You might have noticed an addition to my tank in my signature...
Gobies!!
More accurately... Stiphodon semoni, the Cobolt Blue Goby.
Pictures to follow in the morning when everyone is a little more settled in. Algae wafer went down a treat this evening though so I've got high hopes for them both. I got them from Maidenhead aquatics in Wigan which is a recent discovery. The tropical fish section is HUGE. Much bigger than in any other store I've visited more locally, plus the staff are really friendly, and real fish people rather than just sales people. Thanks to being right next to the M6 it also doesn't take me any longer to get too.
In other news I've also had a bit of a rearrange in the tank.
It was quite a spur of the moment thing following one of my regular deep cleans when the wood comes out of the tank and rocks are moved out of the way so everything can be thoroughly gravel vacced. Basically I have split one part of the wood away from the rest (it was always three pieces) and pushed all the wood into the corners meaning there is now more open swimming space for the fish. So rather than an island layout I now have a more traditional ' U shape' aquascaping layout ( for those of you into aquascaping
).
I will admit that I probably preferred the look of the tank originally but the fish definitely prefer the new look. The contrast of hiding spaces and open areas has given them much more confidence and I see a lot more of the fish now. Clearly the old addage that if you give the fish more hiding spaces they will spend more time out in the open is very true. The otto which normally only gets seen once in a blue moon is now out every evening. I believe I have also created more opportunity for territories to be formed for the rams and gobys which is also keeping them happier. So the new look is here to stay. I'll post pictures soon, possibly next weekend, it's not quite camera ready yet
I am planning to take things a step further soon too as even before I changed the layout, I really wanted to get rid of the marble pebbles and instead move to dragon stone. I have now also realised that this rock with its "pot holed" texture will be brilliant for the gobys to provide further hiding places/places to rest and more surface area for algae to grow.
Oh and I think I might be getting a 220l aquaoak for Xmas!...