A bit of an update . . .
I now have quite a few baby shrimp about the tank which is good to see, and loads of other berried females still to hatch.
All the fish are gaining in confidence, with the male Reed tetra sparring often, and showing lovely flared finnage - I suspect some may be carrying eggs too, unless they're just some of the greedier ones when the food is out. The Kuhli loaches are out and about a fair bit too, burying their heads deep into the sand, presumably hunting for detritus worms.
The live food production is going well, with the ramp up in Grindal worm feeding and larger containers paying dividends with much larger numbers to feed. The whole tank goes mad when they are added. Similarly, in addition to the two 80 litre tubs I already had, I have added two cheap 165 litre plasterers baths to increase the outdoor daphnia production.
I have also moved most of my Chocolate Gourami juveniles over to the big tank, and they seem to be settling in well after the anticipated initial disorientation.
On the next planned stocking, I did have a couple of disappointing e-mails from Wildwoods that their suppliers hadn't been able to fulfil their orders. To their credit they persisted in placing new orders and they have finally managed to get stock of all the fish I am after. So on Friday I will be taking delivery of:
30 x Aspidoras pauciradiatus
15 x Iriatherina werneri
15 x Nannostomus marginatus
20 x Boraras brigittae
I have to make a point of highlighting the incredible level of service I have had from Keith at Wildwoods. Bearing in mind I initially contacted probably the top 8 or so online fish suppliers with my list - which represented a decent sized purchase. Most of them replied to say they would contact me if they got stock, but I haven't heard back from any of them since then.
Keith at Wildwoods on the other hand has been the only one who has actively contacted his suppliers, tracked down stock, and placed specific orders with them to get the fish in that I wanted - then reserved the fish I wanted in their tanks unit they were all in, held them for a couple of weeks to ensure they were acclimatised and healthy from the import shipping, so they could then be shipped in one go.
He kept me updated throughout, gave me good prices on the fish, an additional 10% bulk order discount and free shipping. Service like this seems to be a rarity these days, so I can't recommend Wildwoods enough, and they will now be my only port of call for all future fish orders.
I now have quite a few baby shrimp about the tank which is good to see, and loads of other berried females still to hatch.
All the fish are gaining in confidence, with the male Reed tetra sparring often, and showing lovely flared finnage - I suspect some may be carrying eggs too, unless they're just some of the greedier ones when the food is out. The Kuhli loaches are out and about a fair bit too, burying their heads deep into the sand, presumably hunting for detritus worms.
The live food production is going well, with the ramp up in Grindal worm feeding and larger containers paying dividends with much larger numbers to feed. The whole tank goes mad when they are added. Similarly, in addition to the two 80 litre tubs I already had, I have added two cheap 165 litre plasterers baths to increase the outdoor daphnia production.
I have also moved most of my Chocolate Gourami juveniles over to the big tank, and they seem to be settling in well after the anticipated initial disorientation.
On the next planned stocking, I did have a couple of disappointing e-mails from Wildwoods that their suppliers hadn't been able to fulfil their orders. To their credit they persisted in placing new orders and they have finally managed to get stock of all the fish I am after. So on Friday I will be taking delivery of:
30 x Aspidoras pauciradiatus
15 x Iriatherina werneri
15 x Nannostomus marginatus
20 x Boraras brigittae
I have to make a point of highlighting the incredible level of service I have had from Keith at Wildwoods. Bearing in mind I initially contacted probably the top 8 or so online fish suppliers with my list - which represented a decent sized purchase. Most of them replied to say they would contact me if they got stock, but I haven't heard back from any of them since then.
Keith at Wildwoods on the other hand has been the only one who has actively contacted his suppliers, tracked down stock, and placed specific orders with them to get the fish in that I wanted - then reserved the fish I wanted in their tanks unit they were all in, held them for a couple of weeks to ensure they were acclimatised and healthy from the import shipping, so they could then be shipped in one go.
He kept me updated throughout, gave me good prices on the fish, an additional 10% bulk order discount and free shipping. Service like this seems to be a rarity these days, so I can't recommend Wildwoods enough, and they will now be my only port of call for all future fish orders.
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