The Fish

Due to the fishless cycling (see the initial plants and fishless cycling page), we were able to add the full fish stock at once. As it happens, we did it over two days as we bought the fish from two shops in different directions from home. The initial fish stock for the tank is shown below

Eight harlequin rasboras

We had seven of these in the old tank and bought one new. They are a beautiful shoaling fish. They survived very well, considering that they were moved several times. We still had most of these about five years later.

Two dwarf gouramis

These are very beautiful fish with long flowing fins. We bought two intially, with a plan to buy more, but never did.

Three peppered corydorus catfish

One of our early purchases in the Mark 1 tank was a peppered cory cat and we were all very fond of it (the children nicknamed it the "Donald Duck Fish" after one of them tried unsuccessfully to say "tunnel, cat fish" when it was hiding in a tunnel in the old tank). We bought more peppered cories as these are (in the humble opinion of the PSG) the most attractive of these lively catfish.

Four clown loaches

One of the most entertaining, as well as annoying fish in the hobby. They are beautiful and lively, but have a habit of squeezing into amazingly small spaces where you can't find them. When they do appear, they often lie on their sides motionless for ages, making you believe that they are dead. They then swim off happily. If fish could smile, clown loaches would be the comedians.

Two otocinclus catfish

We bought these for their algae eating expertise. Usenet wisdom seems to suggest four for our size of tank, but the low level of algae that we have seen so far means that we may need less. We bought four, based on the assumption that they often have a high mortality rate when first bought. We lost one fairly quickly, but the others survived for quite some time, despite the low levels of algea in the tank.

Eight glowlight tetras

Five of these were bought to go with the three left over from the old tank. Amazingly enough, five or six of these glowlights survived until late 03, having been moved three times. We reckon they were about seven or eight years old when they finally died.

The Current Fish (Dec 03)

The fish stock has been through a few changes over the five years since the tank was set up. The current stock is shown below the picture of our tiger barbs.

Glowlight Tetras

As mentioned above, some of the originals lasted a very long time. We lost a few in late 03, mainly due to old age (I suspect). We have not yet decided whether to replace them with more of the same, or go for another small schooling fish. We are very fond of glowlights and may well end up buying some more.

Harlequin Rasboras

We currently have eight harlequins, although I don't think any of these are the originals. Many of those did survive a surprisngly long time, but we have bought replacements a couple of times and I suspect that the current ones are no older than three or four years, with a couple of younger ones.

Golden Gouramis

When a friend moved back to Gibraltor, he gave us some of the fish from his tank. Included in this were two beautiful Golden Gouramis. These are fully grown and very active. Until recently they have been very peacful, but have recently taken to locking mouths and battling. I have never seen any signs of injury, so I have no idea if this is real figthing or just macho showing off !! OK, so I have no idea what sex they are either !!

Tiger Barbs

Also a donation from our emigrating friend. Despite their reputation, these are remarkably peacful fish. They are always active and provide one of the most striking parts of the whole tank.

Synodontis Eupterus

Now these caught us by surprise !! This were bought on impulse, which not normally recommended with fish. I was looking for some bottom dwellers, and saw these in the LFS. The owner (who is actually known as being pretty knowledgeable) said they were Synodontis Velifer and would grow to about four inches. They had beautful black and white spekcled markings and, totally taken with them, I bought three. About one moth later, one of them had doubled in size. I did some research on them and discovered that Synodontis Velifer can grow to 16" !! Somewhat panicked, I did some more searching (good old Gogle) and discovered that our fish were not actually Synodontis Velifer at all, but were Synodontis Eupterus, also known as Sail-Fin catfish because of their large dorsal fin. These grow to about four or five inches which is better !!