Sorry been a bit since I updated! Unfortunately the biggest cave broke a little so we had to reseal it and wait for that. Still havn't put it in! One of the smaller ones is in so the wood is piled not so neatly.
I hit a snag with pH while cycling (still cycling, was advised to change water to lower nitrates and add baking soda to bring pH up and make it more stable). Should be done cycling soon. We'll add the other caves when it's done and rearrange it and whatnot. I meant to get a pic today of it since the water is clear since the water change but forgot..I should take one by tuesday though.
We picked up an eel to go in the temporary tank with the bushfish, he was quite outgoing and aside from some poking at each other the first night they seemed like buddies. He doesn't come out much now as unfortunately on 5/7 the leopard bushfish passed away. I don't know exactly why. A few days after getting him I realized part of his gill plate was missing. Later on I noticed a white dot on his head.
When it started getting worse and his belly seemed big (don't think it was overfeeding) a friend thought it could be a sign of something so I put him in a 5g and treated with Maracyn 2. On the day he was to be moved back to the (temporary) 10g, he was listing to his side, not eating, laying completely on side, and once back in the 10 he was going completely upside down. When I woke up he had already passed and my fiance had pulled him out of the tank.
He is now buried in the backyard near Tinkerbell my golden gourami and my guinea pig Chihiro. I didn't have him long but he was very cute and liked to greet me at the front of the tank. He'd eat just about anything I put in.
I meant to get a striped peacock eel but was okay with settling for a regular peacock, or hoped to add a striped one later, when I picked this eel up. It did not occur to me that it wasn't a peacock eel at all and that PetSmart (I know not all PetSmarts do this, and don't think mine would do it regularly anyway, I like the place still) would sell me the wrong eel/have it mislabeled. Turns out it is a half-banded eel.
He's quite lovely, moreso than a regular peacock eel. I'd still like a striped one though and plan on picking one up before this one gets too much bigger as it can get territorial.
I think I'm going to name him Nigel after Nigel Thornberry
Here are some pics and a vid of him. I apologize for my reflection in some of them!
You'll notice in this vid he's obviously trying to get into the filter. He succeeded the next day. I poked him (gently) and he swam back into the tank. I found him a few more times that day.
We tried blocking it with some filter media and he still managed to get in. At one point after me poking again, he swam out..but landed in the filter media and got stuck on it.
So we removed it and were just going to let him be. I never found him in the filter again so either that scared him a lot or perhaps he's realized we don't want him in there..or maybe he is just not interested any more.
He spends majority of his time in the little wood cave I made.
http
/youtu.be/GY32_Bxqm1U
He's so cute! I bet he's a bit overwhelmed by all the space!
