The Roma 240 has landed!

So before Christmas, I sent my other half an email with an ebay link for a 240 litre tank about 40 minutes away. It was a very good price due I imagine to it being fully stocked. Anyway much to my surprise, he encouraged me to bid, so I did...and I won! Hurrah.

Fast forward to the start of January, and it was time to pick up the tank! It took several hours to bag all the fish, empty and completely break down the tank, and several cars to move it all, but I got there in the end thanks to the help of my wonderful husband, the previous owner who was extremely patient, and my cousin and her husband who helped transport the tank and cabinet.

We got back to our house about 2.30 in the afternoon in the knowledge that my brother in law and family were shortly scheduled to descend on us, so got to work right away. I am pleased to say that all the fish survived the ordeal, and they seem to be doing really well in their new home. Unfortunately as the whole things was a bit rushed and little lives depended on it going as quickly as possible, I didn't have time to take pictures, but after a few hours it was all in place, and it looked like this:

The stocking has been played around with a fair bit, and is is a mixture of old and new;

21 cardinal tetra
1 angel
1 dwarf gourami
6 loaches
6 cories
7 harlequins
6 red rainbows
2 very bristley bristlenose plecs!

I set up the co2 a week later and am waiting for a new glass diffuser to arrive, as I don't like the JBl ones. It was much easier the second time round! We have since added in a background and it looks like this:

I really like it, and am very glad I went for it. I have been monitoring the water stats and even though we had to move two external filters there has been no sign of any ammonia or nitrite, which is very lucky and a huge relief. We have done one large water change so far, another one is scheduled for tomorrow. It isn't actually too much hard work compared to the two tanks it replaced. In the 200l, there is now;

1 angel
8 danios
5 male guppies
7 five banded barbs
7 glolwlight tetras
7 dwarf chain loaches
1 BN plec
1 blue phantom plec
1 clown plec

I apologise for the state of the pictures, they are a bit blurry I'm afraid! However I hope it shows how well the co2 is working, the plants look fab and I am so glad we did it.

...we rehomed two BN plecs, ten rummynose, several platies and a krib much quicker than I was expecting and broke down the 125l, which has now been sold, and the 65l which we are intending to keep as a spare/quarantine. (Update: we got rid of this one too in a house cleansing exercise!).

That takes our total tanks down to four, including the betta tank and the kitchen tank which currently houses two elderly guppies and some platy fry.
So what is next? Well my plan is to enjoy the fish and the plants for a while, and not add any more fish or change any of the stock. I absolutely love my tanks, they are a fantastic thing to watch and now wherever I go, any living room without a tank looks like a room wasted!

Current tanks & stocking list

It's been a while! I've done a huge move around of all my stock and thought it was about time I added a new update and perhaps a few piccies too.

Let's start with the smallest.

 My Betta, One-eyed-Willy, has now moved to the kitchen in his fab Superfish Wave 15 tank. He couldn't live next to the TV any more as we got a dog and even though he's an exceptionally chilled out dog and here is the proof:

....I imagine it would be too tempting even for him to have a little critter swimming about at nose level! Here he is:

He now lives with seven pygmy cories who all managed to escape the camera. There are also a few shrimp in there. I had to forgo my shrimp tank for a QT tank, and it currently has just one elderly platy in it so I shan't post pics of that.

 The 65l community tank currently houses a shoal of rummynose tetras, four red rainbows and a kribensis. I know the rainbows will have to move and long term, they will be going in the 125l. Sorry about the state of the plants, I've been concentrating my gardening efforts elsewhere and it shows!

The 125l is a bit of a waste at the moment. It houses a single angel, 6 peppered cories,a clown plec, four platies and 11 guppies, all famels, 11 of which are identical...

I am not a big fan of guppies and I am waiting until these pass on (although I might try and get them a new home) as I'd prefer to stock with a nice shoal of tetra and add the rainbows in there. There are also BILLIONS of trumpet snails as you can see here! It's going to be a snailocalypse this weekend!

I still have the three goldies outside in my affinity pond. I've just purchased an outdoor heater to see them through the winter but they're doing very well in there at the moment, all healthy :) ...

And Finally...

 My 200l is now home to: One angel, six botia histrionica, twelve cardinal tetras, seven five-banded bards, five zebra danios, a bristlenose, a blue phantom plec and a smattering of male guppies and platies. It has also got co2 running - only for five days now.

We got a good deal on the JBL u402 at Aquatics Live - the whole lot for £149 and a ceramic diffuser thrown in! It took ages to clean out the tank entirely, re-scape and set the co2 up but first impressions are encouraging Day one (a bit misty!):

Day three:

And some taken today:

None of the photos are great but I think it shows even over the week, there has been some growth! Hurrah! Hopefully there will be some improvement over the next few weeks.

This is my last tank...promise!

And I do mean that this time, as I have NO surfaces left!

First of all, updates on my tanks.

The loaches which I introduced in this post are clearly not YoYo loaches and I feared they were going to get much too big for the 125l so I swapped them with my peppered cories. They both went mad, the cories seem to love the darker substrate and settled down really well and the loaches are so active in my bigger tank they are almost exhausting to watch!

Unfortunately the female dwarf gourami also died so the tank is missing its centrepiece fish, the krisbensis is now behaving herself but as she is primarily a bottom dweller there is definitely something 'missing'... I'm going to think long and hard before I replace them though.

Have started dosing SeaChem flourish excel for the plants and it's made a real difference. It's likely to get expensive but not sure I'm ready for CO2 yet.

Some update pics of the 200l:

Fluval Roma 200

Two of the loaches which are too quick to photograph!

Cardinal Tetras gather at the back

And the 125:

Two Angels dominate this tank!

Fluval Roma 125

'Viv' - (s)he's the boss

Rummynose Tetras

No changes in the 65l really, that tank has never caused me problems at all . A recent picture:

And finally, my new betta tank! Well it will be once it gets a betta. At the moment it's home to two small platies and a guppy who are making sure it stays cycled. It came free with a subscription to Practical Fish Keeping magazine and is a 15l Superfish Wave tank. It's really neat as the heater and filter are hidden from view and you can change the colour and intensity of the light via buttons on the top. We've gone for a minimalist 'zen' feel to this one!

Superfish Wave 15

Will house a betta if I can find the right one!

Shrimp tank hasn't changed since the last update except there are now loads of baby shrimplets :D Too small for me to take a photo of...

That's all folks!