The Decision Has Been Taken

[Mowbz]

Then i would say deffo do it! For a 4ft it would be quite expensive (hence i opted for Argos stuff) but for the size of the tank (and the advantage of stock to swap!) you're not going to beat black sand for what your setting up, IMO

 

[the_lock_man]

Then i would say deffo do it! For a 4ft it would be quite expensive (hence i opted for Argos stuff) but for the size of the tank (and the advantage of stock to swap!) you're not going to beat black sand for what your setting up, IMO

Cheers, Ben!

 

[Mowbz]

Cant wait to see it!

 

[the_lock_man]

Wednesday evening is water change evening. When the 65l was partly empty, I hoyked out about 40 assassins. Down to my LFS this morning, swapped for a bag of black coarse sand.

And have given the wife a list of plant species to pop up to MA this afternoon, to get as many as she thinks we can afford!!!

 

[Mowbz]

Sunday is my normal tank maint day. Can you guess what ill be doing on Christmas morning?!

Nice work on the swap, how long does it take you to get that many? I thought they only produce 1 offspring at a time?! But then i suppose a population of 40 could produce potentially at least 10 a month?

Whats MA @ P'mouth like?

 

[the_lock_man]

Sunday is my normal tank maint day. Can you guess what ill be doing on Christmas morning?!

Nice work on the swap, how long does it take you to get that many? I thought they only produce 1 offspring at a time?! But then i suppose a population of 40 could produce potentially at least 10 a month?

Whats MA @ P'mouth like?

I first saw a baby in about August last year, and this is the first time I've tried thinning the population. It's going to be very interesting to see how many I can retrieve from the gravel when it comes out. Of course, I say "I can retrieve", clearly I mean "the kids can retrieve"!

There are 2 MAs within easy reach, Havant and Fareham. Havant used to be a bit iffy, the place used to smell, which put me off, but they're a lot better now. Awesome marine display tank, 5/6 discus tanks, good range of African Cichlids and about 20 tanks of livebearers!

Fareham is probably a bit better stockwise, not so many livebearers, and were the only place in the area that stocked chillis when I was looking for them. Nice layout for the tanks, in a horseshoe shape, with the freshwater on the outside, and marine on the inside. Well worth a visit, if you're down this way. They are on the Southampton side of Fareham.

Both have got a good range of plants, Fareham's probably a bit better, but is probably 10 minutes further away from our house.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Don't want to barge in on your conversation, but my assassins started producing several tiny ones all at once. Where I only saw one in the 55g a while ago, I peeked in there about a week ago and saw four tiny ones zooming (well, zooming for snails

) around the tank and was quite surprised!

 

[the_lock_man]

Don't want to barge in on your conversation, but my assassins started producing several tiny ones all at once. Where I only saw one in the 55g a while ago, I peeked in there about a week ago and saw four tiny ones zooming (well, zooming for snails

) around the tank and was quite surprised!

Barge in as much as you like, Spouse, it's Christmas, innit?

 

[This Old Spouse]

 

[CrazyAirborne]

i wish i could breed some assassins.

oh and black sand FTW !

 

[Tizer]

Tarta....no ok maybe i cant string that joke out anymore

Try black mate, i put some in a 30 litre fry tank and it certainly makes the greens stand out on the plants and the fish certainly look different in a nice way. Its a bit like paint on walls, always nice to have a change. Pics after you are done!

PS, dummy, best invention ever. Hardly paid any attention to my fish the last week!

 

[the_lock_man]

i wish i could breed some assassins.

oh and black sand FTW !

Er, you just put some assassins in the tank and wait. And wait some more.

Assassins do need a lady and a gentleman snail to breed, they aren't hermaphroditic, so the more you have, the more likely you are to have at least one of each gender, but they do breed, it's just that it takes at least 6 months for the babies to even approach a saleable size.

PS, dummy, best invention ever. Hardly paid any attention to my fish the last week!

Dummies are for wimps. Or babies.

 

[Mowbz]

Both have got a good range of plants, Fareham's probably a bit better, but is probably 10 minutes further away from our house.

Might pop down when Christmas is out of the way

 

[Twinklecaz]

I've got yellow sand but I'm changing to black when I get my new tank next year for a few reasons:

1: Though yellow sand looks lovely when clean, I find it rare that it is (usually the rest of the day afer a W/C)

2: I've seen a couple of pics of tanks on here with black sand and think they look great

3: Going to plant this tank a bit heavier and I think black looks better with this.


Have you/anyone ever been to the MA in Brighton? It's my nearest but I'm yet to visit.

 

[the_lock_man]

Ok, this is the the tank before work started. I know, it was in a sorry state.