Battling Blue Green Algea.

Two tanks are driving me insane with their BGA (Blue Green Algea) problem at present. One is my Betta tank at work. Teddy has a 6 Gal hexagonal tank with a bit of Java Moss, a Lutea plant and three small Java Ferns. However they don't seem to be growing fast enough to use up the nutrients in the water and the result is BGA growing everywhere. I've been very careful not to over feed him, even got him three Amano (Japonica) Shrimp as tank buddies and clean-up crew, but nothing helped. The algea just got worse and worse, eventually covering the sides of the aquarium by the time I did his weekly cleaning. It even started chocking out the Java Moss.

I've heard a number of times that isolating the tank in total darkness for three days does the trick for the algea, so decided to give it a try. Last Friday, at noon, I covered the tank with two black garbage bags, making sure there was enough air coming through for Teddy to breathe. I took it off this afternoon...

The results are good. Most of BGA is gone, especially from the walls and larger plants. The Java Moss still has some small clumps left but I have a feeling they are dead and will come off in the cleaning. What I didn't expect was the condition of Teddy's fins.

It would appear my friendly shrimpies have munched on Teddy's fins and almost completely destroyed his dorsal fin. I was just admiring how lovely and long his fins had grown since I bought him and how free of disease he was (knock on wood), and here I come to a betta with bits of tail missing and only two long whisps of his dorsal fin left.

The trick seemed to work on BGA, but noone told me the shrimp were going to make a meal out of my fish in the darkness! I'm mad and seriously considering throwing them in the garbage bin. Thank goodness Betta fins grow back.

The second tank? It's my kitchen tank that houses girl Guppies and two Betta girls, Cherries and Cream. This one has been a problem pretty much from day one. My male Guppy tank has settled into a very happy balance (again, knocking on wood vigorously) early on and there seems to be no algea growth after a slight BGA outbreak when the tank was being cycled. Granted, the boys have a lot of plants so obviously they are using any circulating nutrients, not to mention about a 100 snails and 6 Amano Shrimp.

Not the girls' tank. Last night I gave it a thorough cleanup - scraped the walls clean, pulled as much off the plants as I could and syphoned most of the water out. Some of the clums of BGA were so thick I could pick them up with my fingers. I then threw out the old plant that was growing in there, or not growing as it was. This plant was just sitting there, doing nothing. In its place I planted some stemmed plants which, I was told, should grow faster. I may even transplant some of the darn snails from the other tank to this one! And, will add some Amano Shrimp too. Don't know what else to do so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, for God's sake, let me know!

Welcome to Life In A Fishbowl.

Hello and welcome to my new blog, Life in a Fish Bowl. I'm hoping to write about and document life in my aquariums. Keeping fish is a new hobby for me but I must admit I have become addicted very quickly and now suffer from a full blown MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome).

It all started with three little gold fish I purchased to keep the mosquito larva down in a small outdoor fountain. My children named them Lady Lydia, Brutus and Prince Paris. Sadly, the original three were attacked by a racoon one night and only Lady Lydia survived, minus a few scales.

That day I immediately moved Lady Lydia (LL) to a small aquarium indoors and my fish keeping education started in earnest. I started reading like crazy in an effort to make sure LL was healthy and happy. I had no idea the amount of knowledge I'd have to absorb but, thanks to the internet, somehow my education progressed.

Alas, even though her aquarium conditions were good, Lydia looked lonely. After a few months we decided to get her a mate - Pinkie. He is much smaller than Lydia and almost entirey pink. He does have some faint orange colouring, but it's hard to see sometimes. I say "he" but the truth is, I have no idea whether either one of them is male or female. I'm not even sure if one can tell. For all I know Lady Lydia is a male and Pinkie is a girl...

While LL was still living outside with her original two friends, my son has talked me into getting a Betta, or Siamese Fighting Fish. Well, these guys looks so pathetic in a pet store, kept in tiny little bottles, that I had a hard time refusing. So Bubbles came home with us.

A friend of ours once kept a Betta in a cool (or so I thought then) setup - in a large glass vase, with a peace lily stuck at the top. We put Bubbles in a similar vase. But he did not look happy and, after more internet research, I discovered how cruel such a setup is. So off we run to the pet store again, to purchase a whole aquarium with all the amenities (filter, heater, thermometer). A few hours later Bubbles was inspecting his very own "house" - a 2.5 Gal aquarium we put in our kitchen. Soon he was making bubble nests like crazy (which is a very good indication of high spirits for a Betta) and chasing away imaginary rivals who appeared in a mirror we put against the side of his aquarium.

But of course, my son wanted something "of his very own", in his own room. He's heard stories of the first fish I kept more than 20 yrs ago - fancy guppies. He wanted them as well and one day, while visiting a local pet store, he wore me down and talked me into getting another aquarium and some fancy guppies. We came home with 4 females and 2 males. At this point, well, what was the point? We also got some neons (4), Otocinclus, or Otos (4), and Long fin Bristlenose Pleco named Freckles. Just this past week we also purchased some Amano (Japonica) shrimp to help with the cleanup in the two larger aquariums.

We very quickly discovered that Guppies breed like bunnies and I decided to implement a bit of birth control... Namely, we planned on separating males from females. I set up a large tank, cycled it for over a month, planted it even (my first experience with under water gardens - and that's a story all on its own) and, when all the parameters were ok, we moved our boys into their own digs. They love it!!!

At some point I became unhappy with the small tank Bubbles was in (our Betta) and set another large tank in the kitchen. We moved him in and then added some of the Guppy girls in small increments. Bubbles was not impressed at first but got used to them very quickly and now pretty much ignores them, except when they try to steal his Betta Bits food. He lunges at it to get it first.

The best part of fishkeeping? Things are never boring. There is always something going on. Be it problems, funny stuff or just everyday fish life - it's all interesting. And I find I can sit in front of an aquarium and just observe the fish for hours. It's very relaxing.

So, I'm going to share here what I learn and observe and hope that anyone who reads this blog will enjoy it as well.