New additions

This month saw a new addition to the nano cube: another Betta Splenden. This is a young chap going by the name of “Firey” hailing from my local, Finn’s Aquaria on the Warwick Road, Sparkhill. I decided i couldn’t be bothered to burn the petrol to go back to Shirley Aquatics (save money and reduce my carbon footprint ), so instead i visited my local, Finn’s Aquaria on the Warwick Road in Sparkhill. They had a few bettas in and since i was going to be out of the city over the weekend i asked them to save this little fella, which i collected on the Monday. I also got another pleco to keep my earlier pleco company.

He was ok the first few days and then he like his predecessor found the filter intake. I kept a very close eye on him and thankfully he fought the suction with success everytime and swam away. I figured if the the suction bothered him, he wouldn’t keep coming back to the intake. Maybe i’m giving him too much credit – only time will tell. I’m sure the old myth that goldfish had a memory span of 7 seconds was proven to be false – They seem to know to come to the surface everytime you go near their tank to feed them.

Anyway just as a precaution i decided to add the “protein skimmer” attachment that came with the tank. It took the form of a piece of clear plastic which attached itself to the filter intake by means of suction generated by water entering the intake grill. It has a indents running along the top edge which is what the surface water runs and thereby skimming off the protein film on the water surface. I’m sure someone thought it was a good idea but with it attached detritus was floating around the tank a full day before i took it off to enable proper filtering of the water to take place again.

So leaving the protein skimmer in place i went off to work one morning content that the Betta could no longer be sucked onto the grill only to return to a neon tetra stuck between the grill and the protein skimmer – poor fella was dead, he’d obviously been there a while. He had entered (or may have been sucked) into the gap through the indents in the skimmer attachment and obviously couldn’t get back out. So i took off the skimmer and went back to the bare grill, it’s been more than a week and the rest of them seem to be doing fine. That leaves current inhabitants at 1 Betta, 2 plecos, 7 neon tetras & 1 cory catfish.

He came and went – R.I.P Swimmy

It’s been a few weeks since i put the tank together and threw in the plants. The new year saw the introduction of the fish: a (speckled) pleco and a Betta Splendens which a young cousin named Swimmy. Swimmy the Siamese Fighting Fish.. kinda has a nice ring to it. Sorry… had a nice ring to it. Yes, sadly he died about 3/4 days after entering its new home. It was strange, after sitting in a plastic bag at the shop it seemed quite happy in its new home.

He seemed to like resting next to the filter intake at the rear of the tank. I was a little worried that the suction was trapping him at first but he swam away just fine and kept returning – I assumed he enjoyed being able to stay there without effort.

Unfortuntely this was also where i found him dead one evening with a large fungal growth near his pectoral fins. It was hard disposing of him. Bettas’ personalities are just such that they are very easy to get attached to. Little cousin took the news better than i did when i told him the next day. He simply asked “Can we get a Shark now?”

I hope to come visit you in the great fish tank in the sky one day. R.I.P. Swimmy

Tank lighting

Tank’s looking a little clearer in this pic, i think it was a little cloudy before due to the many little air bubbles from adding the fresh water.

Lights are made up of 4 compact flourescent tubes: 2 white and 2 blue to mimic daylight.

It also has 2 little LEDs mounted under the hood for night time viewing. It’s supposed to resemble moonlight. It’s not bright enough to bother the fish, just bright enough so that you can see them.

You can’t fully appreciate the ‘moonlight’ but with water moving at the surface it does look very cool when the room lights are turned off.

My new aquarium

Hi. So I’ve decided to start a blog. Exactly why, i’m not sure. I guess i just want someplace to think out aloud and share my ideas, opinions and interesting finds with everyone.

It was quite a cold morning the day before yesterday, the roads were quite busy with everyone gearing up for xmas and I felt like driving. I ended up near Shirley Aquatics ( http://www.shirleyaquatics.co.uk) on the Stratford Road and couldn’t resist popping into my favourite aquatics shop. I had a freshwater tropical aquarium uptil a couple of years ago and had recently been toying with the idea of setting up another in my head. Anyway the chance was too good to pass up and i thought i’d pop in just for some inspiration.

After some time looking at all the fish and reptiles i ended up buying a Nano Cube 24 gallon fish tank. I completely forgot a cabinet to put it on and so had to pop back yesterday to pick it up and also get some plants. Had it all set up, after cleaning the tank and washing the gravel and spending far too long assembling the cabinet (the single page of picture only instructions were not great).

Plants aren’t yet planted. i just threw them in after conditioning the water to get rid of the chlorine, and adding a little plant fertilizer to keep them going until the fish is/are added, which should be in a week.