Beta tank clean out

Last night I had enough looking at my smelley dirty beta tank . I've decided I am giving up trying to grow anything in there except for the floating plants.

My plakat was not looking too good either the past couple of days so I thought fresh water can only do good. My veil tail was fine however. That guy is a tough little fish. When I first bought him he was kept in one of those 100ml USB desktop tanks. Yeh pretty bad but but he still grew reasonably well. He's quite a big beta haha

Anyway hope you like the new set up

Pond clean

Over the weekend I did a big water change and clean in the pond. I don't even remember the last time I did a 100% water change so thought it was about time. Haha

I used the pump and attached it to my garden hose and guided it into the drain. At the same time, I used a bucket to scoop up water to water the garden :)

When the water got to about 50%, I took my goldfish out and placed them in my 4ft tank which has been empty until now.
I realized that my pH increases in my pond too. Not sure if it's dye to the sand or bricks in my pond.
Anyway I slowly acclimatized them before putting them in the tank.

Took the opportunity to take a few photos. It's nice change to see my fish from the side for once. It's also good to check for any health issues etc

I also noticed how much my telescopes have grown :)

Baby TVR update

I'm starting to notice my babies are lightening in colour! I'm so excited to find out what colours they'll be.
They are reaching about 3 months old soon... I think they are a bit small to be honest but I have been cutting back on their feeding due to the water quality issues I was having before :(

Ideally I would like them to be outside with part sun and green water,  but since we are still in winter, temperatures are too cold...
Oh well doing the best I can with the set I have atm.  I have put the 2ft led tank light for them (taken from my shrimp tank)
Will need to get a new light for that tank soon before my plants die lol

Anyway I've increased their food again and just checking water quality everyday or everyday other day.

Leak test and shopping for fish stuff!!

Today I went to buy some fish stuff. I bought foam for my tank that I had posted previously that I had cleaned up. 4ft foam piece was $6.50 from vebas. I also picked up a new sicce air pump. It's reasonably quiet and I chose that brand as its the same as the pump that I'm using in my pond which is completely submersed and quiet.

I also picked up a new sponge filter from Rob ' s aquarium in Malaga.  So far!! It wasn't that great but it had cheap accessories. The sponge filter was only $5 compared to city farmers etc which was around $15.

So the tank is now filled, will leave it for about a week or so to make sure it's all good and strong.  In the mean time I am seeding my sponge filter in my pond so that when I am ready to set up my aquarium it will be cycled :) something I have learned is that cycling your tank or taking seeded filters is very important and will just make your life easier! I for one try not to waste water if I can avoid it. Hence the reason I don't use the python for water changes etc

Planted Shrimp Tank

Here's a short post of my planted red cherry shrimp tank.

It's my first 'planted' tank so honestly it's not the best haha its very low tech, just an LED light and a cheap aquaone HOB filter. The filter has a bit of cut panty hose covered the intake so the baby shrimps don't get sucked up. I also put extra spongey filter media as the stuff it comes with kinda suck.

Anyway shrimp generally like a lower pH,  warmer water temps and still waters. I just feed them whatever I have on hand. Goldfish flakes (cos they're pretty useless for goldfish), algae wafers, tropical flakes and so... anything haha

Hope you enjoy the photos ♡

Water change on fry tank

So this is my current fry grow out set out. It's not ideal but it's the best that I can do given that we're in the middle of winter and I don't have an extra tub for them outside.

I have 13 Tvr fry that were kindly given to me from a family friend to practise and learn from.

It's been a difficult journey. A bit harder than I anticipated really. Made a few careless mistakes (like leaving a tap on while refilling and forgetting about it. I came back to fry gasping for air and a flooded laundry. I lost 4 fry due to rapid temperature change and not dechlorinating enough of the water - because I left the tap on).

Another rookie mistake was over feeding. I was so keen on getting them nice and plump, the water conditions took a hit and they all ended up with really red swollen lips!! Ergh luckily none died but I did treat them with 0.6% salt for 3-4 days. It eventually went away and cleared completely on the 5th day. Lol

I wish I had kept my sponge filtered seeded then I wouldn't have to worry as much on the water. Oh well will definitely remember it for next time. :)

Well I'm sure the fry I have are strong and resilient haha

Anyway I will be keeping track of their growth. I have had them for about a month now. They are around 3 months old.

My tank and set up (yay for extendable taps!) Tank was custom made by vebas more than 4 yrs ago. Still going strong.
Dimensions are 60x60x30cm - goldfish do better with larger surface area as oppose to deeper longer tanks. I use this tank for quarantine too if I ever have sick or new fish.

4ft Tank

A few weeks ago I managed to buy a second hand 4ft tank for $80. It came with black gravel (which I took out as they pose a choking hazard to goldfish and can harbour nasty bacteria and anaerobic gasses if not properly siphoned and stirred), some red glass pebbles (which I may use)' 4ft heto light and an eheim 2215 cannister filter.
The filter unfortunately has a few broken parts which may end up costing too much to replace, so I'm probably going to buy an Aquaclear hang on back (HOB) filter and use an air driven sponge filter too.

last weekend I got a second hand wooden stand (off gumtree as well...Love that site!!) From a couple who bred cichlids. The guy built it himself, along with all his other stands and racks so I knew it'd be strong enough and work.  The stand was $30.

Tonight, I took out the gravel (ergh) and gave it a good wipe down using water and pure bleach solution (I use 1 part bleach to 4 parts water). For the white cloudy stain I usually use vinegar but I didn't have any, all I had was lemons, and I think that did the job.

This weekend will be time to fill and test for leaks and to give it a good final rinse before filling for the fish. :)

My first post!

Hi there and welcome to my blog.

So I have always had pets.. growing up we kept common goldfish, guinea pigs, birds, hermit crabs, and so on...

Now, I have two corgis named Hachi (5yrs old, female red and white) and Jett (3yrs old male, tri-colour).

Recently (about 8 months ago) I started getting back into goldfish. After finding a blogger and youtuber named Jennie from Solidgold. Her beautiful fish and set up really drew me back into the hobby.

The first tank I bought was a 50 litre glass tank and put 3 small ranchus in it. Of course it was wayy too small and under filtered, so on gumtree I went and managed to score a 2x1 metre fiberglass pond. (I will do a separate post on how I cleaned it up).

The rest is history and now I have about 15 goldfish - mainly ranchus which I got from a family friend, a few store bought ones, and 2 telescopes.

I also have a tank of 13 tvr fry which I'm trying to grow out. Hahaha

The hobby has turned into an obsession, I also bought a 4ft tank which I'm going to set up for my store bought ranchus as I think they will look better from the side (SVr).

So I have a lot going on and I look forward to posting in more detail on each.
Hope you enjoy the read! You're welcome to comment, critique or ask questions if you have anyway 😊