Increasing the family

L and I acquired 5 Cardinal Tetras to increase the Cardinal school in the tank, which has slowly been dwindling due to the ravages of time. We also bought 5 Golden Zebra Danios so that we can have a few fast moving fish swimming around the tank amongst the slowish Tetras.Hopefully they will also swim close to the surface as we feel that area of the tank is a bit empty at the moment.

New Plants

Here is a list of the plants we recently bought.

Glossostigma elatinoides - Good foreground plant that will spread and form a carpet when it has the correct light conditions.

Hydrocotyle verticillata - Foreground plant that will spread.

Cryptocoryne beckettii "petchii" - Beautiful green leaves with a reddish stem, ideal for growing in middle to the back of the tank.

Restocking

Today L and I went to a new pet shop to do some shopping to restock the tank. We felt that we needed a few more plants and a few larger fish, as the number of fish in our tank have been decreasing slowly due to natural deaths. We ended up getting 3 different species of plants and 2 Gold Gourami  and 2 Opaline Gourami. The Gouramis are settling in slowly and I will plant the new plants tomorrow. Once the tank has settled down, we will see if more plants or fish are needed.

Penguin Tetra Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Penguin Tetra

Scientific Name	Thayeria boehlkei
Family	Characidae
Common Names	Blackline Penguin Fish, Blackline Thayeria, Hockey-stick Tetra, Penguin Fish, Penguin Tetra
Origin	Amazon Basin, South America.
Adult Size	Up to 6 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	3 - 5 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6 - 8
Hardness	5 - 19 dH
Temperature	24 - 27 C

Kuhli Loach Rating

I have kept Kuhli Loachs on different occasions. Each time I get them I think they will be an interesting fish to have in the tank, but every time I am disappointed. They find themselves a place to hide, usually under a log and will remain there most of the time. The few times I get to see them is if they decide to come out for feeding when the tank light is off or when I shine the torch light under the log.

I would personally not keep them again as I feel they do not contribute to the tank. Of course I could just be having bad luck with them.

Good Points:

• Their appearance is different to most fish
• Suitable for community tanks
• Peaceful
• Scavengers 
• Hardy

Bad Points

• Nocturnal
• Tend to hide under objects
• Dig themselves into sand

Score

• 4/10

Tank Pictures

A few pictures of the tank

 General look and feel, including the new Penguin Tetras

Penguin Tetra swimming next to the new Cryptocoryne wendti shoot

2 Years and counting

The tank and blog have now been going for just over 2 years and to celebrate, L and I went fish shopping :-)

We decided to get something different for the tank and ended up settling for 10 Penguin Tetra (Thayeria boehlkei). They are in the process of settling in and appear to be schooling nicely together. It seems the tank is slowly changing to a Tetra tank, which is reflecting the type of fish we are favouring. I am sure over time a few more Tetras will join the tank.

Rainbow Shark Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the Rainbow Shark

Likes to hang around the log

Rainbow Shark Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Rainbow Shark

Scientific Name	Epalzeorhynchos frenatum
Family	Cyprinidae
Common Names	Ruby Shark, Red-fin Shark, Red-finned Shark, Rainbow Shark
Origin	Thailand
Adult Size	Up to 15 cm
Social	Can be territorial
Lifespan	4 - 6 years
Diet	Herbivorous and omnivorous diet
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6.5 - 7.0
Hardness	2 - 15 dH
Temperature	22 - 26 C

Then there were 4

Of the 5 Rummy-nose Tetra we got, 4 have settled in well. Unfortunately we lost one after the first day. The rest started off swimming together and always keeping in close contact, safety in numbers syndrome, until they got used to the tank and its occupants.

They are fast swimmers, the most active in the tank. They remind me a bit of the Zebra and Leopard Danios, swimming backwards and forwards, always on the go.

We hope to get a few more, as I feel 4 are too little and they would look much better when they swim in a bigger school.

Red heads

Today L and I went to our local pet shop to get some new fish, as we have had a few deaths over the past few months and wanted to replenish the tank with something new. We both liked the look of the Rummy-nose Tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) and got 5 for the tank. They have a red head and white / glassy body, with a black and white tail.

Image from Wikipedia

Chinese Algae Eater Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the Chinese Algae Eater. As he is a quick swimmer, I had to wait until he was stationary before I could get a decent photo of him.  

His home is under the log

King of the castle

Chinese Algae Eater Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Chinese Algae Eater

Scientific Name	Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Family	Gyrinocheilidae
Common Names	Chinese Algae Eater, Sucking Loach, Algae Eater
Origin	Thailand
Adult Size	Up to 27 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks, but can get territorial
Lifespan	5 - 10 years
Diet	Herbivorous diet
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6.5 - 7.5
Hardness	12 - 18 dH
Temperature	21 - 28 C