Staff from Maidenhead Aquatics at the Wyevale Nursery, Addlestone, have voluntarily given the fish tank in the children’s outpatient waiting area a summer clean.  Until now one of the paediatric consultants, Dr Peter Martin, has done the job on a Sunday and although that has worked well in the past a “deep clean” was needed.

Said Linda Futcher of Byfleet: “Our family keep tropical fish and while we were in the children’s waiting area one day I thought it might be worth asking the staff of Maidenhead Aquatics if they would like to give the tank an expert clean.  We know the staff there are very helpful as we often visit and the children do enjoy looking at the huge variety of fish.”

The 5ft wide tank contained about 400 litres of water, which for tropical fish needs to be kept at a temperature of 24-25c.  There used to be a number of small fish but three Tin-Foil Barbs were introduced to the tank and they are now being re-homed because they ate the small fish.  A Plecostomus – Cat Fish – will be staying as he is an algae-eating fish and does a very good job of keeping the algae down!

Rory Kingerley of Maidenhead Aquatics said: “A tank like this needs cleaning every two to three weeks, and putting in some new plants will help keep the tank “alive”.  Detritus that sinks under the gravel discolours the water and the use of Bogwood – which gives off tannins – can also discolour the water.”

Linda will be re-stocking the tank with some colourful baby fish from her home tank. As a “Thank You” for the Rory Kingerleyand his Maidenhead Aquatics colleagues Linda made them a home-made Maltesers Cake and a tray of Butterscotch Tart.