A month or so on...

FINALLY, some pictures of how the tank looks now (not very good I'm afraid!!).

  

Current inhabitants:

2 x Baby Angels
6 x YoYo Loaches
12 x Rummynose tetra
2 x Platies
and a bunch of guppies who were getting bullied in the other tank.

All are getting on well so far but I'm keeping careful watch in case I need to separate anyone in future!

In other tank news, have switched to an external filter in my 200l so it looks so strange now - so much more space! Haven't altered the stocking much except we had to put in Mrs Kribbitch the moody kribensis as we needed the hospital tank for our sick dwarf gourami, he's still with us but for how long I don't know. Could be the dreaded DGD. His Mrs is fine and still in the 200l.

The kribensis has settled down now, and isn't picking on anyone; she's even getting on fine with the cories.We moved the guppies & hi-fin platies out (into the 125) because she would just rip them to shreds, and have put in two new platies to add a bit of colour. Tetras, danios, barbs and cories are all fine too, as is Mr Bristles who is getting HUGE already. Here are a few rubbish pics taken today:

Ta-da!

And last but not least, the 65l is now home to some rapidly growing platy and guppy young ladies. it's also had a wee re-scape:

:)

Long time, no update!

So what happened next??

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.

Fish Shopping!

We went out on Saturday and on Sunday, a little worse for wear but entirely committed to the cause, we changed 90% of the water in the 125l tank (as well as doing five buckets in the 200l and two in the 65l) and went out in search of fish!

...And came home a few hours later with these guys:

6 x five banded barbs, and 8 x rummynose tetras.

We wanted some which would be compatible with our female krib, however it was evident from the off that she just wasn't going to let anyone share her tank, and the new guys cowered in the corner, so we've had to offer her up for re-homing. At the moment she is on her own in what is supposed to be our hospital tank. This means we still need to decide who's going in the tank with the barbs and tetras but there is no rush.

When we got them in the tank they all just hid away at the back and we couldn't see them at all, so a day later we decided to up the numbers slightly. We also added a few young guppies from the 65l (I think they are male but it's hard to tell!) so that the thing wouldn't look so empty!

Unfortunately, the only place we could get fish after work hours was the local Pets at Home, where we got four more tetras who have settled in OK and are shoaling with the others who seem much more confident now. However they had one single five banded barb; very stupidly I felt sorry for him and bought him, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to be doing well. I've also noticed now that he appears to have a white spot on him, I am not sure if it is ich, as it doesn't look the same as what I have seen before, as it hasn't spread however I have dosed the tank just in case which means we won't be adding anyone else for the time being.

More photos coming soon!

Thursday & Friday (Days 10 & 11)

Quick update (no pics today haha!).

Yesterday (day 10) I had a strange mix of results. I have seen no ammonia at all, but the nitrite was a  a bit odd.

Before work (11.5 hrs after re-dosing) the nitrite was the highest it has been - between 2 and 5!  Perhaps I put too much ammonia in??  

I re-dosed anyway before work and then measured again when I came home at one hour intervals (my husband has gone away and I was bored!).

The results were 7pm 0.5-1, 8pm 0.25, 9pm 0. Then I re-dosed. 


This morning at 8.30 (11.5 hours after re-dosing) I'm getting double 0s.


So now I just need to re-dose it and tomorrow or Sunday I will drain the water and go FISH SHOPPING  Hurrah!

Added fishy bonus!

Thought I would take a few pictures of my fish to share...

Boffer  the powder blue dwarf gourami looking quizzical. I don't think he's particularly intelligent, even for a fish.

Action shot! You can see the zebra danios whizzing around in the background. The all seem to be gravid at the moment. Oh, and boff pigging out as usual.

Boffer chasing his girlfriend. Sometimes she quite likes him, other times like today she plays hard to get!

Tuesday & Wednesday (Days 8 & 9)

Get ready for this people, it's a rollercoaster of emotion ;)

Tuesday, 7.45am (12hrs after re-dosing) - 0 ppm Ammonia and 0.5ppm Nitrite

Tuesday, 6.15pm,  10hrs 30 mins after re-dosing Ammonia. Ammonia 0, Nitrite  between 0 and 0.25 and  Nitrate around 5.

Tuesday 1t 10.15pm, four hours after re-dosing. 1.5ppm Ammonia , Nitrite 1ppm

And today's results.... *DRUMROLL PLEASE*

Firstly, a thought for the poorly zebra danio which got stuck behind the filter, who has now gone to fishy heaven. RIP little buddy. He was one of only two men against six lady danios ,probably stuck himself to the filter in sheer exasperation. There is only so much procreating you can attempt.

But on a lighter note...

At 7.50am, the results were much like yesterday...

L - 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite results from a fully cycled tank for comparison
R Ammonia, Nitrite and  Nitrate tests from this tank. Nitrite between 0 and 0.25 again...

So I re-dosed...and this evening...

Ta-da! Double 0s!

Now I have re-dosed and I'll keep doing so for the next few days to make sure it's not a fluke... Fingers crossed! Now I have to put some real thought to stocking :S

So far I have decided on a krib or kribs, and five banded barbs... However what I go out with the intention of getting and what I actually come back with may be two very different things!

Monday (Day 7)

So 7.45am the results looked like this...

0.25 Ammonia

0.25 Nitrite

So I re-dosed 6ml and 12 hours later at 7.45pm I have:

That's absolutely no ammonia, and just trace nitrites (<0.25). Hooray!

Time to re-dose and hopefully over the week I'll see nitrites at a big sky blue 0 after 12 hours. Then with any luck I will be ready for fishies this weekend or the next. The great thing about cycling this way (with no fish) is that you can add them all at once and it won't overload the filter because a tank full of fish won't produce 4ppm ammonia, so the filter will be able to cope.

Now I just have to decide which fish I want!