Fishy friends in the front room.

Looks good Steve.

I like the dark gravel, it accentuates the colour of the fish really effectively.

I recognise a few of the species from when i had my tropical set up. Neon and Glowlight Tetras, Zebra Danio and the Red Tailed shark are some of the ones i had. My catfish were Peppered Catfish, smaller and lighter in colour but did the same job.

Anyone else going to show us theirs???

headwyn wrote:

Looks good Steve.

I like the dark gravel, it accentuates the colour of the fish really effectively.

I recognise a few of the species from when i had my tropical set up. Neon and Glowlight Tetras, Zebra Danio and the Red Tailed shark are some of the ones i had. My catfish were Peppered Catfish, smaller and lighter in colour but did the same job.

Anyone else going to show us theirs???

Thanks kev I had peppered catfish and the bronze/albino catfish
As well but they didn't last that long

Would be nice to see some other's

Never heard of Peppered Catfish

I've heard of smoked Kippers

peppered catfish  



bronze catfish  



albino catfish  



Their all member's of the corydoras family and theirs a lot more of them too    

Smoked kippers?
Thought you were an old man of the sea Dave! A kipper's not a kipper unless it is smoked and before that it was an erring.
Sorry to depart from this serious discussion.

Thanks for the catfish pics. Stevo. A friend of mine used to net Koi carp in a swamp south of Auckland, and caught small catfish which had also been illegally released in many areas of NZ. I kept one for a while in a tank. They are like eels, as long as they are wet they can survive out of water for a few days.

Rhod Lloyd wrote:

Smoked kippers?
Thought you were an old man of the sea Dave! A kipper's not a kipper unless it is smoked and before that it was an erring.
Sorry to depart from this serious discussion.

Thanks for the catfish pics. Stevo. A friend of mine used to net Koi carp in a swamp south of Auckland, and caught small catfish which had also been illegally released in many areas of NZ. I kept one for a while in a tank. They are like eels, as long as they are wet they can survive out of water for a few days.

Anything like these mate





I think it's amazing that how many species for catfish their is
Do you have any pictures of it mate?

I have been feeding the inhabitants of the tank on a mixture of frozen Razor clam and Mussel which they seem to like.

I went to pick some Mussel today, and while there, Rhys picked up a couple of new rocks, with red Beadlet Anemones on. Then him and the missus picked up some pretty shells for a bit of decoration.

I had noticed over the last few days, that the weed was starting to deteriorate, and stink a bit when I opened the lid of the tank.

When putting the new rocks in, I have made a couple of hidey holes and removed all of the Bladder Wrack. There is still some weed on one of the rocks which appears to be a type of sea lettuce and seems to be in good condition at the moment.

We had a stroll to a rocky looking area and had a search around under the rocks where Rhys captured a small Sea Scorpion. We had left the bucket in the car and so made an emergency carrier out of poo bags which worked a treat to get “ Rocky “ as Rhys has named him, home.

I have just spent the last hour, de-shelling the Mussels and putting them into ice cube trays to go in the bait freezer. I can then pop a few out to chop up while still frozen and drop into the tank when thawed.

Heres a few photos from tonight after feeding.

The new boy - Rocky!


Plenty to see here!


Remaining weed with some of the new features.

Looking good. That is the problem with weed, lack of water flow, once it dies it falls to pieces and is hard to remove.

All looks well some nice pictures and another good update. 

It's looking great kev will you be putting any
More fish in it like pin whiting or a small gurnard?

I still want a small male Corkwing and a Rock Goby or Leopard Spotted Goby.

I will probably invest in some fake weed from Rhyl Aquaria as the tank is looking a little bare without any, but i dont want to go down the live weed route again as there are small fragments floating around the tank, and the water has a green tinge to it now!

Ill get the gravel hoover out next week, and do a partial water change to bring it down a shade or two!

We had another rock pooling session this afternoon. We tried between the Pier and the Great Orme at Llandudno in the hope of a Butterfish or 2.

While Butterfish were hard to find, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of Rock Gobies we came across.

We eventually found a Butterfish, and picked up a bonus Sea Scorpion to keep Rocky company.

We also found 3 small Hermit Crabs which are always entertaining and will replace some of the Porcelain crabs which have been eaten.

All the creatures were brought home and floated in the tank for an hour in a plastic bag to allow the water they were in to heat up gradually to match that in the tank.

They were then released and it was time for a photoshoot.

Butterfish.


New Sea Scorpion and Hermit Crab.


Spot the Sea Scorpion?


The new Rock Gobies.

Great photos. You've probably got more species in there than most of us have caught this year

Nice one kev it's all coming together nicely

kirky wrote:

Great photos. You've probably got more species in there than most of us have caught this year

Except Dan

Logger wrote:

kirky wrote:

Great photos. You've probably got more species in there than most of us have caught this year

Except Dan

I think Dan is starting to struggle a bit, I noticed on his last set of photos he put a photo on of a sandeel I've got a packet of them in me freezer

A little vid of feeding time tonight. Excuse the beer belly

All still going strong, one of the hermit crabs has been munched but everything else is thriving.

The water went a bit cloudy for a week or 2, i think due to an algae bloom, but this has cleared now so happy days!

Looking good Headwyn, it does not take long to train them.
I wish wives and children were as easy!

Brilliant video

Is that a special sea fish food your giving them Kev or ordinary gold fish flakes

Cracking video kev it all look's great

Are you putting any more fish in

Nice1 kev have you ever tried them tiny dabs you sometimes get in the push net and if you did would the tank restrict there growth like some freshwater fish or was that something I use to tell my self when I caught a tiddler

I have been feeding the fish and anemones on mussel. Fresh collected locally, de shelled and put into ice cube trays in the freezer. I pop 2 or 3 depending on the size and chop them up with bait scissors ( its the only use they get these days! ) and let them thaw for a while before dropping in.

I make sure the anemones get a bit too as they really perk up after feeding!

I have been feeding the crabs on small bits of sandeel which they devour in no time, and then have a wander and polish off any bits on mussel that are left.

I would imagine the size of the tank may well stunt the growth of any flatfish i introduced. I tried putting some in my old set up but the Corkwing ate them! I think it was more of a territorial thing than hunger or anything predatory but quite impressive when the pharyngeal teeth in its throat was crunching them up!

Im more inclined to stick a couple of small flatties in than a Corkwing due to the tank being quite stable and i think a Corkwing may bully some of the residents. Maybe a trip to the beach with the push net next week to see if i can get a nice little Sole or Turbot. My mates got a big shrimp net and gets quite a lot of both when wading in the first gulley!

Havent posted an update for a while so here goes with a few photies.

We lost one of the Sea Scorpions a few weeks ago. Dont know what was the cause but it was dead one morning when we got up. We have not seen the hermit crabs or porcelain crabs for ages and think they may have been munched.



Rhys and Grandad have had a few rockpooling sessions down at Rhyl and brought home some more prawns along with some small shrimps and shore crabs which have provided tasty snacks for the fish. He also added several sand gobies and small shannys while I was in bed one weekend, but they all seem to be surviving.





While bait collecting on the big tides at the end of September, Rhys found a proper hermit crab which we have put in. Within a few days, it had swapped the whelk shell it was living in, for a bigger one we have as decoration in the tank which is a lot lighter in colour. It obviously didn’t like its new accommodation, as the next day, it swapped back to its original and has stayed in it ever since!





We have been down to Rhyl again today for more shore crabs, including a few larger ones which will help to keep the gravel clean as the edibles will not come out of there hidey holes and need food dropping right in front of them to feed on.





We also brought shrimps and small prawns which are providing fresh food for the fish, along with the tiny shore crabs we brought.



We also found a new fish for the tank in the shape of a small 5 Bearded Rockling.



I have planned a days cleaning next week, with a small amount of algae appearing on the filter tubes and some areas of the glass, and I will do a small water change at the same time. With the Garford Road carpark now closed, I will try using a couple of buckets of water from the marine lake and see how that goes as access and carrying distance are a lot less than Garford Road. I have done a couple of partial water changes, and each time has resulted in a bloom of some sort or algae which makes the water cloudy for a week or 2 before it clears up, so using water from another source, especially more estuarine water, may prevent this bloom this time.

Great collection there Kev, puts me to shame, I keep meaning to go and get more critters, but either the tides are wrong or the wind is blowing too much. One day!