Sophia Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Been spending today - got 3 more dwarves today, these are a bit bigger in size. Got them an eheim pickup 2006 and the cool dudes at Para Rubber cut me a sliver of filter sponge so I can wrap it over the grill. This way the cory get to chomp on filter scrapings like they can on the sponge filter, and I get to plug the biggest gaps in the event they ever breed. Preliminary wet testing under way at present, will post a photo if the experiment works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Well, those of you with an eye for beauty will loooove my new filter and anti-fish sucker sponge. Will put some in the top hole another day or in the event of finding eggs. It has already got a little gunk for them to chew on for a midnight snack. Yes I have planted a big crypt in front so soon enough it will be less visible So anyway, now the tank is in the house and the Dwarves are officially Under Observation, dither fish pending evaluation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 These fish have become the most shy fish I have ever had since bringing them in the house. They are at the far end of the lounge so they are not subjected to continual movement outside the tank but there is some. The only time I see them is if the bigger ones are sitting under the filter, or if I happen to go past when they aren't expecting it and then they zip off at high speed to the first hiding spot they can find. I'm really surprised after all the good things I read about them. :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Give them some sparkling wine.... that helps me come out of my shell a bit lol..... They might come right once they settle in a bit maybe...... I found that with my Pandas I wouldn't see them much at first, but now they happily hang out at the front of the tan, never hide and spend many happy hours chasing each other up and down the tank.... such fun to watch...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 I hadn't seen my pygmy cory for over 3 months, and only saw the ember tetra in the same tank if I fed live food until I added 3 guppy to the tank. Now everything is out and about and its great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 That's good news Adrienne, you must let me know how your killies are getting on too. Nikki, I think your advice is very naughty :lol: :lol: Have also been sent some information about layout to read up on which I will do later. Gotta go walk off a massive lunch so I can fit in my tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 edit, have changed the title as have done some more homework and think I do have pygmies after all. Which is all good, I had trouble deciding which I liked best in the beginning 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Give them some sparkling wine.... that helps me come out of my shell a bit lol..... They might come right once they settle in a bit maybe...... I found that with my Pandas I wouldn't see them much at first, but now they happily hang out at the front of the tan, never hide and spend many happy hours chasing each other up and down the tank.... such fun to watch...... can you post or PM me a photo of your tank layout Nikki? I don't care if it's still under construction or still growing :nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueyes Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 I'll bump my progress thread for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Stage 1 of Operation Shady is complete. Will take a photo when water has cleared. Tank looks more conventional now with wood semi-buried in the sand and moved to the middle-back. Part of the tunnel widened and placement is now parallel to sides of tank so you can see right through. Plants pushed to the edges more, some stones removed. Foreground is now mostly bare sand for swimming, with some bits at the far sides only. Fish will be under observation to see if behaviour changes. Snails have begun to take over, am thinking of getting them a dwarf chain loach as housekeeper. A fishy miracle occurred - fishy because it could have just been a fluke and fishy because it involved a fish. I took the wood out and gave it a shake to give the fish a chance to come out. It seemed they had, I had a good look inside. I set the wood down out of the water and was fiddling with the plants. After a few minutes, possibly up to 10 mins I took the wood down to the garage to see about breaking it up or widening the hole. I put the secateurs in the hole and clipped a little bit out. Set the wood down, pondered which saw to borrow. Came back to the wood and saw a fish inside on it's side where previously there hadn't been. I thought it was a goner and was about to carry on. Changed my mind, thought I had better at least dislodge it before continuing. Took wood back to the house, put it in the tank, fish disappeared. Rolled the wood around and around in the water shaking it, couldn't see the fish. No dead fish in the tank either. Took wood out, set about catching the fish to count them - lo and behold 10 live fish in the tank. Is that weird or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Stage 2 has happened already, I couldn't wait for evaluation phase. :facepalm: Went to the shop for a thermometer and also bought 5 dwarf rasbora (boraras maculatus) and 2 dwarf chain loaches. Photos later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 it might have worked! Have put the rasbora in, and the loaches and 1 pygmy have joined in swimming about - it is TOO CUTE I am just about imploding :bounce: :love: Mini fish rule! :happy1: :happy1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 I don't know if this helps, but I find my pygmys like to swim in the open a lot more when the lights are out. Since your tanks is planted, I'd assume you probably have fairly bright lighting, so that may be why they're hiding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Yes they do come a bit after the light is out but since yesterday they are now venturing out a few at a time with the loaches. I may yet rearrange or get a smaller piece of driftwood as they still hide in the tunnel and under the filter but at least I can see where they are now. Will give it a month or so anyway, HFF will soon be giving me a key for all the visiting I've been doing lately . The lighting is quite dim I think, it's a 7 watt clip on T5 that comes from the left side to the middle, the right side where the filter is gets less light. Also as I'm treating it as a low tech tank the lights only come in the afternoon till evening for 7 hours. Those loaches are funny, extremely active. As evening set in they started going up and down in the current and almost putting their whole face out of the water. Then they would swim over to the other side and fluff around in the sand, flicking it around, and this morning they have worn a 2 cm dent in the corner. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 After a week the fishes are starting to settle in. The rasbora have had their first taste of white worms and can now catch and eat a big daphnia. They all enjoy microworms and any small live food, also love the hikari sinking wafer and shrimp pellets. Do you think that 1 pellet between all the fish is enough? When they break down they make quite a lot of food. Half a wafer also seems to be enough, but I'm afraid I am being mean. Is hard to know how much is enough as the corys don't all come out at once to feed. Have extended the time the light is on in the evening so I can turn the lights off in the lounge and see them all come out to feed. I try to feed with the lounge lights off where possible too. Have changed the angle of the light since the top picture, the hiding corner gets a bit more light but it is still the cory's hiding place of choice. All the bottom dwellers congregate there to mull things over and then usually meander down the sandy path to the front. I feed them at the front or when putting live food I do it over the wood so some bugs can get trapped for later. One change I would like to make is to get some darker sand somehow. The rasbora are quite pale most of the time, I think to blend in with the pale sand as they seem otherwise at ease. They do flash peach from time to time, often during the day when the light is out, but their normal colour is pale. In the shop the females were light peach the males deep peach, and they had brightwater gravel and bright lights. I am yet to see a dark coloured sand other than black sand from the beach and I don't think it's OK to use?? :dunno: Don't want to swap to gravel at this stage as the other fish like the sand. Tunnel Hiding corner. Front right corner has crypts that should come back to life soon. Dent on the left was made by the loaches on their first night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 Changes since last post - 2 pygmies went to a new home, 2 more rasbora and my runt killie added. This evening I was watching and wondering how I could get the loaches to eat the snails. Thought about turning over rocks at Goat Island for snapper and had an idea to give the loaches a taste of snail. Got a knife and squashed the snails that were on the glass and sat back to watch. Loaches came out again and when they found the snails they went nuts like I had never seen. Seems we are onto a new treat, they were like puppies in a sausage factory. :love: Very sweet little fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted April 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 Well, this update you are going to have to imagine. I had enough camera batteries to last for 2 photos but they are now so dead I can't even get them to download on the usb cable. So it's now got a darker brown sand base (actually black sand but you wouldn't know to look at it). I cut the wood into 2 pieces and put one on each side. Cory corner under the filter has been reduced but is still available. Got more plants around the sides and edges making a sort of mini dance hall in the middle so the fish can hide in the plants around the edges and yet see all the way across. It seems to be working a little better as far as seeing more fish but the corys are still quite shy, though they certainly come out at dinner time if I sit still. The darker substrate was to try and get more colour out of the rasbora, this has also worked somewhat, the fish are more peach colour than the semi transparent they were. Don't know HFF got them to be so damn red in the shop! The loaches are their usual silly selves. Lost a few snails in the substrate rearranging so 'we' are now waiting for more to grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Updated pictures. Rasbora are getting more orange now, I'm quite pleased. My red boy that is usually redder than the rest is almost permanently red now. I thought I had heaps of plants but I think I could get a few more in. I like seeing the fish milling about in the shadows of the leaves, looks very au naturel, but those of you who like proper biotopes will just have to imagine these fish are long lost cousins who have come to stay Full tank shot Milling about with a sinking wafer for tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 I love those rasboras! Such a cool fish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 I love those loaches :nfs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 This tank is hard for me - I want more loaches as they are a lot of fun but I think I would have to sacrifice some cories as it's already quite got a lot of fish. I keep saying I will sell some cories to make room but then they come out at tea time with their funny little moustaches and I want to keep them all over again. Out of both of my tanks, this is the one I want to redo on a bigger scale one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Setting up a 4ft is only cheap. Why don't you do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Have run out of space in the house for another tank. I know I said that before but this time I have exhausted all avenues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Do you have a big tv? I'll trade you a 4ft for it :sml2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 We have a 14 inch CRT - we might be the only people left in Auckland who do all our viewing on one of those. Our only couch - 2 seater - sits in front of it and it's close enough that you can see the picture well, that's how small the lounge is. Your garage is bigger than our lounge area. Any more suggestions? No I can't put a tank in the roof space either :sml2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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