DAILY OBSERVATIONS

I begin each day the same. After taking care of my personal morning rituals I proceed to my fishy morning rituals. In my sewing room right next to our bedroom are my fry, brooding, grow-out and breeding tanks. I check each tank, watching the fish as they eat. It still astounds me how eager and quick growing the tiniest fry are. I have some that were bred during each month, sometimes a couple or three moms at a time so by tanks are busy. I have sold some but currently I have approximately 60 3 week RedTop Zebra fry, next I have only 4 left of my Auratus fry, a dozen left of my RedxRed fry and 30-40 of my larger Zebra fry. I have had great success in that my mortality rate is next to nil.

Coming downstairs my first job is feeding my cats. I have three and would make them wait until my cichlids are looked after but they are too loud and it's better just to satisfy them first. Next I pour
myself a coffee and check on my 55 gallon juvenile tank. I have wonderful juveniles yet to come into their colours. My one young Dragon Blood is showing nicely but the other 3 are just a sweet pinky colour. I'm hoping at least a couple are female since I already know the biggest one is a male. It's a great tank to sit and watch. At his stage they act completely different then they do as they get a little older and more mature. I can already see some adult traits coming out of the bigger ones. Those being around the 2" mark.

Finally my adult community gets my attention. Here I spend most of my time so I don't mind leaving them for last. They are a beautiful bunch of mixed Africa Cichlids. Doing my water testing I have
had issues with the ammonia levels being too high. I've been doing water changes every other day and tests morning and night. The ammonia in the tank has been neutralized but it still shows up on my tests which really bothers me. I have ordered a few items that should help from Amazon. I'm hoping they arrive before the weekend. I just want my water parameters spot on like they usually are.