New Fish

The fish tank resurrection continues. One of the reasons for going to Bristol for the weekend was to visit our favourite aquarium shop, Aquajardin just outside of Gloucester.

We hadn’t been here for years but as it was Mother’s Day we went along with my Mum and Dad for a wander around the adjacent Blooms Garden Centre, have a Mother’s Day lunch in their restaurant and then to visit the aquarium. The garden centre was pretty busy as was the restaurant but we got a table and had lunch – nothing too exciting though and we still prefer the restaurant at the Three Shires garden centre about half an hour further along on our journey home from my parents house.

The aquarium was just as we remembered it though, with a few really nicely planted show tanks, a good selection of healthy looking fish, lots of plants for sale and plenty of hardware and accessories too. We couldn’t buy too much as we can’t stock the tank too quickly and can’t afford it anyway, but we still came away with a small shoal of 5 Burmese Spotted Danios, although personally I think they are Dwarf Spotted Danios (Danio nigrofasciatus). Mind you common names are sometimes interchangeable so the common name isn’t important. We also got three gorgeous looking Corydoras Sterbai.

Having not been into fish-keeping for a while (7 years or so) its amazing how much some things have changed though. The range of fish on offer is quite different with lots of new ones that I hadn’t seen before – including the Corydoras Sterbai that we bought. Things such as CO2 diffusion into tanks seems to be much more prevalent as well and lighting and tank hardware has improved considerably too.

We bought a little tub of plants as well, some tiny Eleocharis sp. that will hopefully carpet the front of the tank. This came in its own packaging complete with some gel to keep it alive. Again, not a way I’d seen plants for sale before but it seemed to work and the plants looked healthy.

The tank is looking good now and we will slowly fill it with inhabitants as it settles down. Here it is this morning.

Fish Tank

Tags: Aquarium & Aquascaping