Welcome back everyone,
Firstly let me apologise for not posting more recently but the past 10 days seem to have flown by. Mainly, I think due to this white stuff falling from the sky and this coinciding with a terrible bout of man flu I have contracted!!
Anyway back to the tank. When I last posted I explained that intended to increase the fish stock from the two zebra danios I had, well I did exactly that. I allowed the tank to settle for a few days, monitoring the levels daily. Still nothing changed and so on day 14 I purchased two leopard danios. These are great fish and instantly settle with the two zebras. I went for leopards so that I could maximise the variety in the tank and secondly so that the pair were more settled with a larger group. The group has been extremely active and clearly enjoy playing together and swimming in the stream of the filter.
The introduction of these extra fish has been superb and in fact I have seen now increase in levels suggesting my bio filter is matured well and coping. It has been 10 days since the introduction of these danios and the only change is the generation of algae. The tank has formed brown spots, most noticeable on the smallest plant and largest ornament. I very quickly found that this algae is common in newer tanks and it was suggested that light levels play a part as with all algae. My tanks is never in direct sunlight but is fitted with a day and night light. So I am now switching the day light off earlier to try and control this.
However, today I have again increased the fish stock. I have bought two albino cory catfish. I was keen to get a bottom dweller as the danios are mid to top fish. But many bottom dwellers grow far too large for my tank. While researching I found a great article called; Cory Catfish: Great little vacuum cleaners. After reading this I was set, but then I had to decide which species. I did the dangerous think and let my wife decide this!! Cleverly she selected the albino, which looks wonderful in my tank and a great contrast to the danios.
They have been in the tank only a few hours and have proven to be very active fish. They have also been feeding a lot from the substrate and ornaments. I’m hoping that this addition will also aid in managing the brown algae.
The addition of different species also raises issues around food. It’s well documented that tropical fish thrive on a variety of food. I have been using flake food but now that I have different level fish I need food that will reach and benefit all the species. As yet I haven’t had a chance to purchase anything else but I will be buying pellets so that the cories can gain the food they need. Obviously feeding lightly to avoid uneaten food piling up.
Hoping your all good and those in the UK are staying warm.
The Tropical Tank 