Well...
- The twelve rummynoses settled in well and started coming out and shoaling in the open although they didn't really stand out very much against the background which is a shame as close up, they're stunning fish.
- The pentazona/five banded barbs didn't seem to like the set up however and spent their days cowering under cover, so after a while we decided to swap them into our 200l where they shoal like crazy and stand out beautifully. As it was already a bit overstocked, we moved six cardinal tetras into the 125 to add a dash of colour, however we couldn't catch the other six and when we've got a bit of time we'll get them too!
- We also moved two orange platies in there, to add a bit of colour but also because they seemed to be hiding away a lot in impossibly small spaces - possibly because they got bullied by the other platies in the 200l. In the 125l they swim out in the open most of the time which is great to watch.
- As a 'centrepiece' we got two small angelfish, a white & yellow long finned one (named Viv) and s silver and black striped shorter finned one (Bev) who are great to watch and will follow you up and down the tank and feed from your hand. I know angels aren't ideal in pairs but really we couldn't have had too many more in there and one seems very lonely! It is clear who's in charge (Viv!) but he or she doesn't do anything worse than chase the other one every now and then, she can't chase very fast as she seems to have strange fins! For the most part they are very peaceful together.we can always swap them into the 200l or 65l if they start to argue!
- We decided the rock background was too severe (OK, my husband didn't like it!) and it took up too much space, so we spent a few hours getting it out and scraping off the silicone, all fish in buckets of course. We added a black background (just a bit of material) and lots of plants, and my husband picked out two enormous pieces of wood which have given it a murky, natural look which I love and wish was permanent!
- The two baby guppies we moved in (it was three but one was deformed and died quickly) have now developed their gonopodiums so I now have a lot more confidence in my ability to sex guppies so moved two more over. The four guppies - which although they have the same parents (I assume!) are different colours depending on when they were born - all swim together with the two platies. It looks like the rest of my guppy babies are female, so hopefully I swapped the boys out soon enough and that will be the end of the babies - it's been nearly six months since they saw a male and for the first time they don't look like they're about to burst!
- Finally we added six yo-yo loaches over a few weeks. They're around two inches long so still juveniles and at the moment they don't seem to bother the other fish as they are the only bottom dwellers and have lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Again if they do start picking on the angels or guppies, I have a contingency plan, but at the moment it seems to be going very well indeed!
For some reason my USB port isn't recognising my camera so I will have to come and add more photos at a later date.
