Gourami Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Gourami

Scientific Name	Trichogaster trichopterus
Family	Belontiidae
Common Names	Three Spot Gourami, Opaline Gourami, Cosby Gourami, Golden Gourami, Silver Gourami
Origin	Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam
Adult Size	Up to 10 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	4 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	6.0 - 8.8
Hardness	5-35 dGH
Temperature	22-28 C

Platties

I have been trying to take some photos of the Platties, but they never stay still long enough for the camera. Below is a blurry photo of one that has two colours in it.

Broken Pump Again

The other morning while having breakfast I noticed that the tank was very quiet. On investigation I found that the pump had stopped working. Luckily I had a spare one from the last time I had to replace the pump, so was able to swap it out that night. Not sure if that is the general lifespan of a pump or just bad luck, but having to replace the pump twice in 4 years is a bit on the expensive side. On the positive side, the water in the tank is looking much clearer.

Rummy-nose Tetra Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Rummy-nose Tetra

Scientific Name	Hemigrammus rhodostomus
Family	Characidae
Common Names	Rummy-nose Tetra, Red-nose Tetra, Firehead Tetra
Origin	Amazon Basin, South America.
Adult Size	Up to 5 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	5 - 6 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	5.5-7
Hardness	2-12 dGH
Temperature	24 - 27 C

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

New Plants

After having to remove some plants that were past their prime, L and I went to the shop to buy some replacement plants.

Enchinodorus red flame - This is an ideal plant to be used in the background of the tank. Has lovely reddish / brown leaves.

Anubias Heterophylla - This plant is also ideal for the background, but as it is a slow growing plant that likes shade, I will be positioning it more in the middle of the tank until such time that it becomes too big.

Problematic Pump

After the last clean we did, both L and I noticed that the tank was a bit murky. I just thought it was bits that had been stirred up from the clean and thought it would settle after a few days as it normally does. A week later and the water was still looking murky, so I decided I had better investigate. To my horror I discovered that the pump had stopped working, which meant no filtering was happening and none of the heated water was being circulated around the tank.

After dismantling the pump I found that some dirt had got clogged around the propeller base, preventing it from turning. Once cleaned it started working again, but not at its full capacity. The tank is up and running again. I am going to give it 2 days running to clear out the murkiness and then we will do another water change.

What I have learnt from this is that if you see something out of the ordinary in the tank, you should investigate as soon as possible to prevent any disaster. I have also realised that even though the tank is full of fish, the amount of water in the tank is enough for them to survive without a pump running, which is good to know in case there is a power failure or the pump breaks again.  

Elvis is in the house

This afternoon we went and bought another Siamese Fighter to replace the one that died last year before Christmas. We also need something to try and keep the baby fish population under control as both the Mollies and Platties are breeding excessively.

He is red in colour with a touch of blue towards his back. Photos to follow later. When L saw him, she fell in love with him and named him Elvis. We hope he will supply us with lots of enjoyment.