fish update
Jul. 5th, 2005 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaI enjoyed my three day weekend. The kitchen was cleaned, a process completed in stages over all three days. I didn't do anything in particular related to Independence Day besides not going to work. I didn't want to stay up late when I had work the next morning, so that ruled out going to a huge fireworks show, and by yesterday afternoon I found that I didn't feel like going to a small, neighborhood fireworks show either, so Chris and I stayed in and played our Dungeons & Dragons game. (Melinda killed the "mad scientist" wizard and is now wanted for murder, so she fled the country.)
Two of the four corys did not survive the first week. Chris flushed one tiny corpse last Wednesday. Only two fish were eating their food, and I didn't find the other until Sunday, when I removed all the decorations from the tank. I have a colorful pagoda in the middle -- the single most expensive item for my aquarium, even more than the power filter. Anyway, as soon as I lifted it, the dead cory fell out. It's startling to have a corpse land on or near you, even when you're looking for said corpse. I disposed of it and continued redecorating. Most of the plants had come loose from the gravel, so I repositioned everything. There was a lot of debris floating around from all the disturbance, so I changed out a bucketful of water before I put the decorations back in, even though I'd just done a water change last Friday. The two fish were utterly terrified, but after everything was in place I dropped their breakfast in, and when I checked on them ten minutes later they were both eating.
The light fixture had been removed from the aquarium hood when I received it. After a trip to Home Depot, we got a light installed in the hood yesterday. Either the fish are more active with the light or I can see them better. They still dart for cover when I approach the tank. I hope they'll get desensitized to my presence after a few weeks. I may have to change my plans for tetras, because my tap water has a pH of 8 and I'm told that's too alkaline for cardinals. I'm thinking of getting glo-lite (glowlight?) tetras instead, since they're supposed to be more hardy. I was hoping to add them yesterday, but I decided it might be best to let things settle a bit, until this coming weekend at least.
Two of the four corys did not survive the first week. Chris flushed one tiny corpse last Wednesday. Only two fish were eating their food, and I didn't find the other until Sunday, when I removed all the decorations from the tank. I have a colorful pagoda in the middle -- the single most expensive item for my aquarium, even more than the power filter. Anyway, as soon as I lifted it, the dead cory fell out. It's startling to have a corpse land on or near you, even when you're looking for said corpse. I disposed of it and continued redecorating. Most of the plants had come loose from the gravel, so I repositioned everything. There was a lot of debris floating around from all the disturbance, so I changed out a bucketful of water before I put the decorations back in, even though I'd just done a water change last Friday. The two fish were utterly terrified, but after everything was in place I dropped their breakfast in, and when I checked on them ten minutes later they were both eating.
The light fixture had been removed from the aquarium hood when I received it. After a trip to Home Depot, we got a light installed in the hood yesterday. Either the fish are more active with the light or I can see them better. They still dart for cover when I approach the tank. I hope they'll get desensitized to my presence after a few weeks. I may have to change my plans for tetras, because my tap water has a pH of 8 and I'm told that's too alkaline for cardinals. I'm thinking of getting glo-lite (glowlight?) tetras instead, since they're supposed to be more hardy. I was hoping to add them yesterday, but I decided it might be best to let things settle a bit, until this coming weekend at least.
thanks
Date: 2005-07-06 09:26 pm (UTC)