An aquarium mystery

Thomas really pruned down the plants in our aquarium during one of the cleanings last year. He left some hiding places for the smaller tetras, but the rainbowfish prefer open space to swim. Therefore, we can almost always see our fish as they don't have that many places to hide any more. However, our smallest clown loach has found a place, somewhere.

Last week, Thomas and I each spent over 30 minutes looking for her. We'd finally decided she must have died and the other fish ate her body. But, the next day, she'd reappeared! Since then, she's been doing the disappearing/reappearing act several times a day.

I suspect she may be preparing a nest (but where?); however, it's likely that none of the babies will survive since there aren't many hiding places for them to stay until they're too large to be eaten. Off to the far right in this picture, you can see the two larger clown loaches. The small one? Nowhere to be seen!*************************
Last night, Beeps was very needy, so I attempted to make dinner one-handed as he demanded to be on me. Obviously, this was not ideal, so I placed him on the sink while I did tasks that required both hands. And he started licking the drops of water on the sink!!! I offered him a drink of water out of a cup, but he preferred his water foraging method.************************
This morning, Max again bit into Thomas's banana after he'd placed it on the counter for later consumption.
He was not happy about that!