I cut back quite a few of the plants when we did a water change on Saturday. I was a bit heavy-handed, I think, so it looks a bit bare in the upper third – which is certainly different from before. The fish were quite shocked,I think, to find themselves a bit exposed. Oops. It’s a bit better looking today,as a couple of plants have come loose, and are floating at the top of the tank.

I wonder whether we are overfeeding? Some of the mollies are looking a little portly. I will definitely be bringing back “bloodworm and brine shrimp as treat”, rather than everyday food – which we’ve done a bit lately, simply because they seem to enjoy it so much – and also have a day without food. One problem is that James simply cannot bear for the fish to go without food; he imputes his own hunger on to them, I think, and sometimes feeds them just to watch them. No harm is meant, obviously,and he doesn’t do it too much, but…

I am very glad we made a cave with two rocks, as the cloaches are spending a large amount of time in there – at the moment, all three are crowded in there. This may get to a problem when they grow more – a few more fishy inches and they won’t fit three, or even two, in there. We may have to consider more caves.

It will be nice to have the fish next year, to look at during study breaks. I don’t think they’ll be quite interesting enough to take up hours of time, but interesting enough.