JUNE UPDATE

Things have been running pretty smoothly. I currently have three tanks set up; if you’re interested in my current stocking or tank details, take a look my page, ’The Tanks and Fish.’ I have put a heater in each of the tanks, ready for Winter (it’s getting quite cool here in Australia).

 

I’m still aiming to get that 4 foot aquarium sometime. My stocking ideas have changed yet again. Over the past few months I have become increasingly interested in oscars. I think it would be a pretty awesome setup if I could keep a tiger oscar in the 4 foot (90 gallon) aquarium, and after gaining some experience, maybe I could get another one and try my hand at breeding them. I could use the two 20 gallon tanks as grow out tanks and the 10 gallon to breed guppies and shrimp as feeders for both the adults and their young. Just an idea at this point.

 

Seeming how a 90 gallon is a little on the spacious side for a single oscar, another idea of mine was to try and keep it with a turtle or two. Depending on the breed of turtle, space probably shouldn’t be an issue. My main concern at this point is agression. I have heard that the oscar should co-exist with the turtle just fine, but the turtle may have a go at the oscar. If this is the case, perhaps they would be fine together if I allowed the oscar to grow a little, and got the turtle when it was quite young. I will have to do more research on this idea.

 

Of course, I will update with any new news as it comes.

DROPSY

Many of you would be familiar with my Siamese fighting fish, or betta, named Ajax. Not too long ago I went away for a few days. You may be aware that most fish can go more than a few days without feeding easily. Despite my clear request that nobody touch my fish while I was away, somebody decided to ignore me, and majorly overfed them. I could tell because they were so fat when I got home. It’s definetally not a good thing when your fish have been fed to the extent where they look as though they might be pregnant. Due to my goldfish recently passing away I had a spare 9 gallon tank that was meant to be for Ajax since day one. I didn’t want any possibility of my betta getting any disease from the tank’s last inhabitants, so I completely cleaned out the whole tank and let everything dry before setting it back up again. I realised after I put Ajax in his tank that all of this was pointless, he was already dying.

I put his filter in there, as his 3 gallon had somehow cycled it’s self – don’t even bother asking me how this happened, I have no idea myself – so I put his filter in the new tank until tje bacteria spread to the 9g’s wet/dry filter. For the fist day in his new tank he hung around the top a lot, which was very uncommon for him. He didn’t even explore the tank. The wet/dry filter seemed to be bothering him so I turned it off for the time being. I thought this was just him adjusting to his new tank.

That night I went to feed him. When I looked at him from above I was horrified to see that his scaled were slightly protruding from his body. I tried feeding him peas, in case it was a blockage, but it didn’t help the situation at all. I would have done a water change, but the tank had only recently been set up, and the water was still practically perfect.

Over the couse of a week or so he only got worse. Unfortunately dropsy is one of those horrible diseases that cannot be treated. Ultimately your fish will probably die. Unlikely as it is, some fish do recover with clean water and proper general care. Not Ajax.

RIP

TROUBLE WiTH CAPTAiN GiLLS, UPDATED PAGE, NEW PAGE COMiNG SOON

Well i’m afraid I have some very bad news that i’m quite upset about. Captain Gills, my fancy goldfish of 3 or so years, is sitting on his side at the bottom of the tank. He’s breathing slowly and every now and then I see him wiggle, but he’s not even strong enough to maintain his stability. I’m at a loss as to why this is happening. He has not signs of any parasites, bacterial or fungal infections. I’m pretty sure I’ve just turned into the world’s biggest hypocrite. I’m always telling people about how they should never keep any goldfish in anything under 20-40 gallons, because they’re so dirty and they get too big. I tell them about how this will stunt their goldfish. Because I have nowhere else to keep him, and I currently cannot afford to buy a bigger tank, Cpt. Gills has been living in a 10 gallon tank. Because I have no other explanation, I would say he has been stunted. I have been doing extra water changes ever since he moved in, but you just can’t keep a goldfish in something so small. My lesson- never bite off more than you can chew, and always do your own research. A message to all of you reading this- DO NOT trust the information given out by pet shop employees. While some ofthem do actually know what they’re talking about, the majority of them couldn’t care less about the wellfare of the fish they’re selling; it’s all about the money. There’s one simple way to prevent this from happening to you- do your own research! No matter how cool a fish looks, always come home first and look it up on the internet. If it suits your setup then by all means, go out and get it the next day, but if you don’t take this step it’s very possible you could come home with a predator or something similar that will wreak havoc.

   Well, that’s the end of my rant. It’s just silly that this should have to happen. In my opinion, pet shop employees should have to do basic training before getting the job.

   So, what’s next? No, I’m not buying any more fish. As planned from the beginning, Ajax (my male crowntail betta, also known as a siamese fighting fish) will go in there, along with the heater I’ve got for it. It doesn’t get too cold during Winter where I live (Australia), but it’s still too cold for tropicals, so I do put heaters in all of my tropical tanks. This will become his perminannt home. I’m going to completely wash it out, let it dry out, and recycle it before putting ajax in there. Seeming as I have no idea what happened to it’s former inhabitant, I don’t want to risk the chance of any diseases being passed on to Ajax.

   Say goodbye to Captain Gills. As unfortunate as this may be, it was probably inevitable. You get attached to something you can’t care for, or at least not for it’s whole life. This fish will be missed a lot.

 

I have updated my ‘THE TANK AND FiSH’ page. Take a look if you’re interested the tanks I currently have running.

 

Soon I plan to create a new page telling you a little big about my fishkeeping past. I’ll write about what fish I’ve kept, my thoughts on the species, my biggest mistakes, and more.  I’m also thinking about making a page with tips, recommended websites and books, what and what not to do, etc. I’ll let you know what’s happening once I’ve made the decision.

AND WE’RE BACK…

After quite a long break from blogging, i’m back. I finally got that extra fishtank I needed. My current setups include:

9g- My fancy goldfish, Captain Gills. Temporary.

18g with a filter designed for a 55g- About 15-20 female guppies, 5 rummynose tetras and 3 black kuhlie loaches.

18g- About 10-20 male guppies.

3g- One male crowntail betta named Ajax.

Extra tank- 2 siamese algea eaters that I don’t know what to do with.

I would still like to get myself a good 4ft tank, but I’m lacking the funds to do so. I’m dying to get some angelfish and, sometime in the future, I would love a tiger oscar. Remember that video I was trying to post on Youtube a while back? I’ll try again when I get a chance and let you know how it goes. I have no idea why it’s not working. My video camera’s broken, but if I can’t get the video to upload, i’ll try making one with my camera and see if that works.

 

Thanks for being so patient with me

I hope I haven’t lost too many readers.

ATTEMPT #2 FOR PHOTOS, NEW TANK

The last time I tried to add some photos to the site they didn’t work out, so i’ll try again. Before I do i just thought i’d clear things up about the Youtube video. I tried several times to upload it, but it never processed. At any rate, let’s see if I can get the photos working.

Close-up of guppy fry

Three of the guppies

The 18g in early ‘08

Do you remember me talking about getting a new tank off a family friend? It’s finally here. It’s exactly the same dimentions of my other 18g and it’s on a wooden stand. It has a great HOB aquaclear filter, but it’s missing it’s lid, and i’ll have to buy a new filter cartridge. I’ll be putting my male guppies in there, and Cpt. Gills can go into the 9g untill the pond is set up.

SOME OLD PHOTOS

How the tank used to look

Guppy Fry

RiP LAST ORIGINAL GUPPY, FOUND AN OLD ViDEO, ViDEO OF THE 18G

When you purchase guppies and they are fully grown, they are most likely already over a year old. Seeming that I have had him for a year or so, i’d say my blue-tailed male guppy had a pretty good run. Unfortunatelly, he passed away last night. He was very weak and was being pushed about the tank by the force of the filter, so i put him in a breeder net in the 18g. Unfortunatelly, the small guppy species has an average life span of just 2 years. At least I still have the many decendants of him; His fry.

 

I was going through the pictures and videos on my computer and I found a very old video from when I first got the guppies. Way back then I was a modest fish keeper and my tank was decorated with fake coral and coloured gravel. Now days I don’t favor such decor, but I will be keeping the video, as it is the only video I have with all four of the original guppies in it.

 

It’s finally here! It’s not perfect, but here is a video I scrounged up of the 18g. Considering I filmed and produced it all in one day, i’d say it’s pretty good. Enjoy!

<object width=”425″ height=”350″> <param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/CxuzKFu7Pas“> </param> <embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/CxuzKFu7Pas” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”425″ height=”350″> </embed> </object>

 

EDIT: Sorry, the video doesn’t seem to be working. It might be because I only just uploaded it. Once the video has been processed and added to my Youtube channel, it might work. If it doesn’t, I’ll post a link to it instead.

THE PLANS HAVE CHANGED!

Well, in hope to set up a marine tank sometime in the future, i’m going after a bigger tank. Instead of a 42 gallon, the tank i’m now looking at is 56 gallons, and a foot longer. The new dimentions are 48″ long x 15″ wide x 18″ high. As for stocking, I was thinking:

2x fully mature, already paired off gold angelfish

6x or so Australian rainbowfish

20-30x male guppies (the ones from when I used to breed)

5x rummynose tetras (I already have these)

3x black kuhlie loaches (again, I already have these)

2x German blue rams; and possibly

2x kribensis

I might not get the kribs due to the fact that once fully grown they might have a go at my guppies and because of their aggression, should they choose to breed. I am also concerned about the aggression of the angels and the rams when/if they breed. Hopefully I will never have to deal with more than one spawn at a time, so that all the other fish have space to retreat when the spawning fish set up a territory.

TANK GOAL iNFO, DATE SET, STOCKiNG LiST

Just a quick update on the current aquarium goal. I’m pretty set on this three foot package deal. The tank is 36″ long, 15″ wide and 18″ high. It’s 42 gallons. The package deal comes with a solid pine stand, a Superwin AHJ752 (internal) or Resun HF2002 (hang on) filter, a submersible heater (100 watts) and a 3 foot single dalbarb flourescant light and housing (30 watts, I will have to get another one). I will be getting a sloping pine hood, but it’s not included in the deal. I am hoping to get it around the 31st of October, the end of this month. As far as stocking goes, I have about 30 male guppies going in there. The female guppies will stay in the 18g. There are fewer females than males. I am also hoping to get a few different varieties of Australian rainbowfish. As with my other tanks, it will be fully planted, eventually. Once I get it, I plan to run the filter in the 18g for a few weeks, rather than cycling the tank. While this is going on, I will set up the tank with the live plants. I am considering sand, but i’m a little worried about vacuuming it all up each week. I may be going to the creek this week with the waterproof camer. If I do end up going, maybe I can get some good underwater snaps.

ONE SMALL GAP FOR A BETTA, ONE GiANT LEAP FOR AJAX

Ajax is certainly a jumper. This time, he’s gotten himself into trouble. Of course his tank came with it’s own little lid, however it didn’t completely cover the top of the tank, and gaps were left. I didn’t think his aim was good enough for him to get out of the tank, and stupid me didn’t cover the gaps. I feel absolutely terrible. Thank goodness, bettas have a heavinly organ called a labyrinth organ. This means that should a betta jump out of the tank, he can gulp air and get oxygen  this way. Therefore, labyrinth fishes will never suffocate if they jump out of a tank, they will die when their lungs dry up. I found him in a box with some crepe paper. He was pretty dry, only barely sticky from his slime coat. He was stuck to the crepe paper, so i put it in the water to soften, and eventually Ajax pulled himself away. The poor thing is still mainly in one piece. His fins didn’t tear off, but they spit and some rays have stuck together. His eyes are cloudy and I fear he may be blind in one eye. He appears to have minimal sight in the other. Hopefully this will heal in time, and he will still have vision in at least one of his eyes. I have turned off the filter, as he is so weak I don’t want to make him swim against the filter in the state he is in. I have also removed the carbon from the filter and administered Melafix to the tank. Melafix is an antibacterial medication. It should help prevent his wounds getting infected and speed up the healing process of his fins. As I watch him now, about 15 minutes after the incident, he has gotten most of the fluff off his body. He has only just started to become active and is begining to swim a little bit. Before he was just lying on the bottom of the tank, recooperating from the ordeal. Tomorrow afternoon I will head down to the pet shop and pick up a larger bottle of Melafix. I will probably be treating him for one or two weeks. Tonight I will feed all the fish frozen brine shrimp. I am hoping Ajax will be tempted by the meal, otherwise he probably won’t eat for a day or two. On Thursday I will be getting some live food. From what I remember, my petstore currently stocks bloodworms, black worms, white worms and brine shrimp. For now I have covered the tank with a fry screen-like netting, but within a few weeks (hopefully) I will be getting a lid custom-cut lid for not only Ajax’s tank, but for the 18g community aswell. I leave you today with this message:

 

If you’re going to have a betta, COVER THE TANK!!! Don’t be stupid and make the same mistake I did. Don’t assume it will be okay. Chances are, it will not. It is in the betta’s nature to jump. They jump from one rice paddy to the next in the wild. I’m incredibly lucky to have found Ajax in time and he will probably make a complete recovery, but if it happens again I might be too late.