Maidenhead Aquatics Topical Tips - December 2009

With the end of another year looming, it's time to make the most of the opportunity to change things before spring comes once more. Many creatures are dormant outside and long evenings mean that plenty of time exists for working on your aquarium and dreaming that next year we really will get a 'Barbeque Summer!'

Outdoors:

It's time to put the pond to bed for a well-earned rest and after last year's snow and ice it pays to be prepared for the worst. In a healthy pond, a sheet of ice on the surface will cause no harm to the fishes and as oxygen levels increase as temperature drops, they will be quite content to slumber on the bottom of the pool. If you have a layer of detritus, dead leaves or over wintering amphibians in your pond, you may want to consider adding a pond heater to keep a small area ice-free to allow for healthy gas exchange.

With ice on the surface of your pond, you can be sure that the lower levels have reached their 'Inversion Temperature.' This occurs when the warmer water sinks at 4c, ensuring that the bottom of your pond is the warmest place for fish and aquatic life to settle. If you decide to keep your pumps and filtration running over the winter, it is important that you leave this lower level undisturbed to avoid chilling the fishes. Raise your pump on to a marginal shelf and site it close to the filter or waterfall return to keep turbulence to a minimum. If your pond lacks marginal shelves, place bricks beneath your pump, or place it inside a bucket so that water is drawn only from the surface layers.

Depending on a number of factors including temperature, you may decide to turn off your pumps and filtration equipment for the winter. As long as fishes remain inactive and feeding doesn't take place, the lack of pollution means that filtration won't be needed. If you have an ultraviolet clarifier for algae control, bear in mind that as so much of it is made of glass, water freezing inside the unit can cause a great deal of damage. Drain the unit and bring it under cover for some seasonal maintenance. UV lamps need replacing regularly as even though they may still emit visible light, the wavelength shifts away from the UV A that makes the lamp work against algae. A new lamp should be fitted each spring but now is the time to strip the unit and service the O rings and quartz sleeve that are so fundamental to trouble-free running. As normal glass does not permit the passage of UV light, the sleeve protecting the lamp from the pond water is made of a rather fragile quartz glass. In hardwater areas, this quartz sleeve can become covered in limescale and stop the unit from working effectively.

As well as the UV unit, pond pumps will appreciate being serviced and the only moving part that needs regular maintenance is the impeller. Remove this carefully and clean the whole assembly and the well in which it sits. Limescale deposits on the impeller can reduce the clearance needed for the whole thing to spin properly and cause the pump to overheat and fail. Descaling solutions are available to ensure your pump has a long and trouble-free working life. Ask any of our staff the main reason for pumps being returned and they'll tell you that it's normally down to improper maintenance of impellers.

If you're running your pump and filter over the winter, you will find that as long as you have raised your pump into the shallows as described above things should be trouble free and you will have the benefit of ice-free areas to ensure healthy conditions. If you choose to turn the system off, rinse the filter media thoroughly and expect to have to re-mature the system in the spring. A filter left dirty in static water can be a potential problem when flow is restored in the spring.

As so much of your free time will be during the hours of darkness for the next few months, now is the perfect time to consider adding garden lighting to your water garden. Now I'm as green as the next man but even I struggle with the fact that the solar powered lights that guide you from your barbeque to your kitchen door on summer nights are not really going to make much difference to your garden through the winter. If like me you don't happen to be a qualified electrician, take heart in the kits available 'off the peg' which enable the average gardener to install some dramatic effects. I'm planning to add one of these kits to my garden over the winter and will be reporting my adventures shortly!

Indoors:

As Christmas draws closer, it's time for fishkeepers to start dropping hints about labour-saving devices or gadgets that would make a difference to your tank. Lots of last minute gift buying sees people keen to buy their loved ones fishes as presents and this can be a complete disaster. If you're reading this considering an aquarium for your children or partner, bear in mind that the system needs to mature before adding fish and this may take a few weeks - start now and you'll probably get there in time for a few fish. This is equally important for goldfish as for tropicals. Remember even though they lack fur, a fish is for life and not just for Christmas.

The best solution for both fishkeeper and spouse is to consider gift vouchers. These become a very welcome way of funding that special purchase that will last for a long time to come and can be converted into that long awaited Flame Angelfish or exotic L-number Catfish.

If you're planning time away over the next few weeks, extra preparation may be needed to ready the aquarium for time away. A good regime of waterchanges and filter servicing will forgive you the odd lapse caused by absence and planning ahead can make a seasonal break uneventful for your pets. Mystic forces mean that Christmas is a time for the failure of critical equipment, so consider purchasing essential spares such as heaters and impellers just in case.

Many problems caused by well-meaning friends and neighbours 'fish-sitting' are linked to feeding and there are a few ways to get around these. Firstly, if your fishes are large and in good health, they will happily go a few days unfed with no harm whatsoever and the odd weekend is not a problem for goldfish or large tropicals. If you a well-trained friend or family member, a brief visit and feed every couple of days will be fine - particularly if you can give your fish pellet or tablet foods. A refinement on this technique is to leave suitable portions clearly labelled for each visit, with the main food containers hidden to avoid overfeeding. Advances on the 'holiday feeding blocks' of old mean that slow-release foods can be added that enable fishes to be fed over a period of days without any major pollution problems. For the gadget fan, a range of automatic feeders are available and these can run until the food hopper runs out. For best results, use a free-running granular food in these units and install them several days before you leave to ensure they are functioning correctly.

For the marine aquarium keeper, options are a little more limited and the scope for problems increased. One of the best methods you can use is to train one or more friends to carry out routine maintenance such as feeding, servicing equipment such as protein skimmers and general systems checks. The equivalent of an automatic feeder for reef aquaria would be the establishment of a refugium - an area where small animals such as Copepods and Amphipods can breed away from the fishes and can be swept into the main tank to be consumed.   In the case of demanding animals such as seahorses that need frequent daily feeds, you may need to consider building up sufficient brownie-points with someone you trust to give them the correct levels of care! A useful cheat for many tropical and marine set ups is to lower the temperature slightly. As fish are cold-blooded, they use fewer calories at lower temperatures but be sure that changes are made gradually and only to healthy specimens.

In many areas of the tropics, the dry season is starting to bite and water levels are running low. This is the time when many otherwise doomed fishes are harvested from drying pools and serve as a sustainable source of income for local people. This seasonal cycle means that some species of fish are only available over the winter months, making it a great time to consider adding that touch of the tropics to your aquarium. As these fishes are unaccustomed to old aquarium water high in nitrates, make sure that your tank is in top condition to receive any of these dry-season rarities that may catch your eye.

Out and about in the stores recently, I've seen some wonderful fishes. As a fan of wild-type Discus and old style planted aquaria, I was very happy to see a group of German-bred Alenquers in the kind of set up that reminds me why Discus had such mystique before the many orange and solid blue varieties became so familiar. This display tank at Winnersh also demonstrated another of the qualities of these odd-shaped cichlids as they disappeared effortlessly into the vegetation without trace.

Our two stores in the Cambridge area had some cracking fish too, with a particularly nice example of the Asian Pufferfish Takifugu ocellatus on sale at Cambridge. All puffers make demands on their keepers and this one is no different, with a room temperature brackish aquarium being required for long term health.

At the nearby Scotsdale store, plans are underway to double the number of stock tanks and add a softwater section. These new plans mean a face lift for the massive display tank and a large number of quality young adult Mbuna will be offered for sale, including the first Malawi I ever kept and bred - Cynotilapia afra 'Yellow Dorsal'. Somehow I ended up with four tanks of these beautiful fishes about twenty years ago and I really struggled to resist them.

In closing, it only seems fitting to wish you the compliments of the season and remember that no matter what pressures the holiday season brings, your aquarium should be a relaxing escape from the madness!