I drove to Fulbourn, Cambs, today, to collect a free aquarium. The weather was sublime. So I drove top down. Gorgeous! Sometimes it feels great just to be alive.
The guy giving away the aquarium, via Freecycle, was a thoroughly decent chap. Dave gave us not only the aquarium itself (a 70l capacity job) but also a bag of gravel, a thermometer, a spare bulb, and – oh frabjous day – it came with an integral filter/pump system.
I spent about an hour or two cleaning the tank, the lid/pump, etc, and even washing the gravel (three times!). I then put the gravel in, followed by the water.
Time and energy allowing, we’d like to visit an aquatics shop later, to have a gander at potential stock. We’re thinking two goldfish. We’ll also need to learn a bit about maintaining the right conditions, and generally looking after wee little fishies!
Ah, me, what fun!
After doing/writing all of the above, we did indeed get out, to Maidenhead Aquatics, on the edge of Peterborough. We asked a few questions, and bought five real plants (plastic ones are very dear!). Once home these went into the tank, along with a few rocks and a couple of knotty root type bits of wood.
We hope the plants will last a decent while? The rocks are fine, obviously. The wood? Well, it’s currently a-floating, as wood does. Maidenhead Aquatics advised that we let the water stand a full week afore introducing fish.
Patience is hard!