fish rescue (maybe too late)

Two of the young clown loaches in our aquarium have been struggling. I think they're starving to death.

Watching the poor emaciated wee things try to get some food I've noticed that they just can't compete. Every time they finally find a sinking pellet or a flake, one of the (much) larger fish steals the food. I'd been trying to sneak them some pellets in a corner of the tank that's well planted, but it doesn't seem to have worked.

This evening I picked up a tiny net on the way home from work and moved the poor things to a water bucket I'd set aside yesterday with the chlorine treatment drops and an aquarium plant in it. I then moved the bubbler/sponge-filter into the bucket to help keep the nitrites in check and provide some oxygen. I've added some food and we'll see what happens. One of the fish is now so thin and listless that I think this whole operation may have come a week late.

If I only hadn't been working so much overtime!

Speaking of which, we've had a reprieve from our audit, oddly. I am not complaining. It's damn nice to be able to work on one single thing for thirty minutes again.