Fishy friends in the front room.

I promised some pictures of my tank setup, sorry they are not very good, wife has run off with our best camera to the Kalahari desert

I only clean the glass front and sides


This is the aerator, and the next, the bubble trail


some of the occupants.


crested blenny


Spotty a wrasse
There is the odd crab and snail also
If you can find a small octopus they are great.
I do not know if anyone has contacts in Bangor, there is a mussel dredging operation there, they would get heaps of odd stuff.


A fan worm and sea squirts


the fan worm in feeding mode, you can see the air bubbles in the water


The tastiest occupant for a week until we all went to a BBQ, a crayfish

Great pic's Rhod

Nice1 mate some great pics there

Great photo's

Nice set up Rhod.

Love the Fan worm.

Will be taking Rhys for a go at Rockpooling on Monday evening to find some critters.

That looks great. Good pictures.

Kalahari desert!
You like your adventures you two.

In the last week, I have got the water level up to about ¾ of the way up the tank, so last night, it was time to get to the fun bit. I spent an hour on a local rocky beach with Rhys, catching critters for the tank. I was hoping to have some photos but the missus had the camera in her pocket and was struggling to negotiate the boulders so sat on a rock at the high water mark, while Rhys was skipping over the rocks like hed been doing it for years!

We managed to find some of the things on our wish list, including 4 Shannys ( Lipophrys pholis ).






We kept all 4 of the Shannys as we couldn’t locate a Butterfish ( Pholis gunnellus ) or 2 which is what I really wanted. I suspect the tide was too small and these will be readily available on a larger tide in weeks to come.

We got several Common Prawns ( Palaemon serratus ) which look good in the tank.


Plenty of Dog Whelks (Nucella lapillus) and Winkles (Littorina littorea) to keep any algae under control.


A couple of Common Starfish ( Asterias rubens )




and a small Brittle Star ( Ophiothrix fragilis ).



Only 1 green Beadlet Anemone ( Actinia equine ) on a small stone. There were plenty on the underside of large rocks, but we will keep an eye out for ones on more suitably sized rocks, especially a red one for variety.

Half a dozen Hairy Porcelain Crabs ( Porcellana platycheles ) to keep the gravel free from detritus,


and a couple of small Edibles ( Cancer pagurus ).

We also found several interesting rocks, with different types of weed attached, so will have to keep an eye on this and remove the weed if the condition deteriorates. There are also several Limpets ( Patellogastropoda ) in residence which will be interesting to watch moving around.

The plan is to top the water level up over the next couple of days, finish off decorating the tank with some nice shells we have collected and sort out the lighting. The tank has a 2 tube set up, but the tubes are odd sizes and look to cost around £20 each! Ive got some tank lights in the garage, so will probably modify these to fit on the lid for the price of a few fixings, which should be pennies.

We can then start looking further afield for things to go in the tank, and plan some fishing trips to see if we can catch some of the small Wrasse species or a small Goby or 2 to mix it up a bit.

I will post some photos and videos when the water is topped up and the light is sorted.

I have found that seaweed keeps better with the extra aeration and current with the filter I have now.
Be careful with the lights, underneath the canopy is always wet from condensation, the tubes in mine have a soft plastic fitting each end to keep water from the electrodes.
Was the Latin dictionary tasty? hope you did not break your dentures!

Nice1 kev andrhys going to need a bigger tank mate happy days

This is fantastic love this post well done on your new pet's

Heres my first go at a little vid. Not great quality but i will have another go on the ipad and in the dark next week.

Looking good

Well done, I didn't see Rhys in there, do you keep him somewhere else?

Rhod wrote:

Well done, I didn't see Rhys in there, do you keep him somewhere else?

He was at his Nans, giving her a blow by blow account of what each of the creatures have done in the last 24 hours!

You could always put a 24 hour video on the tank so you don't miss anything.
Good luck, keep us posted

Cracking video kev might do one of my tank (only tropical )

This is my little set up

Nice tank Stevo plenty of colours

I feel like Jack Custo with all these fish videos

This is my little set up

Notbad wrote:

This is my little set up

I thought you'd washed your hands of all that aquarium stuff Paul

No just soft soaping Dave,

I'm actually well gel of those tanks!

- seriously this is a great topic, Sunny Rhyl at its best!

Thanks for that Stevo, I especially like the catfish, they are an amazing species found in many parts of the world.
How big is your fish tank, How long have you had it, and is it heated? (I started off by asking "how big is it", but I now know those dirty minded moderators so I rephrased it)
Paul, what do you feed the dolphin?

Rhod Lloyd wrote:

Paul, what do you feed the dolphin?

Peas in a pod?

Rhod Lloyd wrote:

Thanks for that Stevo, I especially like the catfish, they are an amazing species found in many parts of the world.
How big is your fish tank, How long have you had it, and is it heated? (I started off by asking "how big is it", but I now know those dirty minded moderators so I rephrased it)
Paul, what do you feed the dolphin?

My catfish are hoplo catfish aka the clean up crew I bought the when they were only 1/2" long
so their doing well.  My tank is only 2ft long by 15" wide by 18" high and it has a heater
in it. I took the fish out of my old tank and set this one up around November last year(I think)
This is my old tank it is a bio orb 60ltr I've still got it I might put some cold water fish in it.