Tiger and Albert

two fat kuhlis, hanging out in the bolbitis fern.

At one point Tiger was turned so his belly up against the glass, could see clearly his stripes don't meet underneath. I wanted to get a picture of that, he was hanging so still resting there. But of course as soon as I came back with the camera, he'd moved.

They really are getting hefty now, with the feedings via the tube. I don't think I mentioned where it came from. I had this fertilizer applicator bought with the aquafertz tabs. It never worked well for me to insert the tabs- they always came back up with the stick. One day I looked closely at it- the applicator was simply a solid thin rod of acrylic inside a long tube of acrylic. Rod has a wooden handle on one end, tube had a soft rubber sleeve on the other tip, to hold the pellet when using.

I took it apart. Removed the rubber sleeve. Now I use the acrylic rod with wooden knob handle to nudge things in the tank, shift a leaf back into place after the current from new water being added pushes them around, or indicate a plant to someone I'm showing the tank to. I use the acrylic tube to spot-feed the kuhlis. It easily reaches the bottom of the tank. I've also found it useful to siphon small items or food debris out, especially in Perry's tank if he misses something. Or if poo is sitting on the moss ledge (which doesn't have much moss on it yet). I don't like looking at that.

Glad I kept and dismantled the thing, instead of tossing or selling it. It's turned out to be very useful as a prod, siphon straw and feeding tube!