Wednesday 23dr April 2008.
The sun has been out big time, to say it was hot working on the mud ponds this afternoon is an understatement!
The water in mud pond 13 and 14 has warmed considerably today and is warm enough for the first spawning attempts. I did not expect the water to warm as much as it has over the last 24 hours, I could have brought the parents in tomorrow morning, but plans have been made for Friday, so that's the way it will stay.
Cassie and I prepared the spawning nets and they are hanging over their mud ponds ready for Friday morning. Mud pond 12 is filling overnight, as you will remember I said in an earlier blog that the next pond has to be filled to the same level to stop any fry finding their way through the cracked banks of the ponds.
I hung on late this evening, the day was so hot that working in the evening becomes attractive! The pump which feeds the water to the toilet packed up a couple of days ago, I found another which I thought may have been Ok, but sadly has been working erratically and occasionally throwing the main RDC. So this evening I fitted a new one, I left the farm at 8pm, the pump was running fine, but turned it off till the morning just in case of any problems.
One of the floating nets, ready to be dropped into the pond Friday morning.
It looks a bit mucky, but that's as clean as they come after a couple of years.