Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

I'm in the process of going through all the old equipment I've "saved" in boxed under the spare bed, testing stuff, and getting rid of it if it's broken, or unsuitable for current tanks.

As for using boiling water on stuff, I usually have a bucket of hot/boiling water that I put tank maintenance equipment in before use. I don't always think this through completely, and now have a small shrimp net that isn't as straight as it used to be. 

I managed to get a picture of the little panda cory. It's so tiny I've circled it to help. 

Thanks @fcmf

I've had the pandas quite a while, and they've produced offspring previously. They are a bit bigger than the habrosus, but not as big as my peppered cories. Their antics are quite similar, and I find the "diving up to the eyeballs into the substrate" hilarious.
I've not had the habrosus very long, so I can't say if there is any chance that they could breed.
I've had the peppered cories the longest, and I don't know if it's anything to do with size (the females are massive), but the habrosus seem quite civilised, whereas the peppered cories will bumble around the tank, bumping into and swimming over any other fish, with (what appears to be) complete disregard. The pandas seem to be more towards the mid-spectrum/slightly more civilised.
The pandas are more outgoing that the peru gold stripe cories in another tank.
I'd say that the pandas must be fairly hardy as they've been moved to several different tanks. They were previously in one of the South American tanks, then they moved in with a betta, now they are back in a SA tank.

I've just realised that I have cories in each community tank. I admit that I like them. 

That's a gorgeous fish 

Hi Matt,

Wow! What a stunning fish. Never seen one before. Would you care to let us know where you got them from? MA? Looks like another fish to research and consider.

JPC

Yep just got them from my local MA in Preston. Seen them in a few MAs including the Wigan store too... thoh I can see you are in Berkshire... so that's not much use sorry!

Consistency in pH is more important than the actual value. Provided you are not miles out of course. My water is about 7.5pH.  Hardness is the more important value to be concerned about. 

Neighbour with fishtank 4x the volume/capacity of mine is moving out and unsure what to do with their tank. Mr FCMF is away for a few days... Soooo tempting to "replace" the existing tank with the neighbour's, the only difficulty being that the cabinet which ours is on is already at its maximum load with the existing tank and there is absolutely no scope for moving furniture around in our small abode.

Beautiful fish @Matt
I have a bit of a thing for surface fish, and panchax. If it wasn't for the fact that my water is completely unsuitable for them they would already be part of the Littlefish crew. Stunning colours & markings. 

Thanks for your suggestions, both - I'm afraid there genuinely isn't even the space in our tiny abode for the aforementioned tank stored upright, as we struggle to manoeuvre past everything as it is!

Yesterday PFK magazine was delivered, so I had a quick flick through after cleaning the axolotl tank. I was interested to see that they'd done a local roadtrip, including Aquarium Gardens, MA Huntingdon, and the Water Zoo, all of which I've previously visited. The other shop featured was MA @ Peterborough Dobbies, and I was immediately smacked in the face by a picture of their mudskipper tank. 

To refresh memories, a couple of years ago my local MA had an unexpected delivery that they hadn't ordered, but when they contacted the suppliers they were told to keep it. It included mudskippers. I happened to visit the store that day, and fell for the goofy little fish immediately. During the following 6 months I visited those mudskippers regularly, did my research, and set up a tank. Collecting them and transporting them home was nerve-wracking, but everyone survived, and they are all still with me.

As they had not been ordered by my local store, there wasn't any information on the exact species. All I knew was that they were asian mudskippers. I've always been a bit nervous about how large they were going to grow, and have always kept my fingers crossed that they weren't the largest ones. After seeing the article in PFK I wondered if that was the shop that had originally ordered the mudskippers now residing at chez Littlefish, and decided that a trip to Peterborough was an absolute must.

This morning I headed to Peterborough. Like a total doofus I went to the wrong MA first, but luckily the guy I spoke to runs both, and was heading over to the other store, so I met him over there. I spent an hour at the correct store, gawping at their display, being entertained by the antics of their fish (they had 20 in the tank), and getting lots of useful information. The amazingly helpful chap even went through the records to find out what they'd ordered previously, and it turns out that I have Periothalmus septemradiatus, commonly known as the dwarf indian mudskipper. I cannot even begin to explain how totally chuffed I am to finally know exactly what my gang are, and also that they are now fully grown . The chap also explained how to sex mudskippers, and we had a long discussion on options for their set ups during the tank rearrangements here.

I eventually tore myself away from the store display, drove through some lovely scenery in the sunshine, went to Aquarium Gardens to get some anubias for the axolotl & mudskipper tanks, then home via my local MA to get some RO water.

Sometimes days just don't get any better than this.