Here's a treat - some pictures of my lovely fishies

... taken on the evening of May 2nd just before they decided to spawn again on May 3rd morning.

Say hello to Dakar, Arithon and Lysaer.... If you are Janny Wurts fans you'll know why they're called by those names, though Arithon used to be a Black Moor. He's now changed colour and has a little Hitler moustache so maybe Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin could be alternative names. :) :) We didn't know that Lysaer (the gold veiltail) was female but it's too late now.



They were a bit active and I had difficulty getting focused pictures - guess now I know why.

I was trying to get a picture of the white tubercules on the gills of one of the male fishes (the red one - Dakar).


Here's a good picture of Arithon. He used to be the scrawniest because he missed out on all the food having difficulty seeing it, now he bullies Dakar and Lysaer. Dakar is the one that's the greediest and most usually constipated - mostly due to the fact as as soon as any food gets in there, he gobbles it all up. Not surprisingly he's also the fattest....


This is another one of the better pictures.

This is a picture of the poor plant that they've been chewing:


One last try....


I'll try again another day when they're more relaxed. Apparently there's a movement setting on the camera... that I didn't use.... *doh!*

How to prevent parasites from getting in your Biorb

The answer is simple: Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine!

Before you put a new fish in your Biorb/Biube, leave it in isolation for at least a week. If you don't have a tank to put it in, use a plastic bucket of at least 10L or more. Don't forget to aerate the water. And don't overfeed the fish - this bucket has no filter! The fish will be fine for the week without much food - in any case you shouldn't feed it at all for the first day.

If the fish looks ill or unwell, take it back to your fish shop. Don't be tempted to nurse it back in your Biorb/Biube with your healthy fish.

When you introduce new plants in your Biorb/Biube - wash them under tap water first. Then keep them in that plastic bucket (or a smaller container) for a week, changing the water every two days to keep the chlorine level maintained - chlorine kills the parasites. But make sure there's no chlorine by the time the plants go in with the fish.