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Sandy Nook . . .

Wookii said:
Thanks for the kind words! I have my tank on fully automated water changes, so change around 20% a day. I could probably reduce that to 10% a day, as I no longer have many fast growing plants, other than the floaters.
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Ah okay I need auto water changes too.. :) Chocolate gourami are my wife's favourite fish, try'ed Sphaerichthys selatanensis and vaillanti, but both species didn't last really long. Kept them in our bedroom tank were water changes are quite a chore so it was easier to do big ones instead of a lot of small ones..
 
DeepMetropolis said:
Ah okay I need auto water changes too.. :) Chocolate gourami are my wife's favourite fish, try'ed Sphaerichthys selatanensis and vaillanti, but both species didn't last really long. Kept them in our bedroom tank were water changes are quite a chore so it was easier to do big ones instead of a lot of small ones..
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I've quite fancied Samurai (Vaillanti) Gourmai for a while, simply for their unique colouration (Particularly the females) - not sure how well they'd mix with my Chocolates though, and they're not widely available in the UK (though the guys at my local Maidenhead Aquatics did tell me they get them in occasionally).

I'm a long way from being an expert, but being a blackwater fish, I think they do best is soft acidic water. They are an easy fish to stress, so I think a high planting density and lots of floating and structural cover is essential too. Their colour changes visually within seconds if they get stressed, going from deep dark brown stripes, to almost a very light tan colour. That said, twice I have also seen individual fish pulse their colouration from dark to light and back to dark over a period of 10-15 seconds, when schmoozing up to another fish (presumably of the opposite sex) - I've not been able to 100% identify which is male and which is female, but in both cases looked it looked like the female was doing the 'pulsing' to the male she was pursuing.

I have found they are also active hunters, and regularly stalk through the plants and moss, occasionally darting at something they've spotted. That's no doubt been a detriment to many a baby Neocaridina, but I also have scuds (Hyalella azteca) in my tank, and I suspect the Gourami's are chiefly responsible for keeping their population in check by hunting their offspring. So it's always worth considering adding those as an extra food source, and to promote natural behaviour.

Finally I also feed lots of live food, which I think helps promote robust health in most of the fish I keep.
 
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Hi all,
Wookii said:
Finally I also feed lots of live food, which I think helps promote robust health in most of the fish I keep.
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I'm pretty sure it helps as well. I've always fed my fish as <"much live food as I could find">, the only real downside is that I think that my <"shrimp issues"> were partially because the fish are used to eating <"things that wriggle">.

If any-one is interested in <"Mike Hellweg's book">, a few weeks ago <"it was $1000">, it is now available for a bargain £211 in the UK.

cheers Darrel
 
Clearing out the loft in preparation for the house move next week, and found these - 20 year old ADA Aquajournals - completely forgot I had them!

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Garuf said:
Finds like that are what make you feel old, book 5 is the first aquascape media I ever bought as a then current issue.
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Crikey, weren’t they a quarterly publication too? That would make your copy the best part of 30 years old!
 
I meant book 5 of yours. But yes in the other instance you’d be right, and you had to get them via Germany for the longest while.
 
Could be worse, I went through our loft last autumn to add more insulation and came across a rolf harris stylophone. No one had any idea where it came from, or would admit to it, but our local knicknack shop eagerly bought it as amazingly they are popular (money was donated to east anglia's children's hospices, which we thought was right).
 
mort said:
Could be worse, I went through our loft last autumn to add more insulation and came across a rolf harris stylophone. No one had any idea where it came from, or would admit to it, but our local knicknack shop eagerly bought it as amazingly they are popular (money was donated to east anglia's children's hospices, which we thought was right).
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Wow! Pull up a sandbag…..I remember having one of those as a kid. It was my favourite toy for a very long time …..pretty sure my very patient mother deeply regretted buying it for me. 😂😂
 
mort said:
Could be worse, I went through our loft last autumn to add more insulation and came across a rolf harris stylophone. No one had any idea where it came from, or would admit to it, but our local knicknack shop eagerly bought it as amazingly they are popular (money was donated to east anglia's children's hospices, which we thought was right).
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Wow, surprising - I’d have through their popularity would have taken something of a hit in recent years!
 
Wookii said:
Wow, surprising - I’d have through their popularity would have taken something of a hit in recent years!
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Yeah I know, is there even any shops that aren’t a charity shop… or little Tesco these days?
 
Wookii said:
Wow, surprising - I’d have through their popularity would have taken something of a hit in recent years!
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We were going to chuck it but my dad mentioned it when he sold some old toys, more as a joke than anything, and the chap said he could easily sell it so we thought we'd let him have it and give the money to a kid's charity rather than bin it as previously planned.
 
Fry are getting big now, it won’t be long until I’ll have to cherry pick some to move back to the main tank - some of them have lovely markings, despite their young age, and they all seem to have iridescent blue eyes!

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They have already learnt to come to this corner of the tank first thing in the morning, and last thing at night for feeding and respond to my tapping on the tank rim with the little pipette. They’re smart fish!

Unfortunately it looks like this wasn’t a one off for the parents, as two days ago I spotted another 8 or so new fry. To make matters worse, at least two of the adults have stopped eating, and are showing the classic bulging throat, so it looks like even more fry are on the way!

Should anyone want to collect any baby Choco’s from me, to grow on for their own tank, let me know as I now have way too many. As long as they’re going in a nice heavily planted tank, they’re free of charge!
 
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