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May. 26th, 2009 06:07 pm( Now behind a cut )
May. 26th, 2009
Fish stuff, and kitchen mosquitoes!
May. 26th, 2009 06:22 pmAfter a rough few nights with leg cramps, I slept well without getting woken up by them. Yesterday, I drank a good bit of tonic water after a break from it, and I'm making sure to drink plenty today! Mmm, quinine. (Though I didn't think I'd ever get used to the medicinal twang, it's really not so bad after a while.) I stopped drinking it because it didn't seem to making much difference, but I probably wasn't drinking enough of it late enough in the day.
I got back a few minutes ago from Tranquility Aquatics just up the road. This afternoon, when I went to clean the little kitchen windowsill tank, I disturbed some fauna we don't need in there: a few wrigglers. Yep, mosquitoes breeding in the kitchen. :/ After Dale died, I didn't put more larva-devouring fish in there, but left it with cherry shrimp and snails. Oops.
Originally, I was thinking of another betta, or maybe a trio of male guppies. The shop had some little gup boys who were gorgeous even before they'd had a chance to develop much finnage, but they also had paradise fish, so I had to bring home a pair of them. :) Apparently, they used to be very common--first tropical fish kept in Europe--but these were the first I'd seen in person. They're closely related to bettas, but you can keep groups of them (like some of the more peaceful Betta species, which are hard to find!). And they ought to do better with the little bit of temperature variation on the windowsill, in spite of the heater. With any luck, they won't eat the shrimp in there--one reason I was considering more guppies!
They're still pretty stressed, but I'll probably get some photos up once they're settled in. They may get to move to a bigger tank in a while, also freeing up space for guppies. *g* In the meantime, we won't have to worry about mosquitoes breeding in the kitchen!
Today, Tranquility Aquatics also had in American Flagfish and Golden Panchax, both of which were tempting. :) The flagfish have a bit of a reputation for being less peaceful and vegetarian than the linked article suggests, so I was afraid they'd eat the shrimp. The Panchax definitely would. I may go back for some of both, once I get another tank rehabbed (without shrimp). They should live OK together, not that I necessarily need to start a mixed killie tank. ;)
Edit at 6:56: Their fins are unclamped enough to see that I'll have to pop back to the FS to swap one of the fish tomorrow. The assistant netted a smaller male instead of the female I was pointing at. Easy enough, the way they were swarming around, but things should go much more smoothly with an OS pair!
I got back a few minutes ago from Tranquility Aquatics just up the road. This afternoon, when I went to clean the little kitchen windowsill tank, I disturbed some fauna we don't need in there: a few wrigglers. Yep, mosquitoes breeding in the kitchen. :/ After Dale died, I didn't put more larva-devouring fish in there, but left it with cherry shrimp and snails. Oops.
Originally, I was thinking of another betta, or maybe a trio of male guppies. The shop had some little gup boys who were gorgeous even before they'd had a chance to develop much finnage, but they also had paradise fish, so I had to bring home a pair of them. :) Apparently, they used to be very common--first tropical fish kept in Europe--but these were the first I'd seen in person. They're closely related to bettas, but you can keep groups of them (like some of the more peaceful Betta species, which are hard to find!). And they ought to do better with the little bit of temperature variation on the windowsill, in spite of the heater. With any luck, they won't eat the shrimp in there--one reason I was considering more guppies!
They're still pretty stressed, but I'll probably get some photos up once they're settled in. They may get to move to a bigger tank in a while, also freeing up space for guppies. *g* In the meantime, we won't have to worry about mosquitoes breeding in the kitchen!
Today, Tranquility Aquatics also had in American Flagfish and Golden Panchax, both of which were tempting. :) The flagfish have a bit of a reputation for being less peaceful and vegetarian than the linked article suggests, so I was afraid they'd eat the shrimp. The Panchax definitely would. I may go back for some of both, once I get another tank rehabbed (without shrimp). They should live OK together, not that I necessarily need to start a mixed killie tank. ;)
Edit at 6:56: Their fins are unclamped enough to see that I'll have to pop back to the FS to swap one of the fish tomorrow. The assistant netted a smaller male instead of the female I was pointing at. Easy enough, the way they were swarming around, but things should go much more smoothly with an OS pair!
