Last Post

I have named this post the Last Post for two reasons. The first reason is the Last Post to the Siamese Fighter, who I found dead at the bottom of the tank yesterday morning. As he was one of my favourite fish, he will be missed in the tank, though I guess any baby fish will not as they now have a chance to survive and not become a fast food snack for him. I will be replacing him next year.

The second reason is that this will be the Last Post of the year. It has been an interesting year with setting up the tank, acquiring the fish and plants, dealing with the few problems that have arisen and the general upkeep of the tank.

Thanks to all of you who follow the blog. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Babies Update

We now have 6 baby Platties in the breeding trap and there are still 7 swimming around the tank. I have decided not to try and catch every one of the babies, as the tank is starting to get full, so I have decided to let nature take its course. Seems nature is already having an effect and the Siamese fighter is not well and appears to have Dropsy. I cannot tell if it is from eating all the baby fish or from some infection.

Out With The Old, In With The New

While L was feeding the fish this morning, she noticed a few new babies swimming around the bottom. When I got home tonight, I was able to catch 3 of the 4 that I saw. They look different to the baby Mollies, and I suspect they are Platties. So I had to fish out the breeding trap which had just been put away. Luckily I am acquiring new fish without paying a penny :-)

Two of the three waiting to go into the breeding trap

By the look of the Siamese Fighter's stomach, someone has had their Xmas dinner early

Freed Babies

Today I decided that the baby Mollies were getting too big for the breeding trap and decided to release them into the tank. I gave them a quick feed and half an hour later released them. Just after I released them, I dropped some frozen bloodworms into the tank to distract the other fish from the presence of the babies. Mommy molly still found them and reminded them who ruled the tank, but so far they seem to be settling in.

Credit Card Uses

I have lately been struggling to get rid of some hard algae from the tank glass. Using the algae magnet only removes the soft algae, so after doing some research on the Internet, I discovered that using a hard plastic object, like a credit card, should remove most of the algae. So with nothing to loose, I found an old card and gave it a go. Worked really well and got rid of most of the algae.

Plant Growth

The Broad-leaf Amazon Sword has had some plant growth in the last few weeks and has started to loose some of its older leaves. The Cardinal Tetras still love to hang around the plant regardless of its state. Must remind them of home, as both the plant and the fish come from the Amazon river.

Beginning of plant growth with all adult leaves

Young leaves growing well, but adult leaves turning brown

Close up of brown leaves and new leaves

Bigger Babies

Since my last post, the babies have grown considerably. Some are bigger than others. Not sure if this indicates sex, as I have noticed that the female adults are bigger than the males, or the bigger ones are those that are just quicker at getting the food. I am thinking of releasing the babies into the tank in a week or two, as the breeding trap is starting to get a bit crowded and the baby Mollies are nearly as big as the smallest Cardinal Tetra.

7 of the 8 wanting their food

Siamese Fighter watching his meal get bigger

Mom sucking the babies food through the gaps

Babies Update

The 8 Molly babies are coming along well. In the last few weeks they have grown quite a bit, over 1.5 cm now and have started to show the colours they will be when they fully grown. 7 of them are white with a few black spots, but 1 is a dark grey with white/yellow spots. It is still a bit small to totally make out how it will look, so something to look forward to later when it is a bit bigger.

Trying to take photos of the babies has become a bit difficult and the camera only focuses on none white colours and as most of the babies are white, I end up getting blurred shots. Below are the best I could get.

Fish Stock

Below is a list of fish I currently have in the tank.

Fish	Quantity
Cardinal Tetras	18
Cories	2
Danio	1
Guppy	1
Mollies	12*
Siamese Fighter	1
Kuhli Loach	4
Platties	5
Ghost Shrimps	2
Total	46*

* = includes 8 baby Mollies

New Arrivals

Yesterday L and I went and bought 6 more Cardinal Tetras. We felt that we needed more of them to fill the middle layer of the tank as it was looking a bit sparse. I was surprised to see that the extra 6 did not make much of a difference to the group, as they have blended in with the rest and are a bit smaller than the current ones. Instead of them all swimming around in one big group, the group now occasionally breaks into 2 smaller groups in different parts of the tank. I think increasing the numbers even further will improve the different group sizes and the overall appearance of the tank.

Holiday

Over the last few weeks L and I have been away on holiday, which has led to a lack of blog posts. One of the dilemmas we had was how the baby Mollies were going to be fed as the automatic feeder would either not give them any food or empty all the food into the breeding trap. Luckily I was able to get a friend of mine to come in once a day and give them all their daily feed. It worked well and all the babies are much bigger now. We only lost a Danio, which was looking old before we went away. I was surprised to see how much algae had grown on the glass, so will be doing a bit of cleaning up this weekend.

Another Guest Departs

One of the last two remaining female Guppies was found on the gravel last night. We will miss her. Seems every time I get new fish, one of the old ones decides to leave the hotel. Though I must say that she was looking thin and old.

New Arrivals

Yesterday we decided to pop into our local fish shop to get more fish, even though we have 8 busy growing. We wanted a bit more colour and variety, so decided to get some Platies (Xiphophorus maculatus). We got 2 males and 3 females, all of different colours (photos to follow when I get a chance). We also got a male Sailfin Molly to keep the girls occupied. All seem to be settling in OK and the mixture of colours has brightened up the tank.

Babies Update

The 5 baby Mollies I caught last night all survived in my temporary safe haven I created with the the jug. I was able to transfer them successfully to the Marina Floating Fish Hatchery (breeding trap) I bought. I was able to catch another 3 babies and noticed that there is still one more swimming in the tank. So it was a total of 9. The last one is hiding amongst the plants and after several attempts I decided to leave it as I was worried that I might knock the breeding trap and let the rest of the babies out. So unless it happens to swim over to the other side of the tank, I will leave it alone.

Box the breeding trap came in

Breeding trap floating in the corner of the tank

with 4 visible babies

Exciting News

As I started cleaning the tank tonight, I noticed something small dart away from my hand. Curious, I looked around the tank and found a baby Molly. I called L to come have a look. Together we found another. I decided to catch them to prevent them from getting eaten. As I was trying to catch them L was finding more and more. In total we found 8 of them. I was able to catch 5 of them and put them in a white plastic jug, which I am floating in the water to keep the jug's water temperature as close as possible to that of the tank. I have added a Java fern leaf to give them somewhere to hide under. Tomorrow I am going to buy a breeding trap to put the 5 babies in. Hopefully a few will survive.

3 of the 5 Mollies

Strange thing is that the male Molly has been dead now for a month. An interesting fact about female Mollies is that they can store sperm for a few months, allowing them to breed without the help of a male.

One Fixed Pump

At lunch time today I popped out quickly to my local fish shop and bought a replacement pump. I was surprised at how expensive it was. Took a quick few seconds to install it, so the filter is back up and running. In the one day that passed without the filter working, we noticed that the tank was starting to get a bit cloudy. Just goes to show how essential the filter is.

Disaster

Disaster! After being away for a week, we came back to a healthy working tank, no deaths and the automatic feeder working well. Tonight I noticed the Kuhli Loaches swimming around the tank which was a bit unusual, when I suddenly realised that I could not hear the pump running in the tank. After a quick investigation, I discovered that the pump has packed up. So I am off to the pet shop tomorrow to see if I can get a replacement. Luckily it did not happen while we were away!

Baby Suddenly Eaten

The baby Molly has been eaten! Not sure why the fish decided that is was time to use it as a snack. We had setup the automatic feeder, so not sure if we had under fed them and they were still hungry or that it was lucky at avoiding their jaws up until that point.

The plan for next time is to get a floating container that is kept in the tank, that the babies can live in until they are big enough to survive.

Pruning

I have had to do some pruning of the Vallis, as it was starting to cover most of the top of the tank, causing the main source of light to be blocked out. Some of the leaves that were removed were longer than the length of the tank. I was amazed at how few leaves you had to remove to suddenly see a difference.

The other problem is that there are so many leaves in the way that when it comes to feeding, a lot of food gets trapped on top of the leaves, preventing the fish from getting to it. As I also want to setup the automatic feeder this week, I did not want the food getting stuck there.

Tank viewed from above

Baby Update

The good news is that the baby Molly is still around and growing. It is still white, but now has a few black spots appearing on its body. I have tried to take some photos of it, but because it does not stay still long enough, all I get is just a blur. The picture below is the best I can do to date.

Blurry baby Molly amongst the Vallis

Kuhli Loach Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Kuhli Loach

Scientific Name	Pangio Kuhlii
Family	Cypranid
Common Names	Kuhli Loach, Coolie Loach
Origin	Thailand, Malaya,Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Indonesia
Adult Size	10 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	10 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6.5 - 7.5
Hardness	5 dGH
Temperature	22 - 26 C

Babies Update

L discovered that there were three baby Mollies in the tank rather than the two we first saw. I say were as there is only one left now. This batch of babies seemed more brazen than the last batch, as they were swimming out in the open amongst the plants and around the bogwood, which probably made it easier for them to be eaten. The sole remaining one has started to loose its transparency and has gained a bit of white in its body. If it survives, it will be interesting to see how it grows up and what colour it will eventually become.

Legacy

It appears that the black male Molly left his legacy behind before he died, as we noticed two baby Mollies swimming around in the tank. They appear much braver than the last baby the speckled Molly dropped, as they are swimming out in the open and eating off the plants. So far the Siamese Fighter has not found or noticed them and the other fish appear to be ignoring them as well. Lets hope they survive longer than the last one. So there has been lots of activity in the tank this last week.

Deaths

Over the last week L and I have not been home much. Unfortunately in that time period we have had two deaths, both while we were away. The first to check out of the hotel earlier this week was the black male molly, who died after suffering from Dropsy. I found his body under the filter and had to fish him out (excuse the pun) with my hand, as nothing else could really get under there. We both enjoyed having him in the tank and he will be replaced as soon as we get a chance. Over the weekend we lost a Leopard Danio who was looking old. Both will be much missed.

Tank Update

The sick Molly is still sick. He has started eating a bit, but generally is not doing well. There are a few scales that are missing and the speckled Molly is returning the favour of chasing him around the tank. I am surprised he has lasted this long.

The Kuhli loaches are settling in and have made the gap under the bogwood their home. They can be found hiding there most of the time and only come out when the lights are off or there is a bit of food out. But they are slowly acclimatising to the tank and every now and then we see one swimming along the bottom.

I now know why they call the shrimp "Ghost Shrimp". It is not because they are see-through, but it is because you do not get to see them! Since they have entered the tank, I have only seen them a few times. They appear to like the Java fern and now and then I see both of them hanging on the leaves. Occasionally a fish will chase them around until they get away.

Last but not least, the snails have been reproducing. The total number of snails have increased and we have even seen some snail egg sacks on the Java fern's roots. They appear to live mostly on the Vallis and Java fern. I might have to invest in a fish that likes snails for dinner to start keeping the snail population under control.

I also noticed that the Vallis was starting to block out the light to the plants below, so I decided to do a bit of pruning. I thinned out the longest leaves, creating space for the new leaves. I decided to cut the leaves just as they reached the surface. Some of the off-cuts were nearly a metre long, so the total length of the leaf must have been over a metre.

Molly Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Molly

Scientific Name	Poecilia sphenops
Family	Poeciliidae
Common Names	Molly, Black Molly
Origin	Central and South America: Mexico to Colombia
Adult Size	6 - 10cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	2 - 3 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Live bearers
pH	7.5 - 8.2
Hardness	11.0 - 30.0 dH
Temperature	18 - 28 C

Sick Molly

This morning I noticed that my black molly was not eating when I was feeding the fish and on further inspection I noticed that his scales are sticking out. This is an indication of a condition called Dropsy. Not sure what caused it. The Internet lists possible causes as poor water conditions, poor diet, bacterial and some viral infections. I did a water test and the results were fine, but to be on the safe side I did a water change. Unfortunately Dropsy is usually fatal as it an indication of swollen internal organs. It is not contagious, but the cause of the infection could be. So it looks like I will be removing a dead fish from the tank in the next day or two. Because both L and I like the black molly, it will be replaced as soon as the tank has settled down with the other new occupants.

Reluctant Guests

Today we bought the most difficult fish and crustaceans that you can catch, or so it appeared when the pet shop guys were trying to catch them. It took ten minutes to catch four Kuhli loach (Pangio Kuhlii) and just as long to catch the two Ghost Shrimp (Palaemonetes kadiakensis). Both groups are scavengers. We had fun getting them out of the bags when we got home. The shrimp slipped passed the net as we were pouring the water over the bucket, but likely L was better at catching them than the pet shop boys were. Loaches were just as fun, one decided it did not want to leave the bag and got itself trapped in the corner. Luckily I was able to coax it out into the tank with a few shakes of the bags.

Once both the shrimp and the loaches were in the water they disappeared into a variety of hiding places. Last night they had settled in a bit and it appears the loaches like to live under the bogwood away from the light. The shrimps on the other hand have hidden themselves somewhere in the tank, but now and then we see them on the Juwel Rock background. I am hoping that once everyone settles down, we will see more of both the loaches and shrimp.

Kuhli loach

Ghost Shrimp

Fish Stock

Below is a list of fish I currently have in the tank.

Fish	Quantity
Cardinal Tetras	12
Cories	2
Danios	3
Guppies	2
Mollies	4
Siamese Fighter	1
Total	24

Tank Update

The new plants I planted last week are settling in ok and the fish are enjoying the change of scenery. The Cryptocoryne wendtii is already sending up new leaves from the gravel. Four of the five plants were planted on the left hand side of the tank and the fifth on the right.

The new tank layout

New plants on the left

The pictures below were taken by my best man who was visiting this weekend. He is used to taking photos of objects that only move when they tick and thought he would give live moving objects ago. You can check out his ticking objects here. Thanks for the great photos!

Two mollies

Siamese Fighter and Molly

Posing Siamese Fighter

Baby No More

The last few days I have noticed that the Siamese fighter has not been hanging around the bogwood, hunting for the baby Molly. I have also not seen the baby hanging under the bogwood and after a few checks with the torch, I have come to the conclusion that the Siamese fighter has had his take away meal. Pity as I was hoping the Molly would mature to an adult.

New Plants

I decided to get some new plants to replace the Cabomba as the fish were slowly pulling them apart. As I was having trouble finding the plants I wanted at the pet shops, I decided to use a Internet site recommended in a tropical fish magazine I have been reading. So I ordered 5 plants from them last Saturday and they arrived on Wednesday. They came in bags that were very moist inside. These bags were packaged in a box. I was only able to get around to planting them on Thursday night, so I kept them in a bucket of water.

There are the plants I bought:

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' - An easy plant to grow and one of the most robust Crypts. Very variable under different light and other environmental conditions.

Bacopa australis - Easy to grow in an aquarium. Under certain conditions it creeps across the bottom to form an elegantly decorative light green cushion.

Staurogyne sp. - This is a new plant to the aquatic hobby. It is a hardy plant for the foreground of the aquarium.

Not So Hardy

Yesterday I noticed that my sole remaining Zebra Danio was missing a small part of its tail and that it was not looking too well. This morning more of its tail had been eaten and it was swimming at the bottom of the tank. I thought I might have a nipper in the tank, but when I got home tonight I found him dead on the gravel, half eaten. Guess he was not well. It appears fish have a strange way of looking after their own.

I had better keep my eye on one of the Leopard Danios, as it is not looking so happy either. The others appear to be fine and are swimming around happily.

Cardinal Tetra Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Cardinal Tetra

Scientific Name	Paracheirodon axelrodi
Family	Characidae
Common Names	Cardinal Tetra
Origin	Northern South America, Venezuela, through Brazil Into Eastern Colombia
Adult Size	5cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	3 - 4 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	4.5 - 7.0
Hardness	2.0 - 8.0 dH
Temperature	24 - 29 C

Baby Is Back

Guess who I found today? One baby Molly hiding under the bogwood, trying to avoid the Siamese Fighter who is keeping an eye out for a quick snack. I happened to notice that the Siamese was hanging around the bogwood with a very keen interest in what was there. He reminded me a bit of how a cat stalks its prey. He was just floating very still by the bogwood, staring at one location. Then suddenly I saw the baby Molly swim out and the Siamese darted forward trying to catch it, but luckily for the baby Molly the Siamese was too slow, this time.

I thought about catching the baby and placing it in the filter box until it is a bit bigger, but because it is hiding in the crevices of the bogwood, it might be difficult to get to it, so I have decided to let nature take its course.

More Cardinal Tetras

We went and bought six more Cardinal Tetras today. The original plan was to buy four and get two more female Mollies, as the male Molly is constantly harassing the speckled female Molly and ignoring the other two females. I thought this was a bit strange until I discovered that there are two aquarium species of Molly, the Black Molly and the Sailfin Molly. Males are easy to tell apart, one has a small dorsal fin and the other has a long one, but the females all look the same (to me at least). I guess I bought one Back Molly female and two Sailfin Molly females. Once again not doing my research has led to this predicament. As I was perusing the pet shop tank for new females that look similar to the one we currently have, I noticed a dead Molly in the tank. One thing I have learnt from all my research is that never to buy fish from a tank that has a dead fish in, as you do not know what the cause of death was. So we ended up just getting the six Cardinals instead.

Can you spot the new ones?

Kids Club

Over the last few days I have noticed a large weight gain on one of the Danios and a large weight loss from the speckled Molly. This morning I discovered why. I noticed a baby Molly swimming amongst the Vallis. So we have officially opened a kids club at the hotel.

I thought the mommy Molly looked a bit on the plump side when we got her and hoped she was pregnant, turns out that she was. I guess the rest of the young became a fast food snack for the rest of the fish as the last remaining one was not there tonight. This would explain why the Danio's stomach is so swollen. Eating food on the swim. If I had more foliage in the tank for the babies to hide in, it might have increased their survival chances. Pity I did not have a small tank to transfer the babies to, might be something I will get in the future.

Took some photos, but because of the Mollie's size it was very difficult to get a decent shot.

Can you see the baby?

Look at the red circle

Death By Exhaustion

Last night I noticed our last male Guppy resting on the gravel, panting away. Did not look happy at all. Because he had done this before and then bounced back to health, I was not too concerned, but unfortunately I discovered him dead this morning. Either he died from poor health or he exhausted himself entertaining the two female Guppies.

He will be missed by all.

Uprooted

I have been away for a few days and came back to a tank that has had most of the Cabomba uprooted. My current suspects are the Mollies as they have a habit of nibbling on plants and if those plants are not rooted down strongly, they slowly get pulled free of the substrate and end up floating.

I took some awful photos to show the effects of the uprooted plants in the tank.

The sparse location where the plants used to be.

Caught on the Java fern and Vallis

Caught on the bogwood

Replanted

Cleaning Crew

I have noticed an increase in algae growth on the bogwood over the last two weeks and decided I had better do something about it. After a bit of research I discovered that Mollies (Poecilia sphenops) like to eat algae as part of their diet, so I bought four today to help keep the algae growth down in the tank. Of course doing regular water changes helps reduce the amount of algae growth, but having a cleaning crew helps as well.

We bought four different coloured ones, total black male, white and with black spots female, total white female and a total orange female. The white and orange ones are settling in and have already started eating some of the algae. The other two are currently a bit skittish and are hiding below the filter or amongst the plants.

I also decided to get two female guppies to keep the remaining male happy. He appears to be happy and is already chasing them around the tank.

Fish Update

It appears that the last remaining Guppy is back to his old self. He is once again swimming around with the other fish. I suspect that the heat wave we had caused the tank temperature to rise, which might have affected him. He was swimming at the bottom of the tank where the water was cooler and not swimming around too much. I am just glad that so far he has survived.

My solution that I used in the "And They Call Him Houdini" blog to keep the Siamese Fighter out of the filter appears to be working. He often snoops around the pipe and plant container to see if he can find a way in, but so far I am winning.

Bloodworms

Today we went to the local fish shop to get some frozen bloodworms for the guests. I thought it would be a good idea to vary their diet. The bloodworms come in a pack of 30 portions. I popped one portion out and dropped the frozen cube into the tank. It took a while to thaw out and then sank to the bottom of the tank as one big lump of knotted worms. The fish loved them, especially the Danios, Cories and the Cardinals. One Danio ate so much that it's stomach is now exceptionally swollen. Hope this will not cause it any harm.

I think the amount of worms in one portion is too much for the number of fish I have in the tank at the moment. Next time I treat them I will only give them half the amount and also thaw it out before hand so that it can spread around the tank in the current, giving the fish more of a chance to get some, instead of them all fighting over it at one location and the strongest hogging it all to themselves.

I am a bit worried about the last Guppy at the moment. He was not interested at all in the worms and is very lethargic at the moment. I suspect he is not well and might be checking out soon as well.

More Snails

I have now counted 7 snails in the tank, consisting of 2 different species. One species is from the Physidae Family and I think they are Physa spec, otherwise known as pond snails. I have not been able to identify the other species yet as the snails are currently too small and their shells are white without any identifying features.

The Physa spec were the first snails I spotted when starting the tank and they have more than doubled in size and number. I often see them on the bogwood, glass and on some of the plants, especially the Java fern, eating the algae growing on them. I was lucky to see two either mating or fighting tonight. There is not much information out there on the Internet to suggest one or the other, but if there are a bunch of new baby snails in two to three weeks time, I will know which one it was.

Messy Tank

The tank is currently looking very messy. I have just removed some Cabomba that was not looking too great and suddenly the whole tank is full of Cabomba pieces. Generally there are always a few pieces of Cabomba floating around or stuck on the filter grid, but now it is everywhere. I have been thinking of removing the plant for a few weeks now as it has been looking very sparse and unhealthy compared to the others. Little did I know that when I did remove it, it would get revenge and shed a load of leaves into the tank Not wanting to throw it away, I have put it into the fish pond outside to see what will happen. Maybe it will recover and I might put it back into the tank again.