Fishies & birdies & updates, oh my!

I am the worst at updating things. Have you noticed?

My office Biorb has been up and running for 4 months now! I haven’t had a single problem with ammonia, nitrites or nitrates so far, fingers crossed it’ll continue that way. I started with two pretty female guppies. Silver except for a light blue scripe stripe (I can’t spell) on the top and bottom of their tails. Had them from Fforest Mill Garden Centre in Swansea. They weren’t particularly young, both had big bellies and were pregnant again. A fortnight after my sweethaert sweetheart (can’t type either) bought me a gorgeous black tuxedo male. By the end of the month they’d dropped 40 babies between them and were pregnant again. I’ve kept two from that first batch, a male and a female. They look nothing like either parent. They have red, yellow, pink and blue on their sides. The male has black spots on his dorsal fin and black stripes on the outside of his tail, with blue stripes just inside as well as black spots on his body. They’re really coming pretty now.

The largest guppy died recently, looks like it was age. The second is still going strong, she’s just dropped some more babies and TuxedoGup is busy chasing her again. I’ve currently got about 20 babies in the tank. Perhaps more, it’s hard to tell.

Yesterday my father bought me what appears to be a neon blue (I’m not good with guppy mutations) guppy female. She’s very pretty, pregnany, small and has no belly so chances are this is her first batch of fry. She’s settled in quite quickly, TuxedoGup doesn’t know who to chase next. Spoilt for choice!

I’m surprisingly impressed with the Biorb. I’d heard a lot of ..not so much bad things but..they’re looked down upon by sirius serious fishkeepers for not having a proper filter and being bowl shaped.

The filter’s basic, but so are most others in small/starter tanks. It sits in the bottom and has charcoal, ceramic chips and a sponge. It appears to be doing it’s job, it needs a regular clean and the chemical levels are all stable. The tank isn’t that dependant on the filter for bacteria, the ceramic media that you use in the biorb (don’t use gravel!) provides a good home for it. Plus it’s perfect as a maternity/nursery tank as the substrate gives fry plenty of places to hide. There’s also a bubbler beneath the filter to keep the water nice and oxygenated. Now and again I drop in an oxygen tablet for good measure.

The only thing I don’t like is the heater stand. It’s not the right size for a baby biorb, it’s sodding useless. It’s all very well in the large biorbs where they’re tall enough to take a heater stand without it bending. They’d have been better off designing one especially for the baby Biorb. It’s the only thing that lets it down. The heater itself isn’t a ReefOne official heater but a small 25W one from what was the Garden Site and is now Aquarium Site. I buy everything biorb from there. They’re not especially cheap but they are good to deal with. I haven’t had a single problem. And my biorb box had a slip in it that informed me that everything had been checked by a gentleman named Tom. It’s a nice touch, so much stuff is sent straight out without being checked these days.

So, my biorb inventory to date:

1x Baby Biorb (15L)
1x Biorb Heater Stand
1x Theo 25W heater
1x ReefOne Submersible Digital Thermometer
1x BiOrb Magnetic Algae Cleaner
1x Biorb Ornament Tower and Bonsai 5.5″

I can’t say I think much of the range of ornaments for the baby biorb. I liked the Biorb 30&60’s grecian ruins. But the castle was the least tacky of all the ornaments. The others available includ a No Fishing sign, strange mushroom covered tree & a garish coral garden, none of which are particularly appealing.

My birdroom is still in the process of being built. It needs painting, wiring, cupboards, aviaries, cages, birds…
When it is all done I’m hoping to get a small tropical tank to raise the guppy babies in. Until then they’re being given away to anyone who wants them.

Speaking of birds, my fids are as noisy and demanding as ever. The cockatiels are forever eating, playing and sleeping. The latest batch of babies aren’t really bothered about me, unlike their parents. There’s enough of them now to have a proper flock without the need for human interference.

Barney’s still shy as ever. For all people say that Barnard’s Parakeets are demanding..she’s lovely. Rarely hear a peep from her. She’s not tame, but still enjoys human company. She’s timid and afraid of new toys, except for her sandy perch which got beeped at and bounced on as soon as it went into her cage. She’s happy to sit and talk to the ‘tiels all day. She’s had quite an exciting time lately. Twice, a sparrow has ended up in my birdshed (I don’t know how, I don’t see it go in, only open up to find it bombing about. Barn sits and scolds it (and me) until it’s gone.

Jake’s..Jake. He’s currently moulting and it makes him a grumpy bird. He’s a typical Hahn’s, nippy, noisy, demanding, ever so loving and incredibly playful. His latest annoying trick is grabbing my bottom lip with his beak and hanging on. His latest neat trick is waving. It’s still a work in progress along with giving me a high-four. His newest mastered word is boo! He’ll sit and play peekaboo for ages. He’s also trying to say ‘where’s Jake?’ and ‘There he is!’ He’s got the sounds of the sentence right but not the actual words. He still can’t say Jake but instead says -K!

I actually managed to get a recording of him the other night, although no luck with a decent photo.

Listen to Jake!

Work’s pretty dead today, hence the update. I feel awfully guilty because I’ve missed so much lately. Had an allergic reaction to the bandages I have to wear for eczema. Leg came up in blisters, looked like a burn. Had to take a lot of time off work through not being able to put/wear anything on my legs.

Did have a gentleman in recently who cracked us up. He informed us that he was going to forget about the router and buy one of those wireless “dougals” instead. It’s such a nicer name, I’d love to have a USB Dougal!