‘Get Tanked Up’ with Syd Carp' No1

Scenes of life and death from Syd's 60 litre Tropical Aquarium

Welcome to ‘GTU’ the home of ‘Fish keeping’ on a budget, a wonderful hobby for the overly focussed and those fond of a pun.

“So Syd, what do you know about tropical fish keeping”? I hear you say.
Well the truthful answer to this is ‘not much’ but then again we all learn best by trial and error. What I can honestly say to you is that the topsoil in my back garden is chock full with my fish keeping mistakes and errors.

“Syd, is fish keeping something anyone can do?”
Few people realise the many similarities between manned space flight and fish keeping. Get a few little things wrong and death and destruction will follow as sure as night follows day. So fish keepers - ‘sweat the small stuff’ and keep your tank an oasis of health and tranquillity.

Syd's Ram Tetra

“Syd, is fish keeping expensive?”
Yes and no. Keeping ‘great white sharks’ is a ‘cash rich’ hobby and requires a very large living room or dentist’s reception area to accommodate.  On the other hand, keeping a few ‘mountain minnows in an unheated fresh water aquarium can be both rewarding and cost minimal.

“Syd, in fish keeping is there a prime directive?”
Yes.  An aquarium is an isolated biosphere totally reliant upon the fish keeper. So the prime directive is:
• At all times maintain the health and welfare of your aquarium and its contents.

Recent addition to Syd's Tropical Aquarium

“Syd, is this difficult to do”
Yes and no. Yes because an aquarium biosphere is a dynamic system. No because if you can obtain equilibrium or balance an aquarium will, with a little regular assistance from the fish keeper, maintain itself.

“Syd, do children make good ‘fish keepers?”
Yes, with Plasticine or modelling clay.

Next time I will consider the issues involved with choosing and setting up a small heated tropical fish aquarium.

No fish, molluscs or crustaceans were harmed either directly or indirectly in the making of this blog.