Yes! It's our fish tank!

We love our fish. Meet the inhabitants of our relaxing aquarium.

Dwarf Rainbow Gourami
(Colisa lalia)

I am the Prince of this Aquarium. I like to cruise around and survey my domain.
Of course, being royalty, I have the finest clothes that shimmer and reflect the light.

I am larger than all the other fish, and I get on with all my subjects.

I do tend to keep to myself and be a little shy, but this is just because I am exclusive and special - I don't need to get too close to the commoners in the tank.

I did cause a stir when I arrived, since I ate all the plants in the tank.
Stephen was forced to plant different plants, 
and to adopt some new planting strategies. Not my concern...

I come from India.

Giant Danio
(Devario aequipinnatus) 

Hi! I'm Danny, and I'm nuts! I have severe Hyperactivity Disorder.

I like swimming around VERY fast. I get along well with everyone, but I do like playing tag with the Scissortails (those tricky tails of theirs make me loopy).

I like chasing the White Clouds too!

I think I am part Klingon Warrior, because I go crazy at feeding time, especially if Blood Worms are on the menu. As a Klingon would say, 
"Don't stand between me and the Blood Worms!"

I come from Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the West coast of India, where I live in clear mountain streams 300m above sea level. 

Scissor Tail Rasbora
(Rasbora trilineata)

We are the funkiest swimmers out there!
As we swim, our tails look just like scissors opening and closing.

Groovy!

 We are best friends, and always stick together.
We get on well with almost everybody.

I guess we should tell you: we were in the tank before Danny the Danio turned up. It was clear he was nuts (he couldn't make up his mind where he wanted to go, and he couldn't figure out that fish can't swim through glass - how dumb is that!).

So we teased him.

I think will called him "Dopey Danny" or something. Anyway, he's never forgiven us. He doesn't chase anyone else (OK, he makes a half-hearted attempt to tag the White Clouds), but he's got it in for us - although we probably deserve it.

And man, is he fast!

So, we are very fit. As long as we don't go into his territory we're fine, and he leaves us alone. But, when we're bored, we like to poke our heads into his space, and shout "Dopey Danny" and the run as fast as we can - cool, huh?

We come from slow moving rivers and streams in Asia and Sumatra (Borneo). We like to pig-out on blood worms, so we can't have them too often.

Some people call us "Three Lined Rasbora", or "Black Scissor Tail" - whatever!

Platy
(Xiphophorus maculatus)

I like browsing all around the tank. 

I nibble a bit on the plants, and I get on well with everyone.

I come from Central America, and I give birth to live young.

Neon Tetra
(Paracheirodon innesi)

Everybody likes us ('cause we're pretty!)

We like to stick together, and we play with the Glowlight Tetras 
(and sometimes the White Clouds). We are friends with everyone.

We can be a little sensitive, so Stephen has to keep an eye on the pH levels so we stay healthy.

Glowlight Tetra
(Hemigrammus erythrozonus)

We're pretty too! We are very shy, and we love the tank now it has plenty of plants and things to explore or hide under. We play together, and with the Neon Tetras and the White Clouds. We originally come from Guyana in South America

We are also called Glo-lite Tetra or Fire Neon Tetra.

White Cloud (White Cloud Mountain Minnow)
(Tanichthys albonubes)

Our motto: "We may be small, but we're tough!"

We survived three years in the tank when another was looking after it
(we won't name names, but he was a small fry...)
and the tank, filter and water were cleaned irregularly.

We can tough it out in water as cold as 7°C to 25°C.
We'll eat pretty much anything.

We get on well with everybody, except that nutty Danio, who likes to chase us occasionally. He may be fast, but we're small and nimble, so he's never caught us yet! Ha!

People also like us because we swim around the top part of the tank, 
making the tank look attractive.

Some people also call us the Meteor Minnow 
or the Chinese Danio (because we come from China).

Peppered Corydoras Catfish
(Corydoras spp.)

Peace, Dudes! My name is Cory Cat.

I like to chill out at the bottom of the tank 
(well, so long as the chill is actually 22°C - 26°C).

I get on well with everyone, and let them have fun playing while I do the cleaning. And, like, I'm heavily into recycling - those scraps and algae taste wicked!

I come from South America.

People like to call me lots of names (cool it - they're friendly names!) like Albino Corydoras, Armored Catfish, Plated Catfish, Bronze Catfish, Mailed Catfish, and Cory Catfish.

It's all fine by me! Peace, and be seein' ya, dude!

Initially, we had lots of soft ferns. This looked pretty, and worked just fine until the Gourami arrived. The Gourami decided to demolish all the plants in record time.

Now, we are using a variety of hardy plants such as 
Aluminium Plants, Water Violets, Java Ferns, and Rushes.

Further, to let them grow more easily, and to allow us to move one plant without disturbing the others, the plants are all individually potted.

The best way to do this was using whisky shot glasses. These can be 2/3 filled with quality top soil, with a layer of gravel. The plants can then get good root growth, and the glass is nearly invisible jutting out from the substrate.

Here's a picture from the side of the tank. Since this side of the tank is against a wall, I have left them partly exposed for demonstration purposes.

Also, note the clear plastic cut out keeping the space around the power head intake clear (on the left of the picture). 

This sophisticated device was made buy cutting out a cross-section of a plastic soda bottle. About 50 holes were drilled using a 2mm drill bit to allow circulation of water through the substrate to the intake.

Plants need CO2 to flourish. A commercial solution was going to cost about $100 for a biological system, and at least $250 for a gas tank system.

Instead, we used Science! The latest advances in quantum mechanics and particle physics were combined with super-conducting magnets to make... no , I'm fibbing...

Using some excellent advice on the internet, I combined an old fruit juice bottle with 2 cups of sugar, a teaspoon of yeast, and some 3mm clear vinyl tubing. Mixed with lukewarm water, this mixture soon began to bubble CO2 gas. Several different ratios of ingredients were tested.

I then drilled a hole into the power head intake tube to allow the bubbles to be absorbed through the filter into the water.

Initially the pH was slightly lowered, but regular checking his shown that this rapidly stabilized.

And the plants certainly seem to like it...

We have comfortable seating both indoors and outdoors. Tea and coffee facilities are available.

The attendance (and indeed the participation) of 
parents at music lessons is welcome!

Younger students often benefit from the encouragement of a parent;
and teachers benefit by having someone at home that knows what should be practised.

This web page was created on 20 November 2007
Last updated 20 November 2007