Fishes: the 46 bowfront broke a seal in the bottom of the tank, and I was able to only save three of the five cichlids. I lost the Hap and the lemon yellow from stress, because the five fishes were in my two one-gallon buckets all day long while I was at work, buying and then set ting up the new tank: 75 gallons! Probably 15-20 gallons spilled onto the floor and down the air vent into the basement, but I siphoned all the water that could fit into on of my big recycle bins. That was probably 15 gallons of original water. I also saved the gravel, which was nice and dirty. I of course saved the biological filters without washing them. So, in the end, the new 75 gallon tank had maybe 25% original water, with old gravel and all the biological goodness that comes with it, and the sponges already filled with bacteria. I wasn't worried about the water killing the fish, I just needed to get them out of those buckets pronto. The tank was filled with water from an outdoor hose, and was brought up to temperature with hot water from the tap. The Stress Coat was added to dechlorinate, and the fishies added. Three little fish in a 75 gallon tank look pretty funny.
That happened in March, or so. Now it’s July and that tank is filled! The cichlid additions are:
2 Bolivian rams. They only grow to be a few inches, so they may already be adults. I can’t really tell.
1 orange blotch hybrid. Since the male kenyi is clearly the alpha, I’m not sure how bright this guys colors are going to be. Right now he’s a cream base with maybe some orange in it, with brown blotches. He’s pretty the way he is, but some pictures make me think the blotches are supposed to be blue.
1 regular pleco
5 Bosemani rainbows, the smaller ones with yellow rear half
4 Australian rainbows, the larger ones with red/pink fins and tail
Another incident I have had in the past months is a case of ich! It came with the batch of rainbows. I have had ich in the past, and the only method I trust is the now FDA-banned compound Malachite Green mixed with formalin. Malachite Green in a suspected carcinogen, so don’t get any on you, and wash your hands immediately and thoroughly after use. I put in a drop for every gallon, every other day for a five day period (three doses) then wait a couple days and start the five day process again. It took a few series, but the ich as finally killed and I only lost one fish (due to the ich, not the medication). Also, this was before the purchase of the pleco and the other cichlids in the list above. I know plecos (any smooth-skinned fish) are not supposed to be exposed to the M.G./formalin mixture, so I don’t know how the Bolivian rams and orange blotch would have tolerated it.
The two kenyi are a pair, and the female has so far produced two batches of fry. The first batch, even though I could tell she was holding (she didn't eat for a few weeks), I didn't find any fry until there was only one left and it was already well into the free swimming stage, and then I didn't see him anymore because he got eaten. Now this second batch, we were able to suck the four fry into another small tank using my siphon hose.
So now they are growing all by themselves; I've left the mother in the tank because 1) they don’t need her anymore, and 2) it would be hard for me and stressful for her for me to try and catch her.Lizards:
The chameleon is working on a second clutch. She’s been in the cage with the sandbox for a month or more already, but she’s only dug a little. She doesn't seem interested in laying her eggs. I don’t know if she learned anything from her first egg-laying adventure, and maybe she’s doing things smarter, but last time she was digging like crazy. But she still has a voracious appetite, so that’s something.
The gecko had been moved into the 46 bowfront, so now he has glass on all sides of him with a screen top. Now his ceramic heat lamp is inside the cage with him, shining on a slab of marble for him to lay on. He’s also now right at eye-level with the fish, and I swear he watches them sometimes.
So that’s the recap. Right now I'm investigating (again) the possibility of setting up a discus tank. My plan is for a 100-125 gallon tank (with the spill-overs in the back), planted and with driftwood, and a plumbing system to connect the sump to a recirculating line with a reverse osmosis unit connected. The RO unit has a 5 gallon storage tank, and I want a way to be able to feed the unit with the old tank water from the sump (where some the biological filters are) and then squirt in some fresh water from the storage tank. I think what needs to happen is for there to be switches to bypass tank water from the recirculating line to the RO unit for, say, a hour at a time. I don't know any pumping capacities for the inline pumps or the RO, so I don't know how much water is delivered in one hour. I just want to get maybe 10% of the water changed in a day. Even if I got this tank set up tomorrow, I still would have to run it for months with just the plants in it to get everything equilibrated and cycled. But I can dream, can't I?
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