Think Fish Keepers Daily News

Great; thanks for starting up this new thread.  Happy New Year from me too. 

Well done on taming the mudskipper, @Littlefish - and keep us posted on progress towards hand-feeding them.

I've been enjoying watching my fish - one female cardinal has taken to eating 50% of the tank's food and has now surpassed the other large female in size, while the espeis clearly need more added to their shoal as one is either parading around one half of the tank and sending all fish and especially its shoalmate to the other half or it is attempting to mate with its shoalmate.

In an uncharacteristic moment of distraction, I switched on the filter and heater while the tank was only half full. Mr FCMF carries the buckets and, when the noise of the water filling one stopped, I heard a strange creaking sound from the filter, only to discover my error. The filter itself is fine (phew). However, the heater broke in the minute at most that it must have been switched on for when only half-submerged - I tested it out in a bucket with the thermometer and, although the bottom of it is hot to touch, the light has now completely stopped working and it took an hour to go from 18'C to 19.5'C, and thus very slow progress towards the pre-set 24'C. Fortunately, I had a spare which is now in situ, and at least I got 6+ years' use out of the previous one.

Allergic to bloodworm - unlucky @Matt
That's unpleasant and inconvenient. I'm guessing you are going to have to stop using bloodworms so that the reactions don't get worse. Is there anything else you can routinely feed your dwarf puffers?

Bad luck with your heater @fcmf
I don't think I've broken one by running it dry. I've forgotten to turn them back on more times than I care to remember, but I'm usually pretty good with turning them off. It's always handy to have a few spare pieces of kit tucked away for emergencies.

I wonder if you might be able to avoid feeding bloodworm altogether, @Matt, for example by buying brineshrimp-only packs. It doesn't seem that dwarf puffers have to be fed bloodworm - https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/how-to-keep-dwarf-puffers/   Having said that, your article does suggest a potential cross-sensitivity to other similar products, so best that Mrs Matt now has sole responsibility for feeding them - but perhaps avoiding any bloodworm in the house altogether once (or even before) those two packs are used up.

  

Bertie is ever so cute peering out from that piece of wood, at least what I can see of him. 

Sorry to hear about the plants, but glad the nerite is looking better.

Thanks, Sue. Definitely learned a lesson the hard way, although my priority was doing all I could to save my nerite, but that's a great suggestion about using a separate filter as I do have one that hasn't any potential copper residue on it (ie not been used in the QT). I use Seachem Prime, so, for that reason, always leave 48 hours before dosing the liquid plant fertilisers.

Separately, I've been using the spray bar on the existing filter. I had tried it before but it was problematic as it displaced many of the older harlies from their "station posts", it didn't seem very secure and I was concerned that the nerites would try acrobatics off it. However, I did frequently wonder if the flow had been too strong for the elderly/ailing fish and contributed to their demise, and if the lone remaining neon green rasbora's severe scoliosis was current-induced and I could see the two espeis taking up her space and tilting at the same angle in the current, hence the decision to use the spray bar indefinitely.

Glad to hear that the cardinal emerged from behind the filter unscathed.
I hope that your own recovery from the ordeal doesn't take too long.
At least you got a water change done. 

Just as well that I have a sturdy lid on my tank.

Went to MA to get some RO today. Normally I just get what I need and leave to avoid temptation.
As I was heading towards the water I saw a movement to my left, in the pond section, and was instantly distracted by what I saw through the window in the display pond.
I'd always enjoyed feeding the juvenile sterlets at the MA in Cambridge. I have a leaning towards weird looking fish, especially if they look funny when they feed.
I've never seen mature sterlets. This is the first MA I've been to that has had them. They are massive.