6 New Guests

Yesterday my father bought me 6 new fish for the tank. 2 Leopard Cory (Corydoras julii)

and 4 male Guppies (Peocilia reticulata), each looking different.

The Danios seem a bit putout at the arrivals of the new fish, as the had the run of the tank so far. Lets hope all the guests can get along.

Thanks for the fish and the photographs Dad.

More Flora

I have bought some more plants to fill the gaps of the plants I have lost. I decided to get plants to try and hide the box that stores the filter, heater and pump in, and to get some plants that will be low growers.

Vallisneria gigantea (Giant Vallis) - The long, fleshy leaves of this Vallisneria may reach up to a metre in length and will trail across the surface. Ideal for hiding boxes or equipment. Best grown at the back of the tank. As the leaves will trail across the surface, it can block out the light to lower growning plants, so it will have to trimmed to size.

Cryptocoryne petchii - This crypt is ideal for the foreground of the aquarium where it will spread via daughter shoots borne on runners.

Danio Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the danio

Scientific Name	Brachydanio rerio
Family	Cyprinidae
Common Names	Zebra danio, zebrafish, striped danio, rerio, lauputi, anju
Origin	Eastern India
Adult Size	6 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	5 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6.5 - 7.0
Hardness	5-12 dGH
Temperature	18-24 C

Fussy Guests

Over the last few days I have been feeding the Danio's TetraMin flakes and they are quite fussy about which flakes they like to eat. It appears that the general consensus amongst the Danios are the red flakes are not for them. Each time they eat a red flake, it is quickly spat out and they are off to find a better tasting morsel. Guess the red flakes will become food for the bottom feeders when I get them.

I tried to take some photos of them, but because they move so fast, it is impossible to get a decent shot. So I have resorted to getting some images from the web.

Zebra Danio

Leopard Danio

I have done a little experiment with trying to film the Danios, turned out a bit better (it looks grainy because Blogger saved it under a different resolution after the upload) than any photos I took, but will have to improve my directing skills as none of the fish seem to do what I want them to.

First Guests

After monitoring the Ammonium (NH4), Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3) for the last few weeks and seen them fall to the appropriate levels, I decided it was time to get some fish. After some deliberation I decided to go for a fish species that was hardy, playful and fun to watch (my opinion of course). So yesterday I went to my local fish shop and bought 3 Zebra Danio (Brachydanio rerio) and 3 Leopard Danio (Brachydanio rerio var. frankei). Once I had introduced them to the tank, they spent the night getting to know their new surroundings. Part of that process was eating all the bloodworms (I was able to identify them with the help of the local fish shop assistant), so by this morning they were pretty much settled in. They appear to be enjoying the few plants in the tank, especially the Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba) where they like to hide from each other. Besides darting around the tank, they also enjoyed the flakes I fed them tonight, though not as much as live bloodworms.

So welcome to our first 6 guests. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Hello And Goodbye

On Friday night while inspecting the tank I noticed 2 more snails, so now I have a total of 3 snails in the tank. Two of them seem to be hanging around the thermometer (which currently reads 26 degrees Celsius). I have turned up the temperature to help the acceleration of the bacteria that is needed to keep that tank running smoothly.

I have had to remove the Fittonia 'Superba Red' and the Dracaena sanderiana (Red Striped Dragon Plant) tonight as both plants were starting to decay already. The leaves from the Fittonia 'Superba Red' had decayed from the stem and were floating around the tank. I had also noticed an abundance of red worms in the water (introduced from the Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba)) and they were attacking the Dracaena sanderiana (Red Striped Dragon Plant), eating the decaying parts. 

I am a bit worried about the red worms as all my internet searching for the last 3 hours has not turned up much, so I have posted a question on a forum to see if I can get any answers. I am hoping that they will not be a fish parasite of some sort, but rather fish food.   

Real Aquatic Plants

Out of the 7 plants species that I have bought so far, 3 are real aquatic plants. These should help the fish feel more at home than the non aquatic plants ones.

Echinodorus bleheri (Broad-leaf Amazon Sword) - This is an ideal plant to be used in the background of the tank. It is a slow grower, but when it is established it will be tall and wide and can fill a large portion of the tank. When I removed the plant from the plastic plant container, I discovered that there was a baby Amazon Sword growing next to the large adult. So I have ended up with 2 plants for the price of one, which makes up a bit for the non aquatic plants. I have planted both at the back of the tank, behind the bogwood, with the baby plant close to the adult one. I will relocate the baby one to a different location once it is bigger. 

Cabomba aquatica (Green Cabomba, Giant Cabomba) - Tall growing plant, great place for fry to hide in so that they do not get eaten by any adult fish. I have planted 3 of these close together to form a nice area for fish to hide in.

Microsorium pteropus (Java fern) - This plant is different from most aquatic plants as it can grow on rocks and bogwood. I have tied mine to the V area of my bogwood using cotton thread and hope it will form a nice centre piece.

First unofficial guest

I decided to give the tank glass a clean as I thought the glass was starting to look a bit cloudy. Using the algae magnet, which are two magnets, one with a rough fabric for cleaning the glass on the inside of the tank and the other with a smooth fabric that is used on the outside, I was able to remove the beginnings of the algae and dirt that was starting to accumulate on the glass. This proved to be quite necessary and I will make this a weekly routine in summer, probably a day before I do a gravel clean and water change, giving the removed bits time to settle on the bottom so that they can be removed with the clean.    

While cleaning around the thermometer, I noticed a small snail attached to the thermometer, making it the first unofficial guest to be staying at the Fish Hotel. It probably came with the plants I bought and I will probably find more with time. They can add another dynamic to the tank, as long as they do not get out of control. I am sure a few will also become a fish take-away when the fish start arriving, but I am starting to get ahead of myself.

The Great Rip Off

Due to not doing any research before buying my plants and the rip off culture of fish shops the world round, I have ended up buying some non aquatic plants. What this has taught me is to do my research first and to always question the snotty nosed assistant. The following plants are sold under the guise of aquatic plants as they can survive weeks or months under water before they die.

Fittonia 'Superba Red' - Lovely looking plant, but will survive for only a few weeks in the tank. The ones I have planted have already started to rot away, so I give the remaining ones no more than 2 weeks.

Dracaena sanderiana (Red Striped Dragon Plant) - will survive for up to 3-4 months underwater. It is currently looking sorry for itself, but hopefully it will improve. 

Chlorophytum bichetti (Pongol Sword Plant) - Another lovely plant (L's favourite), but will only last for a couple of months.

Ophiopogon 'Kyoto' (Dwarf Fountain Plant) - Will survive for many months underwater. This would make a great low grower if it could survive longer. 

So over the next few weeks I will have to do more shopping to replace the plants I will end up losing, but this time I will go prepared with knowledge and attitude. 

Flora Planted

Just a quick update. During the course of this week I have acquired some plants, which have now been planted. I will post more about each one later on.

Still looking a bit sparse so will be popping into the local fish shop to acquire a few more. Of course once they start growing the tank will fill up a bit more. 

The tank is still a bit cloudy, but each day it has been improving, so it appears the filtering is working.  

Gravelled And Watered

It has taken L and I 3 nights worth of gravel washing to get the 35 kg of Dorset pea gravel clean so that it can go into the tank. Unfortunately the gravel is covered with a fine dust that takes on average about 4 washes before the clear water runs off it. But it was worth it as the gravel looks great with the backing and the bogwood on top of it. 

Once the gravel was in, it took 23.5 bucket loads of normal tap water to fill the tank. After which I switched on the filter pump and heater. By tomorrow the tank should be warm enough to start planting plants, but we will have to do a bit of shopping for them first.