two rainbow cichlids arrive

i have just finished acclimatizing two rainbow cichlids i bought this morning from a new found pet hop i visited yesterday. i'd heard there was an aquarium shop in timperly up the road from my house and yesterday, while i still had access to a car, i decided to try and find it. and find it i did. :-)

initial impressions of the shop are good with some species of fish i'd never seen in any of the usual shops i visit. and you guessed it, i fell for the charms of the rainbow cichlids. after having introduced two blue acara cichlids into the tank about a month or so ago (see previous post), i have been researching what would be another suitable cichlid species to add to the tank. not having read about or seen this species before, i decided to go home and read up on their habits and requirements like a good sensible fish keeper :-)

i was going to take back one of the acaras as one is definitely being picked on by the other. one is now in perfect condition and the other still has his fins torn and i have seen him bullied by the other. nothing too alarming but it is obvious that it is not ideal for the less dominant male. however, due to circumstance, i did not manage to take one back and thought i would at a later date.

sitting here watching the 4 cichlids and writing this blog it looks to me like the cichlids are all behaving extremely well towards each other. i know they are 2 male acaras and a male and female rainbow. both the acaras have come and had a nosy at the rainbows as if to say "jolly nice day isn't it?" and then happily moved on and both the acaras seem happier about each other at the moment. as to whether or not the two rainbow cichlids decide to pair up then only time will tell.

still here

has it been a year since i posted anything on here? a lot has happened in the land of aquariums since then. i've decided to get back into writing about the fishtanks and their various inhabitants. at the moment i have all the fish in the 180 litre tank at home. the 70 litre tank has been set up behind my desk at work and is currently cycling, more about that one at a later date :-)


as you can see from the picture, the 180 litre tank has been set up completely differently. i am really pleased with the layout of this setup because the fish seem to be really active. the barbs have periods of chasing each other around the tank and quieter periods where they all seem to just hang around together. the yo yo loaches are also very active furrowing through the gravel or relaxing in a group on the gravel.

my current favorites have to be the two blue acaras who were introduced into the tank over the weekend. i asked the man in the shop for a male and a female in the hope that they might pair up and breed in the tank. the fish in the shop looked a little worse for wear with bits of their fins missing, i guess from having so many in one tank, which made his choosing one of each sex a little difficult. i think the healthier one, whose fins are nearly all in tact, is a male but i am not so sure about the other one, whose fins have been bitten at quite a lot. they seem to be okay with each other swimming close to one another with only the occasional nudge so maybe they are of the opposite sex. i'm sure it will become clearer as the fishes fins heal and the grow a little larger.


so, without over doing it, thats enough for my first post in ages. :-)