist. Oh to see what happens on the reef at night!

If I may ask, someone here gave me some good links of fresh water
fish pics? I lost all my bookmarks when I upgraded over the winter.
Thanks.
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