Stocking My World

The little office tank will be ready for creatures soon.

Actually, it already has critters in it. I have added tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of critters. Maybe even millions. People who come into my office to see the tank always ask "so, what is in it?". I tell them that they have to look VERY closely to see what I put in the tank. So they look. They get very close, put on glasses, and so forth.

Then after they just can not see anything other than plants - I break the news to them. All I have added are bacteria. I have a bottle of bacteria. I put a dose of bacteria in every day. Indeed, you would have to look VERY close to see them. The longer they stare, the funnier it is. For me.

But the bacteria are very important. I did not have to buy the bacteria, but without the bottle of bugs the tank would take longer to cycle. Once the ammonia level drops, the nitrite level builds then drops, the tank will be ready for fish.

So far, I have not decided exactly what fish I will have. But I am leaning towards this fish.

This is a cardinal tetra. They come from South America. They like soft acidic water. My little creation has fairly soft water, with a slightly acidic pH. Perfect for this fish. I was thinking of getting 5 or so of them, because in nature these fish like to school.

I also like kuhli loaches. These eel like fish are from asia, and they like to hang out on the bottom of lakes and rivers. They are scavengers. They are also mostly nocturnal and like to have places to hide. But when they are out - they are active. Here is what one looks like.

But I have to be careful to NOT overcrowd the tank. One of the reason a fish tank can fail is overcrowding. The general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon of water, but with the bio wheel I can cheat a little.

One thing is set in stone. I WILL have freshwater glass shrimp. These small invertabrates do not really count as fish, so they do not factor in the overcrowding equation - to a point. I could not keep 50 of them, but three or four should be OK.

Now, if those lazy good for nothing bacteria would just get off their cell membranes and get my ammonia level to zero I could start stocking!