After months of trying, by pure chance, some of my Rhinogobius fry have finally survived.
Regular readers of the magazine will know that I've developed something of a liking for Rhinogobius and other temperate gobies in recent months.
I'm keeping several species at the moment, and although all of them have spawned, I'd not previously been able to raise any fry.
But good things can happen when you're least expecting it.
Brrrr!
I returned home from work a few weeks ago, when England was in the grips of an Arctic blast and outside temperatures at home had plummeted to -17C, to find that my heater (a Rena SmartHeater, in case you're wondering) had packed up.
The tank had dropped to just 8C and sadly a couple of the biggest gobies, both Rhinogobius candidianus, had succumbed to the cold.
However, amazingly, the other fish were fine and there were quite a few youngsters hopping around among the rocks!
Babies
I'm assuming that they're the offspring of the smaller Rhinogobius from the duospilus complex, and not my candidianus, as the latter are amphidromous and their fry need to spend some time in saltwater to grow, unlike duospilus which breed and grow in freshwater.
All I need to do now is persuade the Mrs to let me have another tank so I can put a pair in their and try and raise the fry properly, rather than try to do everything within the biotope tank.
But, as anyone with a non-fishkeeping partner can tell you, that's a great deal harder than persuading fish to breed!