The last fortnight has been nothing short of a nightmare in the fishroom. Over the last two weeks I lost:
- All ten Congo tetras
- The four small Tinfoil barbs
- All four Fundulopanchax gardneri
- The male Rainbow cichlid
- One Festae
- One '24ct Gold' T-bar cichlid
- One Blockhead
- One Golden-eye cichlid
The Congos were dispatched by my pair of cutteri and the rest went to either illness, lack of oxygen or the middle 4' tank overheating (this week I stupidly put a heater into the tank which stays permanently on). All in all a very sorry state of affairs. Needless to say I feel terrible, particularly about the male Rainbow cichlid.
It's not as if my problems are finished with either, as I now have a female Festae, female HRP and the remaining two T-bar's to treat as they are all sick with an illness I can't identify.
Last week both 4' tanks were treated with Protozin. This week I am treating with salt. Big water changes all round today.
Thankfully I moved on some stock before all the bad news came along. Rick took the remaining two female cutteri, a guy called Darren took the four Boucourti and Simon P. took the pair of T-bars (who have since spawned for him and fallen out after he accidentaly syphoned off their fry!)
It's not all terrible news. The cutteri fry are doing very well, as are the bristlenose and hybrid HRP/Convict fry. The jags spawned again this week, which is awesome news (although now I fear for the lives of the Tinfoils in with them).
Yesterday evening I went to Simon P.'s place to swap four 18" cube tanks plus pipes and sump for a few bits and pieces. Came away with a male wild Convict (very odd looking fish!), a male HRP, three bags of fry of various sizes (G. brasiliensis, A. portalegrense and Amphilophus sp. 'Red Isletas'). Plus I got a few more peices of fake (resin) Tufa rock. Not bad considering I really wanted to shift those tanks out of the garden. Those fry will all be great once their grown on. For the moment they have been unceremoniously emptied in with half the hybrid HRP/Convict fry in a 20" tank. We'll see what I'm left with in the end!
Spent last night redecorating the 4' tank in the dining room to make it look more like a show tank (and provide more hidign spaces). This tank now contains:
- female Convict
- male wild Convict
- male HRP x 2 (one large, one small)
- female Rainbow
- female Jack Dempsey (much happier fish now she has lots of company)
- pair of Firemouths
Admittedly a rather unholy mix of fish, but I'll be watching carefully over the next couple of days for any extreme violence.
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