Too many projects, too little time!

Been a while since my last post and this isn't because of nothing new happening. On the contrary, there's too much going on! 

Fishing has taken a back seat and I've only managed a couple sessions that were relatively productive. Finding the fish was the tricky part as they seemed to be concentrated in only a few places.  Once found, they were up for it and the chatterbait-cheburashka in particular was very effective. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbelievably I even had some coalies hit the topwater back in February! I was let down by my action cam and smartphone battery life though and don't have the pics and videos that I should have from those sessions.  I blame the long sessions and the cold conditions for this. Especially my smartphone seems to get drained very quickly when I'm running Navionics and the trolling motor from it. I've bought a power bank to alleviate this problem. 

My friend Chris's homemade softplastics and jigheads/chebs have been doing very well too and I definitely think that the suppleness of homepoured softplastics is an important factor for their success in cold conditions and fussy fish. 

One of my mates forktails...

 

And a sandeel imitation.

 

I've had to repair the inflatable keel of my boat  as it started showing tiny holes along a seam and loosing pressure. It looks like it's an age related issue and I've tried to fix it by pouring Sealskin sealant in the tube. This seems to have sorted it for now. I really can't wait for my F-Rib to arrive but there's no clear ETA for that...

Unhappy with not having my new boat and affected by this lockdown, I took the plunge and bought an inflatable pedal kayak to fill the void...! It's a Story-1 dropstitch pedal kayak and only managed to have a wee try on it last week.  Hopefully I'll put it through its paces soon...

The yak minus the pedal gear.

Used it without the pedals just to get a feel for it...

The water chiller has been keeping the fish tank consistently at 12C but unfortunately the goldsinny wrasse has been getting aggressive towards some of the smaller inhabitants. It pecked the wee gurnard's tail and unfortunately the lobster got it soon after.  I think it might be time to release the wrasse and introduce some less territorial (and less toothy) fish. Definitely scorpions and maybe rockling again. The lobster has been incessantly rearranging the tank lately and I think it's time for moulting again.

Love gurnards now!

The starfish appeared out of nowhere weeks after putting it in the tank. The lumpfish unfortunately got taken by the lobster.

My plans for this month are to kick off the trout season and use the kayak as much as possible. Also, would really like a couple calm water days to get the boat out in the salt!

Tight Lines!

Developments in my coldwater marine aquarium.

 A lot has happened to my fish tank since the last post I did about it. Back in Summer, the few unusually hot weeks, unfortunately caused some significant losses. My beloved scorpions, lemon sole and the rockling perished... Because of this, I'm planning on getting a water chiller in Spring to prevent this from happening again. 

I also had to remove a blenny and a big ballan wrasse that were too boisterous towards the other inhabitants of the tank. Lastly, Papi the goby and the veteran of the tank, died a few weeks ago, probably from old age!

It's not been all doom and gloom though. Current Inhabitants are: 1 lobster, 1 goldsinny wrasse, 1 pollock, 1 velvet crab, 1 baby blenny and a gurnard! Along with plenty of prawns and winkles for forage and tank cleaning.

Plenty of cover and structure. 

Queen of the tank. 

It's a very harmonious environment, although only after I taped up the lobster's claws as he was picking fish off while they were sleeping. Lobster's got very territorial and also is a landscape artist(!). It was very surprising seeing it move rocks and plants around just to create the lair it prefers! 

The gurnard is the latest addition and seems very chilled out in the tank. I was also given a tiny boarfish that seemed to be suitable for the fish tank but unfortunately it's tiny size and preference for open swimming to hiding, made it an easy snack. I hope I find a larger one of them as it was so cool!

Only the left one survives now.

Tiny boarfish. Acclimatised but eaten...

Them claws are secure with tape now...

I'm hoping to incorporate a couple more little fish now that the lobster has been "pacified". Think the gurnard needs a shoalmate as the lobster ate his brothers and would also love another sea scorpion. 

I still keep the same regime of adding some water once a month along with some sand vacuum and filter cleaning. Still feeding chopped frozen prawns with some whitefish and pellets for some variety. The pellets are lumpsucker feed and most fish along with the lobster love them.

All in all I still love messing around with the fish tank and see it evolve. With the horrible weather we've been having, it helps me feel better for not being able to go fish.

RIP Papi...