The 150-gallon aquarium is up and running, with some very happy fish, which formerly resided in a 55-gallon. Plants are in place, consisting of Anubias sp., Microsorum sp., Vesicularia dubyana, Cryptocorine walkerii and a bit of Hygrophila polysperma. I also have plant bulbs from Walmart, which turned out to be Nuphar stellata, or dwarf lily. Very pretty. Sometimes you get Aponogeton with those bulbs, so you have to wait and see. The residents are predominantly Boesemani rainbows (Melanotaenia boesemani) and Endler's livebearers (Poecilia sp.), though I do have 4-5 white cloud minnows (Tanichthys albonubes), rather aged, whose numbers I had not replenished.
No background on the tank at this point, but I decided I would like to try a mirror. Cursory investigation indicated that this would be costly, and tricky to position on the back of the tank safely. I am keeping my eyes out for a 2' wide acrylic mirror, the cheap kind you can get at Walmart, but until then I put up some mirror-finish aquarium background paper. This does reflect a little but it is hazy and irregular, like a fun house mirror as seen through a cloud of smoke. It will do for now.
After things were running for perhaps a week, my friend Deborah and I made a trip to Azalea Aquariums, where we spent a very long time examining their fish and chatting with the owner. I wanted to buy a few fish but was not sure what - a few more Boesemanis? enlarge the school of white clouds? catfish? I spied some Corydoras trilineatus (or C. julii as they were labeled - less likely though, as I understand what is typically sold as julii is almost always going to be trilineatus). These looked very nice and I decided to get them all - 9 in total. I was looking forward to seeing them school together across the sand dunes. Well, that is exactly what they did.
However, after about 3-4 days (maybe a week?) I lost one. This was the first fish loss I have had in a long time, but I should not be surprised - you don't know what they come in with, and since I don't generally quarantine I need to be prepared for this type of thing. I know I should quarantine, and have written articles on setting up quarantine/hospital tanks, and recommend it to others, but I am far too impatient. I'm not proud of that, but there you go. Then, a few days after that I lost one of my female Boesemanis. This, too, should not be such a shock, since these fish are not young by any means, but it gave me pause. This was probably a pretty stressful move for these fish that had been in the same tank for so many years, and she was the smallest of them.
OK, fast forward about two weeks and I was in PetsMart looking for plants and a mystery snail for the tank I set up in my daughters' room. What do I see, but a nice collection of cardinal tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi). I was in sort of a cranky mood, and like some might do with shoes, alcohol, chocolate or cookies, I bought myself a treat - 9 of the cardinals.
I know how these fish are, believe me. I have kept them (or not) before, and their reputation is absolutely correct - most times you're gonna lose the lot of them when you bring them home. Many shops just don't stock them due to their reaction to the stress of being transported and moved out of their native waters. Apparently most available specimens are wild caught in the Amazon River basin, and don't appreciate the wildly different water params they will ultimately be subjected to in our tanks. I figured, however, that this tank at PetsMart has water much closer to that in my tank than to the 6 pH that they apparently prefer, so I took a chance. I was feeling reckless and cardinals make me happy, so there you go.
So far, so good with the cardinals. The mood has definitely changed in the tank with the addition, even though there is plenty of room for everyone, but they all have to figure out a new dynamic. We will see how it goes. I must promise myself to leave things be for a good month, maybe longer, before adding anything else. I ultimately want a couple of angels (Pterophyllum scalare or altum, if they are nice) but I do not want a pair. I have kept angels before, as well as many African cichlids, and like most cichlids, once they pair up they become territorial and can cause problems in a community setup. Angels are extremely mild-mannered, as cichlids go, but it can get ugly, in my experience. When they are not paired up they are excellent members of the community. Now, how to avoid getting a pair? I am not sure. I was thinking getting 2 or 3 and hoping they are all the same gender. We will see, but I will wait a while on this.
Next up, algae, water params, plant ferts.
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