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

Back(ing) Breaking Installation

I have finished installing the Juwel Rock 600 structured background, which had to be cut and shaped to fit the aquarium. Once the correct shapes were achieved, I glued both pieces onto the back glass of the aquarium using silicon glue. This turned out to be more difficult than expected as the backing was slightly curved. But after lots of glue, what felt like hours of pressing and with a bit of luck, I think they are either glued into place or just wedged together, waiting to pull away at an inappropriate time. We will see what happens when the water goes in.

As you can see from the picture, there is a distinct line where the one backing joins onto the other. I will try to hide this with some tall plants like the Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus) or by using bogwood or both.

With the help of L, we moved the tank onto the cabinet, which led to a few hair raising moments and lots of back pain for the both of us. Big is not aways better, but is aways heavier! The combination of size and weight made picking and moving of the tank very difficult. From getting your fingers and hands under the tank to moving the tank into position can be very tiring and finger/back breaking. But we managed none the less. Thanks L for all your help!

Completed Cabinet

By Sunday night I had completed the cabinet and after cleaning the alcove L and I moved it into place. The dark wood is a bit lighter than the rest of the lounge furniture, but still matches nicely.

I have decided to put an artificial backing in the tank and am going to use the Juwel Rock 600 structured background. It is a 3 dimensional background, which is attached to the inside rear glass panel with silicone adhesive. Hopefully it will create a few crevices for the fish to hide under and a place for a few plants like Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus) to attach to. Currently I am waiting on the delivery of a second panel to the pet shop before I will be able to install them. Once the panels are in I will move the tank onto the cabinet and start the next phase of putting the gravel and water in.