Pisces – This Old House 2

If you’ve been reading me for any length of time, you know how I love the water. Must be the Pisces in me. And perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to fish. Happily, my son shares this interest, and together we really enjoy our “hobby”. Currently he has two tanks in his bedroom.. a semi aggressive tank with gouramis, rainbows, tetra, a clown loach, some silver dollars. He’s also got the goldfish tank that started with the Fair Fish someone had discarded in it’s leaking plastic bag in the parking lot years ago. He brought it home in a paper cup and the big goldfish tank story began there.

I’ve had betta for years now in various places in the house.. but for a long time I have not had my own little space of aquatic beauty. We had a spare ten gallon that my son wasn’t using, and I finally decided to put it to good use in my office. I love the natural look and a healthy eco system.. and that’s what I’m trying to create with my new little tank. I cycled it for only two weeks before adding my fish… a specialist would tell you a new tank needs at least four weeks to cycle properly for the guaranteed health of new fish. I did have my tank water tested and it is a good way through the cycle process, but not 100 percent. I hope my impatience doesn’t kill my new fish.

“Cycling is the process of creating a biological bed consisting of
beneficial bacteria for a fish to live and prosper within. A fish would
normally live in millions of gallons of water. They are part of a great
cycle of biological changes that makes their environment viable to live
in. For fish to live in a man-made environment, a biological bed
must be made for them also. Fish produce waste which produces ammonia.
Ammonia breaks down into nitrites. Ammonia and nitrites are both harmful
to a fish. Without the beneficial bacteria of an established biological
bed to filter out the ammonia and nitrite, your fish are poisoned by
their own waste.“

Currently, I’ve got two platinum electric blue Jack Dempsey cichlids, an orange crayfish, a snail and two dwarf rainbow fish in there with plenty of live plants, some wood, artificial coral stone and a sandy bottom, which Dempseys like. That is plenty for a small tank. Any more fish and it would be over populated. Their water is heated to 78 degrees with a good filtration system and water flow. JD’s grow to a large size, and these will eventually need to be housed in a bigger tank. I LOVE their color! For now I will enjoy them here in the smaller office tank. Cichlids are shy fish by nature and need places to hide.. often doing so while you are nearby.