Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My hardiest fish Category: Pets and Animals
I've only had fish for 2 years now. I've also had some 25 years ago. But that seems like history. So my first tank recently was 40 gallons. I like to start big. The fish that are still around are 3 bleeding heart tetras, 2 plecos, and 2 blue goramis. Unfortunately I made some mistakes at the beginning and it seemed like I lost a fish every month. So as time goes on, I am not losing as many. I added a 55 gallon aquarium to my collection about a year and a half ago. The jack dempsey cichlids, pleco, and silver dollars are doing well in there. So for me, these are the hardy fish.Pleco, Bleeding Heart tetra, blue gorami, Jack Dempsey, and Silver Dollars.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
How to select fish Category: Pets and Animals
I went to the pet store Monday. I'm not naming names, but it was one of those chain retail stores with the word "pet" in it's name. The first thing I do when selecting fish is check on the condition of the fish in the tanks. And these tanks were terrible. I will not buy fish if there is a dead fish in the tank. And this place must have had at least dead fish. Even my 6 year old kept saying, there's another dead one, and another. A store should be able to remove the dead. I can understand 1 or 2 dead fish in the whole store. But this was rediculous. Then the live fish and snails start feeding off them and I'm sure any disease is spread. I also don't buy fish from a store with the letters "Wal" in the name. The one by us was so bad, they shut down the fish department, and we actually saw the employees Killing the fish. Disgusting. I'm not saying don't buy from these places, but you should buy only if the fish are healthy or taken care of properly.Sick fish are also what I look for. Are there any spinning helplessly out of control. I saw a couple of those. If you see any white spots, missing eyes, fin or scale problems, or anything else wierd, DONT buy from those tanks. You want a store that sells healthy fish. Also way over stocked tanks, I'm talking fin to fin crowded tanks should be avoided. That is like forcing 10 people to live in an elevator with hardly any air. Just go to a different place.Ok, so when you find a healthy tank and good looking fish, what's next to look for. Size. Not what size they are now. A cute little pacu in the store, can grow to be 3 Feet long very quickly. What size is your tank. 10 gallon tanks have a some good choices. I recommend fish that don't grow bigger than 2 inches. Rasboras, guppies, a betta. I hate seeing bettas live in little jars. I have one betta living with 9 rasboras in a 10 gallon tank. Tanks 20 gallons to 40 gallons are good for fish 4 inches or less. And there are so many good choices. Just don't overcrowd.Tanks 55 gallons and up are good for fish that get 6-12 inches. The bigger tank the better for these fish. They produce a lot of waste. 12 inch fish would rather have a 100 gallon tank. Koi can get 2 feet long.The important thing, know how big, do some research, before you get the fish.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Why do I work
Why do I work my Job.At lunch I escaped from the office and made my way to the lake down the road. I only had 30 minutes. Kind of silly to go for such a short time, but I've been wanting to go there for my new hobby. I got into fossil hunting which I will write about at another time. As I was sitting at the lakeside looking at rocks a thought ran through my head. Why do I sit in my office all day and do accounting when I am perfectly happy outside looking for fossils. Or I can be happy breeding and caring for fish. I could even get into conservation and work outside to clean our environment.I guess the number one reason I work in an office is for the money. This job is secure and I am comfortable doing the work. I can spend all my free time doing what I enjoy. Maybe if I could make enough money in my free time with my hobbies, I wouldn't have to work in an office any more.

Friday, January 02, 2009
Cory Catfish had eggs Current mood: excited
For the first time I know of, my cory catfish had eggs. New years eve I saw about a dozen eggs sitting all together on the glass. I tried to remove them with a razor blade and they all started floating away. So I scrambled for a fish net and the baby nursery. I dropped the nursery and it broke a little. Not good. And I was only able to scoop up 2 eggs. So if I get any babies, It will be a miracle because I messed up gathering the eggs. I was just so excited I had some.
I think the trigger that led up to this was I had 5 catfish in 2 tanks. So when I did my water 25% partial water changes, I put all the catfish in one tank. These are peppered corys by the way. I refilled the tank with cold water which brought the temperature down to around 68 degrees. It started around 78 degrees. Within hours I did see the smaller male hovering over a female and shaking its body and fins. Obviously he was frisky. And I think I only have one male. So the next thing I know there were eggs within the next 24 hours. Now I always thought there would be a lot more eggs. So I don't know if there are some in the plants or if the fish ate them.
My corys are now in a 40 gallon tank with 3 blue gouramis, 10 guppies, 3 tetras, and a nice big pleco. Maybe I'll get a few more corys.

Monday, October 20, 2008
Fossil Hunt 10/18 Current mood: adventurous
Saturday morning I started my drive to Cumberland Gap National Park from Knoxville, TN. On Hwy 25E around Clinch Mountain there were several places to stop and look around. So I did, at the side of the road where tons of rock sat. I started flipping over small rocks looking for some types of fossils. The rock was limestone, shale, or sandstone From the Devonian period through the Mississippian period. I found coral, brachiopods (shells), and trace fossils (some kind of worm trails.) There were other places to look along this route but I was worried that construction guys would yell at me. It's the paranoia in me. There was a lot of construction along this route. I should have worried more about explosions because there were signs for blasting. I'm sure if I did stop along the construction, there were a lot of areas to look at.
I then drove to the campground at Cumberland Gap National Park. I set up my camp, found the nearest trail, and started hiking. Not far up the trail was a bridge that went over a dried out creek bed. I thought, cool. So I spent the rest of my day walking along the center of the creek and looking at rocks. It seemed like every rock I flipped over had a spider on it. And one rock had a lizard that that left the area quickly. I flipped a lot of rocks. And then about 100 feet down the creek I found the best fossil of the day. I said Bingo. It was a limestone rock about 10 pounds. This rock was loaded with shells and coral. There must have been at least 100 shells in this thing. I foze at my camp that night. I guess the temp got down to 34F. Brrr. Even my dog was shaking. The next trip I get warmer bedding. When I got home I researched what I found. They were older than dinosaurs. 350-400 million years old.

Cool guppy pics

Wow, this link below is incredible. I didn't know guppies could look that cool.

http://penangguppy.myguppy.net/stock.html

Baby tanks.

9/25/08 I setup 2 ten gallon tanks at half full to hold the babies. I don't have filters hooked up. Each day I remove any uneaten food. That stuff really rots quickly. I also empty and refill about a gallon of water in each. It really doesn't take much time. I don't have heaters or lights hooked up for these tanks either. The house has been around 77-80 degrees, so using the electricity for more heat is a waste. This is a low budget way to keep fish. As long as the house or room is at the right temperature.
The two tanks have nothing on the bottom. Usually I put gravel down, but that adds to more bacteria build up and more maintenance. Guppies are ok to keep this way, however some fish need something on the bottom for various reasons.


Below is a great site.

Babies galore plus Kids around the tank. 10/17/08

Over the weekend I put 2 pregnant guppies in my small tank. It has a divider up
so babies can escape and the mom can't follow. I also put the babies I already
have in the larger section of the small tank. They can go on both sides and the
adults don't seem to want to eat them. So that's good.
So last night I noticed one of the adults was going for a baby. I looked in the
tank and there were at least 10 new babies swimming around. So I put the mom
that had a baby into the bigger 30 gallon tank. One mom is left.
After feeding the guppies in the larger tank, I tried catching the babies that
were still swimming among the plants from last week. Then I noticed there were
babies swimming all over the bottom of the tank. They kind of blended into the
blue stones. So I had to try to catch all of them. It took a while and I could
only get 1 at a time. So now I have a tiny 2.5 gallon tank with about 40 baby
guppies. I'm going to have to set up my 10 gallon tank. More babies will be born
very soon.

New 10/18 About 40 more babies born.



My daughter, 5, decided she wants to play with the adult guppies while I try to
catch the babies. She had her hand in the tank and was in the way. But I let
her have her fun. The guppies weren't going to hurt her. The first tank around
her we had when she was 3. I was worried she would break or tip it. So I told
her no jumping, running, or playing around the tank. And to this day she is good
with the tanks.









Los bebés galore más niños en todo el tanque. 10/17/08

Durante el fin de semana puse 2 embarazada guppies en mi pequeño tanque. Tiene un divisor de hasta para que los bebés pueden escapar y la mamá no puede seguir. También poner a los bebés ya he tienen en la mayor parte del pequeño tanque. Ellos pueden ir en ambas partes y la
los adultos no parecen querer comer. Así que eso es bueno.

Así que ayer por la noche me di cuenta de uno de los adultos fue en busca de un bebé. Miré a la
tanque y hubo al menos 10 nuevos bebés en torno a la natación. Así que puse la mamá que había un bebé en el más grande tanque de 30 galones. No hay otras con una madre.

Después de alimentar a los guppies en el tanque más grande, he intentado capturar a los bebés que siguen nadando entre las plantas de la semana pasada. Entonces noté que había
natación bebés en todo el fondo del tanque. Ellos tipo de mezcla en la Blue piedras. Así que tuve que tratar de atrapar todos ellos. Me tomó un tiempo y pude sólo obtener 1 a la vez. Así que ahora tengo un pequeño tanque de 2,5 galones con alrededor de 40 bebés guppies. Voy a tener que crear mi tanque de 10 galones. Más bebés será nacido muy pronto.

Nuevo 10/18: 40 mas hoy.

Mi hija, 5, decidió que quiere jugar con los adultos, mientras que guppies intento captura los bebés. Tenía su mano en el tanque y se encontraba en el camino. Pero me deje ella tiene su diversión. El guppies no se va a lastimar ella. El primer depósito de alrededor de
su teníamos cuando tenía 3. Me preocupa que se rompa ni punta. Así que le dije
ella no saltar, correr, o jugar en todo el tanque. Y hasta el día de hoy ella es buena
con los tanques.

More guppies born

On 9/10/08 I looked in my guppy tank. It's a 30 gallon with guppies and cory catfish. I have a lot of plants on the bottom. I usually look at the plants closely because there are a few of my female guppies ready to give birth, and I don't want to put them in the guppy nursery. So when I looked at the plants, there were a few babies (3 I saw) swimming close to the plants. They were only a few millimeters long. An adult male approached one baby, and the baby darted for cover. Tonight I will probably catch them and put them in a safe place. I also need to check the filter to see if any are in there.

The other babies born a couple weeks ago are doing fine. Some seem to be growing faster than others. They might be the females, but it is still too early to tell. I plan on giving the babies a small tank of there own with no substrate. Right now they are still in the breeding nursery. I'll then separate the males and females. I'll probably place 2 adult colorful males in with the virgin females and see what I get. I might put the cobra guppies I just bought with the girls, that way they are not related. Since they aren't related I should get a stronger batch of babies the next round.

I really don't like the breeding traps though. One reason is that the female can get so stressed that she can die or giver birth too early. This is especially true for swordtail fish. Another reason I don't like the traps is that they seem to not let the water flow through and circulate. This would trap any bacteria or toxins. One way to avoid this is to move the container back and forth in the water so the water can move a little. Also, food rots quickly in the little containers if it is not removed on time.

En 9/10/08 yo miré en mi tanque de guppy. Es un 30 galón con el siluro de guppys y cory. Tengo muchas plantas en el fondo. Miro generalmente las plantas de cerca porque hay algunos de mis guppys femeninos se preparan para dar a luz, y yo no quiero ponerlos en la guardería infantil de guppy. Así que cuando miré las plantas, había unos pocos bebés (3 vi) nadando cierra a las plantas. Ellos fueron sólo unos pocos milímetros largos. Un macho adulto se acercó a un bebé, y el bebé recorrió para la cobertura. Esta noche yo probablemente los agarraré y los pondré en un lugar seguro. Yo también necesito para verificar el filtro para ver si cualquiera está ahí adentro.
Los otros bebés nacida una pareja hace hace semanas bien. Algunos parecen estar creciendo más rápido que otros. Ellos quizás sean las hembras, pero sean todavía demasiado temprano decir. Planeo a dar a los bebés un pequeño tanque de allí propio con ningún sustrato. En este momento ellos son todavía en la guardería infantil que cría. Yo entonces separaré los machos y las hembras. Yo probablemente colocaré 2 machos colorados adultos en con las hembras virgenes y veré lo que consigo. Yo quizás ponga los guppys de cobra que acabo de comprar con las chicas, así ellos no son relacionados. Desde que ellos no son relacionados debo conseguir una serie más fuerte de bebés la próxima serie.
Yo realmente no quiero las trampas que crían aunque. Una razón es que la hembra tan puede ser enfatizada que ella puede morirse o el nacimiento de donador demasiado temprano. Esto es especialmente verdad para el pez de swordtail. Otra razón yo no quiero que las trampas son que ellos parecen no permitir que el flujo de agua por y circular. Esto atraparía cualquier bacterias o toxinas. De un solo sentido para evitar esto es de mover el contenedor de aquí para allá en el agua tan el agua puede mover un pequeño. También, el alimento se pudre rápidamente en los contenedores pequeños si no es quitado a la hora.



Buy Aquarium Fish at LiveAquaria.com

My Big Fish

FW - Silver Dollar



FW - Tinfoil Red Tail Barb



FW - Jack Dempsey



These are the fish I have in my 55 gallon tank. The Jack Dempsey is the one in

charge. I have a male and female. Sometimes I'll see the male chasing the other

fish. He is about 6 inches now and still growing. He should get to 12 inches.

The female is smaller and spends time hiding in a cave.


I have 3 silver dollar fish. They are flat and disk like and will only get to 6

inches. They will school with the 3 tinfoil barbs that I have which can reach 14

inches. The barbs I have now are only 5 inches and very active. These fish I

use as dither fish meaning they can be kept with aggressive fish. Both the Barbs

and Silver Dollars need to be quick to stay away from the Jack Dempseys. Jack

Dempseys are very aggressive. I've seen my Silver Dollar actually face off with

the Jack Dempsey, and the Dempsey backed down. But usually my silver fish just

swim away.


I also have 2 catfish in this tank called plecos. They like to have private

areas to hide. The Jack Dempsey used to try to attack them. However, the plecos

have body armor and sharp spines. So soon the Jack Dempsey stopped bothering

them.

I feed them all Cichlid flakes and occationally shrimp pellets. The pellets are

mainly for the plecos, if they can get them. Once a week I'll find a giant

cricket in my garage or some kind of grub in the yard. The Dempsey loves them.

Guppy Pics

FW - Endler's Livebearer is the wild form of the guppy. If you wanted to start selective breeding from the beginning, this is the fish to start with.




Notice the different colors, patterns, and tail shapes possible. The dorsal fin on top can be selectively bred too.


FW - Black Phantom Delta Guppy (Pair)


FW - Blonde Tux Guppy (Pair)


FW - Blue Cobra Guppy (Pair)


FW - Blue Delta Guppy (Pair)


FW - Green Cobra Guppy (Pair)


FW - Lyretail Guppy - Pair


FW - Yellow Tux Guppy (Pair)

FW - Silver Streak Flamingo Guppy - Pair

FW - Endler's Livebearer is the wild form of the guppy. If you wanted to start selective breeding from the beginning, this is the fish to start with.