Round indoor pond project queries.

[sciencefiction]

I have an arcadia stretch LED light that I use over my hillstream loach tank. A few weeks back it failed, flashing intermittently. So the tank ran only on the Qube 50 LED these few weeks because I was being lazy purchasing another light. I was going to buy another Qube 50 as I quite like them.....

At some stage I thought it is a good idea to send an email to the shop where I purchased the Arcadia light, which is an online German shop called Aquaristicshop.com. I then forgot about the email and I didn't hear anything back from them until yesterday, when a brand new light arrived in the post 🙂 It was about 2 weeks after the email I sent them. It was so nice of them to honour the warranty although the product was already out of warranty by about half a year. I have purchased a few items from that shop over the years as their prices are really good and it is nice to know their after sales service is also good.

So I am back to growing algae 🙂 For the few weeks on lower light the moss actually started fading and changing its visual structure, also becoming leggy and detaching from the wood, again providing anecdotal evidence that it does better in higher light conditions which I had noticed before. My moss is Taiwan moss so it perhaps is species dependent but it grows really well in high light. The crypts didn't suffer much but have not flowered since....

I also forgot to mention perhaps, or maybe I did, that a few months back I transferred my Crinum Calamistratum in the hillstream tank right under the light. I have had that plant for many years never liking any of the tanks its been planted in but kept staying alive. It survived the clown loach and barb decimation I experienced a couple of years back when they brought all the anubias down to stubs, and it is the only plant fish won't touch at all to eat. Since putting it under high light conditions in the hillstream tank it has taken off which is really nice to see. What a tough plant I hadn't manage to kill for about 8 years perhaps, never really growing until now 🙄 I am happy to see it happy and it will surely appreciate getting its light back again.

 

[sciencefiction]

Some boring pics.

First my betta using his tail as an anchor looking at me just after a water change. Notice how he folds the tail to hold on to the ancient filter in both pictures in different scenarios...


Then the the hillstream loach tub that got overrun by algae, which I thought is quite beautiful. It's pearling too.


Then below is my hydrophilla growing from the betta tub which has fully adapted to air.



The big Arum Lily below which gets snipped regularly as it just overshadows 2 tubs when it gets out of hand.


And a bit of the pond



And a picture of the local river below which came out like a drawing

 

[Andy Thurston]

Hi Sci-fi glad to see this still going

 

[sciencefiction]

Hi Andy,

Thank you.

It is still going as fish are still gong on the same as ever🙂

Problem is, I have nothing to contribute because nothing literally changes 😳

 

[sciencefiction]

I've been thinking, this is the time of the year that I normally get very excited about fish, when the other side of life has calmed down but not this year....total disinterest on my part. I haven't even looked at the fish tanks properly in quite a while, in fact for months, apart from when I uploaded a video or a picture....I am losing a bit of interest and for the first time(or second time 😳 in a decade slacking on water changes 🙁 I feel bad. I had quite a few times skipping the weekly one making it a bi-weekly water change, and a smaller one at that as I was lazy waiting. Plus the boiler I use for heated water for the fish tanks blew up too and had to be replaced, which only fed my laziness further during that time because had an excuse... No need to say again I feel bad 😉

I can't even say right now how the fish are. I only know I do see them at feeding time looking just fine but I haven't counted heads...All those plants growing out of the tanks do help, and even the algae in the hillstream loach tanks 🙄. I only know that my first ever hillstreams I got a few years back are still doing quite well in a heavily planted crypt tank. I see them zooming around the glass as it's the only tank I can keep an eye on, because it is in the sitting room. The rest is a guess. But the dojo loach and the betta seem ok and active as they're regular surface swimmers when I approach. I see the clown loaches fighting for my attention every morning as well, but I only see noses as it's dark and I just drop the food. and walk away...I see glimpses of my albino bristlenose which is now 8 or 9 years old. I have no idea what he eats because I rarely target him for food. I even need to buy more fish food because I ran out of the NLS cichlid pellets I always fed the loaches with and they're now on the left overs of Northfin Veggie pellets...which do have plenty of protein but you get the gist...😡

It's time to straighten up myself and take care of my pet fish

 

[three-fingers]

I think we've all been there! I bought a round indoor tub pond to house my growing goldfish after being inspired by this thread...many life distractions happened and it is currently still just being used as a storage box for aquarium related stuff...

I come to this thread for aquatic inspiration sometimes and your last post has made me feel better about my own laziness . Kinda glad I'm not the only one who let their pearling hair algae grow - "hmmm, I should probably pull that out...but the pearling means it's growing well and is probably good for water conditions, the guppies and snails like it...the oxygen bubbles are kinda pretty...OK I'll leave it for now".

I'm sure your fish are thriving in the environment you've created for them, and hope you get some time to work an and appreciate the pond more soon!

 

[sciencefiction]

You know, my other half asked me the other day....."How are the fish doing by the way, you haven't said anything in ages about them...Did any of them die".....

And then I gather my thoughts and I think about it.....none have yet died.....I am doing fine, I just need to do what I have always have done and get back to my routine.

I have been good since my last post and I have not missed a water change since. and in fact, I had never missed one for more than 2 weeks in the majority of the life of my current fish, except for when I was on holidays for 3 weeks or intentionally testing once or twice but that was several years ago and thankfully some made it.

The plants have gone wild and are covering 2/3rds of the surface of the pond. I have 2 palms growing now. The one I rescued from the window sill has flourished too, clowns are growing so plenty of nitrogen I guess. The fish, which I observed lately, are

1st: very friendly, noses out of the water for food in the morning. This is clown loaches I am talking about.
2nd hyperactive, out swimming all the time
3rd: playful, quirky and relaxed in their non-disturbed by movements, noises and shadows environment.

If you understand fish behavior, you'd know my 1,2,3 points. There are not very many people that understand animals or fish, even animal or fish keepers. Sorry for being straight with you readers of this boring thread.

And I got them new NLS pellets finally, which they had been fed for most years. Diet is of utmost importance to fish and NLS hasn't failed me yet.

 

[Onoma1]

Glad to hear that you have reached a point of calm where you can just enjoy your fish.

 

[sciencefiction]

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is coping well in this difficult time and keeps their spirit afloat.

I just have a few updates, some negative, some positive.

I lost the betta. I found him dead a few weeks back. I am not sure what was up but I doubt it I could have done much to save him as I hadn't noticed anything wrong.

I also lost one of the SAEs in the pond. He/she was the one that was weak from purchase, the smallest. He got bullied initially a few years back and was thin on and off. He finally passed away, also a few weeks back, the same time as the betta. May they rest in peace. Like any other pet, I'll always remember them.

On a good note, everyone else is well ant thriving. The clown loaches, harlequin rasboras, my old pleco, all the denisons and the 4 remaining SAEs, The kuhli's are in the betta tank on their own. They too made around 8 years mark so far since purchase, although in reduced number. I remember drying one by accident as he was in a plant basket, another on the floor from a tank bust, etc. None died in the tanks, really tough fish because I moved them around plenty. I hope they thrive for many more years. The weather loach is also thriving and always hungry. He's got the habit of attacking my fingers for food too, really cute. His lily plant that I featured for a while regrew its leaves many times over. The leaves grow so big that the stalks actually break. I cut them down, new ones grow. The fast growth has been doing great job for the weather loach tub and the shade does good to the anubias that I saved some years back from the pond.

And last but not least, I still have the hillstreams. To be honest, I only like the ones in the sitting room tank, as they have the weirdest way of feeding, picking pellets from the side of the tank, rolling them up onto the glass. I think they were identified as Beaufortia species but they didn't really grow although still dashing around as always. Maybe I stunted them in a small tank but I think I am doing better than most with these type of fish. They're around 4 years old now. I think they're doing well in a somewhat non-suitable environment because the tank is constantly overgrown and full of shrimp that make a red carpet over the food. I think someone once told me the hillstreams won't survive as they can't compete for food. I guess they figured it out 🙂

And I still have californian black worms. They seem to do well in my cold water tanks. I don't think any survived the heated betta tank, although I put the most initial load in there. However, both the weather loach and the hillstream loach tank have them as I see them up the siphon when I clean the sand. So they seem to prefer the cooler water, although it is still over 20 degrees and more, most of the time, although I have no heaters, nor thermometers in those tanks.

I haven't taken any recent videos, although I am very eager, as I cracked the screen of my phone and it's no longer water resistant. So this is a boring post really. I'l be buying one soon to capture my lovely clowns and the pond. The plants are thriving and the baskets are barely holding the weight. They fell a few times. I need to think of an upgraded, bigger baskets, when they re-open the shops here.

On a personal note, work has been crazy busy for me during this crisis. I know others would consider that lucky. The previous crisis brought me down to my knees and I had to re-organize my life big time. So people, keep your head above the water. Life doesn't end and we make our own future. Each and everyone of us has the power to do so. I will wish you no luck, as luck doesn't play any role in anything. Keep safe and keep focused on your goals.

 

[sciencefiction]

Hey Guys,

I got my new phone, an upgraded version of my old cracked screen one. I tried to take an underwater video and it would not take it😡....It shuts down the camera underwater immediately, what the heck.....it was an upgrade, e.g. Samsung S9 for Samsung S20...

I think I'll just sacrifice my old phone for some under water videos because the screen crack is only superficial.
I realize I haven't taken a video of my clowns/denisons/SAEs and harlequin rasboras since last year end 2019 and I'll get that done asap....somehow...because I am as curious as everyone that bothered following this thread 🙂

My feelings go to those that are in a bad place right now. Please give me a PM and I maybe able to help,

 

[sciencefiction]

The long promised video of the pond is below 😀

As you can see, it's like the fish are stuck in time, hence I wasn't bothered updating as I get annoying showing the same thing. Nothing has changed and I think that's really important. No stress, no new fish, no messing, no decor re-arrangements, no startling through a glass pane, plants and filters work sufficiently to cope. You have to consider that the first group of loaches is now over 8 years old, which I had bought as babies, and a 3 of the others were bought as at least 5 year old ones 2 years ago, I can't remember, but it's probably in the thread somewhere, plus the one I haad bought in about 2013 as a 5 incher who grew the biggest.

Denisons, SAEs and harlequins are featuring too, plus my reclusive pleco who is 9 years old now I think.

P.S. Sorry about the noise, couldn't be bothered putting music on 🙂 I did drop some food to ensure a crowd 🙂

 

[mort]

That's a fantastic example of what healthy clowns look like when they are looked after properly. My personal group is now down to 3 from 11. Unfortunately I've witnessed a decline in one of the group every so often, it then passes and seemingly another begins the same process (sometimes with a few months between). It's not the best feeling in the world when you lose a couple a year but it didn't start until they reached 25-26 years and the existing ones are pushing their late twenties now. So that's a bit of a sad way of saying yours are still babies so you'll have so much more time to enjoy them🙂

 

[sciencefiction]

Wow, 25-26 years is a loooong time to keep a fish alive. I can only dream.

 

[mort]

Wow, 25-26 years is a loooong time to keep a fish alive. I can only dream.

It is but some fish have really long lives. I also have a botia striata that was bought in 1997, it's the one I'm most surprised about tbh. The oldest in the tank is a platydoras costatus that my dad got in 1992. When I looked up how old they get I found someone had one that was 47 and still going. There are numerous others like a silver shark, silver dollar, couple of synodontis and an ancistris, that are all well over twenty that were all rescues. Nothing has been added to the tank for 15 years and it still seems full.
I'm sure hogan or Nelson mentioned once that they had/knew of a cory that was 22.

Given the conditions you keep your clowns in I don't doubt they will live that long.

 

[sciencefiction]

Mort, you're making it sound as simple as a life span issue 😀 I hope you're right. I am glad mine are now happy but I'll have to put in a lot more effort than I already have to get mine to over 20 years old, providing I get there myself. I just finished a 3 hour water change on all tanks. I won't mention that I'd rather sit on the sofa and do nothing instead of cleaning tanks for 3 hours every Sunday 😛

 

[mort]

Mort, you're making it sound as simple as a life span issue 😀

Water changes, food and enough space is all you need for most fish and with clowns you only need to add some company (so you hAve all boxes ticked). I wish there was some magic recipe I could sell and make a fortune from but I've done nothing special tbh.

 

[sciencefiction]

Thanks mate. How have you kept your loaches all these years? I would be very interested to know as it's not every day someone has 26+ years of age clowns.
I know my initial pre-pond 7 clowns went through 2 gushing glass tanks and 3 months in a tub of 80 litres, all in their first 4 year journey with me, before I got the pond. I am lucky I still have them. They deserve the pond.

Another video from today.

 

[sciencefiction]

I thought I'd share the weather loach tub. The lily over there is recently cut so the hydrophila is taking over. The hydrophilla has loved this flood light since I bought it and I can't tell you which part grows out of the loach tab or the one next to it which was the betta tub, now kuhli loach tub. Below the hydrophilla is anubias glabra.







And the below is from the pond currently. The 7 year old palm is really high and her sister I put in water a few years later has grown lots too, although not the best picture to show. However, my worry is they totally suffocate the peace lily now....

The picture is not so lush this summer, and the poor things have been struggling for light. It has not been a lush summer..... right now it is like smog on the sky, is it clouds or what? We were working today on lamps, we bought extra lamps for the first time in years, and closed the curtains because it was brighter than using window light.

 

[sciencefiction]

Hey Everyone.

I really hope everyone is feeling good and is safe.

I had the weirdest experience, on a personal level but it was all about the fish.
Sunday afternoon I went for a snooze and I had a dream about myself and my other half doing a water change on the pond. At some point in my dream I look inside the pond and I panic because all the water had drained, fish were all on dry. Then I wake up from the shock.

I get up, my dog whining to get out, so I get dressed and take her out.
Sunday is the day I actually do water changes on the tanks so I walk into the fish room and start unplugging filters on the pond as I normally do it first. Then I feel my socks get wet through the slippers. I get very anxious because I remember my dream. And I start frantically checking stuff, preying it's not a crack on the pond itself although I know subconsciously it's highly unlikely but I realize it is me being scared from prior experience with the glass tanks cracking. It turns out that one of my external filters, a 10 years and 9 months old All Pond Solutions one, had started leaking upon me unplugging it.

So I felt lucky, I removed and drained the filter and the issue was solved. Later I figured I had actually broken one of the locks a few weeks ago when I had cleaned the filter the last time. A whole metal piece came off, so it's a miracle it didn't leak at some point while it was on. It only started draining the tank when I unplugged it. Miracle filters. They love my fish 🙂 I love them.
Overall, it was a really weird experience considering the dream I had....

Being me, I ordered the same APS filter. I don't know why I like them.I know many people don't but I just want to mention that for the 10-11 years I owned that filter I had never changed a part on it and I never greased any of the seals, so it was abused to the max. I have another one that is younger, 7 years old doing just fine. I received the new order in 4 days from UK to Ireland during the Corona virus crisis, so I can't complain at all about that either.

New filter is up now and running. It seems quite a bit more powerful than the nearly 11 years old it replaced.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Good to hear from you Scifi, where have you been ?...
Are you sure your Sunday lunch wasn't laced with MDMA ?
Either way, glad it wasn't a disaster and that APS delivered a timely solution 🙂