15th February

Surprisingly, all my fish are still alive. 15 days of having fish. As I conveniently got them on the 1st of February.
This is really just an update on how they're doing. All are fairly active now, for a while Gus had been sitting on the bottom not moving much. That's how he was when I took the first photo a few posts back.
Bob and Will are busy trying to be better than the other, though I've noticed that Bob has taken a liking to Bruce's tail. I'm concerned about that as his tail has been slightly damaged.
Photo time!

Bob, Gus, Will and Bruce all trying to hide from the camera.

Will 'n' Bob - The Dynamic Duo...

Alan

Wicked-like tank setup...

 Oh, I also finally got me a nitrite testing kit. Just so I can monitor the deadly chemical that is the result when ammonia is converted by certain bacteria. Ammonia itself is just as deadly to fish and comes about from the decay of their waste. Having incorrectly started my tank (not waiting long enough for the nitrogen cycle to properly establish), it's important for me to monitor this.
Here's a picture I found on a site called Wet Web Media about it.

Nitrogen cycle, showing peaks of ammonia, nitrite and 2 scenarios of nitrate accumulation.

The chemicals peak and drop as bacteria grows that 'eats' it converting it into the next thing. Ammonia --> Nitrite --> Nitrate. Nitrate is not toxic in small amounts to your fish. In a tank cycled before adding fish, ammonia and nitrite should be 0ppm and nitrate a bit above 0. Nitrate is kept low with water changes.
In my tank I added fish probably before the ammonia would have peaked. Which is why I'm doing water changes every 2 days at the moment. I'm not certain, but I think I've nearly got enough good bacteria that I can cut down to 1 or 2 water changes a week, but I'll keep going as is for another week.

I also purchased a chunk of Opuwa wood. This should look nice, and be a place for accumulation of algae. Or nom nom's for Alan. Maybe. Not really sure what will happen when I put it in the tank. However, I shan't be doing that for about a month. Everywhere I read recommends soaking for 1 month in water with periodic water changes before adding to the tank. This is for several reasons. Firstly, it doesn't sink... so soaking it, sometimes in boiling water, can make it waterlogged enough to sink and actually stay on the bottom of your tank. Secondly, the wood will 'stain' the water. So you basically want to get all the staining out of the way before putting it in the tank or it will take even longer to get the water to it's normal colour.

My chunk of wood.

Thw water looks terrible partly because it's stained slightly from the wood, but mostly cause that's water from the tnk during a water change, which picked up all the gunk and stuff. Not sure if that was a good idea...
Oh well. Till next time.