Raising Tadpoles (Day 28) - Top to Bottom

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Day 28 - One issue that has arisen due switching over to use of the gravel vac instead of the turkey baster for tank cleaning is the tadpole powder that remains on the bottom of the tank. The only way to clean all of it is to press the vac flush against the bottom and slowly scrape it along to minimize the resultant jerkiness while moving. The tadpoles certainly don't seem to mind too much - outside of when they try to swim up the gravel vac tube - the tadpole food that isn't removed end up circulating in the water again, giving them a second meal for the day.

The sides of the 20 gallon are smooth and the tank is constructed at right angles as opposed to the slight slant the 5 gallon's sides, which helped food to stick. Subsequently, the tadpoles no longer congregate along the sides of the tank the way they did in the 5 gallon. They now spend their time sweeping along the bottom sucking up any powder they can get and spit out anything else.

Attempting to take pictures of them has become quite a bit more difficult as the tadpoles have aged. They're now faster, more active, and more flighty when the camera's near them. I'd say they're now experts at waiting until a split second prior to the picture being taken before the book it in a random direction. A few still like to hang out along the top and sides but more of them simply spend most of their time at the bottom and quickly poke at the surface for air, with a little 'pop' sound, before diving back down again to the bottom. You can see little lanes of traffic form along the bottom, however, these are rudimentary compared to the lanes you'd see formed by ants - the lanes as fluid as the water itself.

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