Fish tank upgrade!

I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a new tank for a while now and last week, my wife found a used 240lt Jewel for a really good price. We just went for it and the next morning we spent the best part of the day, getting the old one cleaned out and filling the new one. The fish were obviously not impressed staying in buckets for a while but it would all be worth it in the end...
We took our time thinking out the layout ahead and had collected some suitable rocks as well as some black sand. We were going to use some of the old gravel for half the bottom of the tank and the black sand for the other half.
While taking the stones and gravel out of the old tank, we were amazed at the amount of 'life' we found. We had a few anemones in the old tank but hadn't seen them for months, I thought they didn't survive but we found them (much larger now) under one of the big rocks!
Moreover, the gravel was absolutely teeming with minute creepy-crawlies and I tried to get as much of it as possible in the new tank...

Out with the old...

Here comes the new!

Definitely more space now!

Thought they were gone!

He needs the space.

 Goes to show what a stable ecosystem the tank had become.
We arranged the rocks overlapping each other, roughly in a pyramid shape, with plenty of nooks and crannies for the fish to hide, yet facing outwards so that you could still see part of the fish.
Also, I introduced a floating Ivy-looking plastic plant that offers great cover for the prawns and even the crab moved there now.

The new tank is practically double the size of the old one with fish having much more space now, even though it's still taken them a few days to sort out who goes where and settle down.
The wrasse and blenny seem the most settled, followed by the scorpions, lemon sole and goby. The rockling has gone back to being a bit shy and mostly comes at night to feed again.
I'm really enjoying the bigger tank but I have to say that I cant wait to add a new fish or two..! Something like a mid-level swimmer... Might even try and get a couple tiny coalfish again. They didn't establish in the old tank but I think they might in this one.

Boss.

 Hopefully, this tank will be just as successful as the old one and my fish definitely seem to like it more. Those prawns especially, as now they have somewhere to hide from the predators that lurk beneath...!

My coldwater marine aquarium.

Its been a good few months now that I have been messing around with keeping a coldwater marine fish tank. My fiance used to keep a couple freshwater tropical fish in it but after they died and the move to our house in Staffin, the tank was just lying about in the shed unused.
It was then when on my LRF sessions, I was getting loads of small fish from the piers and I decided to have a go and utilise it.
I have to admit that there were failures (and loss of life 😞) but I think that I have now got the hang of it. Below I'll give some details on the tank and gear that's worked for me, along with pics of the inhabitants.
The tank is 120ish litre which is about the minimum recommended for saltwater fish tanks. The filter is the Aqua-Flow XL  but also a Hidom AP-2000F 1600LPH for back up.
I've got a Vlike air pump in the tank for proper oxygenation.
After buying an appropriate protein skimmer for tanks to 150L. It became apparent that even though it was working well at first, the amount of scum collected from my crowded tank in the collection cup was needing several changes throughout the day (tedious). That protein skimmer also malfunctioned after a couple months as the water intake (nozzle) had no filter and various bits of food got through and stopped the little fan/prop from working.
I decided to get a new protein skimmer, much larger this time and meant for tanks up to 600l! Its the DG2516 by Boyu and so far it's doing a good job. It needs a bit of adjusting and was skimming like mad at first but once I found the right setting, it stabilised!

Livestock and some notes.
At the moment the following are in my tank:
1 pollock
2 black gobies.
2 rock gobies
1 or 2 butterfish (shy!)
4 sea scorpions (awesome!)
1 flounder
2 blennies
1 limpet
4-5 hermit crabs
1 wee brown crab
few anemones
unknown number of prawns and winkles along with copepods/zooplankton.
I'm mainly feeding them frozen whitefish, scallop offcuts, prawns along with some dried Artemia pellets. Clear preference to the frozen food as expected!
I'm feeding twice a day and usually enough food to be eaten in a few minutes from the fish (limiting ammonia issues as much as I can).
Some further things to consider:

• Rockpool species the easiest to keep.
• Free-swimming species more sensitive to oxygen levels etc. But also increase strain on the whole system (more food, more oxygen, more poo!)
• Some species far better suited for fish tanks than others, ie pollock and whiting are pretty chilled, codling and poor cod so-so, coalfish not suited at all (maybe need more space).
• Some crabs (eg velvet) really thrive and can become bullies when larger.
• Hermit crabs and prawns are good cleaners and also act as extra food for the other fish...
• Don't add seaweed/kelp in the tank unless you know what you're doing!
• Living close to the sea is handy as you can collect seawater easily and thus prevent blooms, ammonia spikes and the like. Also, it can get very addictive collecting new 'tenants'!
• A bucket of fresh sea water every week along with gravel-hoovering, help immensely in keeping a healthy environment.
• After returning from holidays and turning on the heating in the house plus cleaning the filter, was when I'd get bad blooms. Best to partially clean filter with some tank water...

At the moment, I have my fish tank in the hallway, where its always well below 18C and this means I don't need to add a water chiller. Hopefully, it will be ok in the Summer too.
The bottom of the tank is gravel, though I think a couple inches of sand would be better (to help worms and creepy-crawlies hide).
Some pics below.

A not so great pic of Papi the black goby...

One of the sea scorpions when first in the tank.

Sea scorpion tree...

Paulie the pollock.

The smaller black goby.

My wee flounder, a mostly nocturnal hunter.

A spirited blenny.

One of the rock gobies.

Blenny and sea scorpion.

Spot the butterfish...

New favourite tree for the sea scorpions.

Hello.

Big prawn..

Another goby..

Hermit crab and sea scorpion.

Paulie getting a big belly.

Camouflage..

Even better camouflage!

I have to say that the fish tank has provided us with hours of entertainment, not just by observing the creatures but also collecting them! It can seem disconcerting to others, watching two adults rummaging around rockpools with little nets and buckets, but we couldn't care less!
Especially now, in the middle of Winter with frequent storms and unfavourable conditions for fishing, keeping the fish tank somehow improves my mood and I don't feel that bad when I cant go out.
Plan for the warmer months, is to get a larger/longer fish tank so that fish will have more space to move and also try and add a couple wrasse of some kind or even other more unusual little fish.
It's very intriguing watching them and seeing the behaviours each species exhibit. So far I have to say that my favourite fish are the sea scorpions! They show little fear and can be very aggressive, even grabbing bigger prawns than the pollock!

The usual fishing with a few surprises...

On my days off I covered my usual areas as the weather again wasn't the best.. It has to be noted that the pollock fishing hasn't been on fire lately, something that I've tended to note every year around mid-summer and blame the overabundance of prey-fish for the slow sport...  This time of the year fish are far more picky than usual and will feed energetically at only specific times. Usually early mornings are such a time but with the rainy weather we've been getting I just cant get my ass out of bed so early! Moreover slim profile lures are now the best type to use but even then the number of fish is markedly smaller than what it was a few weeks ago...
On a positive note though, more species have finally appeared with the mackerel especially showing in good numbers in some marks.
With that in mind I knew I had to cover a few areas to get some decent fishing and that I did!
I started on Wednesday fishing at one of the Southern marks and things seemed to be going well with pollock from the off. They soon quietened down though and the mackerel started... Moreover I caught a lovely short spined sea scorpion with the most vivid red colour I have ever seen!
Towards the end of the session I had an even greater surprise when, after changing lure to a metal, I caught a nice sea trout!
Below some pics and the video of the session.

A beauty!

And another beauty!

On Thursday I started the day by visiting a shallow kelpy mark with the intention of trying a new rod out (Lucky Craft ESGII 971 XHXXF, 9'7" 3-30g). I got this rod to be used mainly with hardbaits and after catching a couple fish I decided to head home and have a break as things were very quiet around low tide.

Later in the afternoon I visited Neist Point (after a while) but unfortunately the weather turned really bad and after a nice 2.6kg first fish, things slowed to a grind.. The rain intensified but I soldiered on for a few more fish taken at range and in deep water. Too much effort for little reward but you never know... I was again let down by my waterproofs as i got soaked to the bone again and also my smartphone stopped working... These issues will be addressed seriously soon...
Something else to add is that most of the fish came on the Hayabusa Kicktail and the biggest one on the lovely slim Hayabusa Jack Eye D-Slide (from an area already covered by another angler) and I speculate that the slim (sandeel) profile along with its exacerbated irregular fall are the cause...

A serious fighter...

The video.

A great couple days in all and I'm glad I got the camera working again!

Tight Lines

Finally a sunny day!

Woke up yesterday and looking out my window I realised that there was no rain and no wind! It has been pretty bad for the past few weeks although the temperature seems to be relatively high for this time of year. Anyway having finally gotten some days off I didn't need more encouragement to pack the gear in the car and go. Destination was Loch Fyne and I would fish with the LRF gear again. I didn't expect things to have changed so I would follow similar tactics as in last time. Namely a carolina rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead, #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook and this time the lures were mostly dark, slim paddltetails as the water was crystal clear.
I arrived at the mark maybe an hour before high tide, and it was going to be a big tide as my spot was already covered by water...
I started casting my rig around the point and focused on bottom work at distance first and then changing to more OTD and steady retrieve tactics as things were slow on the bottom. A few casts in and I got my first bite on a steady retrieve after a couple tugs with the rod tip to get some noise going. The fish put up a good little scrap but was soon landed. Only a small pollock but much better than the micro ones from last time! This bite kept until the high tide mark with a few pollock caught on the same way. They would hit as soon as the lure passed a ledge or rocks they were staging. I also had a couple OTD fish and bites showing that the fish were pretty up for it for this time of the year...

Finally!

Much better than last time!

They seem healthy as well still.

I then decided to move to the second point and play with the codling but after a couple hours there and with the weather starting to change, I got only a couple codling-like missed bites and a lovely short spinned sea scorpion. It comes to me that most times I encounter them, the codling are quiet. Possible preference for less competition?

I Love sea scorpions!

Stunning...

On the upside, I met a fellow lure angler and member of The Lure Forum on the second point and we had a good chat and a lovely coffee that he generously offered. Joe fishes Loch Fyne regularly with heavier gear and had lost a good fish today that took him to the rocks. Nevertheless he sounded as pleased as me for going out and enjoying the day. Moreover he owns a boat and has kindly invited me to join him on a trip when the weather is a bit better. Now that would really be cool!
It really was a lovely day to be out and I needed it. Although the codling didn't play ball, the pollock more than made up for it plus I always enjoy catching the sea scorpions. The brass and glass combo either in carolina or texas rig seems to do the job well and for the second time I noticed that I had very limited losses. Possibly 2 rigs, which for this mark is very good. In addition I only had a couple missed bites and for that I think that the extra sharp Decoy RS worm 101 hook played an important role.
Below the video with the pollock action.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 2.5"-3" dark slim paddletails on a carolina or texas rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead and #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook.

A sunny day on the East coast: St Abbs head.

Yesterday my day off coincided with Scott's and he invited me for a session on his neck of the woods. I dully obliged and took the train to Edinburgh arriving there about 09:00. Now there were some setbacks to this trip, first I recently realised that my favourite KG Evolution tip was cracked (from the return trip on Skye) but I managed to patch it up with superglue and braid.. And secondly only the day before I managed to cut a bit of the tip of my thumb at work! Undeterred I patched that one as well (not with superglue and braid I must add..) and was looking forward to some fine fishing...
We reached the mark about an hour later to find perfect conditions. Little wind, overcast but clearing and an incoming tide. I started with a Salty bait/gulp sandeel combo and got a pollock first cast but then things got really slow.. This wasn't very surprising as we soon saw dolphins passing at casting distance from our spot.. They were a beautiful sight but I was concerned about their effect on the fishing, as I believe they negatively affect the fish more so than seals etc.. And so it was for a while we had no takes (not even coalies!) until I started working the bottom with a 12g cheburashka and a 3" Crazy fish vibro fat paddletail. I got a take OTD near the bottom and then got stuck.. I gave it a couple seconds and then managed to get whatever it was unstuck. It felt like dead weight but I was sure it was a fish and after a while we saw a huge mouth surfacing from the depths.. It was a big mama short spined scorpion fish that got us cheering! I always get a kick from catching these guys, especially when they're at that size!

A beast!

Cant get enough pics of them!

Cavernous mouth!

Japanese pose..

Pollock on the Salty bait/gulp sandeel

After that, the action really slowed down again and it was time to move.. We had an arduous hike to the next point but we were fishing soon enough. I had a follow on my first cast, possibly from a pollock (usually a sign that fish are not active when pollock are concerned) but couldn't tempt it again.
The place was looking very 'wrassy' though and soon enough Scott's rod was bent into one that took some dropshotted gulp. Soon after I had one as well on the cheburashka and what I consider a testament to 'proper' lures effectiveness on them. I believe that when they are active they will happily eat a well presented softie and gulp/isomes etc are not the only way for Scottish wrasse. Certainly down South this is the case as wrasse numbers there are huge and I remember in Sark days that they would practically hit anything!
I decided to try and target the wrasse more specifically as the pollock were not playing ball and I prepared a Jika rig with a small creature. I consider the jika a deadly presentation for wrasse especially when using creatures and crawling/hopping them across the bottom. Unfortunately the wrasse weren't that hungry and neither me nor Scott got another one although I missed a solid bite...
As I was fishing for wrasse though I spied two silhouettes moving quickly near the surface of the water, and after a closer inspection, I'm sure they were bass and good ones at that, around the 50-60cm mark! I told this to Scott who informed me that they are regularly seen and caught here and after this I fan casted the area with a Savagear sandeel with no results though.. I then decided to fish a stickbait on a weighted hook just to see if it would make a difference to those passive pollock plus it could also pick up wrasse and bass. This quickly did the trick and a pollock engulfed the whole thing OTD, thus giving me little fight and in the end I had to keep the fish..

The point we were heading...

Scott climbing at the top..

Wish there were more of them about!

Jika rig.

Pollock on the stickbait

Sadly no more fish came from the point and I decided to work the deep kelpy bay on the right. I reverted back to the cheburashka (7g this time) with a 3" Long John paddletail. I stumbled upon these paddletails on ebay and I'm guessing they're Chinese, but Ive had great results with them and they look and move good. Moreover they are heavily scented and very cheap too! The tide was going out now and after a few casts at the deeper parts without luck, I moved closer to the back of the bay and made a cast near a big boulder that I could see was standing just before the water got deeper at the edge. I let the lure drop on controlled line and as I started picking up line on the reel, I realised I had a fish on! It felt pretty heavy but didn't do many runs only getting lively before I brought it up. A nice pollock of around 4.5-5lbs had engulfed the lure and this explains again the slow fight. Very carefully I unhooked the fish with the pliers and with a bit of help it swam back into the depths. I proceeded in getting another fish that gave me a screeching run but got itself unhooked in the kelp on the way up.. Another cast towards the shallows and another fish hit me hard and made a mad run! It went on a couple more peeling drag in the process before I landed it after a bit of scrambling on the rocks. Another fine pollock that I didn't bother taking too many pics of as I had the fight on the action-cam... or so I thought..!

Quality pollock.

Excellent fighter!

Anyway we decided to head back and after an arduous hike up the cliff we arrived sweaty back in the car.
We then drove to st Abbs harbour with flatties in mind but we blanked and it was time for me to get the train home. Below a vid of the day:

Some interesting notes on the day are that dolphins really do kill the action on a days fishing... I suspect this may also explain why the pollock were caught so close to shore. Moreover even though Ive only been a few times on the East coast I have to say that although it gives good fish, you have to work hard for them and you don't get the flurry of action that we get on the sea-lochs. The presence of bass was also very surprising and I guess I should make a session for them sometime soon but alas the lack of car has really brought my plans for the summer upside down...
Another quality day with my friend Scott and I really appreciate him showing his marks to me. Looking forward to his results form his holidays in a few days time and also to fish again after he returns.

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g.
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs
lures:Cheburashka with 3" paddletails, Duel Salty bait/gulp Sandeel, 4" stick bait on 3g weighted wide gap offset hook.