So you probably already know, I have a following for early Marillion (81-91), and after Fish split, I’ve followed Fish Solo career, and the latest and last albums arrived last week.
So last week on Friday 30th August 2024, Meltonby Honey appeared on the show!
The video is the right way wound now, and for those wondering “He Knows You Know” is a Marillion song, one of my favorites, and it still remains a mystery how Dr Emlyin Roberts knew!
Today, my joy knew no bounds as I unwrapped the long-awaited Fish album “2024 REMIXED”, a masterpiece meticulously crafted by the exceptionally gifted Calum Malcolm. This latest offering from Fish is a true gem available in both vinyl and CD/DVD formats. The exclusive release of “Vigil in A Wilderness of Mirrors” brilliantly showcases Fish’s musical genius and Calum Malcolm’s unique artistic vision. This special edition allows fans to fully immerse themselves in the captivating world of the album through a variety of mediums, offering a diverse and enriching listening experience like no other. Whether you prefer the nostalgic crackle of vinyl or the pristine clarity of a CD/DVD, this album is sure to enthrall and fascinate listeners with its profound complexities. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to explore the intricate layers of sound and emotion expertly woven together by Fish and Calum Malcolm in this exceptional musical journey. Dive deep into their creativity and let yourself be transported to a realm of unparalleled musical beauty, where every note and rhythm tells a story that resonates deeply with the soul.
Available to exclusively order from https://fishmusic.scot/
Look what dropped through the letter box today, well in fact the Postie gave it to me!
Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors Vinyl- Signed by Fish
So I’ve been waiting for this album for a very long time, 34 years in fact !
This was the first Fish album after he went solo after leaving Marillion, I’ve been listening to and following Fish since, and not so much Marillion, in fact no “new” Marillion!
Fish has decide to retire, after his Farewell Tour “Road To The Isles Tour” starting in the Autumn 2024, and ending in the UK in Spring 2025.
I went to the Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society fish auction today, this is the second time I’ve been to a Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society fish auction. I received a very warm welcome from members of the society, and despite leaving late from York, and driving like a Forumla 1 driver, got to the auction before it started. Auction started shortly after 1pm, and was well catered for with refreshments, drinks and food, fanastic because I’d not eaten all day (I don’t do breakfast!), so it was nice to get a can of pop during a break, when I wasn’t bidding!
Just a list of the few fish that came up for auction, Corydoras (approx 10 different species), Platies, Mollies, Guppies, Angelfish, L-number catfish, Ancistrus (approx 5 different species), Cichlids, Danios, Gouramis and Killifish. I think there was something for most fishkeepers from beginners to experts, and also for sale F1 (local breed) King Tiger Plecos L66s, it wouldn’t be fair to list prices, just make sure you go to the next auction.Lots of dry goods, filters, food, electrical items, tanks. In my opinion, most tank breed local fish are always better quality than whats available in the local tropical fish shops. (if available).
The next auction, and it’s the last auction of the year is on Monday Evening 12th October at The Pheasant Inn, 822 Barnsley Road, Sheffield, S5 0QG. Auction starts at 20:00hrs.
This is the list of items I won today at auction
two boxes of fish!
Again congratulations to members of the society for a execellent auction.
I was also lucky enough to win a few times in the Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society raffle today, and for first prize I selected a new Aqua One external filter and later some ceramic hoop filter media. So it’s always worth purchasing a strip to help out the society.
Raffle Prizes
I also passed Simply Aquatics, 84 – 86 The Common, Ecclesfield, Sheffield, S35 9WN on the return journey, and this is one excellent shop. Excellent slection of tropical, coldwater and marines, and very well maintained, and clean setup. Five stars and highly recommended, it will be on my places to visit next time I’m in the area. It’s only been open 6 months, and is definately worth a visit, whether begineer or expert. I also met David Marshall, Secretary of Ryedale Aquarist Soceity purchasing fish in Simply Aquatics as well (I didn’t know, I’d been sat next to him in the auction for three hours!). Just Google for David Marshall, Ryedale (click link and you’ll see who I’m referring to). He beat me to purchasing a very nice catfish, I must contact him, and ask him for the latin name, I also bought, what David Bought.
Purchased from Simply Aquatics,
The Zebra Danios were described as purple, but they look red/pink to me, the shop is a member of OATA, and assured me they were not dyed, and were true purple/red/pink direct from Malayasia. David and I were interested how these young danios develop and if they breed true. If DEFRA come knocking at our doors, we will know, thay they are GM fish! The Silver Dollars are to grow on for my large oddball tank.
Interesting!
Three months ago, I reported all change in the fish house and removed 9 unsed fish tanks from the fish house and tried to replace them with a spare 48x18x12 – plans didn’t work well!, well it’s taken me three months to get the faulty aquarium replaced, and I’ve spent many hours this weekend installing the tank on it’s shelf. I’d previously removed the 2 x 24x12x15 and 18x18x18 cube from this shelf. So I just needed to slot this tank in place and wire-up heaters and filters.
Algarde Digi-Therm external stat
I’ve used an Algarde Digi-Therm digital external thermostat connected to two heaters (200 and 300 watt) – this is rather an old combination of using external thermostat connected to internal heaters, the norm these days is to use, combined heater thermostats, but I still prefer this older, safer combination. I’ve had many combined heater stats jam on and heat up and kill the fish in the tank.
Hagen Bio-Life 55 internal filter with trickle filter
Filtration is provided by a Hagen Bio-Life 55, internal Wet ‘n’ Dry internal filter, and excellent internal filter – I’ve had to start this filter from new, so it’s not mature yet, and will take several weeks to mature and
homebrew tank hangers for biolife 55
I had to make some homebrew clips to secure the fish tank to the side of the tank, as this tank is 18″ deep, I’ve lost the suckers or bracket to stick to tank wall , I was going to use a Dennerle C400 internal filter, but I prefer this filter because it has an internal trickle filter (they were all the rage, once upon a time). I’ve also installed an air-driven
Algarde Bio-foam 200 sponge filter
Algarde Bio-Foam 200 internal foam filter using four foams, this was easy to mature, because I just stole a foam from other tanks in the fish house which are already mature, as most tanks in the fish house have air-driven Algarde Bio-Foam 200 internal foam filter using two foams – so I ust removed one foam and replaced with a new, and made sure the mature foam was pre-washed in old aquarium water. I’m hoping that this speeds up maturation of the aquarium. I’ve also installed a sand filter,
Lifegard FB300 Fluidized Sand Filter (fully Fluidized!)
a Lifegard FB300 driven by a Maxijet PH600 powerhead. I don’t think you can ever “over-filter” a tank. I had a small issue with this filter, because after filling it with media (sand), the powerhead wouldn’t drive it correctly, even after testing it correcly before filling, so I had to empty the sand into a bucket, re-connect the filter, run the powerhead, and re-fill the filter with a 5ml spoon of sand at a time to prevent clogging, it took a while re-filling the filter with sand, a few spoonfuls!
top of tank showing water movement
Tank water looks a bit cloudy at present, but give it a week, and I’m sure this will clear, as the bacteria start to work their magic.
I’ve not blogged anything about the fish house in a while, because nothing really exciting has happend, and I didn’t think you be interested in feeding the fish, or bi-weekly partial water changes. To conserve electricity, I shut down six small fish tanks in December 2008 (18inch x 10inch x 10inch, and smaller), they were used as quarantine, and for smaller fish, but more recently I’d increased the fish house, by six tanks, so these weren’t really used a great deal. These four fish tanks, were the first four that started the fish house in 2004. Time for a change.
I’ve had three four foot fish tanks in storage since the fish house move of July 2006. One four foot tank would replace these four nicely!
I’ve cleaned, soak tested it for leaks, and painted the sides white with some spare matt emulsion. It’s not the tidest of fish tanks, but it holds water, ideal for the fish house.
These are the four dirty fish tanks in the fish hosue that will be replaced by one single 48x15x12 fish tank. I just noticed that one of the tanks, has a successfuly breeding colony of snails. Most of the time, I’m trying to get rid of these with Clown andCandy loaches, and have successfully removed all snails from the fish house. I’ll keep these in another small tank, so I can rear them for live food for the loaches. (I’ll regret it later, I’m sure).
wires, and new polysterene required, and a bit of tidy up required before I site the replacement fish tank. That’s another day.
Lindsey noticed a strong smell of petrol today near the generator shed (generator is used to power the fish house, when there’s a power outage) which I ignored!, I’ve just investigated because it is rather strong and it would appear a pipe has split and petrol has been leaking from the petrol tank! I’ve left the generator shed door open for the fumes to escape overnight, and I moved the fire-extinguisher from the kitchen into the porch!
Top of the to-do list tomorrow morning in day light me thinks!
Note to self: Pay attention to what Lindsey tells me! It’s often correct!!
Juvenile Pangasius Sanitwongsei
I learnt today, that Tescos, Sainsbury’s and ADSA in the United Kingdom are selling a cheap white fish at the fishmongers counter which are usually available live from the local tropical fish shop. Very small or very large unwanted specimens of the Pangasius catfish are usually seen in local tropical fish shops.
Pangasius Catfish
It’s sold as Pangasius, Vietnamese River Cobbler, White Catfish, Gray Sole, I know it as the Pangasius catfish (which there are a few species) or Paroon/Iridescent shark
I’ve seen very large wild specimens in China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnamin in the rivers. I must dig out some video footage, I recorded in Bangkok, in the canals, of these very large fish.
Interesting article here
A nine foot one was described here in PFK in 2005.
These times are changing it’s been five years, I’ve been blogging, and the software I’ve been using has run it’s course and it’s time to upgrade to something more current. Over the next coming months, I will try and merge aquablog and our house blogs into one blog, with different categories, rather than two seperate blogs which is how they exist at present. This will allow me to blog in more specific categories, fish house, garden DIY, car, computers, internet etc, you get the general idea. So you can select a category (section) to read, rather than ready all the rubbish I blog about. The FishHouse Blog! and Our House blogs haven’t moved and are still there. Just click the links to access them. Eventually they will be merged into categorys (sections) here.
Apologies for not posting for a while, life just gets in the way. But with the arrival of some new fish, starts a New Long Term Breeding Project.
I saw mature large “breeding pairs” of these fish three years ago at a local auction in West Yorkshire, they were advertised as a breeding pair, definately males and females but I suspect the owner, had no success in breeding them and hence they were up for auction. To this very day, I regret not keeping my hand up for longer, they sold for little money! and it’s taken me that long to obtain some young fish so I can grow on, and hopefully ontain some breeding pairs.
Let me introduce you to the Electric Blue Jack Dempseys
Alot has been documented and written about these fish, click the link above to search for it.
Two sites Practical Fiskeeping Article Blue Jack Dempsey identity revealed and www.bluejax.co.uk have some excellent information, rather than me retype it here.
But first things first, they need to grow……and then I can select males and femles.
Electric Blue Jack Dempseys
Electric Blue Jack Dempseys
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