New big tank

[andywg]

The growth of botht hose two fish is nothing short of astounding. You don't notice it until you go back and look at old photos. I am amazed at how the two smaller balas have caught up Sharky. They were purchased at the same size as him and have grown much quicker (a reason why I am against buying large growing fish and keeping them for any period in a small tank)

I don't know about not needing luck...The nubmer of times I flooded the floor with the first attempt at a sump and the time spent hunting for a tiny leak on this project...

Thanks for the vot of support though

Andy

 

[Angel Lady]

I love the nite shots and the bala pictures. Your tank is awsome now.....

 

[Nix]

Looks awesome

 

[garbodude]

haha me too. sumps are sometimes a pain in the ass to set up just the other morning i was asleep and i heard my sister screaming as on of the connections of the pipe between the toilet and the sump had blown apart and there was about 1inch of water on the floor in the back of the house. lucky its all tiled.

good on you for going the bigger tank. the fish will love it.

alex.

 

[pseud]

Excellent work Andy (and Mrs Andy).

 

[andywg]

Well, today we nipped out to get some feeder shrimp for the large tank and Nina started looking for fish with a bit more colour to complete the tank. Unfortunately this was in Swallows and everything in there would either end up food (all the livebearers and tetras) or end up eating everything (how many Red Tail/Tiger Shovel hybrids do they have now? There can't be that many people with giant tanks, can there?)

So, cue a trip to Shotgate Aquatics. A shop my wallet truly fears to visit. We picked up a couple of snakeheads (Chana bleheri) a shoal of Clown Loaches, a pair of Doradids (one Platydoras costatus and one Agamyxis pectinifrons and finally a fair sized Panaque nigrolineatus sp. (L027a or L330).

Naturally, pictures were taken:

First off, the plec and the two doradids. The pleco (named 'Watermelon' by Nina) had to come the whole way as he pierced bags with the spines on his fins and gill covers. I decided to drip acclimatise the two doradids as well as I didn't trust their lateral scutes with the bags while floating them.

And here is Myska checking on the new arrivals

And here is Watermelon in the tank. We've been admiring him for about a year but he was priced at £75 which was more than we wanted to pay. Today the nice man at Shotgate sold him to us for £40 (not bad since he is at least 6 or 7 inches long). But then we did spend over £100 in the shop today

And here is the tank a little redesigned (with an extra £50 worth of bogwood including one huge bit)

Here is the Platydoras costatus just peeking out of the plants and one of him in view (not what I was expecting, though he has a strong love of evicting the two black ghost knives from their nearby sleeping spots).

I apologise for the quality of those photos, but I'm sure almost any doradid keepers will tell you how hard it normally is to get a photo of them.

 

[andywg]

Here is a photo of each of the two Rainbow Snakeheads (Chana bleheri) we purchased.

And here is a fantastic shot of one of them peeking out from the bogwood.

And a shot of the last group we purchased, the Clown Loaches

Next a couple of shots of old fish that look cool (the 3 largest Balas and one of the Chalceus)

And finally, Our pictus. We've had them over a year, but only now have I finally got a good shot of them.

 

[Bloo]

I apologise for the quality of those photos, but I'm sure almost any doradid keepers will tell you how hard it normally is to get a photo of them.

[snapback]872714[/snapback]​

you were indeed lucky to even get that photo ! Well done. Things are coming on very well and I love Watermelon
So funny your feline cat not missing on any of the action either !

 

[Paul_MTS]

lovely royal andy. shotages is an evil place! mum and dad are still regreting saying they would take me there for my '04 x-mas pressie

so jealous of those snakeheads! can't wait until i have my own!

 

[andywg]

The snakeheads are fantastic, and far more active than I'd thought.

I was amazed to find the doradids as well. A great day (except for the bank account)