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July 25, 2005
Shrimp do the darndest things...
We have our tank lights on a timer so they usually go off before we go to sleep. Glanced over at the big tank and saw an amusing sight where our young flower shrimp, in an attempt to get closer to source of the water output, decided to use our sole large resident snail, who was making his way up the glass, as a perch. Pretty funny. The shrimp fell off a few times but clambered back up a few more times.
Posted by ronin at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2005
State of the Aquarium (AGA 5.5)
Had a couple of fish losses from this tank recently. I had moved over a red honey gourami from the Eclipse 12 a few days back cause it was acting funny and I thought maybe a change of location would help. Not quite. Seems like it had some sort of swim bladder disease cause it would stop swimming and just float head up on the surface for awhile. Then after that one died, the smaller flamingo gourami seemed to have come down with the same problem. It passed away this morning. So now there's one each of 4 different gouramis in here which seems to be ok.
One of the Japonica shrimp is carrying a ton of eggs. Been like that for a bit over a week now I think. Interesting to see what she'll do with them. I think I need to get more cherry shrimp for this tank cause the algae on the right wall is getting out of control.
I guess when we move I'm gonna have to replace the filter in this tank from a submerged one to a hanging one. Fish seem to like getting stuck behind the filter annoyingly.
Posted by ronin at 2:50 PM | Comments (0)
State of the Aquarium (Eclipse 6)
Won this used Eclipse System 6 tank off of eBay and went to pick it up in New Rochelle earlier. Replaced our old smaller Eclipse System 3 tank with this so this is now our medium tank and the previous medium tank, the AGA 5.5 gallon, is now our small tank. =) The System 3 will be stored away for quarantine/sick fish use.
Good thing the seller included a 5 lbs bag of gravel cause after I transferred the existing substrate over from the System 3 and added the remnants of my old 20 lb bag of Eco-Complete, it only covered a little over an inch of the System 6. So the substrate is now a nice black and teal combo.
Using it as a breeder tank for now. Moved back the black female guppy that Erin swears is pregnant (and who has given birth to 4 fry so far in the last month or so) along with her 2 most recent fry. I think I'm gonna try to get away from guppies as much as possible now. May keep maybe a pair for Erin but no more.
I also switched the tank placement over from right under the window and next to the Eclipse 12 (where the Eclipse 3 used to sit) to the other side of the Eclipse 12. Hopefully this will cut down on the algae problem that the Eclipse 3 was having. But it seems like it still gets plenty warm though as the water temperature started out at 81 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday and by today it was already up to 84. Probably have to get a heater for the winter.
Posted by ronin at 2:36 PM | Comments (0)
State of the Aquarium (Eclipse 12)
Just thought I'd attach a quick pic of what our 12 gallon Eclipse tank currently looks like. For some reason the plants aren't really doing all that well in this tank. May consider replanting some of the old swords and Java ferns soon.
Bought what's hopefully a young pair of German blue rams for this tank. The male is quite pretty and seems to be pretty active, roaming all around the tank. The female (hopefully), on the other hand, is quite shy. Usually hiding either in or behind the pipe decoration.
The replacement bamboo shrimp that I brought back from AF last week seems to have adapted well. It actually came out into view and was clinging onto one of the onion plants below the water outflow area for awhile. Still small enough to do that without folding the plant over I guess. Otherwise it spends its time upside down in the pipe decoration too.
Posted by ronin at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
Just a brief update
"Donated" a group of 9 guppies (6 male, 3 females) from my mother's tank to AF this past weekend and left with the lone small red honey gourami that they had left along with another sparkling gourami. The red honey was to replace the one (with no color that we thought was female) that we had just lost. Under slightly mysterious circumstances I might add. I noticed it's tail losing chunks every few days but never saw who was doing it. Couldn't have been the other red honey cause I don't think it's mouth is that big. One day just found the doomed one plastered against the filter intake and that was that.
The new sparkling gourami I wanted to add to the big 12 gal tank as well to accompany the one I had moved over from the 5.5 gal just in case it turned out to be female. However, during the acclimation process when I was floating the bag in the tank, the existing sparkling got quite aggressive and seemed to want to chase the new one in the bag through the bag. So that was out. Wound up putting him in the 5.5 gal instead.
The new red honey didn't exactly get a friendly welcome from the existing one either. The established one would chase the new one around the tank on sight and it's kinda funny when two gourami meet cause they look like they lash out at each other with their feelers. Anyway, it's been a few days now and it seems like the established red honey has grudgingly accepted the fact that the new one ain't going away. No more chasing anymore, at least that I've seen.
The new sparkling has taken to its new home relatively well it seems too. When I first put him in he seemed to be a little aggressive towards the larger flamingo gourami for some reason but now everything seems ok. The lone male koi rules the roost it seems. I still feel bad about keeping him in such a small tank though. =(
Posted by ronin at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)