No hug and roll for this squid.

Nature has its way of making things beautiful like the little puffer fish who draws patterns in the sand to attract a mate but this was something that really caught my eye. The southern dumpling squid (Euprymna tasmanica) has a sweet side although could be a little trick to stop other males getting in on its action, you guessed it the southern dumping squid is a hugger. 

After Sex the little squid really loves to hug and not just for 10 minutes he is know to keep hold of the female for three hours event at the risk of being eaten. But its not all so sweet the doesn’t bother 

with foreplay and only lasts for five minutes, Its technique of just hanging on could also do with some 

refining. And if all of that wasn’t enough, it turns out the species are notorious cheats.

Next stage has started

So this weekend has been a busy one. Trip out to our local fish shop Maidenhead Aquatics who look after me well a small treat of some tropical fish for his aquarium then I got my Christmas and birthday presents from my parents. They payed for the return pump, Heater hose work live sand and water. I just had to add the bottles for the water and live rock. Thankfully the store delivers I don't think we could have mover over 200kg without their help.

 
 


20 kg of live sand, 17 kg of live rock and 175 litres of water later I started the build. The connivers are 25 litres each so around 25 kg in which makes them hard to lift to tank hight so Its easier so drain them into buckets then into the tank. I've not placed the rocks but they are in the tank just awaiting for the water to clear before final layout.

The fish shop visit and then big delivery

Hi,

It's been a little while since I updated my blog its been a bit a crazy time for me with work but I finally got a moment free to go on a little shopping trip.

I visited Charter house Aquatics and was blown away by their story It's even better than it looks on their site, It gave me an opportunity to look round at some huge takes and hear about one customers plans to build a house round his aquarium. The staff were not only helpful but their fish house was amazing with a small shark in one of the displays.

As much as my planning stage got me an idea of what I was going to get I ended up changing my kit list. I down sized the tank to have a bit more space in the room however its still 175 litres and made by the same company. I changed the protein skimmer to a bubble magus curve 7 on the recommendation of the shop as it can manage to filter a higher volume tank almost twice the size of what I have got. I ended up with the maxpect razor on reflection this is the light I should have gone with from the start its a beautiful design and very quiet. The last change  made was to the power head  I went for a Maxspect Gyre.

Why the Gyre? The reason behind this was partly down to a lot of video's on the web and the fact its a very different piece of technology from all the other company's. All the other designs work on the same principle of a propeller in a round case which is effective but has its downsides. The main downside is the shape of the flow its a bit like the traditional desk fan its great directly in front but the flow drops off to the sides and as it gets further away from the source. With the Gyre the creates a ribbon of flow taking thus reducing dead spots in the tank and as the full force will reach the back of the aquarium bouncing back it should help clear away some of the detritus from the sand bed.

 

Well after 2 weeks of waiting I got the call I was waiting for, the delivery date of my aquarium the very next day I was going to have my new project at home. On delivery day in my excitement I completely forgot to document the whole thing. I missed taking a photo of the huge lorry squeezing in to my little close, the pallet on the tail lift, moving everything from pallet to the house and the final set up but its finally in place.

So what's left to do? Well I have a couple of bits still to get the a return pump, heaters pipe work for the over flow and return. Live rock, sand base and water to get sorted I can then start the cycling process.