I barely made it home on time to catch the light hours....crazy busy these days.....
But had enough time to put my chin on the edge of the tank and watch the fish for 20 min or so
pure pleasure....It helps my brain relax after a hard week
What I've noticed since my loaches are in this tank, is how friendly they've become...(repeating myself...I know....
They also seem to be stalking me...They tend to swim right under my face when I am there. I got up to check out the emergent plants on the opposite side of the tank and the fish followed me there with their noses right up looking at me...I think that despite the nature of the tank, I am able to see the fish a lot more, from a lot closer distance than I have ever had....Clown loaches are by nature spooky and skittish fish and its amazing how relaxed they are now...I wish more people tried keeping fish like that just to see the difference in behavour...I am sure fish like platies or guppies or other highly friendly fish won't care one bit but skittish fish really come out of their shell when given their privacy in my experience so far...And I think the only downside is that I can't capture what I see on video(probably because of my skills)...but the view of the fish is better and clearer than ever...I can pretty much see the colour of their eyes and details of their body shape...They look great to me, and extremely happy
Fingers crossed...
The clown loaches also seem to have released a bit of a darker pigment on their bodies. I know clowns can alter their colours depending on substrate but they are doing that now because of the dark sides of the tank.....just noting...
Another thing....the plastic tank seems to keep the water temperature really warm and steady...Perhaps because it is designed for outside use...and the medium density polyethylene plastic is a better insulator than glass.
We had a few warm days outside here(its still winter) and the temperature in the tank rose although the heaters settings weren't touched....I have the heaters on 25C...The temperature in the tank is 26C. I initially had the heaters on 26C when I first set it up, then I decreased it to 25C to accommodate the denison barbs and SAEs but the temperature never dropped....hmmmm. I've got two 300W jager eheim heaters in there...I was dreading the electric bill but it was pleasantly the same as always despite the amount of water and an extra 300W heater....
I pulled all the nitrogen deficient leaves from the salvinia to make sure the damaged leaves are not old stuff getting me confused...I dosed a lot of KNO3 during this last week, more like 4 times my initial dose and I think I have reached a dose that stops the nitrogen deficiency...at least salvinia wise...
The denison barbs and SAEs seem to be doing great and I am already seeing them being bold enough to swim right next to the clown loaches. It took my baby clown loach a couple of weeks to realize the bigger clown loaches aren't a threat to him and I think the denison barbs and the SAEs have figured the same too...When I approach the tank the barbs and the SAEs always swim on the left side and the clowns on the right side(have no clue whey this order) but right next to each other and mixing up together quite often...I can't wait for the little guys to grow a bit so they don't have to wait for scraps, ha, ha
I am still deliberating whether to get another school of fish inside the tank....I am not pushed because I got lucky enough not quarantining these new fish and I don't want to ever look at a crowded tank in my life again....I had a horrible time during last year cramming fish into the one tank only....I have mentioned on another thread many died....There were nights I couldn't sleep from guilty conscience.....
I just want a school of top dwellers because none of these fish are and I think one more species of suitable fish will just complete the view I have of the tank...And I want them small enough...platy size type but not platies anymore....sick of them...I have a separate thread on the topic but every fish I think of seems to be unsuitable according to majority...and no one can suggest anything I like.....I think people tend to think my clown loaches are savages
.... But I swear they won't touch even quite tiny fish...I've seen platy fry for years being ignored....The only problem would come from skittish small fish being stressed by the mere size of the loaches, rather than them ever being attacked....which is important on its own because I don't want fish that would feel stressed....
I have my small tank empty of fish now so I can risk and quarantine fish...It's just that I don't know what and I need it to be top dwelling fish because there's enough of bottom feeders.....though the denison barbs will not touch a thing at the bottom...They just don't swim at the top, they swim at the bottom or mid level but will not it anything that hits the substrate..how awkward
The SAEs are definately bottom fish in my opinion, or perhaps they are naturally....They behave a lot like loaches, but algae eating loaches...
And last paragraph....I had issues before with ordering from ta-aquaculture in the past for those that know that website.....I ordered again recently, two full weeks ago...I got nothing. I send an e-mail....no reply....I am going to have to resort to paypal again to get my money back...very poor service....The previous time I only got a reply from them after I opened a claim with paypal, after numerous emails....I don't know why I bother with them.....
Have a nice weekend everyone..