tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73858320113793919672024-03-13T22:18:26.973-05:00An Aquatic ObsessionOne tank is never enough...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-68875053338951352212009-11-09T23:04:00.000-06:002009-11-09T23:07:14.288-06:00Quite the office!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/Svj05uKca5I/AAAAAAAAAy8/GbYnq_DGqfA/s1600-h/aquarium_cubicles.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/Svj05uKca5I/AAAAAAAAAy8/GbYnq_DGqfA/s400/aquarium_cubicles.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402337025512467346" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-38003041764943071372009-10-07T20:45:00.002-05:002009-10-08T20:47:46.865-05:00Blue Discus fry at 5.5 months<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3994574414/" title="_DSC4687 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2503/3994574414_079f0f2459.jpg" width="400" height="493" alt="_DSC4687" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-20553651403579091432009-09-18T20:58:00.000-05:002009-10-08T20:59:37.436-05:00The extent of our obsession...<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3988749541/" title="P1010871 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/3988749541_dd9cd31c82.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010871" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3988751187/" title="P1010872 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/3988751187_4618449627.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010872" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3989502236/" title="P1010866 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3989502236_65a71cca8f.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010866" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3989500876/" title="P1010863 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3989500876_1a44a4d56f.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010863" /></a><br /><br />This doesn't include a 30g and a 12g tank not pictured... :-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-65526964653461025942009-09-07T00:22:00.000-05:002009-10-07T10:16:24.634-05:00Blue Discus Fry at 4.5 monthsThe fry (just about time for new homes):<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3988752801/" title="P1010887 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/3988752801_d4f34031e2.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010887" /></a><br /><br />The parents:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3988773651/" title="P1010645 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/3988773651_e7ea88931d.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010645" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-11420361534947240502009-06-12T23:21:00.004-05:002009-06-16T17:15:22.126-05:00San Francisco Fish StoresA couple of weeks ago, we went to San Francisco for the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=maker%20faire%202009&w=all&s=int">Maker Faire</a>. I you've never been to one, and get the chance to go, I can't recommend it enough. It's an absolute blast, and you can't help but come away inspired.<br /><br />Anyway, being the fish geeks we are, we had to check out the local fish stores while we were there. In general, we were really impressed. The stores were really nice, and the people were phenomenal. Three particular standouts:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ocean Aquarium</span> - a freshwater only fishstore, despite the name.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3577999050/" title="P1010104.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/3577999050_365d9bae88.jpg" width="400" height="277" alt="P1010104.JPG" /></a><br /><br />This was a little tiny store in an alley over in the tenderloin run by a husband and wife. I wouldn't want to be in the neighborhood after dark, but as fish stores go, I can't recommend it enough. Every tank had a profusion of live plants in it, and they had some great home brew CO2 injectors. They appeared to specialize in F1's, and they had a nice collection of F1 killies ( luxopthalmus ( lampeyes ), epiplatys annulatus ( clown killie ), some gardneri and spotless australes. He also provided us with some really nice DIY drip acclimators that are remarkably accurate and consistent for free.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3577195885/" title="P1010118.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/3577195885_f13f350ab6.jpg" width="400" height="160" alt="P1010118.JPG" /></a><br /><br />They also had a profusion of fancy guppies, rasboras, microras, apistos and some f1 brown discus that were just too beautiful to risk trying to bring them home. Best of all, all of fish were all healthy and in beautiful color.<br /><br /><photo><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Aqua Forest</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3575675556/" title="P1010148.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/3575675556_4607660665.jpg" width="400" height="142" alt="P1010148.JPG" /></a><br /><br /> This one was also in San Francisco proper but in a much nicer neighborhood. This is a store for plant geeks. They have a remarkable selection of aquatic plants that you can usually only find on aquabid, or get from someone like TxGal in the Dallas plant club. It's also the 'official' ADA store here in the US. As you would expect, their tanks were all meticulously maintained, well groomed and gorgeous. <br /><br />The staff was friendly, and extremely knowledgeable, and best of all, more than willing to admit when they didn't have an answer. We're not exactly new to the hobby, so we ask a lot of obscure or complicated questions, and we know that. We don't expect employees to know everything - there is just too much to know, and when you get to the advanced stuff, too many questions about taxonomy and behavior that are in flux. We'd far rather people tell us that they don't know, or aren't sure , than pretend like they know the answer if they don't. In this respect, and a lot of others, they were just amazing. We came home with a LOT of plants.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3574953411/" title="P1010232.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/3574953411_3df5417b9b.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010232.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Fish selection was not as eclectic or unusual as Ocean, but it was certainly nothing to scoff at, and we picked up two pairs of scarlet baddis there. Being a plant focused store, they focused on community and plant friendly fish, so there was no african cichlid section, which we thought was pretty cool. YMMV :o)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3574945609/" title="P1010177.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3574945609_08c42214ed.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="P1010177.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Albany Aquarium</span><br /><br />This one was WAAAAAAAAAAAY up near Berkley, and was another wonderful store. These guys actually had a nice salt water section, but we liked them alot anyway. :o) We made the mistake of heading up around 4pm, and traffic was a beast. We got there about 30m before close, and ended up hanging around and talking until well after close. They were just really nice, knowledgeable people. They also had a very impressive selection of plants, and we came home with more than a few from there too. They also had a cool pair of goodieds that I really wanted to bring home, but we couldn't make it back up there before we flew out on Monday. <br /><br />Somehow, I don't have any pictures from Albany. We spend so much time talking, that we just plain forgot!<br /><br />Anyway, if you're in the area, go check these guys out and support them if you can. We were impressed to find three really standout stores while we were there. By the way, just as a note, do not try to check a fish box on American Airlines. If you're flying American, you'll need to ship them home air freight.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382760358514904021noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-18528041872134921122009-06-12T22:48:00.002-05:002009-06-16T17:16:06.538-05:00Blue Discus Fry<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3617955495/" title="P1010605.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3617955495_b86fe51630.jpg" width="400" height="325" alt="P1010605.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Discus fry at about 3.5 weeks.<br /><br />Several months ago, we bought a beautiful pair of blue snakeskin discus from a local guy who was moving out of state. Some time after we moved them into the big tank, they started doing what pairs do, and trying to spawn. The dominant orange pair in the tank weren't terribly impressed, and the new comers always ended up eating the spawn because there was just too much competition, but the blues continued trying anyway. <br /><br />About two months ago, we decided to move them to a spawner, and give them a real chance. We had some trouble deciding which pair to spawn, since we dont have a huge amount of space for growout, and both pairs try to spawn regularly. We ultimately decided to spawn the blues on the idea that it might be neat to see what happened if we got one of our orange fry, and a blue to pair up. <br /><br />Previously, when setting up the spawner, we used a siphon and return pump to set up a shared water supply between the big tank and the spawner. This was a great arrangement since it made for super stable water conditions and a really consistent temperature. Since there had been some competition for dominance between our new pair and the old, and those usually involve the competitors releasing suppressive hormones into the water, we decided to put them on a separate water supply this time. We knew that feeding fry can make maintaing good water quality an issue, so we also decided to set up a continuous water change system. <br /><br />Essentially, we hung a small box on the outside of the tank with a small drain line leading to our drainage sump. On the other end of the tank, we put a tee in the line we use to fill our storage tank, and set up a slow fill line with an inline heater to keep the temperature consistent. The process turns the water over 3 or 4 times per day and we vacuum the bottom once or twice a week. Like any continuous water change system, it doesn't clear out pollutants as efficiently as regular a drain/fill water change because of diffusion, but it still does a great job of maintaining consistent water parameters.<br /><br />It took about a month, and 2 or 3 eaten batches of eggs, but on the last batch, we put a screen up that let them fan the eggs but not eat them until they became wigglers. This worked remarkably well, and we ended up with a free swimming batch of well over 100 fry. Based on some feedback from breeders we have spoken to, we decided to switch the fry from RO to tap water to provide additional hardness. The water needed to be very soft to get the parents to spawn, but the fry apparently benefit a great deal from the increased availability of calcium and other minerals found in harder water. <br /><br />Unfortunately, we either did it too early, too late, or there is something very not right about our tap water. When we set up the change over, we slowed the water change process way down, and allowed ~ 36 hours to transition from RO to Tap. Within that 36 hours, we lost half the fry, and the others appeared listless and confused. We confirmed that our inline filters on the tap were working, and that chlorine and chloramine readings going into the tank were 0. Still, it was obviously a bad deal.<br /><br />We switched back to RO immediately, and in the 24 hours following that, we lost about half of the fry that remained, but things seemed to stabilize. We now have somewhere between 15 and 25 fry left. When we got back from the maker faire, most of them had learned to turn away from the parents and were hanging out near the auto feeder around feeding times. On Thursday of this week, we returned the parents to the big tank. If you've never seen our layout, the breeder we were using sits on a cart that we generally keep right at the end of the 240. The parents can see the fry through part of the glass, and continue to patrol that end of the tank, and run off any of the other discus that spend too much time down there. Luckily, the tank is large enough, and well planted enough that this does not create any real aggression issues. <br /><br />We would still like to figure out how to raise the hardness for the fry, but have not arrived at a good way to keep the hardness stable with the continuous water change. Unless or until we move to another building, I don't think we'll be moving anybody off of the RO system any time soon.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382760358514904021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-56889639068791841342009-05-10T02:11:00.005-05:002009-05-10T02:16:57.474-05:00Okay, Someone Crazier than Us!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_aaKRR52MXp8/SgZ-9Vs0-XI/AAAAAAAAAD4/9uZK0czLQFQ/s1600-h/fishwalk_450x702.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_aaKRR52MXp8/SgZ-9Vs0-XI/AAAAAAAAAD4/9uZK0czLQFQ/s320/fishwalk_450x702.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334090400929216882" /></a><br /><br />Found this over at <a href="http://cuteoverload.com/2009/05/03/this-just-in-fish-walkies/#comments">Cute Overload</a>. His goldfish looked bored, so he figured out how to take him out for a walk. I have nothing to compete with that.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382760358514904021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-58489592326871896482008-11-22T14:10:00.003-06:002009-06-07T01:16:38.630-05:00Bolivian Ram fry!We got this pair of Bolivian Rams a year ago from an individual. They are really nice specimens and we assumed they were a pair. After our successful Discus breeding, we moved them into the breeding tank hoping for similar success. But what we saw was fighting, and when researching how to sex them we found it is nearly impossible to reliably determine it from appearance alone. We did also discover that it's not uncommon for a pair to fight, even after they have free swimming fry to protect! <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3050300441/" title="DSC_3628 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/3050300441_ea56a23448.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="DSC_3628" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3050301285/" title="DSC_3715 by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/3050301285_977dfece61.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="DSC_3715" /></a><br /><br />To increase the odds of having a female we bought two more at a local store after spending a significant amount of time trying to find ones in the tank that looked different from the rest. Since temperature and breeding conditions can affect the percentage of male and females in a brood, it's possible a fish store could have all males. But we gave it a try and kept this pair in a quarantine tank for a while before adding them to the big tank. It turns out that apparently we ended up with a pair as several weeks later we have fry! <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3050278275/" title="Bolivian Ram fry by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/3050278275_9bdedf95e0.jpg" width="400" height="284" alt="Bolivian Ram fry" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-9909945755662677832008-11-21T09:28:00.003-06:002009-06-07T01:18:27.965-05:00Rescaping the 72g and 150g tanksThe 150g tank is my oldest tank. It has gone through periods of looking pretty good and other times where it was not so good. It was time for a change and I had recently discovered a source of the sand blasting substrate Black Beauty which is really nice looking and dirt cheap. I have used it in some smaller tanks with success so decided it was time to try it in bigger tanks. Over the last weekend, I scooped out all the old substrate and replaced it with 200lbs of #3 (medium) Black Beauty for about $30. <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3047386280/" title="Rescape of 150g tank by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3047386280_40465818a7.jpg" width="400" height="122" alt="Rescape of 150g tank" /></a><br /><br />The 72g tank has always been an afterthought. It was going to be wht the 240g became, but partway through the build I determined it was too small to do what I wanted. I was then going to make it a cichlid tank but it's kind of small for African ciclids and I never really got it to a point I liked for South American cichlids. So with inspiration from some Amano articles in recent issues of Tropical Fish Keeping magazine, I replaced the gravel with 100lbs of Black Beauty #4 (fine) for $15 and redid the hardscape. <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/3046550955/" title="Rescape of 72g tank by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/3046550955_ceed56c1e9.jpg" width="400" height="190" alt="Rescape of 72g tank" /></a><br /><br />For both of these tanks, I treated all the wood and rocks with hydrogen peroxide or bleach to kill off a growing infestation of black beard algae (bba). Hopefully with good fertilization and high CO2 I can keep it at bay. For my other tanks, I'm trying to get rid of it without wholesale change in the tank. The 60g I'm just using high CO2 and the 240g I treated with Flourish Excel and following with high CO2.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-34749835243624595982008-11-21T00:45:00.006-06:002008-11-21T09:27:51.800-06:00How it's MadeIt's been a long time coming, but I've finally begun to document in detail the planning and work that went into the construction of these tanks. I started with the 240g tank since that's the most interesting and complicated. I will expand it in time to cover all the things that I learned and developed as part of this hobby. <br /><br />Check it out: <a href="http://web.me.com/mreilly/">How it's Made</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2855615232/" title="DSC_4811.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3150/2855615232_9f7ba382d1.jpg" width="400" alt="DSC_4811.JPG" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-64722388731142499612008-10-15T23:39:00.003-05:002008-11-21T09:26:22.955-06:00What a difference fertilization can makeI've switched to using the <a href="http://www.barrreport.com/estimative-index/2819-ei-light-those-less-techy-folks.html">Estimative Index</a> form of fertilization for our larger tanks. So far it has made a tremendous difference in this tank as you can see by these plants. Granted, it's the tank with our Discus fry so it sees near-daily water changes as well. But the deep red in the plants is likely a sign of an increase in available iron for the plants. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2945591507/" title="IMG_1638.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/2945591507_171756d342.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1638.JPG" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-66986481358798916622008-10-15T23:37:00.001-05:002008-10-15T23:39:48.656-05:008 weeks and counting<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2946453078/" title="IMG_1623.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2946453078_ac7429fcfa.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1623.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2946452538/" title="IMG_1598.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2946452538_c2ebc9d20d.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1598.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2946452066/" title="IMG_1596.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2946452066_6d4b9cfea8.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1596.JPG" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-74883302472074447282008-09-27T00:24:00.003-05:002008-09-27T00:27:31.781-05:00Discus fry update - 6 weeks oldAll fry are in the 60g tank now. The parents defending the fry in the 240g tank were stressing out the other fish in the tank so we moved the fry over as well. We switched from decapsulated brine shrimp eggs to cichlid growth meal today. They're on an automatic feeder and they eat energetically at every feeding.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2890907689/" title="Discus Fry - 6 weeks old by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/2890907689_237e480d01.jpg" width="400" alt="Discus Fry - 6 weeks old" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2891745870/" title="Discus Fry - 6 weeks old by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2891745870_9c64e88909.jpg" width="400" alt="Discus Fry - 6 weeks old" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-70231363154021827502008-09-27T00:17:00.002-05:002008-09-27T00:23:34.936-05:00Bristlenose Pleco Fry - 3 weeks oldOn the 2" diameter suction cup from a feeding clip:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2891746974/" title="ancistris fry by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2891746974_71eccfba7f.jpg" width="400" alt="ancistris fry" /></a><br /><br />On the glass<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2891746480/" title="ancistris fry by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/2891746480_000ccb0565.jpg" width="400" alt="ancistris fry" /></a><br /><br />Just last night we noticed some additional fry from some new eggs! I don't know if more eggs were laid or if they are like some fish eggs that hatch at different times to increase their odds of survival in the wild (due to flooding/drought/predators/etc.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-54786379986077065822008-09-14T02:22:00.002-05:002008-09-14T02:29:27.444-05:00Discus fry update - 1 month oldWe moved most of the fry into our 60g tank after the unfortunate passing of our angel fish. It is a big tank for them to grow in. A few remained behind and when we moved the parents back into the 240g tank some of them went along for the ride. They seemed ok so we removed the few remaining ones into that tank as well. The parents continue to be very protective of the fry, chasing off other fish who come near. You can see the fry in the pictures below. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2855617698/" title="DSC_5018.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2855617698_9e03fc84e0.jpg" width="400" alt="DSC_5018.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2855616384/" title="DSC_4995.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/2855616384_1b64c38946.jpg" width="400" alt="DSC_4995.JPG" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-10130106600207592222008-09-03T00:18:00.002-05:002008-09-03T00:20:47.619-05:00Bristlenose Pleco Eggs<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2823411159/" title="IMG_1304.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2823411159_704c833013.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1304.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Some surprisingly large Bristlenose Pleco eggs in our 12g Nano cube tank. The pleco "cave" is 3/4" PVC that was capped on one end, coated in silicone and rolled in gravel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-80933400416052526422008-09-03T00:16:00.000-05:002008-09-03T00:17:47.394-05:00A bit of re-scaping on the 240<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2823405015/" title="IMG_1233.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/2823405015_ea418449c5.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1233.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2824243580/" title="IMG_1241.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2824243580_9bc935c054.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1241.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2823408841/" title="IMG_1242.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2823408841_7e17b77388.jpg" width="400" alt="IMG_1242.JPG" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-7998706708292498172008-08-28T00:22:00.000-05:002008-09-03T00:25:50.640-05:00Discus fry update - 2 weeks oldProud parents<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2801524939/" title="2 week old Discus Fry by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/2801524939_aa3912ed7b.jpg" width="400" alt="2 week old Discus Fry" /></a><br /><br />The fry have taken on the Discus shape<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2801524225/" title="2 week old Discus Fry by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/2801524225_1ecf524ab3.jpg" width="400" alt="2 week old Discus Fry" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-34511004949190721922008-08-22T23:35:00.006-05:002008-08-23T00:00:13.107-05:00Updated pictures of the big tanksThe 240g Discus tank<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2787858663/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1110.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2787858663_44156688b3.jpg" alt="IMG_1110.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Close ups:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2788713908/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1118.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/2788713908_f6fd2f8e8a.jpg" alt="IMG_1118.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2788715540/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1120.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2788715540_98265631a8.jpg" alt="IMG_1120.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2787863449/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1122.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2787863449_1b16a45c36.jpg" alt="IMG_1122.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2787865193/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1126.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2787865193_4875f5e1d4.jpg" alt="IMG_1126.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />The 150g Rainbow tank after replanting this past weekend<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2787866027/sizes/l/" title="IMG_1132.JPG by mcr25823, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2787866027_97e5c62a2f.jpg" alt="IMG_1132.JPG" width="400" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-60475505489495436162008-08-21T22:59:00.003-05:002008-08-30T08:57:05.643-05:00Esquire House Aquarium Build<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SK46tKVy6MI/AAAAAAAAAgU/rRNQcxr9d0w/s1600-h/post-1660-1156893201.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SK46tKVy6MI/AAAAAAAAAgU/rRNQcxr9d0w/s400/post-1660-1156893201.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237187964222761154" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://aquaticobsession.blogspot.com/2007/06/esquire-house-aquarium.html">I wrote about</a> this aquarium some time ago. It's a really amazing installation on the scale of a tank I dream of owning some day. I found <a href="http://www.fishforums.net/content-page/155875/pagination/page/0/">a thread on another forum</a> that discusses the building of it including pictures of the process and wanted to share it. <a href="http://www.turbomkt.com/carl/1600/index.html">Here are some photos</a> that a local club member took of the tank during the build.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-83173085400200817212008-08-21T22:53:00.001-05:002008-08-21T22:53:44.253-05:006ft long anacharis plants!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2786159472/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2786159472_8dace494f1_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212010@N00/2786159472/">6ft long anacharis plants!</a> <br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/67212010@N00/">mcr25823</a></span><br clear="all" /><p>These have been growing mostly floating in our 20g cherry shrimp tank for months. I didn't realize how long they had grown!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-5939793876911159082008-08-14T22:46:00.004-05:002008-08-16T14:20:16.066-05:00Discus Fry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aaKRR52MXp8/SKcjiPTewiI/AAAAAAAAACU/-5sjv3UYGeM/s1600-h/IMG_1087.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aaKRR52MXp8/SKcjiPTewiI/AAAAAAAAACU/-5sjv3UYGeM/s400/IMG_1087.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235192162972254754" /></a>Some time ago, a pair of our Discus paired up and started spawning in the 240. They kept eating the eggs once they reached wiggler stage ( not unexpected ), but they were persistent so finally, we decided to set up a spawning tank for them. In order to make transferring them back and forth as simple as possible, and minimize stress on the fish, we set up a 20 gallon tank next to the 240 with a siphon to fill the 20, and a small pump running back into the main tank so the tank turned over 3-4 times an hour. This gave them identical water conditions, and almost identical lighting conditions, as well as making maintenance simpler, and giving us a huge buffer against unexpected changes in water conditions ( 260 gallons instead of 20 ).<br /><br />For those of you who aren't familiar with them, Discus are great parents who have evolved a very unique means of rearing their young. They are usually found in stretches of water that have little in the way of infusorians and the other micro foods fry need to survive their first several weeks of life. In order to assure that their spawn don't starve in those early weeks, they have evolved to produce an unusually thick slime coat on their sides that the fry can feed on instead.<br /><br />This works very well in the wild, and it makes for a great experience to witness as an aquarist, but in the close confines of a tank it can lead to undue stress. In an aquarium, survival rates are much higher and the parents can not easily escape the fry when they get too old and too big. As a result, the fry can begin to strip away the slime coat faster than the parents can produce it, leading to fin and scale damage seriously high stress levels. In order to avoid this, it is often necessary to separate the parents and the fry after 2-3 weeks. <br /><br />Transferring the parents was difficult. You can see the layout of the 240 in an earlier post - it is not conducive to catching fish that do not want to be caught. After the move, they didn't seem inclined to spawn for the first couple of weeks. Then, about 3 weeks ago they had a small spawn, but apparently still felt nervous enough to eat the eggs. <br /><br />However, last week, there was another spawn that went to wigglers, and now we have a small school of fry following the parents around. Many 'serious' breeders will probably laugh at the fact that the spawning tank has a substrate and is heavily planted. However, since we aren't commercial breeders, and maximum yield from each spawn was not really a major priority for us, and we have entirely too many plants anyway, we saw no reason to needlessly subject them to the stress of a bare tank.Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382760358514904021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-61063637961377619412008-08-04T23:38:00.000-05:002008-08-04T23:39:33.671-05:00Clown loach!Near perfect Clown loach shot from the 150g tank.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2734648844_6e299a5fea_b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2734648844_6e299a5fea_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-72630018537690771852008-08-04T21:52:00.005-05:002008-08-04T22:34:11.416-05:00Why not saltwater?People regularly ask why we don't have any saltwater tanks. For as complicated as we make our freshwater tanks, saltwater is many times beyond that. If it were merely that, I would be up for the challenge, but it comes at tremendous cost as well. One mistake and you might kill everything in your tank. While such mistakes can be made in freshwater, it is generally more forgiving and even if it does happen, your losses are a fraction of what they would be in a marine tank. Saltwater fish generally start at the high end of what we pay for freshwater fish, and corals average twice that and up up steeply from there. Different fish and corals require different minerals and chemical parameters to be dosed/monitored. As with anything, you can make it as complicated as you want, and allot depends on the specific fish and corals you wish to keep, but the photos below are an example of what it takes to do it right:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIO3eEC3I/AAAAAAAAAfU/9mNmaEHF82s/s1600-h/tank07.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIO3eEC3I/AAAAAAAAAfU/9mNmaEHF82s/s320/tank07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230869649947888498" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIPRGiTII/AAAAAAAAAfk/04R2CPOtFBg/s1600-h/tank08.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIPRGiTII/AAAAAAAAAfk/04R2CPOtFBg/s320/tank08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230869656828529794" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIPD4B3HI/AAAAAAAAAfc/xP7mFQpiq3s/s1600-h/tank04.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_TP7vvBK72lg/SJfIPD4B3HI/AAAAAAAAAfc/xP7mFQpiq3s/s320/tank04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230869653278022770" border="0" /></a> (<a href="http://www.reefland.com/forum/reef-archives/7726-more-japanese-tanks.html">photo source</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/totm/index.php">Here is another one</a>, it's clearly a high-end tank, but it has great pictures of its equipment room.<br /><br />Saltwater is cool, and someday I will probably have a marine tank, but not until I can afford to do it right, and possibly hire someone to do the maintenance.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7385832011379391967.post-21806691702821322042008-06-24T23:35:00.001-05:002008-08-04T23:38:16.987-05:0060g tank photosSecond only to the 240g tank, the plant growth in this tank is doing great!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3114/2733816271_3349693beb_b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3114/2733816271_3349693beb_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Angel parents standing guard to their eggs:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/2733813021_03af68dd43_b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/2733813021_03af68dd43_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0