Cycling My Fluval Edge

Fantastic news about your shrimplets Colin! I'm excited to add some shrimps somewhere down the line, though for now my endlers are keeping me entertained! I keep finding myself staring at them all swimming around. Sounds like your fish eat like kings Colin and Sue! I'll definitely have a look for the cubes you described Sue. I imagine Maidenhead are more likely to sell them than Pets at Home.

After I finished my breakfast I went on a body recovery search. Unfortunately my suspicions were confirmed when I found him under one of the pieces of bogwood :-( He was such a beautiful and big endler too, whereas the one I got at the same time is only brightly coloured if the sun hits him in the right place. I gave him a burial at sea :-( Can't believe I've had a fish die on me already :-( So I'm down to the 7 fishies now. I was very surprised by how content them seem, even whilst I was rooting around in the tank for the poor endler they didn't seem bothered! It's getting easier to tell them apart from too, especially the poor lonely Japanese one! I wonder what they all thought to their tankmates demise!

Thanks for the list Sue! Sounds like a great idea. Oddly my tank seems to have been algae-free throughout the whole long cycling process, but now the lights are on I guess that will soon change! My fish seem to have found some spots of algae anyway though, like on my heater, the rocks and they look nibbling at the pre-filter! I had a panic yesterday when I was first adding the fish as the pre-filter fell off, I just had images of my poor new fish being sucked up!

On a similar note, how often should I be rinsing the filter media? And how often should I clean the impeller? I'll definitely be investing in some cheap toothbrushes and some more J cloths, as I always have to wipe down the lights and tank around the hood because of condensation. I've rearranged the tank slightly again and turned the filter down to the lowest setting, they all seem happy enough with the set up anyway!

Great to see another water-keeper turned into a fish-keeper.  Well done jesnon, and sorry to read about your loss.

Anyone like to add any more?

Baster (basically a giant pipette from the cookware section). Very useful for minor junk cleaning jobs in the tank, such as small waste matter like dead leaves or annoying clumps of poo (I have shrimp, there should be a Shrimpic Games Poo Competition).  I use mine to gently blow off waste food particles from leaves too. Quite handy where you don't want to drag out your big vacuum.

Thanks for all the helpful ideas! I gave in earlier and fed my fishies. Only one flake and it seemed more than enough - though the greedy little things are still looking at me expectantly! Loved seeing them in a feeding frenzy!

There are certain fish that quickly learn where their food is coming from and who feeds them. Endlers are on that list. They will try to convince you they are starving to death 10 seconds after they've stuffed themselves. Don't give in 


My gouramis and apistos (which are supposed to feed off the bottom) sit and wait at the top corner with the endlers when I go into the cupboard under the tank where the food is kept.

Be strong, Jesnon, be strong.

The only way I found to take photos without the fish all cramming into the top cubic-inch of the tank wanting to be fed was to put my camera on a tripod and activate the self-timer and run away. This sort of meant it was pot-luck as to getting any fish in the photos. I think I must've deleted about 20 for each one I kept.

I use sewing cotton to attach my plants. Dark green cotton. Well, I say cotton but it's all polyester now. It can be a bit fiddly tying knots in it, but it's hard to see once it's done.

I tried 'proper' cotton to tie the plants on - but that disintegrated after 4 or 5 days. Then I tried polyester thread - but I'm not skilled at that fiddly knot tying. So I resorted to small elastic bands - and they tend to get brittle and snap at about the right time (6-8 weeks) for my Java Ferns to attach themselves to the bog-wood, just requiring me to oik them out with the long tweezers.