One of our Comets Disappeared
Posted by Anja on May 25, 2009 at 12:54 | Last modified: July 10, 2012 03:11Thursday they were all three still there, Friday I only saw two of them — Agent Orange, the bright orange one nowhere to be found. Yesterday we did the big spring cleaning of the pond and he’s definitely gone, not even a body is there. I’ve never seen a heron around, but that’s the only thing I can think of. Especially since they have lots of hiding places they can scoot to, but herons are patient.
We put all the tender plants and tropicals back in yesterday, so now more than half of the surface is covered, three days too late?
Tags: Carassius auratus, spring cleaning | Categories: Pond | Comments Off on One of our Comets Disappeared | PermalinkGreat Glebe Garage Sale
Posted by Anja on May 23, 2009 at 11:55 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 17:08We came home with lots of goodies:
And afterwards we rested our sore feet at the Mexi’s and relaxed with Margaritas and a nice dinner.
That morning Monique had picked me up in the van to go to a couple of nurseries. I have all the pond plants, lots of annuals and a handful of perennials I always wanted. I’ll be a busy planter in the next couple of days. Tomorrow we’ll start with spring cleaning the pond.
Tags: garage sale, loot, spring cleaning | Categories: 5G Betta, Pond | Comments Off on Great Glebe Garage Sale | PermalinkMinnow update
Posted by Anja on April 20, 2009 at 14:16 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 03:17I fished the largest one out (about 7 mm), so he doesn’t eat the tiny ones (2mm) and plopped him in with his parents. He’s doing well so far. The others I’ll keep separately until they are bigger. They munch happily among the duckweed roots, and infusoria (well, as far as I can tell). So, I think/hope they’ll be ok.
Tags: Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on Minnow update | PermalinkWell, I’ll be darned
Posted by Anja on April 19, 2009 at 11:56 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 04:04We’re sitting peacefully at the breakfast table this morning, when the tiger suddenly bends down to check out one of the big pots we’re overwintering our tropical pond plants in. “There’s something swimming in there,” he says, frowning.
We look at each other going, “Shoot, mosquito larvae.”
It certainly is the right size, but it doesn’t wriggle, looks more like lashes with eyes, and there’s a bluish shimmer to it. “There’s another one.” – “And there.”
To make a long story short, we pulled five WCMM hatchlings out of the various pots, which we now all checked, of course. It has to be said that I use the old aquarium water to water the plants, but the last time I changed the cold water tank downstairs was two weeks ago. You may easily imagine that the water in those flower pots was not of pristine quality.
Weirdly, there are no babies in the tank itself. So, now I don’t know, if they just got eaten there by their parents, or if, maybe the temperature downstairs (18C) isn’t warm enough yet for them to hatch.
Any clues, anybody?
I now have 5 teensy WCMM in a holding tank and don’t know if I should put them in with their parents or not. The only other fish in that tank are two hill stream loaches. Are they baby snatchers?
I’m quite, quite floored. And totally awed at the sheer survival power of those little guys.
Tags: breeding, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on Well, I’ll be darned | PermalinkOscar and Felix got Shrimp Company
Posted by Anja on April 6, 2009 at 20:34 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 20:36
Renovations
Posted by Anja on April 3, 2009 at 19:51 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:54A while ago I rearranged my 25G a bit, took the flat rock out that was the roof of the cave and added more wood instead. No more neons, and I also sold the skyblue tetras again. They were too hyper and scared the pants off my glowlights, little emo kids that they are.
The plants have been growing slowly but nicely, I found out what works and what doesn’t with under 1 wpg and added a couple more anubias. They thrived under the neglect of my recent vacation and awarded me flowers. Yay.
What a brilliant day
Posted by Anja on March 28, 2009 at 10:57 | Last modified: July 10, 2012 04:05Spring is here. The fish were out, and I sat by the pond and fed them a little bit of their spring food. They’re not very hungry yet, though. Might have something to do, too with an overabundance of algae in the pond. Smorgasboard.
Tags: Carassius auratus | Categories: Pond | Comments Off on What a brilliant day | Permalink
Oscar the brig, hunting for tasty morsels at the surface.
Posted by Anja on January 22, 2009 at 17:56 | Last modified: July 11, 2012 16:57
Aquired two Brigs at the mini auction
Posted by Anja on November 18, 2008 at 20:26 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 20:31Since they seem to be both male, I named them Oscar and Felix. They live in the little 2G tank:
I’ve been busy setting up the 10 G river tank
Posted by Anja on November 9, 2008 at 19:47 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:49… for the WCMM in the basement. It has a bit of wood and some medium sized rocks, but mostly pebbles of three different sizes. I scrounged some parrot feather and salvinia out of the pond and one of the little water hyacinth plantlets, added some java fern and African fern from the big tank and dumped in a Japanese moss ball and a few physa and MTS. Here’s a shot while I was planting:
In early October I started to scoop the minnows out of the pond. I found nine out of ten. One of them had had a spine deformity – he looked like a Z from above, and we were always amazed that he was still swimming along with everyone else. But in the end, I guess he didn’t make it.
The nine seem happy enough in their smaller quarters. I put a little powerhead in for them, and they love swimming right in it’s stream.
Two days ago I added Cthulhu, the Bristlenose from the blackwater tank. I’ve carefully acclimated him to the cooler and somewhat harder water over the past 10 days. And while he seems a little shell-shocked by having been moved twice in two weeks, he’s slowly regaining his colour and starting to explore his new home.
I took him out of the big tank, because he’d been harassing the Ranger Pleco, who’s a bit of an emo kid. Rory, the Ranger kept showing up in the mornings with torn and ragged fins and grew more and more shy. Now, the fact that his nemesis is gone slowly dawning on him, he’s finding back to his happy scamp self, and, ye gods, is he ever beautiful, proudly displaying tail and sail and with all his fins fully healed.
Tags: Ancistrus, Pterygoplichthys weberi, Rory, Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River, 25G South American | Comments Off on I’ve been busy setting up the 10 G river tank | Permalink