Sunday, October 22, 2006

Just add water II - Adding the fish

Over the past week or so I've been populating my aquarium. I made an early decision to try to keep it looking reasonably natural, and to have all the fish from, very broadly, the same area of the planet. Having selected south-east Asia, my tank is inappropriate for Amazon piranha, South American angel fish or African cichlids. As part of the 'natural' decision, there is no room in my aquarium for bubbling plastic divers, skulls, treasure chests, sunken ruins or fairy castles. Instead there are a few interestingly-shaped pieces of bogwood, a big hollow (plastic) rock and some real plants. And some tropical fish.

The current list stands at:-
Tiger barb (tiger striped) - 5
Tiger barb (green) - 4
Bala shark - 3
Boeseman's rainbow - 4
Armoured catfish - 2
Black molly - 3

I lost a shark and a tiger barb to Ronnie (or possibly Reggie) Cray. Back to the shop with that one! And my experiment with one male Siamese Fighting Fish and four females soon ended with them all riding the porcelain express. It's a mystery why the all went belly-up; the other fish are all fine and the water tests say water quality is OK.

Future plans are for a small shoal of clown loach. These are currently not coming in Dubai, but deliveries are expected sometime this week, I'm told.

The only additional thing I need is an automatic feeder to prevent hungry fish from turning on each other if I go away for a few days.

5 comments:

Taunted said...

So when are you going to cook them? halfmanhalfbeer has a good fish and chip recipe on his blog

halfmanhalfbeer said...

Taunted: my thoughts exactly! GG put in some bream, seabass and nile perch and you'll be sorted!

HMHB

Grumpy Goat said...

"Fish are friends, not food!" - Bruce, Finding Nemo

Grumpy Goat said...

Alright, I confess. After one aftenoon trip to the aquarium shop I was in the lift to my apartment at about 5:30pm a week or so ago. Other passengers noticed the plastic bag containing live fish so, putting on my best Homer Simpson voice, I found myself looking at the bag's contents and saying, "Mmmmm. Iftar."

Passionate Dilettante said...

It sounds to me as if you need a second tank for the treasure chest, the plastic diver, etc. Perhaps you could convert a room, and have a sandpit in the corner, a nice stripey deck chair and a mural of palm trees and a tropical blue sky (You can't tell me you've got one of those outside your window these days!). Add an occasional table with - ok - maybe a goldfish bowl - and there you have your own little patch of paradise. If you get one of those treasure chests that opens and closes in a fountain of bubbles, can I come and play?

 

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