The Tank: Update

So its been a little over two weeks since I shared my hobby with all of you. So far, the tank has gone through a lot of drama and stress, but is doing ok now. A little side-note about stress: When put in the context of an aquariums, this is NEVER a good thing. According to my last blog, my fish list had, at one time, been complete - unfortunately, never at the same time. Allow me to explain. I took a trip to an LFS, local fish store, and was amazed at their selection of black calvus' and electric blue jack dempseys. As they were getting my purchases I browsed a bit more and found a gorgeous 4 in. Tiger Lobster.

Anyway, I went nuts and brought them all home. I staggered their introduction into the tank - first being the lobster, knowing that he had to get situated and find a place to hide, then the calvus, and lastly - my prized EBJD.

The next morning I awoke to find my calvus on the tank floor with two shots to the gills. GREAT! I was genuinely surprised to see him dead considering I purchased the largest calvus I could find and contrasty, the smallest jack dempsey I could find. I wanted to get my tank young so that I could hold onto the livestock longer without having to eventually trade them out. To make a long story short, I didnt even get a picture of the poor guy. So I traded him in for somebody a little heartier: Meet Ruby, the albino red oscar.

A good looking pair, getting along great together. Survived the first 24 hours but then....

This is what was hidden in the tiger lobsters cave. Dang it, lost another one. I knew the EBJD was territorial, but the oscar was suppose to hold its ground. As a matter of fact, it was a little bit bigger than the JD.

That was a week ago. I had the water tested and the parameters were dangerously close to deadly. After a re-evaluation of my set-up, I decided to upgrade my filter to a AquaClear Power Filter 70. My Whisper filters were just two weak and I might have been overfeeding my fish for the first couple of weeks. I plan on retesting the water next week. Stay tuned.