Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

I confess to having gone back to the Peterborough Dobbies MA today, for another chat about mudskippers. When I got to the counter it was the same 2 guys that had been there the day before, so I opened with "Hi, I promise I'm not a stalker". The one guy runs both MA stores in Peterborough, the other guy was the one that built and maintains the mudskipper display. I was there for another hour, discussing tanks, set up, and mudskippers. They explained their set up, which was reworked from a coral tray that was previously at the store, as they had to work with what they had. They also had some suggestions as to what they would do if they were starting from scratch. I explained what tanks, filters, and equipment I had available now, we discussed the pros and cons, and have decided that the Fluval Roma 240 is the tank for the mudskippers, and keeping the Aqua Oak 150 for the river fish. We had a long chat about getting some female mudskippers, using their quarantine time to set up the new tank, then introducing all mudskippers to the new set up n the same day.
They showed me some parts on their set up, and how they've created the waterfalls, etc. All very interesting and helpful. 

Yes, I did ask them if I could take some pictures, though for the first time ever, I was more focused on the technicalities of the set up rather than the fish. 

So I've taken a pic of the PFK article to give people an idea of what it looks like, for those who don't get the magazine. I'll also include some of the pics I took.

Lots of tank work yesterday, lifting heavy rocks, and moving large containers of water.
So much of me is aching today. 

My male nerite has been falling upside down, usually dropping off the glass or the wood, several times a day in recent weeks/months. Yesterday, when the lights came on, he was lying upside down, desperately trying to rectify his position, but to no avail. Unfortunately, one of the x-ray tetras was overly interested in the situation and kept poking him while I was trying to turn him upright - sadly, it looks as though the tetra succeeded in biting off one of his tentacles. The female nerite's tentacles are very short - about 0.5cm, whereas the male's are an impressive 3cm long ordinarily, but now he has one long one and one 0.5cm stump which he kept manoeuvring yesterday as though it were longer but which he's since realised no longer carries out its previous function. I do hope it grows back in time...

I had been tempted to get a lone dwarf cichlid a few months back but their teeth is precisely the reason I didn't - and as I'd read elsewhere of someone having difficulty keeping nerites with dwarf cichlids. I'll have to keep a close eye on my nerite and the x-rays...

I saw Mr Mbu the puffer when I went to get RO. The staff are feeding him on river shrimp, as he only shows interest in live food at the moment, though he does look quite pleased with himself about this.

I thought I'd take a break after cleaning the river tank. I moved a rock and a piece of wood during cleaning. The dominant bulldog plec in none too please with this, as it is in the main part of his territory. Looks like I'll have to adjust things so they are back in exactly the same place as before. 

That's amazing value Sue  can't wait to see it!

My Betta also jumps when feeding but has never been seen to do it at any other time... might be like a trampoline in there when I'm not looking... who knows!

Wouldn't mind seeing a photo of your main tank too if you don't mind sharing @Sue. I know you have them set up super low maintnenace and I'd like to see if I can steal some tips from you!

The base mat arrived yesterday just before we went out for the afternoon. I have spent the morning swapping tanks. The worst bit was trying to catch the shrimps. 21 of them. I had no idea there were that many in there.

The tank is a couple of litres smaller than the old one, but it is still plenty big enough for a betta. I measured 23 litres of water in, but the sand was wet from when I washed it (with dechlorinated water) so there's a tiny bit more from there.

I've charged the camera batteries but photos will have to wait till the tank clears.



Photos of the main tank will also have to wait a bit - I should have done a water change on Monday afternoon, but we went out. We went out again yesterday afternoon. I hope I'll be able to do it today, but you never know, he's muttering about going out again 

https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/gallery-showcase/sue's-tanks-september-2019/




The shrimps were an experiment with my last betta. He was very laid back so I tried 3 shrimps (1 m 2 f) and he ignored them. I was continually hoovering up baby shrimps so they all went back into the main tank at each water change, though obviously I missed some as the shrimp numbers increased.
When he died and I got my current betta, he ate the baby shrimps - I did not hoover up any more babies. But some must have got passed him as there were many more shrimps than I had realised when I swapped tanks, and a lot were only half grown. Maybe he isn't as interested as he's grown older.

Took the Fluval U1 back to MA in Poppleton today because it was noisy, they plugged it in and dropped irt into the plant tank, "i can't hear anything" he said, I said " it's noisy in here you wont be able to hear it" the reply "you have a long guarantee with it so if it does it again bring it back".

Not the response I was after.
I realise that just because they work in a particular job doesn't mean people have an interest in it, this could be the case in MA Poppleton, some of the advice given when I first started has meant I'm stuck with something less than ideal regarding the fish and water parameters in this area.

I then bought a couple of the aqua care test pots, just the strips, Ammonia and the 5 in 1, should have gone somewhere else....