You've got a nice fat head, Fathead...

I guess having a nice fat head still doesn't attract the females. Neither does having sexy stripes.

Yes, I am back at it as most of you know. This is my week to try and get some eggs out of these fathead minnows. So far, no good.

I put a second male in the breeding tank at 2:00 yesterday. He is all dark and stripedy, and good looking. I wanted to give him some time to get used to the tank and the presence of the other male.

At 10:00pm last night, I came back and put the three plumpest females into the tank and left. The theory is that if I just leave them alone, they will get over their shyness and spawn.

This was the theory. It has proven to be false so far. 17 hours into it and there are still no eggs.

This is my second check up on the fish. I came over at 9:00am thinking that 11 hours might be enough time. No. At 3:00 (20 minutes ago) I came back. Apparently another 5 hours is not enough time either.

On the upside, I got a bank deposit made and watched The Empire Strikes Back with Kirsti. On the down side, I am running out of time again. I think that if this goes much past Wednesday I am going to have call it quits. I can't miss another week of work this month.

Which has me wondering...

I am going to be gone a week to go to Utah when Kirsti goes for school. I am also now (thanks to wonderful sisters) trying to plan in Disney World in July. Not to mention the two days that I am missing for Johnson Shut-ins.

It may not seem like much, but that is already a lot of work to miss.

Plus I have this little dog now who is much more needy that I previously thought.

We think that she was neglected during her two years with the previous owners and maybe even moderately abused. This means that she needs extra care which means less picking up shifts.

This also means that I need money for grooming, spaying, shots, more food, etc.

Also, two of my three roommates are pretty much no longer living at home. Is it fair to have them pay electricity and water? One of them spends SOME time at home. So should we charge her partial? They will both pay rent. No doubt about that. And we have another girl moving in this week so that takes care of some of it.

But will I have enough money to cover all my expenses and can I afford to take off another whole week? (Of course if these fish don't spawn by Wednesday, I am going to finish off the rest of the week and work on Thursday, Friday, Saturday).

I don't know. It's something to think about.

Maybe if it doesn't work this time I will have to tell my professor that I can't try again until the fall. (I would much rather get this over with).

Sigh.

I'm here is the fish lab cooling off because there is hardly any breeze today and walking to the Natural Resources building got me all sweaty.

I will leave soon and come back again at around 8:00 or 9:00. If there is still nothing I will sleep and wait until tomorrow morning.

That is all I have to update.

Time to go home and do something...what? I don't know.