Something New

Husband hit me up today with what he wanted for his birthday. Mind you, his birthday is more than a month away. He said he wanted an aquarium. Expensive as going on a vacation. Anyway, I said that if that what he wanted, we could do it. He wanted to look around today and I had no problem with it but I didn't really expect to buy one today! But we did.

We got a small 12 gallon aquarium, the bottom stones, three nice hiding stones, a heater, a small bubbler with a pump. The filter and light and hood came with the outfit. We got it home and set it up in the TV room where we would see it every day. It sits there now, filtering the water. I had put some bio filter in it to start a natural bio filter for the fish. That's all that's in it right now. By the end of the weekend we'll go get the fish, a thermometer and a net. We have enough food to start them and some stress coat to put in the water with them. We've even decided on the fish we want when we get them.

Bob has decided he really likes the Rummy Nose tetras http://www.fishlore.com/profiles_rummy_nose_tetra.htm They would look really nice with the black gravel with blue specks and the pink hiding stones. We will get about 5 of them since they are school fish.

I like the Cherry barbs, my favorite since I was a kid. http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-CherryBarbs.htm These fish in the carp family are also school fish and we will get about 5 of these as well. They will also be quite pretty in the little aquarium with the black gravel w/blue specks and pink hiding stones.

Both these species like a lot of plant material as well as rock formations to hide in. However, we need the fish first to start the nutrients needed for the survival of living plants in the aquarium. The plants will be put in after about 2 weeks. These little fish will eat the plants, nest in the plants and hide in the plants.

We will also get a couple (2) ground feeders http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Corydoras.htm There is a giant variety of this species and we found some that would fit quite well.

In the back of the aquarium we will put a mirror to hide the electric cords it takes to operate the thing and make our tiny 12 gallon look twice as big. I'm also hoping to fool the fish into thinking there are more of their kind helping them to be a little braver.

I've been keeping fish since I was a teenager. When Bob and I got married we had a 150 gallon tank that we actually raised fish in. We had several filtration systems including an underground filter on it as well as about 3 heating units and several ariators. The back was made up of stacked shale and the rock formations were also made of stacked shale. We kept live plants in it as well. The fish would die from becoming egg bound in the females to landslides crushing them and sometimes getting eaten by other fish. We changed about 15 gallons of water a week, replacing it with fresh water and vacuuming the gravel. The plants flourished with the decaying fish food and fish emulsion and what water I took out of the tank was used to water outside plants. Fish in this tank were forever laying eggs and caring for young. Yes, they do care for their young in most species anyway.

It's going to be quite a change being used to taking care of a 150 gallon aquarium down to a 12 gallon aquarium but the little tank fits perfectly in the house. It'll be nice to have fish in the house again.

In the end, we decided on eight cherry barbs, carp family, and two pygmy corys, catfish. I think these fellows are a good choice. The Rummy Nose tetras were just a bit delicate to put into a brand new aquarium.