Update

So, I sent 4 of the Red-head Midas off to Nev in Newquay successfully despite the cold, cold weather. I was really glad that they arrived okay and that the heat pad did its job properly. The package only just came in under the 2kg limit.

I'm now trying to shift even more stock. I spent yesterday separating one batch of jag youngsters from the cutteri they've been growing on with. I also did a 100% water change for my red male betta, who has been looking miserable for a while now. I added some Endler's livebearer fry to his jar to perk him up a bit and he seems to be responding well to having something to hunt.

Hoping to sell another two melanurus (leaving me with a pair) and also the male wild cutteri and the female calico convict (to Simon P.).

I've also got interest in some of the jag youngsters and possibly some of the Blackbelts (which will hopefully reduce the strain on the filters in the 6' tank).

The brasiliensis in the hall tank have been having a great time in the cool water. THey were stuffing teir faces with bloodworm yesterday and are growing well.

I had to remove my male Green Terror from the tank he was in as he's really been missing out on food and the female was being really nasty with him. He's now in with my female Egyptian moutbrooder in the hope I can fatten him up again.

I put the krib pair back together again. I shifted the decor around, so hopefully tha male won't be too mean to the female.

It's been a while...

Bad Blogger!

I have been rubbish. I admit it. Life got in the way a bit.

Anyway, here we are in a new year and here is an update to kick 2009 (the Year of the Ox) off:

- My lovely Jags have another massive swarm of free swimming fry
- I have only one Super-red krib fry left! (Wrong size tank, bad management etc.)
- Some of the fish in the 6' tank have HITH disease. I'm working on it.
- I've had great success with my livebearers: guppies; platies; and Limias.
- Transferred my G. brasiliensis youngsters into the hall tank.
- Two of my hybrid cons paired up today!
- Lost all my female fighters. All to the same dropsy/ body-eating disease. Gutted.

I have too many fish growing on! Hoping to shift quite a lot in the early part of the year so I can get some decent breeding projects running.

December update

Recently swapped a pair of mealnurus, the male salvini and the pair of Paratilapia sp. 'Fiamanga' for six wild Blackbelts and six Tinfoil barbs from m mate Ian. I'm really happy with the swap as my 6' tank now has something worth watching in it!

Hopefully we're going to swap my male HRP for his male Rainbow (to go with my female) in the near future, at which point I should be all set in terms of my fish collection for a while.

Happy days!

In other news:

- The jags have spawned again (woop! woop!)
- The baby kribs are growing well

Sadly I lost the following last week:
- My adult female Humpbacked limias
- The female salvini
- A male Blockhead from the dining room tank

New arrivals, tragic losses (again)

Sadly I lost a whole group of baby jags after moving their parents to the 4' tank. They all got either fungus or Lympho. Horrible having to watch them die one by one each day. The tank they were in now holds a supply of live river shrimp and a coupld of female Bettas who are in recovery.

To add to this, the jag pair had a big bust up, so I had to divide them. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the temperature in their tank being higher than they're used to.

On the positive side, I have over 10 baby guppies from the red-tailed females I bought (from Ely Aquatics) a couple of weeks ago. The females don;t appear to be eating their offspring, so hopefully the babies will turn out to be 'pure strain' and I can establish a pure breeding colony.

Even better news is that the pair of super red kribs I picked up at the CDAS meeting have just brought out their first spawn (hence the recovering Bettas!).



Things are ticking over nicely in the fish room. My biggest challenge at the moment is working out how to overcome the problem that many of the tanks have suspended matter in the water as a result of having no substrate. Makes for some pretty nasty photos.

BCA, FoF...recents changes

Much has happened since I last posted. The BCA meeting was great fun. Some lovely fish for sale (I was extremely hard pushed to hold back and only spend £3.00!). I sold some Jags, Cutter's, G. brasiliensis and my pair of Bangui. My only pick up was a bag of six juvenile Aequidens sp. Peru, which I am now convinced are a geographical variant of A. tetramerus. Lovely little fish from Andrew Wood.

The Festival of Fishkeeping was really interesting. Some very informative displays and some great fish.

The meeting worked well from the point of view of attracting new members, but I do feel the location (Hayling Island) meant that many established members were put off and didn't show. As a result the auctions followed a recurring theme of being fantastic for buyers, but pretty rubbish for sellers as most lots went for very close to their reserve.

What else has happened?

Bullets:

- the Firemouths lost their eggs (I think the Bristlenoses finally had them);
- the crowntail fry never made it (temperature too cold or perhaps eaten by snails - they did hatch);
- Amber and I moved the 30" tank from upstairs into the fishroom (it now holds the Ports, female Paratilapia and female BGJD);
- I set up a 24" tank underneath it for the larger baby Jags;
- I have moved the Jag pair into the lower 4' tank (they're not too happy!) and all the fish from that tank into the 6' tank;
- the salvini pair are also now in the 6' tank;
- I still have six baby Vieja hybrids doing well;
- I separated the hybrid cons from the Redhead Midas yesterday. Both species are so fat!
- I now have Humpbacked Limia fry from one female, they have grown incredibly fast;
- I also have baby platies!

I now have an external flash for my camera. I'm so pleased with it, it has made such a difference to my fish photography:



I think that's about it for now, other than the fact that I successfully sent some Jags to Newquay (to Nev) and they arrived safely.

Happy days

Looking forward to the BCA meeting tomorrow. Should be a really good road trip with two Simons and two Martins in the same vehicle!

Have more good news today as the salvini are getting ready to spawn and my crowntail bettas are spawning as I type. Mum is visiting at the moment and she was really impressed by them! Lovely fish.

The Firemouths still have their eggs too, which is amazing given that there are two Ancistrus in the tank. The parents look amazing right now.

Not looking forward to getting up at 4:30am tomorrow to bag fish...

Snakehead tragedy....again :(

No more snakeheads for me. They were looking unhappy two days ago so I decided to up the heat. BAD IDEA! They were all dead yesterday morning. I think I have a long way to go in my fishkeeping abilities before I take on dwarf Channa spp. again.

On the plus side, my Firemouths have spawned in the mixed community tank in the fishroom.