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

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.