Time to chill and watch them swim

Some people listen to music, some use aromatherapy but for me, its having an aquarium.

The setup was below $100.

Things that went through my mind when choosing an aquarium:
a) Location of power supply - yes, I had 1 power supply that could power the pump and lights
b) Do I have time to maintain - well, I chose a low maintenance tank and my lovely wife is helping with the feeding.
c) Are my kids ready? - yes, all were briefed that no fishing is allowed in the house.
d) What type of aquarium should I buy? - At the shop, decided to go for a all-in-1 tank that had lights, pump and the tank is full covered to prevent suicidal fishes from jumping out.
e) Budget - $100 was the max I was willing to spend.

Learnings:
When my wife and I first started setting up the aquarium, enthusiasm was high. We spent quite a considerable sum of money on fishes. Why? Because the fatality rate was high. It's easy on hindsight when you already have a "seasoned" aquarium to say.....dun buy so much fish......you must let the aquarium get enough bacteria blah blah blah....have patience....please....who can wait so long?

Come on! If you spend almost $100 on an aquarium, you would want to have beautiful fishes inside right???  and immediately too....Duh...


If possible, start with CHEAP and yet still beautiful fish....
After countless retrieval of dead fishes from my aquarium and becoming good friends with the "uncle' at the aquarium shop (cos I keep buying fishes from him), I decided one Sunday afternoon to "invest" in those live fish that the aquarium sell as food for other bigger fishes.

I bought 2 bags of baby carp/gold fishes for $3. Out of the numerous fishes, all died except 2. At the same time, my friend gave me a pair of guppies. The female was pregnant and she gave birth to over 30 babies.  From the 30 guppy babies, they multiplied until today.....the population is quite stable.

Seeing my 2 gold fish swimming (Adam and Eve), one Sunday I decided give them more friends by adding an additional bag of live fish into the aquarium. Surprisingly, the fatality rate was very low this time. Only 2 died.

In summary, it seems like the aquarium is quite healthy already.....bacteria, water and all factors.


Can guppies and gold fish live together?
Yes, I have guppies, goldfish.carp, 1 Oto and 1 prawn living together.

Happy after food...

Another pregnant guppy

The goldfish like the bottom half whereas the guppies take the top part of the tank

Fishfood

These are what we feed them.....mixture so they dun get bored.

Happiness
Its not expensive to maintain, yet it brings our family countless hours of discussion, talk and fun just watching them feed or swim around. Indeed, we sort of get the feeling of how happy Daddy God feels when he looks at us.