Fish Hotel

Broken Pump Again

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:47:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:36:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:58:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:57:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:51:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:12:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:05:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 15 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Here are a few pictures of the Rainbow Shark

Likes to hang around the log

Rainbow Shark Fact Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:54:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:33:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:31:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:10:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:57:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:12:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:18:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:02:00 +0000

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.

Major Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:01:00 +0000

Today we did a major clean of the tank. Took over two hours to do. It involved an hour's work just pruning the plants and removing the algae. The rest of the time was spent siphoning the water and cleaning the filter, which was way overdue a clean. Tank is looking much better, though the water is a bit murky. Of course the fish had to have their fun by getting into the filter while I was cleaning it, so ended up spending time fishing (excuse the pun) them out.

Sailfin Molly No More

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:34:00 +0000

Yesterday I discovered that the Sailfin Molly had gone to the big fish tank in the sky. Over the last week his swimming had been getting worse and we noticed that his body was starting to bend. I think he might have been suffering from old age and like humans who become hunch backed, so do fish. I have noticed this with a few fish that I have had.

An interesting thing I have noticed about the tank is that the female fish live longer than males. Most of the deaths we have had were males, not sure why that is. Could be that the males were older when we got them or that they have short live spans. Or by going on the number of baby Mollies we have, they just wear themselves out.

Unhappy Male

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:36:00 +0000

Today L noticed that our male Sailfin Molly was acting strangely. He does not seem to be able to swim properly and is struggling to right himself. Will keep an eye on him.

Nursery Plant

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:39:00 +0000

A good plant to rear young fish, especially those from a live bearer is Bacopa australis. We have noticed that most of the very small babies live amongst the leaves and stems of the plant and survive long enough to become a size that will make it more difficult to be eaten. Because the survival rate is so high, this will lead to the tank becoming more populate at a higher rate.

Dietary Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:05:00 +0000

Before Christmas I ran out of granules and when we went to buy some more, they did not have the same brand as before. So I bought Aquarian as a replacement and found it to be better than TetraPrima. The granules are rounder, work better in the automatic feeder and the fish love it.

I also bought TetraTabimin, which is a tablet for the bottom feeders. With each feed I drop one in while the flakes are been eaten, to ensure that the bottom feeders get a chance to eat before the rest of the fish find it. This has also become one of the fishes' favourite food.

Platy Fact Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:23:00 +0000

Here is a fact sheet of the Platy

Scientific Name	Xiphophorus maculatus
Family	Poeciliidae
Common Names	Platy, Moonfish
Origin	Central America
Adult Size	5 - 8 cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	3 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Live bearers
pH	7 - 8.3
Hardness	12 - 18 dGH
Temperature	20 - 26 C

Automatic Feeder

noreply@blogger.com (Neil) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:02:00 +0000

When I bought my tank, I got with it an automatic feeder. As I like to watch my fish when feeding and use the time to see if all are present and well, the automatic feeder got assigned to the cupboard. But when we decided to go on holiday, I realised this could be very useful tool to feed the fish. So a week before we went on holiday I set it up to feed the fish every 12 hours, so that they could get used to it.

The automatic feeder consists of two parts, one that controls the motor and the timings of when to feed the fish; and the other is a compartment where the food goes into. This compartment has an adjustable gap where the food falls out of when the motor rotates the compartment. Getting the right size of the gap took some time as too big and the fish get overfed and too small and the food does not come out. After a bit of trial and error, I found that the granules worked best for feeding, as the flakes kept getting stuck when a bit of moisture got into the compartment.

The first time we went on holiday, the feeder worked fine and the fish looked well fed on our return. But just before we went on our second holiday, the baby Mollies arrived and this meant that the feeder would only feed adult fish and not the babies as they were in the breeding trap. So for that holiday I had to get external help to come and feed both the adult and baby fish. I have since used it again with success and unless I need babies to be fed, I will use this when going on a holiday.

Box the Juwel automatic feeder came in

Automatic feeder installed on the lid of the tank