Tropical Fish

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04300640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Elephant" ><B>Welcome To My Den</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |  </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome To My Den"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Me"><U><B>About Me</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id183.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Search Site"><U><B>Search Site</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Interests"><U><B>My Interests</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Software"><U><B>My Software</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jokes"><U><B>Jokes</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id347.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Guest Book"><U><B> Guest Book</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Column"><U><B>My Column</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Diary"><U><B>Diary</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U><B>Contact Me</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Tropical Fish</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gardening"><U><B>Gardening</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Walking"><U><B>Walking</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 1"><U><B>Mice 1</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 2"><U><B>Mice 2</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cats"><U><B>Cats</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id293.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stamps"><U><B>Stamps</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id291.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Model Railways"><U><B>Model Railways</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id362.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Music"><U><B>Music</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id364.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reading"><U><B>Reading</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="1c654483.gif"> <div> <I>Tropical Fish</I></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I>                                           </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B> </B></I></FONT><A HREF="id296.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fish Links"><U><I><B>Click For Tropical Fish Links</B></I></U></A><I><B> </B></I><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B><IMG SRC="1b6644b0.gif" border=0 width="100" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>                                                                                        </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B><IMG SRC="1b768640.gif" border=0 width="104" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>This interest started when I was quite young and  has stayed with me all through my adult life. My first efforts were carried out in the garden shed a few months after the </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 2"><U><I><B>Mice 2 </B></I></U></A></FONT><I><B>episode. I can never be accused of lack of tenacity.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Anyway, I made the tanks out of biscuit tins from Woolworth's, those square ones that sat on the counters  with the lids off  so you could easily choose what you wanted. My favourites were mixed creams. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>The inside of these containers were already tinned and after cutting a square out of one side I stuck glass over the opening with putty and that became the front. All  that was needed then was another piece of glass for a cover, simple and very effective. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>There wasn't any electricity on the shed so I couldn't use electrical heaters, even if I could have afforded them. By the way and before I forget, just in case you were thinking I had over indulgent parents with money to throw about on their errant son then think again. All my hobbies have been financed by my working, at any jobs I could get, both before and after school hours. Mostly paper rounds, morning and evening. You can imagine what time I was up in the morning. Nuff said.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>To get back to the heating. I used small Golden Syrup tins filled with paraffin and a hole in the lid with a wick sticking through. I suppose the biscuit tins held about eight litres of water and these home made heaters seemed to hold the water temperature in a narrow enough band to suit the fish. It definitely suited the plants I chose because they grew like mad.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>A layer of soil, covered with silver sand on the bottom of the tin, some plants, cabomba and Indian fern and away we went. Dad allowed me a greenhouse heater in the shed on the colder nights to help with temperatures.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I had some great times with those fish and always had lads round to see how they were getting on and to lend a hand with the tank cleaning. Great stuff.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>To Be Continued:</B></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>   <p align="center"><A HREF="http://rd1.hitbox.com/rd?acct=WQ510413H0NE81EN0&p=s"> <IMG SRC="http://hg1.hitbox.com/HG?hc=wf171&l=y&hb=WQ510413H0NE81EN0&cd=1&n=Welcome To My Den" height=62 width=88 ALT="Click Here!" border=0></A></p>    </I></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=25 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id84_m.htm" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Tropical Fish"><U><B>Back to Top</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>                                                                     </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>