We have fish!!

Yesterday I purchased 12 (4” – 6”) feed trained yellow perch fingerlings.

I am going to hold them in a 10 gallon aquarium for a couple of days before I put them into the large tank. If everything goes well, I will go back and get 15 – 20 more in a week or two.

The system still has not cycled even with elevated ammonia levels. I was able to get the ammonia level down considerably by doing a 75% (or more) water change. I am still not sure where the ammonia came from, but until the system cycles, I will resort to water changes to control it.

Before the major water change the ammonia levels were very high (8 plus). After the water change, it appears to be holding at about 1. I have been testing with both the liquid and test strips and both are giving the same results.

I brought the fish home in large oxygen bags (provided by the seller) inside of two 5 gallon buckets that I brought with me (6 fish in each bucket). Since the fish are cold water fish, and the outdoor temps are warmer, no heat was necessary. Also, since the drive home was only 20 minutes, and the fish were in oxygen bags, I did not provide any aeration.

The seller provided me with a small (one month supply) of premium fish food (I already forgot the brand name). For the most part they seem to like it, however, some of the fish are quite small and the fish food swells up to a size they cannot swallow. They suck it into their mouths and then spit it out again, sometimes repeatedly. I am going to try to break it up some and see how they handle it.

I am thinking about trying to raise minnows to feed to the perch. Maybe some worms as well. One step at a time though.

The lettuce that I planted a week ago is doing alright so far. It appears that the different varieties that I have grow at different rates. The all green variety is growing much faster than the mixed variety. The larger plants appear to have some yellowing in the older leaves and the overall plants seem to be a bit pale. Hopefully they will hold on long enough for the tank to cycle. I will post some updated lettuce pics as soon as I get a chance to take some photos.

In the meantime, here are some pics and a video of the fish:





[video:28nrnlsh]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsPErbIXspg[/video:28nrnlsh]