Introducing The Otocinclus!

I can officially say I am happy with my otocinclus. I really hope I am not jinxing anything by saying so.


Otocinclus, a dwarf sucking cat fish, are notoriously picky when it comes to water parameters, and acquiring some and putting them into your own tank at home can often be a very traumatic experience for these little fish and the chance of casualties is often quite high.

Thankfully though, I am pleased to say that they have been in my tank now two and a half weeks and have settled in amazingly. All four of them are growing, exploring, socialising and maintaining those cute little plump bellies of theirs which is a very good sign of a healthy oto. One of the problems people sometimes find with these fish is that they may unexplainabley lose them, even after they have settled in, due to starvation. Otocinclus act as a very efficient clean up crew, constantly munching on any algae in the tank - whether it be on the glass, ornaments or your plants (they are very gentle with plants and do not harm them). But they are so good at it that when they have eaten it all, they can sometimes accidentally become deprived of food. It is a good idea to help supplement their diet with algae wafers or vegetables. In my tank, algae wafers are not very useful as they get absolutely destroyed by their tank mates, the guppies. But every few days I leave a big chunk of cucumber or courgette in the tank for 24hours and they go bananas over it.

Even if some don't quite get it! 

When I first acquired these beautiful little catfish, I drip acclimated them for around four hours before I introduced them into my main community tank. (I should have also quarantined them, but I was bad and too excited so I couldn't wait..).

In order to do this process, I used an empty three gallon tank and released them into this with the water from their bag. Using long plastic tubing, I created suction so that water was pulled up from the main tank and down into their tank. I then attached a pair of pliers to the tubing to make the water flow very slow. After four hours of the main tank water dripping into their little tank, I netted them up one by one and released them into the community. I wanted to net them and not pour them in as I did not want to mix the water from the pet shop with the water in my big tank. The otos seemed really relaxed before I did this, otherwise I may have kept them in the three gallon tank longer - maybe even over night.

The otos are living now in my 19gallon community planted tank with 10 male guppies and one female Siamese fighting fish (betta splenden). This little girlie was added a week after the otos after I realised she much preferred living in the community set up after I had kept her in there for a few days in a breeder box whilst I was acquiring her equipment for her own tank, and after removing her for a few days, felt it best to put her back! A proper update on my girl Impa, will be done at a later date.

Introducing Impa the Siamese Fighting Fish

Yesterday me and Kirby went to the garden centre for fish paroozing and cake (sadly, like we do most Sundays..) and I was feeling slightly sorry for myself as I think I've got a chest infection and what was the result of a downhearted Melanie? Why a new betta of course! I wouldn't normally be interested in the females, usually they are incredibly drab and I've always been far more enamoured by male betta fish. But yesterday, I spied myself a beauty. The first time round I didnt even bother looking in the female betta tank as it was blocked from view and I didn't really care. But on my way out I had a massive urge to go back and see them, and I am so glad I did.

Here she is, my beautiful Impa my impulse fishie.

Impa is going to be living in a breeder box in my planted community tank in the kitchen until I get her a heater to go in her own tank. I have a spare cycled filter and a tank all waiting for her.

After losing quite a lot of her colour on the journey home in the car, Impa has settled in superbly and her colours are brightening up and everyone in the tank has come to say hello.

Impa is a pink and purple veiltail female siamese fighting fish (betta splenden).

Update on the 20g Planted Tank

The guppies are getting bigger! They're darkening up nicely (all but one, which is remaining a cute pale see through yellow and orange) and their tails are getting lovely and long and flowy. They are starting to chase each other quite a lot as territories get settled and thankfully, as of yet, there are no babies or signs of pregnancy! This is a very good thing.

The echinodorus is growing nicely, but is battling for sunlight a bit due to the explosive mass of duckweed. We are having to throw a good few handfuls of this away every week, and give some to the goldfish for a yummy treat as it just grows so fast!  It's what I wanted though and I'm still a duckweed fan. Thinking of sectioning off part of the surface of the tank so that the duckweed only grows over a certain area thus providing a shaded spot in the tank for the lower light growing plants and giving the Amazon sword the light it needs to continue to grow.

I have also added a load of cabomba to the tank. It's a lovely big fluffy plant which has provided loads of  hiding spots for the guppies. This is good if the males fighting for territories get a little too aggressive.

Otocinclus tonight! Very excited.

Rest In Peace my Gorgeous Boy.

At the beginning of this week, my beautiful ryukin Loki passed away. I aquired Loki back in May as a birthday gift from my boyfriend and he will forever have a special place in my heart. Loki has always had a bit of floatation issues, and at times it could get so bad that I didn't think he would make it. During the first week I had him home, I was convinced he wasn't going to last, but the little fighter pulled through. He didn't half cause me to worry though, for about a month I had countless nights of dream filled sleep where I would see him so small and lost in a giant tank full of big mean fish that I thought would eat him right up and though I called and cried for him I simply knew I couldn't reach him in the vast water he had gotten himself into. Seems sad, I know, but I loved that boy.

I don't really think he had much of a chance. I think he was probably defect from birth, and always would have struggled through life. I hope I gave him as good a chance as any.

Sleep sweet my little floaty boy.

Moving tanks

It only took a few weeks, and Jazz has had to move tank. I decided that his 4gallon was definitely too small for him with how active he is, and so he has been upgraded to a 9gallon. At first I was slightly worried that Jazz's constant movement and what looked to be playfulness, was actually a sign of stress with the move, but seen as he has been with me a few weeks and has greedily eaten everything I have tried to feed him and hasn't flared once, I've decided that this is just who he is. I'm happy to say that he absolutely loves his new bigger tank :)

It's interesting to see that different betta prefer different sized tanks. This 9 gallon is Genie's old tank before he was moved into a 4gallon when he first developed signs of fin rot. I could tell straight away that Genie preferred the smaller space of the 4 gallon tank, whereas Jazz certainly prefers more room. I would definitely go no smaller than a 4gallon for a betta fish - but it was an interesting exercise all the same.