My First Cichlid

One Sunday morning about eleven years ago, my other half, Dave Tourle, and I were wandering around the aquatic section at a local garden centre, admiring the colours and variety of the marine and freshwater tropical fishes being offered for sale. Later, over a cup of coffee in the café, the inevitable question was asked, had either of us ever kept fish and by coincidence, both of us had kept goldfish at some stage in our respective lives? It also transpired that, while we had considered keeping a tropical set-up, neither of us had ever got around to it, but that situation was about to change!

That very same day, a tank measuring 30" x 12" x 15", (it was still pre-metric then!), was purchased, as well as a stand, an under-gravel filtration system, plastic plants, rocks and some bogwood. The sales assistant was very helpful, as he seemed to know immediately that we were complete novices and explained the need for a water conditioner, to remove some of the nasty things in tap water that are harmful to fish. I wanted to buy some fish straight away, but he advised us that to do so, would be a death sentence to the fish and to wait until the tank water had matured sufficiently. Before we left the garden centre, with our new equipment and reference book, I was already trying to decide which species of tropical fish, I wanted in my aquarium.

Dave and I spent the next few evenings 'fighting' over the newly acquired fishy book, as he wanted to read all the technical bits to ensure that he had set the tank up properly, which in retrospect was the correct thing to do. My reasons were completely different, but just as necessary, as selecting colour co-ordinated fish is not that easy. At last, we reached a compromise and I bought another fishy book the following weekend. Deciding which species to buy first was fairly straight forward because, thankfully, our choices were fairly similar. Dave wanted Cardinal Tetras and Guppies, which were on my shopping list as well as Platies, Silver Dollars and many others. At last, after what had seemed an eternity to impatient me, he was confident that the water was mature enough to enable us to start putting a few fishes into the tank.

• Happy With Their New Home
• Unusual Diamond Shaped Caudal Fish
• A Grandmother Second Time Around

Aquarist and Pondkeeper Articles