Fish Stack Lightning

Some fish, like the Corys, are shy of the paparazzi but not these three. Netty is the bulbous bellied beacon, grumpy Mr C is sandwiched in the middle and George is manfully supporting the stack. Fish are sooo clever and what great balance…

The Three Amigos

Here’s tonight’s best picture of the three Corys posing…must do better next time…

Corys are Fun

Well I’ve tried to take a decent picture of the three Corys but they are toying with me! They play together most of the time and flit in and out of the water flow bubbles. Sometimes one will wander off and then regroup quickly with the other two. They are funny, wriggly fish and don’t mind bumping into one another or overlapping when they settle somewhere. At times they group together and seem to sit on the gravel and stay really still….until I point the camera. You can see a couple of them on the left but I’m still working on a clear picture.

Is Mr C a Handsome Cichlid or Just Grumpy?

My husband reckons Mr C always looks grumpy but I think he is more serious and distinguished – you decide. He is always hanging out with the Mrs and parading about the tank. A gorgeous chap!

Ahh Nancy’s A Nice Girl

Nancy’s Mighty Mouth

Say no more…

Platy Fry-Up!

Minnie, Lemony Snicket (pictured with dark fry shadow on her transparent belly, oh and the start of a fishpoop) and Netty are fit to burst! They are all spending a bit of time nestling in plants or hovering (yeah, fish hover) in one place for a while. I don’t think their bellies can stretch any more…. I’ve ordered a floating plant so that will complete my efforts to provide hiding places for any that survive greedy mouths….. Come on girls!

New Fish Alert!

Hi there, the tank community is slowly growing. Today I added a male and female Golden Dwarf Cichlid, three who-knows-what-sex Sterba’s Corydoras and one big female Bristlenose Catfish. Thanks to my super sister-in-law, I had Maidenhead Aquatics vouchers for my birthday and spent many on my new fish. I added a piece of bogwood from Nancy* the Bristlenose’s tank and three little terracotta flower pots from a garden centre.

All fish seem happy and alert and the Platy ladies still look full-bellied and pregnant so I’m glad not to have missed any action. Randy has been trying to get some action but hasn’t had any joy this evening. The Scissors are shoaling nicely and George and Speckled Jim are as elusive as usual.

The picture shows the mighty mouth of Nancy, a couple of Corys and the male Cichlid.

*Final fish thought: does everyone name their fish, even if they don’t mention this on fish forums or websites?

Water, water, water

Hi there, I changed about 10% of the tank water today and gave the algae a scraping just on the front of the tank. Well, I had to leave a snack for Speckled Jim and George!

Aquarium Nitrate

I will be leaving my friend Nicola in charge of the fish while I celebrate my birthday this week, so I have made foil fish food parcels for the days I’m away. That way I can still be ‘anal’ about my fish care! I read online somewhere fishy, that the food blocks you can plonk in the tank can affect the water chemistry, so I’m playing it safe. I filled a couple of buckets of water from the cold tap, added de-chlorine drops and will leave them to get to room temp. before doing a 10% water change tomorrow after an algae scrape. The Nitrate level today seemed to be between 10 and 20ppm, but sometimes I find it hard to see… What do you think from the pic?

The aquarium is a birthday gift from my gorgeous husband so this week it will officially belong to me yay!! I’m pleased to have had it set up for a few weeks now so I know everything is stable and hopefully will remain that way. I did feed Nicola’s fish while she was away and her plec died a couple of days after her return, so I hope she doesn’t wreak a terrible revenge on my fish! I wonder if I’ll miss them while I’m away…