Humorous evening

Went out on a collecting run in my creek, which is finally settling down after all the rain. Got to get something in this tank I just set up. It's still early and cold, so not a lot moving, sunfish are still not coming out. But I did get two small darters, look like immature rainbows, and two large crawfish, about 3" long, green so they must have recently shed their shells. (they're normally brown in this creek) Found them in the riffles, where I was hoping to stir up a sculpin but never did.

It just cracked me up to see how those two behaved. Both wanted the spot under one of the filter intakes, so they started a bluffing battle - waving their claws at each other. One snuck around to the top of a nearby rock, and started aerial harassment, swatting at the other with his claws. They finally settled the affair, with one getting the favored spot, and the other excavating a home under a rock.

I tossed in a bit of flake food to see if they were hungry, and a third smaller cray that had been in the tank for a couple of days crawled out of his hole and pigged out, while the big two just hid. The darters weren't a bit shy, hopped around and snagged a few pieces of the food, which surprised me. They're sticking their noses into everything, very curious.

But seeing those two big crawfish, like a couple of crotchety old men arguing over a favorite park bench, just tickled me pink. Haven't had a native tank for over twenty years - this is going to be fun.