Something has been bugging me about the tank for a while now. When viewed end on the water has looked hazy. I've blown it off to be just the water being a little cloudy, after all I was looking through 4 feet of water, a little stuff in it is to be expected.
Well it's not haze, its algae. Its not concentrated like the brown stuff that's popping up all over but its a general scum coating every square inch of the glass. Tomorrow on the way home from Sea World I'm picking up a scrapper. I'm also going to pick up some Prime. My tetra water conditioner is running out and I need some more and everyone seems to rave about Prime.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Guppy Love
I forgot to mention that the remaining first female guppy is already pregnant. Since she's already showing its unlikely its happened in my tank, she was probably knocked up when I bought her. Thanks to guppy biology it'll be six weeks before any fry she or her new friend produce can be sure to be Panzer's. It doesn't that much in the grand scheme of things since I'm rooting for nature to win and the rest of the fish to eat the fry. If they don't though I'd love to see the fry and know they are a result of the fish in my tank. I specifically picked the two girls out to go well with Panzer and I hope they'll make nice looking fish.
Also, I need names for the new girls, any suggestions?
Also, I need names for the new girls, any suggestions?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Cory Death Watch Day 9
Nine corys in my tank, six out and in the trash. I've not only lost most of the babies but I've also lost two of my older pandas as well. I'm down to just one baby and two adults in my tank. I don't know why they are having these problems but I know I'm done with these devil fish for the moment. Instead of wasting money on pandas I'm just going to save it for serpaes. I'm going to proceed with the rest of the tank residents and finish things up before I revisit the corys. I might forget the pandas entirely and go with something like a sterbai or something. If I wait a loooong time I can get wild caught pandas after I add CO2 and driftwood to my tank and lower the pH.
On to something happier. I was at the fish store today and looking around. I was about to leave and I stopped by the guppy tank to see if any of the girls looked good enough to replace my lost one. Well as it turned out just as I was about to give up and head off I spotted her, a gorgeous female guppy who would go perfectly with Panzer and the other girl.
You can see the new girl on the left, along with Panzer showing the goods to the girls.
The stooges had to get in on talking to the new girl, Panzer was not amused.
And a new shot of Panzer solo.
On to something happier. I was at the fish store today and looking around. I was about to leave and I stopped by the guppy tank to see if any of the girls looked good enough to replace my lost one. Well as it turned out just as I was about to give up and head off I spotted her, a gorgeous female guppy who would go perfectly with Panzer and the other girl.
You can see the new girl on the left, along with Panzer showing the goods to the girls.
The stooges had to get in on talking to the new girl, Panzer was not amused.
And a new shot of Panzer solo.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Disappointment
There's no other word for what I feel right now. Thursday morning the red female guppy died. I attribute it to her being dropped and my ham fisted attempt to pick her up and put her in. Later on the same day on of the baby panda corys died. So far I'm losing 50% of the baby pandas. This morning I saw something I really didn't expect. One of my larger older pandas died. I saw nothing on him that would indicate why. Right now I've got three baby pandas and two older ones left and I'm not buying any more for a long while. At least until I get a quarantine tank set up. In fact if any more die I'm seriously thinking about writing off pandas and instead going with another kind of cory like a sterbai or something. Or maybe just some wild caught pandas.
So in addition to all the death lately my tank is undergoing an outbreak of brown algae. This is normal for a new tank and should clear up eventually but right now it's just making my tank ugly which when combined with the fish losses just depresses the crap out of me.
So in addition to all the death lately my tank is undergoing an outbreak of brown algae. This is normal for a new tank and should clear up eventually but right now it's just making my tank ugly which when combined with the fish losses just depresses the crap out of me.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Silly Guppies
Some updates. On Tuesday Angela called me at work to tell me that two of my new pandas were dead. To put it simply I was bummed. I know pandas are delicate for corys so I should have been ready for it but the new guys seemed to be doing well in the tank. When I got home I tested my water and everything was fine, zero ammonia, nitrites, and not even 5 ppm of nitrates. Well I knew that pandas were delicate, still stings to lose them.
In other news Panzer, my guppy, turns out to be a bit of a jerk. Since he went into the tank he's chased the Stooges around relentlessly. The sight of it is ridiculous as anyone of the platys is easily twice to three times Panzer's size.
So on Monday night I decided to go to my LFS (Aquaria Studio) and see about getting some female guppies in the hope they'd keep Panzer occupied. Yes, I know, they'll breed like rabbits. I know, I'll have fry all over the dang place. Panzer is just too good looking and Angela likes him too much to be rid of him. My only hope is that the lack of good tight cover will let the rest of the fish pick off the fry before they grow.
Well as you might know Tuesday was hurricane day around here and AS was closed. I guess they figured not many people would be looking to buy fish mid-hurricane. So I went back and checked today and the store was open, not that Fay had gone anywhere. Anyways I picked up two female guppies, in the process probably driving the guy helping me nuts as I tried to coach him onto exactly which two I wanted out of the swirling mass of fifty in the tank and sent him back again and again to try and get the ones I wanted. Well while we were talking I asked him if they'd lost a lot of the pandas and he said yes. I told him about the two I'd lost and low and behold, even though I was long beyond the 24 hour guarantee my coming back to the shop over and over and waiting patiently while other customers were helped paid off and he offered to replace them for free. So I left the shop with my two guppies and two replacement pandas.
First the guppies. One of them has a snakeskin tail not too unlike Panzer's. The other is an orange and red guppy that was as close to the one in the book that Charles liked as I could swing. The snakeskin female is more lively than the other by a long shot, probably because the orange girl was dropped outside the tank when I tried to introduce her. Long story, don't wanna get into it, suffice it to say that I am going to keep an eye on her as her entry was way more stressful than it should have been.
And then there's the pandas. Both of the new guys are looking good and so are the other five that were in the tank to begin with. In fact the whole panda crew is getting more lively by the day. That's not saying a whole lot but seeing them out on the sand snuffling around from time to time is nice.
In other news Panzer, my guppy, turns out to be a bit of a jerk. Since he went into the tank he's chased the Stooges around relentlessly. The sight of it is ridiculous as anyone of the platys is easily twice to three times Panzer's size.
So on Monday night I decided to go to my LFS (Aquaria Studio) and see about getting some female guppies in the hope they'd keep Panzer occupied. Yes, I know, they'll breed like rabbits. I know, I'll have fry all over the dang place. Panzer is just too good looking and Angela likes him too much to be rid of him. My only hope is that the lack of good tight cover will let the rest of the fish pick off the fry before they grow.
Well as you might know Tuesday was hurricane day around here and AS was closed. I guess they figured not many people would be looking to buy fish mid-hurricane. So I went back and checked today and the store was open, not that Fay had gone anywhere. Anyways I picked up two female guppies, in the process probably driving the guy helping me nuts as I tried to coach him onto exactly which two I wanted out of the swirling mass of fifty in the tank and sent him back again and again to try and get the ones I wanted. Well while we were talking I asked him if they'd lost a lot of the pandas and he said yes. I told him about the two I'd lost and low and behold, even though I was long beyond the 24 hour guarantee my coming back to the shop over and over and waiting patiently while other customers were helped paid off and he offered to replace them for free. So I left the shop with my two guppies and two replacement pandas.
First the guppies. One of them has a snakeskin tail not too unlike Panzer's. The other is an orange and red guppy that was as close to the one in the book that Charles liked as I could swing. The snakeskin female is more lively than the other by a long shot, probably because the orange girl was dropped outside the tank when I tried to introduce her. Long story, don't wanna get into it, suffice it to say that I am going to keep an eye on her as her entry was way more stressful than it should have been.
And then there's the pandas. Both of the new guys are looking good and so are the other five that were in the tank to begin with. In fact the whole panda crew is getting more lively by the day. That's not saying a whole lot but seeing them out on the sand snuffling around from time to time is nice.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Plateau
My tank reached a plateau of sorts today. My wonderful, loving, beautiful wife let me splurge today on fish. After church and shopping we headed to the fish store where we picked up a quartet of panda cory catfish, two more neons, and a lone guppy. What that means is that I'm considering my school of neons and my shoal of panda corys complete at ten and seven respectively. With those two schools finished up I've got to move on to other species and I'm content with what's in my tank, no pressing need to bulk up the schools. That's a good thing because the next fish I'm getting are the sepaes and I'll need to get all eight at once. I've got to save up the fiftyish bucks I need for them and until then I'm happy to leave my tank be.
Speaking of my tank the fish count is twenty one right now. Ten neon tetras, seven panda cory catfish, three mickey mouse platys, and one guppy.
The neons are doing well. The two new guys regained their color, going from nearly white back to rich blue and red, in less than thirty minutes and immediately started to school with the eight that were in there to begin with. The new guys are more small ones but I don't mind, it'll be nice to see them grow up in my tank.
The panda corys I bought were young ones maybe a half inch long tops. The new guys showed more guts than the old guys, hiding initially but quickly moving out and starting to root in the sand. The young guys located the older guys pretty quickly and encouraged the older ones to come on out.
The stooges continue to do well but todays additions seemed to have stressed them out a bit. They're chasing each other around a bit more than normal.
The lone guppy I got is a gorgeous red snakeskin. He surprised me because when he hit the water he immediately started to push the platys around which is probably leading to their stress. For a top swimmer he's also spent a lot of time cruising the mid and low levels.
Charles got a kick out of watching the new fish swim.
Speaking of my tank the fish count is twenty one right now. Ten neon tetras, seven panda cory catfish, three mickey mouse platys, and one guppy.
The neons are doing well. The two new guys regained their color, going from nearly white back to rich blue and red, in less than thirty minutes and immediately started to school with the eight that were in there to begin with. The new guys are more small ones but I don't mind, it'll be nice to see them grow up in my tank.
The panda corys I bought were young ones maybe a half inch long tops. The new guys showed more guts than the old guys, hiding initially but quickly moving out and starting to root in the sand. The young guys located the older guys pretty quickly and encouraged the older ones to come on out.
The stooges continue to do well but todays additions seemed to have stressed them out a bit. They're chasing each other around a bit more than normal.
The lone guppy I got is a gorgeous red snakeskin. He surprised me because when he hit the water he immediately started to push the platys around which is probably leading to their stress. For a top swimmer he's also spent a lot of time cruising the mid and low levels.
Charles got a kick out of watching the new fish swim.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Meow-Fish
Fish day came early this week, on Friday. I picked up three new additions for the aquarium, panda cory catfish. So far everyone is looking to be doing well in their new home. They're still a little shy and staying hidden behind my stump and under the vine. That spot seems to be very popular with some of the neons and now the catfish. Of course I did it intentionally, I figured that much cover would let the fish have a good spot it they got nervous and it works. I'm hopeful that over the course of the week the catfish will get settled and come out more. When they get another member of their shoal on Saturday maybe that will help even more. I'd also like them to figure out the sinking pellets I'm putting in because everyone else has and swarms on them long before the catfish wander over.Everyone else is doing good. The stooges are still being themselves and my neons are no where near as skittish as they used to be. Even the one that was making me nervous has got his color back and is prowling around with all the other ones.
Day two of lettuce was a failure. I didn't even see anyone sniff it. I'm going to try and get them to eat it by offering them nothing else tomorrow. Maybe if they've got no other options they'll give it a shot. In the mean time I'll see if there are some other options for vegetables for them.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Update and Lettuce
Not much to report really, and I'm happy about it. Everyone is doing well and getting along. By my reckoning Fe, the sole survivor of my pH crash has been in the tank for about six weeks. The stooges have been in for four. Fe's buddies, my other neons have been in for two and my last group of four neons have been in for almost a week.
There is one neon that's giving me some pause. He's looking scrawny and for most of this weak his colors have been pale. Normally this means something is wrong but my water tests out fine. This also looks a little bit like it could be neon tetra disease. NTD is a nasty parasite that causes neons to loose their color, waste away, swim erratically and deform into a humped shape. It's eventually fatal and there is no treatment. It's not contagious in the water but it can be contagious if another fish eats the dead carcass. Naturally I'm nervous about the little guy. In the last 24 hours he's perked up in color and is more active. I'm hopeful it wasn't NTD and he was just under the weather.
Yesterday I tried to give my fish some lettuce.
The ingrates didn't touch it.
There is one neon that's giving me some pause. He's looking scrawny and for most of this weak his colors have been pale. Normally this means something is wrong but my water tests out fine. This also looks a little bit like it could be neon tetra disease. NTD is a nasty parasite that causes neons to loose their color, waste away, swim erratically and deform into a humped shape. It's eventually fatal and there is no treatment. It's not contagious in the water but it can be contagious if another fish eats the dead carcass. Naturally I'm nervous about the little guy. In the last 24 hours he's perked up in color and is more active. I'm hopeful it wasn't NTD and he was just under the weather.
Yesterday I tried to give my fish some lettuce.
The ingrates didn't touch it.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Fish Pictures
Today I brought home several new additions to the tank, four more neon tetras. After weekly maintenance I got the new guys acclimated to the tank and put them in. They immediately joined up with the neons already in the tank and schooled together. The stooges introduced themselves as well in their own special way.
"DURR! Who are you!?"
Blundering through the school like bulls in a china shop. In spite of this all four perked up in a hurry and filled in their color in not even two hours. I busted out the camera and decided to get some pictures of everyone in their new home.
"DURR! Who are you!?"
Blundering through the school like bulls in a china shop. In spite of this all four perked up in a hurry and filled in their color in not even two hours. I busted out the camera and decided to get some pictures of everyone in their new home.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Paranoia
Tonight my wife said something that made me very nervous.
"Uh oh, I only count six fish."
To a man who's lost nine fish that's not a reassuring thing to say. I tried to remain calm about it but I couldn't find my fourth neon tetra either. I went behind my tank and lifted the backdrop to find my neon in the bottom right (from the dining room) corner. Hidden behind the fake stump and under the bushes. So yay for effective cover for my fish.
Unfortunately his color was faded and his was flicking his fins a lot. Now it could just be that before I snatched up the backdrop it was shaded back there but then maybe not. A neon's color, in fact most fish's color seems to fade when stressed or in the dark. Well I wasn't going to risk it. I knew my nitrites had been climbing the since Saturday and were up to about 0.5ppm. Supposedly that's low enough that the fish should be fine but I had a fish that didn't look so hot that had been just fine twelve hours earlier.
So I did the first thing that came to mind. A water change. Fifteen treated gallons later my school of neons has no more absenteeism. Almost the moment I started to add fresh water the pale neon came out of hiding and started to regain his color.
Call me paranoid but I lost six neons in 48 hours. It's not happening again if I can do anything about it. Even if my wife does look at me funny.
"Uh oh, I only count six fish."
To a man who's lost nine fish that's not a reassuring thing to say. I tried to remain calm about it but I couldn't find my fourth neon tetra either. I went behind my tank and lifted the backdrop to find my neon in the bottom right (from the dining room) corner. Hidden behind the fake stump and under the bushes. So yay for effective cover for my fish.
Unfortunately his color was faded and his was flicking his fins a lot. Now it could just be that before I snatched up the backdrop it was shaded back there but then maybe not. A neon's color, in fact most fish's color seems to fade when stressed or in the dark. Well I wasn't going to risk it. I knew my nitrites had been climbing the since Saturday and were up to about 0.5ppm. Supposedly that's low enough that the fish should be fine but I had a fish that didn't look so hot that had been just fine twelve hours earlier.
So I did the first thing that came to mind. A water change. Fifteen treated gallons later my school of neons has no more absenteeism. Almost the moment I started to add fresh water the pale neon came out of hiding and started to regain his color.
Call me paranoid but I lost six neons in 48 hours. It's not happening again if I can do anything about it. Even if my wife does look at me funny.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Back
Well we're back from vacation. I'm pleased to report that all four of the guys made it through just fine. I even got another surprise, a 0 ppm ammonia reading and a nitrite spike. It looks like my tank finally decided to move on with its cycle while we were gone.
To celebrate I went out and got three more neons. They're in a bucket right now acclimating to the water. They should be ready to join Fe in an hour or so. Hopefully the Stooges won't be too rough on the new guys.
I also went ahead and re-aquascaped the tank. Since I had the new background on it I could set things up a bit differently. With no more need for 360 degree viewing I moved some things around. The hygrophalia is all now in one big clump. The bush is now behind the artificial stump. I'm liking it a lot more now. I still need some plants on the left, another big clump would be perfect, but I'm close to it being spot on.
Oh, Angela was nice enough to buy some velcro while she was at the grocery store and that's holding my background on.
To celebrate I went out and got three more neons. They're in a bucket right now acclimating to the water. They should be ready to join Fe in an hour or so. Hopefully the Stooges won't be too rough on the new guys.
I also went ahead and re-aquascaped the tank. Since I had the new background on it I could set things up a bit differently. With no more need for 360 degree viewing I moved some things around. The hygrophalia is all now in one big clump. The bush is now behind the artificial stump. I'm liking it a lot more now. I still need some plants on the left, another big clump would be perfect, but I'm close to it being spot on.
Oh, Angela was nice enough to buy some velcro while she was at the grocery store and that's holding my background on.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wish List & Plans
Since I've got nothing else to do on vacation I figured I'd start a wish list, those things I want but am in no real hurry to get. I'll also go over my plans for the tank.
Plans:
1) Background
Last week while holding a crying five week old I came to the realization that my wife was right, my tank would look better with a background. I'd left one off because I thought I'd love to look at my tank from both sides, from my den and from the family room/dining room side. So far all my tank enjoyment looking has been from the family room side only. Given that I put up a piece of black cloth on the den side. The tank looked fantastic, sorry for the lack of a good picture. Unfortunately the tape I used to hold it up wouldn't last, with or without a toddler pulling on it. When I get back I want to find a better way to secure it up.
2) Plants
More of them. A nice thing about the background is I don't have to worry about cluttering up my view from the den side so I'm thinking about re-aquascaping things. I can pile my tall plants along the back of the tank and push my shorter ones to the front. I still need quite a few more tall plants though. I really don't have much taking up the higher portions of the water column.
3) Fish
So long as everyone survives vacation I'm going to start stocking my tank up. My plans right now are to add on neons until I get to about six to eight. After that I'll slow down, maybe only buy a neon at a time until I hit my goal of a dozen. At the same time as I'm slowing on the neons I'm going to start getting some rummy-nosed tetras. Once I have all eight of them I'm going to sit on things for a while, make sure everything's steady. If everything looks good I'm going to start on my panda corys. Nice and slow to start, one or two at a time. The final big addition will be the BIG addition. I'm going to save up the cash to buy an entire school of serpaes in one shot. Eight to ten in a go. Once that's done my big species should be taken care of. A dozen neons, eight rummys, eight corys, ten serpaes, and the three platys. That's 41 fish. I'm rethinking the rasboras, I don't think there will be enough room for them in a large enough school. After that it's the german blue ram and the red tailed black shark. I'm doing them both at the same time in the hopes of preventing them from fighting. They'll both be new to the tank at the same time and hopefully pick out their own territories without too much fighting. After that I'm officially done. I say officially because I'm probably not going to leave well enough alone. So long as everything seems to be ok I will likely monkey with things a bit. I would like to get some more upper level swimming fish but both the ones I like could be problematic. A dwarf gourami is probably a bad idea, but so might the guppies I wanna try. The only thing that worries me about the guppies are the serpaes. I'm hopefully that in such a large school of them, 10, the serpaes will behave. The only way to find out how they'll do is to throw them in together and see what happens. I think the large school of serpaes should keep their nippiness in check and let the guppies swim in peace.
4) Biomedia
More of it. I've got a 50 gallon pack of biomedia in my filter right now but I want to get some more. I know I'll have more tanks in the future and I'd like to have enough extra to seed new tanks later.
5) Peat
I'm seriously considering using peat in one compartment of my filter in order to soften the water. I'm not sure if I want the tea colored water but I've also heard that carbon can take the color out. I've got some more research to do on this but it's something I'm thinking about.
Wish List:
1) UV Sterilizer.
One day I'd love to keep a dwarf gourami, in fact I'd love a mated pair that could make more little dwarf gouramis. From what I've read they are highly susceptible to bacterial infections. On top of that just for the health of my fish and to get rid of algae in the water I'd like to get one of these. Until I've got $60 bucks free and no more fish or decor to buy it'll have to wait though.
2) Plant Blub
I want to get a blub for my light fixture that will support plant growth. I want to plant my tank one day but that's way down the road once I get all the fish I want and I'm happy with how things are going.
3) CO2 Injection
Once I start planting my tank I want to look into injecting CO2 to help the plants. Probably start with just a yeast reactor, not a pressurized tank.
4) More Tanks
Duh. Start off with a 5 gallon tank at work for a betta, then a 3 gallon at home for some shrimp. A 20 gallon for that stand I built and one day a monster salt water tank. Some day.
Plans:
1) Background
Last week while holding a crying five week old I came to the realization that my wife was right, my tank would look better with a background. I'd left one off because I thought I'd love to look at my tank from both sides, from my den and from the family room/dining room side. So far all my tank enjoyment looking has been from the family room side only. Given that I put up a piece of black cloth on the den side. The tank looked fantastic, sorry for the lack of a good picture. Unfortunately the tape I used to hold it up wouldn't last, with or without a toddler pulling on it. When I get back I want to find a better way to secure it up.
2) Plants
More of them. A nice thing about the background is I don't have to worry about cluttering up my view from the den side so I'm thinking about re-aquascaping things. I can pile my tall plants along the back of the tank and push my shorter ones to the front. I still need quite a few more tall plants though. I really don't have much taking up the higher portions of the water column.
3) Fish
So long as everyone survives vacation I'm going to start stocking my tank up. My plans right now are to add on neons until I get to about six to eight. After that I'll slow down, maybe only buy a neon at a time until I hit my goal of a dozen. At the same time as I'm slowing on the neons I'm going to start getting some rummy-nosed tetras. Once I have all eight of them I'm going to sit on things for a while, make sure everything's steady. If everything looks good I'm going to start on my panda corys. Nice and slow to start, one or two at a time. The final big addition will be the BIG addition. I'm going to save up the cash to buy an entire school of serpaes in one shot. Eight to ten in a go. Once that's done my big species should be taken care of. A dozen neons, eight rummys, eight corys, ten serpaes, and the three platys. That's 41 fish. I'm rethinking the rasboras, I don't think there will be enough room for them in a large enough school. After that it's the german blue ram and the red tailed black shark. I'm doing them both at the same time in the hopes of preventing them from fighting. They'll both be new to the tank at the same time and hopefully pick out their own territories without too much fighting. After that I'm officially done. I say officially because I'm probably not going to leave well enough alone. So long as everything seems to be ok I will likely monkey with things a bit. I would like to get some more upper level swimming fish but both the ones I like could be problematic. A dwarf gourami is probably a bad idea, but so might the guppies I wanna try. The only thing that worries me about the guppies are the serpaes. I'm hopefully that in such a large school of them, 10, the serpaes will behave. The only way to find out how they'll do is to throw them in together and see what happens. I think the large school of serpaes should keep their nippiness in check and let the guppies swim in peace.
4) Biomedia
More of it. I've got a 50 gallon pack of biomedia in my filter right now but I want to get some more. I know I'll have more tanks in the future and I'd like to have enough extra to seed new tanks later.
5) Peat
I'm seriously considering using peat in one compartment of my filter in order to soften the water. I'm not sure if I want the tea colored water but I've also heard that carbon can take the color out. I've got some more research to do on this but it's something I'm thinking about.
Wish List:
1) UV Sterilizer.
One day I'd love to keep a dwarf gourami, in fact I'd love a mated pair that could make more little dwarf gouramis. From what I've read they are highly susceptible to bacterial infections. On top of that just for the health of my fish and to get rid of algae in the water I'd like to get one of these. Until I've got $60 bucks free and no more fish or decor to buy it'll have to wait though.
2) Plant Blub
I want to get a blub for my light fixture that will support plant growth. I want to plant my tank one day but that's way down the road once I get all the fish I want and I'm happy with how things are going.
3) CO2 Injection
Once I start planting my tank I want to look into injecting CO2 to help the plants. Probably start with just a yeast reactor, not a pressurized tank.
4) More Tanks
Duh. Start off with a 5 gallon tank at work for a betta, then a 3 gallon at home for some shrimp. A 20 gallon for that stand I built and one day a monster salt water tank. Some day.
Vacation
The family went on vacation this week. Friday we headed to the beach for ten days. So what about my fish you ask? Well first a little biology lesson, fish are not like humans, fish are cold blooded animals. Unlike humans, cats, or dogs, fish don't need to continually eat large portions of food to give them the energy to regulate their temperature. Yes, most of the food you eat goes to just keeping your body temperature up. This means that fish can survive on a lot less food because their bodies aren't looking for something to burn all the time to keep their temperature up. In nature fish don't eat like they do in your tank. My fish get two square meals a day. In the wild they'd eat when they found food, and sometimes you don't find any. Going without eating for a while is what fish are designed for. Most fish can go a week easy without ill effect, some two.
So my fish should be alright while we're on vacation. I fed them regularly prior to leaving and changed out 50% of their water the morning we left. My wife's sister will be stopping by to drop off our cats and when she does I left some food premeasured in a cup on the counter for her to give the fish. I figure I've done all I can to ensure that they will be taken care of while we're on vacation. I hope when I get back Fe and the Stooges will be fine, if a little hungry.
So my fish should be alright while we're on vacation. I fed them regularly prior to leaving and changed out 50% of their water the morning we left. My wife's sister will be stopping by to drop off our cats and when she does I left some food premeasured in a cup on the counter for her to give the fish. I figure I've done all I can to ensure that they will be taken care of while we're on vacation. I hope when I get back Fe and the Stooges will be fine, if a little hungry.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Maintenance
Saturday is weekly maintenance day for my tank. The first thing I do is a water change/gravel vacuum. I give the sand a good once over with the vacuum to pick up uneaten food and fish poop. If I don't they'll decay and in the process make ammonia, a lot of it. Since the gravel vacuum is also a siphon I wind up sucking out about five gallons of water. Once the vacuuming is done I put my bucket low on the floor to suck the hardest it can and pull another five gallons of water out. All in all it takes about fifteen minutes.Once I've pulled out the ten gallons its time to put it back. The first two and a half gallons get the water conditioner for the full ten gallon change along with the pinch of buffering salts, the next three buckets just get salt. That takes about another fifteen minutes. After that I use a fork to stir up the sand to keep it from getting to compact and going anaerobic. Finally I rotate my filters, I pull out the cartridge on the right, move the one on the left into the slot on the right and put a fresh cartridge on the left. Since they've both been in the tank for two weeks now I'll remove the first one, in two weeks I'll yank the next one. If I keep up that schedule each cartridge will stay in the tank for a month with them on average being two weeks old.
All that takes about forty minutes to work through. Really it's not too bad.
For the aggravation I treat my fish too some frozen brine shrimp. Unfortunately being the first time I'd done this I put in WAY too much shrimp. I had to fish a lot of them out with my fish net. Next time I'm going to give them about a third of what I did. Given how much they had to eat they only got one small meal on Sunday.
All that takes about forty minutes to work through. Really it's not too bad.
For the aggravation I treat my fish too some frozen brine shrimp. Unfortunately being the first time I'd done this I put in WAY too much shrimp. I had to fish a lot of them out with my fish net. Next time I'm going to give them about a third of what I did. Given how much they had to eat they only got one small meal on Sunday.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Successful Week
Well tomorrow marks the one week point in this round of fish. Fe soldiers on as always, refusing to do the appropriate thing and hide in fear since he lacks a shoal. Instead he prowls the tank spending little time amongst the cover spread around. The three stooges are as animated as ever, begging for food and showing no signs of undo stress. In other words after a week everything looks to be going well.
So now what? Well unfortunately for my tank we're going on vacation at the end of next week so it's probably not the best time to add more fish, though I desperately want to. Angela's sister will be stopping by to drop off our cats and I'm going to have her feed my fish. If everyone makes it through the vacation fine then I'll start to stock up when we get back. First on the list are more neons to give Fe a proper school, after that probably the rummy's.
A note on stocking up, I found another good local fish shop. Ocean Blue has a sister store called Aquaria Studios. It's not as close to my house but it is near work. I like the store better frankly. The shop keeper said they turn over the stock slower than Ocean Blue and I can tell, all the fish are larger than the same breeds at OB. Larger older fish that have been in the store longer are more stable and likely to survive. Maybe not critical with small fish like the tetras but larger more expensive fish will be better off if they aren't fresh out of the packing box.
I also spotted another future denizen of my tank, a german blue ram.
Tell me that's not a good looking fish.
So now what? Well unfortunately for my tank we're going on vacation at the end of next week so it's probably not the best time to add more fish, though I desperately want to. Angela's sister will be stopping by to drop off our cats and I'm going to have her feed my fish. If everyone makes it through the vacation fine then I'll start to stock up when we get back. First on the list are more neons to give Fe a proper school, after that probably the rummy's.
A note on stocking up, I found another good local fish shop. Ocean Blue has a sister store called Aquaria Studios. It's not as close to my house but it is near work. I like the store better frankly. The shop keeper said they turn over the stock slower than Ocean Blue and I can tell, all the fish are larger than the same breeds at OB. Larger older fish that have been in the store longer are more stable and likely to survive. Maybe not critical with small fish like the tetras but larger more expensive fish will be better off if they aren't fresh out of the packing box.
I also spotted another future denizen of my tank, a german blue ram.
Tell me that's not a good looking fish.
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