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| From Aquarium |
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Joe and Indy....
ONE of them has figured out there is a glass wall between them, and delights in teasing the other...
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Joe.
Well, things didn't work out too well with the angels. Turns out we got some contaminated carbon, and what should have been a routine filter change ended up killing all the fish.
I was pissed.
So, it was time to start looking things over, and decide on something that could fit with our tank setup, yet be relatively cheap and easy.
Enter Joe.
Joe has been great. Only been here a month, tops, and is already eager to take food right from your hand. The kids all enjoy feeding him.
Along with Joe, we have a couple "Green Terrors".
Yes, there's horror stories of them living up to their names, but Joe doesn't take any guff from them.
We did have a little 'fun' in the tank in the form of the red tail shark really NOT liking the Green Terrors. I tried swapping him with my son's much smaller rainbow shark, only to have the rainbow go all nuts on the Green Terrors. Neither has ever been aggressive to other fish, so just an odd thing.
My massive "eclipse cat" just sits and watches, as usual. He cruises after dark. We'll get a pic of him later.
I was pissed.
So, it was time to start looking things over, and decide on something that could fit with our tank setup, yet be relatively cheap and easy.
Enter Joe.
 |
| From Aquarium |
Joe has been great. Only been here a month, tops, and is already eager to take food right from your hand. The kids all enjoy feeding him.
Along with Joe, we have a couple "Green Terrors".
 |
| From Aquarium |
Yes, there's horror stories of them living up to their names, but Joe doesn't take any guff from them.
We did have a little 'fun' in the tank in the form of the red tail shark really NOT liking the Green Terrors. I tried swapping him with my son's much smaller rainbow shark, only to have the rainbow go all nuts on the Green Terrors. Neither has ever been aggressive to other fish, so just an odd thing.
My massive "eclipse cat" just sits and watches, as usual. He cruises after dark. We'll get a pic of him later.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Shrimps!
We've added a couple of Bamboo Shrimp here lately.
These guys are filter feeders, sitting in the current, holding out fans to catch various debris to eat.
They're fun, odd, and peacefull all wrapped up together in one package. The clerk warned of them being fragile when we bought them. Well, of course they're fragile in the store with all the changing in's and out's of the store lifestyle. As with all invertebrates, they require stability. And, once home, and settled, they both grew nice colors which range from brown to red depending on mood, it seems, and that lovely stripe down their back.
Unfortunately, things haven't been going so great with other things.
Alec's 10 gallon tank has come alive marvelously. The plan to use used gravel from my tank, and used water from Kyles to fill it initially worked TREMENDOUSLY.
Put in a Betta immediately, and a couple of Neons a week later. 1 neon died on introduction (but where Alec dropped the bag, I was more shocked more didn't). His tank gets some direct sun in the mornings, though, and he had a NASTY case of algae going on. I decided to give a try to an old suckerfish we'd never had luck with.
The Otocinclus.
3 have STRIPPED the entire tank spotless, and are now having to be fed algae wafers! Makes me curious whether they'ld survive my tank...sure solve the more moderate algae problem we got in there, slowly coming under control.
Encouraged by the success of his Neons, we tried some, figuring if they turned into snacks, they could end up in Kyles tank. Nope. Snacks in mine, they didn't tolerate Kyle's either. That's more the carnage one expects from Neons...
Furthermore, the Paradise fish have continued to thin...we're down to 2. And, one of the sun Cat's suffered an injury and has passed. We're down to 1 of those (but not a big deal, remember, they get 18" and were going to have to be removed eventually).
So, it's mostly down to the angels and tetras.
Silver and Black....fitting.
The Paradise Fish will likely be replaced by some Blue Gourami. I'ld like a couple more shrimps just for fun, and we'll need something to address the algae. (considering even more shrimps) Otherwise, it's just let those angels continue to grow.
 |
| From Aquarium |
These guys are filter feeders, sitting in the current, holding out fans to catch various debris to eat.
They're fun, odd, and peacefull all wrapped up together in one package. The clerk warned of them being fragile when we bought them. Well, of course they're fragile in the store with all the changing in's and out's of the store lifestyle. As with all invertebrates, they require stability. And, once home, and settled, they both grew nice colors which range from brown to red depending on mood, it seems, and that lovely stripe down their back.
Unfortunately, things haven't been going so great with other things.
Alec's 10 gallon tank has come alive marvelously. The plan to use used gravel from my tank, and used water from Kyles to fill it initially worked TREMENDOUSLY.
Put in a Betta immediately, and a couple of Neons a week later. 1 neon died on introduction (but where Alec dropped the bag, I was more shocked more didn't). His tank gets some direct sun in the mornings, though, and he had a NASTY case of algae going on. I decided to give a try to an old suckerfish we'd never had luck with.
The Otocinclus.
3 have STRIPPED the entire tank spotless, and are now having to be fed algae wafers! Makes me curious whether they'ld survive my tank...sure solve the more moderate algae problem we got in there, slowly coming under control.
Encouraged by the success of his Neons, we tried some, figuring if they turned into snacks, they could end up in Kyles tank. Nope. Snacks in mine, they didn't tolerate Kyle's either. That's more the carnage one expects from Neons...
Furthermore, the Paradise fish have continued to thin...we're down to 2. And, one of the sun Cat's suffered an injury and has passed. We're down to 1 of those (but not a big deal, remember, they get 18" and were going to have to be removed eventually).
So, it's mostly down to the angels and tetras.
 |
| From Aquarium |
Silver and Black....fitting.
The Paradise Fish will likely be replaced by some Blue Gourami. I'ld like a couple more shrimps just for fun, and we'll need something to address the algae. (considering even more shrimps) Otherwise, it's just let those angels continue to grow.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
New additions.
Many changes since the last update.
Foremost, is the addition of some Lamp Eye Tetras (aka Red Eye Tetras).
These guys just together and flit from one side of the tank to the other and back. Not as small as some Tetras, so as to not be seen as food, the Paradise Fish have so far reacted by curbing all agressive behavior, and are clearly unsure how to handle the shoal.
We've also added a number of new plants, and a bubble wall. The tetras love the bubble wall, and are often seen playing in it. So do the plecos, it seems. We even had a snail playing in the bubble wall for a while.
Speaking of the plecos, the ugly brown algae (always first to a new tank, it seems) has been replaced by the hair algae stuff. The Plecos don't seem to care, and are munching on it all. Next is the green algae most people actually think of when you say 'algae'. All actually promising, and indications of a healthy environment.
Speaking of Healthy, those darn Khuli Loaches... Hide and seek is a normal game with them, but I was thuroughly unprepared to have one living in the aquarium FILTER when I cleaned this weekend. Caught her and tossed her back in the tank. But, I think it may have been a few babies I saw get down the drain before I could catch them...
Foremost, is the addition of some Lamp Eye Tetras (aka Red Eye Tetras).
 |
| From An UnOrthOdOx Aquarium |
These guys just together and flit from one side of the tank to the other and back. Not as small as some Tetras, so as to not be seen as food, the Paradise Fish have so far reacted by curbing all agressive behavior, and are clearly unsure how to handle the shoal.
 |
| From An UnOrthOdOx Aquarium |
We've also added a number of new plants, and a bubble wall. The tetras love the bubble wall, and are often seen playing in it. So do the plecos, it seems. We even had a snail playing in the bubble wall for a while.
 |
| From An UnOrthOdOx Aquarium |
Speaking of the plecos, the ugly brown algae (always first to a new tank, it seems) has been replaced by the hair algae stuff. The Plecos don't seem to care, and are munching on it all. Next is the green algae most people actually think of when you say 'algae'. All actually promising, and indications of a healthy environment.
Speaking of Healthy, those darn Khuli Loaches... Hide and seek is a normal game with them, but I was thuroughly unprepared to have one living in the aquarium FILTER when I cleaned this weekend. Caught her and tossed her back in the tank. But, I think it may have been a few babies I saw get down the drain before I could catch them...
Friday, February 13, 2009
Food, and Girls...
I guess Kyle got a bit of a show 2 nights ago.
He awoke on the verge of tears to tell Jen one of his fish had killed another.
The Notorious CAE (Chinese Algae Eater) lived up to it's reputation...
Several years ago, we were starting the 80 gallon tank for the first time. And, it being in the front room, with plenty of sun, Algae was going to be an issue. But, I had this brilliant plan to deal with it: Only buying fish that EAT algae.
The Mbuna Cichlids would peck at things just fine, but to clean the glass, we needed a sucker fish. Enter the CAE. We bought several of the 'Golden' variety. The bad temperment they are known for as adults wasn't a concern with Cichlids. The Cichlids were MORE than capable of defending themselves.
Well, in the mean time, Kyles tank served as a maternity ward for 'pregnant' cichlids, and the fry. As such, he really had a bare minimum of fish. But, we threw one of the CAE's in his tank for good measure to keep it clean.
THAT...was a long time ago..
When we took down the 80 gallon tank to redo the floors, we dumped a second CAE in his tank just in case I went the Mbuna route again. And, they've lived happily for 2 years. Munching on the abundant Algae happily. Alone...
Last week, however, we uprooted their world.
Alec wanted HIS tank working. (NEVER buy a 10 gallon tank, it's been nothing but trouble) And, I got this bright idea we'ld empty Alecs tank completely, START OVER. Use some of the leftover gravel from the old 80 gallon tank, clean the crap out of Kyle's, and fill Alec's with the dirty, pre-cycled water we cleaned out of Kyle's.
This ensured Alec was starting with a nice, cycled system. HOPEFULLY enough to prevent the 10 gallon death trap syndrome.
Now...we haven't fed Kyle's cleaners in 2 years, remember. They've just been eating the naturally growing Algae. But, a week ago, we stirred all that gravel up, we scrubbed down the walls, and we ripped out the decorations.
I didn't think about it at the time...but we ripped out their food sources...
As I've mentioned before...
Food and girls are the typical sources of fish aggression.
Lack of food, and yep, they beat the holy crap out of anything.
I wouldn't hesitate to get another CAE. Yes, they get a little grumpy when they're hungry, but hey, who doesnt?
In the mean time, Kyle's learning the law of the Jungle. Yes, the smaller one died...yes, that's the one that's always been "his", and "it was just a kid".
Blame dad. I forgot about food and girls...
He awoke on the verge of tears to tell Jen one of his fish had killed another.
The Notorious CAE (Chinese Algae Eater) lived up to it's reputation...
Several years ago, we were starting the 80 gallon tank for the first time. And, it being in the front room, with plenty of sun, Algae was going to be an issue. But, I had this brilliant plan to deal with it: Only buying fish that EAT algae.
The Mbuna Cichlids would peck at things just fine, but to clean the glass, we needed a sucker fish. Enter the CAE. We bought several of the 'Golden' variety. The bad temperment they are known for as adults wasn't a concern with Cichlids. The Cichlids were MORE than capable of defending themselves.
Well, in the mean time, Kyles tank served as a maternity ward for 'pregnant' cichlids, and the fry. As such, he really had a bare minimum of fish. But, we threw one of the CAE's in his tank for good measure to keep it clean.
THAT...was a long time ago..
When we took down the 80 gallon tank to redo the floors, we dumped a second CAE in his tank just in case I went the Mbuna route again. And, they've lived happily for 2 years. Munching on the abundant Algae happily. Alone...
Last week, however, we uprooted their world.
Alec wanted HIS tank working. (NEVER buy a 10 gallon tank, it's been nothing but trouble) And, I got this bright idea we'ld empty Alecs tank completely, START OVER. Use some of the leftover gravel from the old 80 gallon tank, clean the crap out of Kyle's, and fill Alec's with the dirty, pre-cycled water we cleaned out of Kyle's.
This ensured Alec was starting with a nice, cycled system. HOPEFULLY enough to prevent the 10 gallon death trap syndrome.
Now...we haven't fed Kyle's cleaners in 2 years, remember. They've just been eating the naturally growing Algae. But, a week ago, we stirred all that gravel up, we scrubbed down the walls, and we ripped out the decorations.
I didn't think about it at the time...but we ripped out their food sources...
As I've mentioned before...
Food and girls are the typical sources of fish aggression.
Lack of food, and yep, they beat the holy crap out of anything.
I wouldn't hesitate to get another CAE. Yes, they get a little grumpy when they're hungry, but hey, who doesnt?
In the mean time, Kyle's learning the law of the Jungle. Yes, the smaller one died...yes, that's the one that's always been "his", and "it was just a kid".
Blame dad. I forgot about food and girls...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Product Review: Hydor Ario
So...
I've been wanting an airstone or bubble wall in this tank. And, while looking over air pumps, I came across the Hydor Ario Color.
The size for an 80 gallon tank is considerably cheaper than an equivalent airpump. And, I liked the idea of everything fitting IN the tank. No mess in the cabinets, no mangled mass of air tubes. The lighting, I thought might be a neat feature as well. So, we bought the Airo 4 with green light for $24.
Excited, I cracked open the box first thing when we got home.
Black airline tubing that looked to be of very high quality was impressive, as was the multitude of suction cups to secure both airline tubing and electrical chord.
The "instructions" to put the thing together was a diagram. And not a step-by-step style diagram, but rather an expanded diagram that was difficult to make out. Thankfully, I've done enough automotive repair with my dad to have seen more than my share of these expanded diagrams, and everything was together fairly quick.
Not the easiest of things to install into a full tank. That took some time to dig everything up and make room to get this all to the glass bottom, under the gravel, get it all set up, (have the parts fall off and reassemble IN TANK) and get the gravel back covering the plate to the proper depth, as recommended for "best stability".
Time for the final test...
The Ario produces a very impressive torrent of bubbels, and a pretty decent current along with them to circulate the water. I have no doubts they are superb aerators. And, the light was as cool as I expected it to be, if a bit brighter.
Here, I found a video of one in action.
HOWEVER.
The box we bought listed among the features "Now with less vibration".
It stands to reason, then, vibration was once a problem, yes? Well, it still is.
The thing was vibrating the entire tank. I could feel with my hand on the glass. The fish were going nuts, and I shut it down after just a few seconds. Reading up, it was claimed this was due to the thing being against the glass. So, I moved it, making sure the entire rig was in the center of the tank, and turned it on again. Same problem.
I even pulled the enitire thing out, stuck it in the sink, and filled the sink with water. Just as much vibration there.
Ah well. It's a great idea for aeration. And, in researching, I've learned they were designed for hydroponics first, aquariums second.
So, to top it off, I'm probably on some watch list to make sure we're not trying to grow something funny.
Ah well, it's not a total loss. I'm sure my other hobby can find a use for a cool green light and bubble making machine...
I've been wanting an airstone or bubble wall in this tank. And, while looking over air pumps, I came across the Hydor Ario Color.
The size for an 80 gallon tank is considerably cheaper than an equivalent airpump. And, I liked the idea of everything fitting IN the tank. No mess in the cabinets, no mangled mass of air tubes. The lighting, I thought might be a neat feature as well. So, we bought the Airo 4 with green light for $24.
Excited, I cracked open the box first thing when we got home.
Black airline tubing that looked to be of very high quality was impressive, as was the multitude of suction cups to secure both airline tubing and electrical chord.
The "instructions" to put the thing together was a diagram. And not a step-by-step style diagram, but rather an expanded diagram that was difficult to make out. Thankfully, I've done enough automotive repair with my dad to have seen more than my share of these expanded diagrams, and everything was together fairly quick.
Not the easiest of things to install into a full tank. That took some time to dig everything up and make room to get this all to the glass bottom, under the gravel, get it all set up, (have the parts fall off and reassemble IN TANK) and get the gravel back covering the plate to the proper depth, as recommended for "best stability".
Time for the final test...
The Ario produces a very impressive torrent of bubbels, and a pretty decent current along with them to circulate the water. I have no doubts they are superb aerators. And, the light was as cool as I expected it to be, if a bit brighter.
Here, I found a video of one in action.
HOWEVER.
The box we bought listed among the features "Now with less vibration".
It stands to reason, then, vibration was once a problem, yes? Well, it still is.
The thing was vibrating the entire tank. I could feel with my hand on the glass. The fish were going nuts, and I shut it down after just a few seconds. Reading up, it was claimed this was due to the thing being against the glass. So, I moved it, making sure the entire rig was in the center of the tank, and turned it on again. Same problem.
I even pulled the enitire thing out, stuck it in the sink, and filled the sink with water. Just as much vibration there.
Ah well. It's a great idea for aeration. And, in researching, I've learned they were designed for hydroponics first, aquariums second.
So, to top it off, I'm probably on some watch list to make sure we're not trying to grow something funny.
Ah well, it's not a total loss. I'm sure my other hobby can find a use for a cool green light and bubble making machine...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Hide and Seek.
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