New Aquarium

I am convinced he got himself stuck somewhere, as he had an injury to his face (left side) that appeared quite literally overnight. He was quite a boisterous fish - not aggressive in the least, just full of beans, and was almost always bombing about the tank. We tried treating with a couple of bottles from API (Melafix and Pimafix?), but they clearly weren't enough.

I am not back to work full time - building up the number of days that I am doing each week, burning off holiday for the other days, and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I have considerably more mobility than it was suggested I would get back, and I kinda hope/think that is as a direct result of the exercises etc that I did with Mrs C (now, now, take your mind back out of the gutter )

We had a feeling that those guppies were getting near dropping point, so bought a wee cheap plastic thing that sticks on the inside of the tank - it has a three chambers, two in the top (small) and one large one in the bottom all with slots so the water can flow through them - the top two chambers can be made into one (which I think is kinder), and the idea is that they give birth and the fry drop through into the bottom where they can stay safe until big enough to look out for themselves; it was only a few quid from Amazon, so nothing fancy. Question is, when do we put the fish into it, as I don't want to be cruel and keep them in a relatively small space for too long?

 

Nice controller by the way - is it self contained, or are you using an Arduino to run it?

 

Its not so much the being pestered by other fish, it is the being eaten by other fish - apparently as the parents give birth, the fry naturally drop - and this wee tank as a V-shape to the bottom of the top chamber, with a slit running the length of the valley of the V. The fry fall through the slit into the bottom, and the parents are too big to fit through to eat them - parents can come out immediately after birth, and the fry remain in the bottom chamber for a couple of weeks until they are big enough to not be eaten.

If it were just me, I would let nature take its course and if they got eaten..... well, that would be that. However, we have a fish midwife in the house in the form of Mrs C, and those wee babies are to be nurtured and given every chance. As for the number of fish, we have a neighbour who has a near empty tank at the moment and they would welcome some new additions so that is one avenue for them - that, and I am now back at work so can easily offer them to a staff base of over 3000, if we do get to the point where we have too many. Of the last set of babies, three survived (one died, one got eaten we think).

You are ahead of me with the Arduino - never touched one, and to be honest I don't really have the brainspace to even think about one at the minute.

 

Good God, don't go mentioning second hand tanks, or we will have a bloomin' houseful! Seriously, Mrs C is a Menagerie looking for a place to happen - we can but wait and see at the moment, we're still very early on in keeping fish and there is currently tons of room in the tank, so I am not overly worried. Those that get eaten, get eaten, as far as I am concerned, and I will deal with the rest as the problems arise - I don't really want to get myself in a tizzy about things that might not even happen.

Water change of around 45% today, filters given a clean and the carbon is back into the cannister filter - hopefully that will ensure that they are all happy.

To be honest, I cannot be bothered much techie wise - I haven't even lifted a soldering iron since coming out of hospital. Beside anything else, I don't have the dexterity in my hands that I had, and all my concentration has been taken up with getting back on my feet, and being able to walk up stairs etc. It is odd, but everything seems to take four or five times more energy than it used to or should - even things like getting dressed, so when it comes to even considering something like an Arduino, it is not happening at the moment.

 

Very much a mixed bag with the plants - the ebay ones haven't been great to be honest, of the lot I ordered I think only three or four types have actually thrived. I got a nice one a couple of weeks ago - an underwater spider plant for want of a better description - thick bladed leaves and variegated. That is a nice looking plant - dense enough for the fish to hide, yet not overly so that they cannot wriggle out of it.

The potted plants generally seem to be better, and although they are a two or three quid each, they are better value I think.

We awoke this morning to five wee guppy fry, so we have spent a couple of hours catching them and they are now installed in the wee tank thing that is now hanging on the inside of the tank. We suspect it was the orange fish that gave birth to them, as her shape has changed a bit since yesterday. We also think she has more to come, but are still not sure about putting her in the top chamber of the breeding tank, as it would restrict her greatly and seem cruel?