The Darkest Day

I love cricket. I love cricket more than most things. There's nothing like the excitement and buzz around the build up to a big home summer, or seeing a young upcoming player make their first century or take their first wicket, or staying up late with fingernails in mouth to watch gripping conclusions of important matches fought in various timezones across the world.

Unfortunately, however, my voracious love for the game means, along with the good times, many heartbreaking moments and gut-wrenching days. Today is one of those.

I can't help but feeling that this could have been the day that turned the India-Australia series around. In fact, I have this sickening feeling which tells me that the success or failure of the Australian cricket team for the coming year hinged on today's play. Had all gone according to plan, the only way from here was up. Now, it feels like the only way is backwards. Today is probably the darkest day I have ever endured as a follower Australian cricket.

It all started when Pragyan Ohja turned an absolute beauty past Steve Smith's outside edge, causing him to lose his balance and consequently his wicket - stumped by MS Dhoni - eight runs away from what would have been one of the most deserved maiden test centuries I have ever seen. I was so ready to show a rare bit of emotion and give a little fist pump in celebration. Steve Smith surprised me with how well he played. He has a good temperament for a young player, he sticks to his own game plan, and he's a really good player of spin - nimble on his feet, with a good balance of attack and defence. Hopefully some of the senior members of his team learn a thing or two from his innings today.

If Steven Smith deserved a little fist pump for what could have been his maiden test ton, Mitchell Starc deserved a full-on jump for joy (as well as a rise up the batting order) if he had made his. I have never felt so heartbroken for anybody getting out in the 90's before in my life - and I was watching when Warnie lofted Daniel Vettori straight down Mark Richardson's throat on 99 at the WACA!

Despite Smith and Starc falling just short of their maiden tons, their heroics guided Australia for a very respectable 400+ total. With a fresh, well balanced bowling attack ready to come out and win the test match for the Aussies, the day's disappointments were surely well and truly behind us, right? Wrong. I didn't watch it, but I can only imagine the horror of Shikhar Dharwan making an absolute meal of Xavier Doherty and co in his debut innings. How Australia did not manage take a single wicket in two and a bit sessions, with four frontline bowlers and two allrounders on a day three pitch is unfathomable. I've seen long days on slow, low subcontinental pitches before, but nothing like this.

So continues the rollercoaster ride in this wonderfully fickle game I love so much. It's not like watching the great Aussie teams of yesteryear, when you were pretty much guaranteed a victory every time you watched. I guess it's kinda exciting, knowing that the next game the Aussies play will end in either one of the following: Complete disaster, narrow defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, or narrow win by a margin too close for comfort. Close your eyes and hope for the best. Kinda like what Phil Hughes does...

Aquarium Update!

I'm not trying to turn this blog into an all-aquarium menagerie, I swear. The thing is, I tend to write when I start feeling dramatic and emotional, and I just haven't had anything particularly emotional to write about lately (which is a good thing!). Also, the cricket, isn't going all that well over in India right now. There are many, many things I could write about the Australian cricket team right now, none of them very pleasant. So unless you enjoy long, angry rants, it's best you don't get me started.

Anyhow, in this post I want to update you on the progress of my freshwater tropical Guyana Blackwater aquarium. I'll provide some 'before and after' shots, talk about some of the changes I have made (or that kinda just happened), and provide some of my thoughts on the current state of fishy affairs.

Here is a photo of my 200L/52 US Gallon Guyana Blackwater tank when I posted about it five months ago, October 2012:

Guyana Blackwater - October 2012

And this is what it looks like now:

Guyana Blackwater - March 2013

As you can see, quite a lot has happened in the five or so months since the first photo was taken. The plants have absolutely exploded since October last year; the vallisneria (grassy stuff in the back left corner) has gone beserk, and continues to spread its runners all over the tank. The amazon swords and crypts (broad leafed plants in the mid-ground, left and right) have grown much larger, and are producing a healthy number of new leaves. The floating water sprite also went nuts on the surface, so-much-so that it started shrouding the whole tank in darkness, and had to be removed...

For those of you who are interested, I purposely chose plants for this tank which are simple to care for and don't require much maintenance. On a weekly basis, I remove dead leaves and decaying matter, and occasionally cut back the runners of the vallisneria to keep it from taking over the entire tank. I feed the plants with Seachem root tablets every few months, and occasionally dose with Seachem liquid fertilisers - but they seem to do fine without the fertilisers anyway. The plants grow perfectly well under only 60 watts of lighting (which is considered low light in aquatic gardening circles), and the tank is lit for a generous 10 - 11 hours a day. I've found the key to successful plant growth is doing the research, and choosing the right plants for your aquatic situation! 

Those with a keener eye perhaps would have noticed the slight change in positioning of the piece of wood in the centre. I was not at all happy with it's original position, so I fiddled around with it until I was satisfied - it turns out all I needed to do was flip it over! I think it looks a lot more natural in it's new position, like some gnarled piece of root jutting out of the riverbed... or something. The lesson is to take your time with your hardscape, and don't give up until you're completely satisfied. It will be well worth the effort!

The fish are going swimmingly, too. There have been a couple of changes to the stock since my last post. Previously, I mentioned that I had four angelfish in the tank. Now there are only three. Like people, I find that each individual fish has its own personality. For example, we all know that one guy who's just angry, all the time. Kinda like the lead singer of Linkin Park who screams all the time. Well, one of the angelfish turned out to be that guy. He was constantly chasing the other fish around the tank, nipping at fins, and just being plain angry. He was the Chester Bennington of the fish world. He was stressing my other fish out, so in the end I had to return him to my local fish store. Fortunately, the other three angels get on like, well, angels...

By the way, if anyone can come up with some creative names for my three angelfish by looking at these pictures, please let me know. I don't usually like to name my fish, mostly because I suck at naming things, but I'm willing to bump this trend if I get some solid suggestions!

To the stock I also added three Hoplo catfish (Hoplosternum thoracatum). These guys are possibly the coolest fish I have ever owned. They are so friendly and playful, and they love coming to the surface to say hello - they are the fish equivalent of puppy dogs. I highly recommend getting them if you're ever after a hardy, fun, small to medium sized catfish.

Hoplo Catfish - kinda like aquatic puppy dogs

So there you have it! I hope this update has been as interesting for you to read as it has been for me to write, especially in realising just how far the tank has come in a few short months. Looking back, I feel like I've steered the tank away from a tannin-stained, blackwater habitat as was originally planned, and slowly developed it into a thick Amazonian jungle under the water. I don't think the dark brownish water was sitting well with me - I'm enjoying the lush green tones so much more. As always, thanks a bunch for reading - hopefully I'll be able to provide you with another aquarium update in a few months - it will interesting to see how the tank continues to develop and change over that time! Oh, and don't forget to let me know if you think of any cool names for my angelfish. Cheers!

Tank Specs:

Volume: 200L/52 US Gal

Filtration: Eheim cannister 2213

Heating: 1x Aqua One 200W, 1x Aqua One 150W

Lighting: 2x 30W fluorescent tubes

Flora: Vallisneria sp. (Vallis), Echinodorus amazonicus, Echinodorus sp. (Amazon sword), Echinodorus tenellus (Pygmy chain sword), Cryptocoryne sp. (Crypt), Microsorum pteropus (Java fern), Java moss

Fauna:  3x Pterophyllum scalare (Angelfish), 17 x Pristella maxillaris (Pristella tetra), 3x Hoplosternum thoracatum (Hoplo catfish), 1x Ancistrus sp. (Bristlenose Plec)