BooUrns!

Plecofanatics.com

I'd noticed that cherry shrimp weren't drawing the same value that they used to at the last ACE auction. Perhaps the market is telling us to bring in more variety? (Subtle hint: someone bring some CRS!) :P

On April's recomendation, I bought one of the digital pH testers here in edmonton. I am the type who will hunt ebay first and goes local second but I decided to bite the bullet on this one. It cost around $60 from All Seasons Garden Centre just off Whyte Ave. It's not the highest quality unit but they're close to me and will re-calibrate the thing for me anytime for free , no limits. That was worth the extra cost as most of the pens require recalibration every month or so. If you want better quality, try to find an HM Digital brand tester, it costs the same on ebay as they do from online retail unless you luck out and find a used one.

I am also in the home building industry and would not really be too concerned with placing large tanks on older wood framed floors. On typical spans, the dimensional lumber they used to build with had a much higher dead load capacity than modern engineered floors. It's the newer homes that I would be worried about as the engineered wood products can be more susceptible to warping and damage given the longer spans that they are used. The TGI floors are not too bad but they are used in very long spans which would bow downwards if a large weight were placed upon it. I've built a few that used what's called an open web truss floor joist and have seen this type of floor warp downwards during the construction process, just from having the other building materials stacked on the floor. You'll probably never see a tank land in the basement but warping floors can cause problems all over the house. Cracks in drywall, doors no longer fitting their jambs, flooring surfaces splitting or cracking or lifting. This type of damage occurs slowly over time so you would not automatically realize that a large tank was the cause.

Once they become established, I imagine everyone will be flushing their RCS for these guys. They have all the colour intensity of saltwater shrimp and in more variety. It's difficult to say if the native shrimp populations will hold out given the sudden and high demand the hobby has placed on the species. Very difficult to acquire and even harder to keep and breed (only a handful of successful instances in North America so far).

Hi Martin, What's the criac? If the house is fairly new (within 20 yrs) then you shouldn't be too concerned with a 90G on a flat bottom stand. I wouldn't recommend anything larger without some structural reinforcement. Try placing the tank near an exterior wall or along a interior line where the structural beam in the basement is directly under the tank. Most floors are designed with a dead load tolerance that can handle such weights. Water weighs roughly 8.4lbs/gallon and with substrate, stand etc, you're looking at around 1100lbs for your 90G. A flat bottomed stand covers roughly four square feet for a 90G so that's 275lbs per sq.ft. Imagine four large and burly guys standing in your living room. If your floor can take that then it should hold your tank. You might see some deflection as the weight will cause the floor to compress over time.

That's a lot of work for just one night. Are you sure your fish are up to it? :smokey:

I lost a tank the same way last year. All I can recommend to is to increase aeration during the hot summer days and unplug the heater and leave the lights off. Sorry about your loss.

Stop using bread! :P I would bet that you would end up with short fins. I've got a similar mix in one of my plec brEEding tanks, bunch of commons in with a longfin male. We'll see what happens. Perhaps medium fins?

Don't use bread. :smokey: Actually there are certain techniques and conditions that help encourage BN's to get it on. Simulating dry season conditions beforehand (warm water, sparse water changes) and then temperature drops in conjunction with large water changes make it seem like the rainy season has arrived. This is typically what plecos wait for in the wild. Providing a cave (BN's are cave spawners) with some water current flowing across (not towards and into) the cave opening. Lots of foods available for the females and males to fatten up on (provide veggies such as thick slices of cucumber/zucchini). The males will trap a female in their cave until she leaves hims ome eggs. He'll then release her and guard the eggs until they hatch and become free swimming, kicking them out when they're old enough to go.

Digital dustbunnies?

Any action going to be taken on this?

Get them out of your pond quickly! I would strongly reccommend anyone buying fish from one of the big box LFS quarantine their fish for at least four weeks before adding them to your general population of fish. Those fish are generally exposed to parasites and pathogens while in the store tanks and this can spread to your own fish when you bring them home. I would return the koi and get a refund or store credit. If you plan to buy fish fom these stores again follow the quarantine procedures to make sure your other fish are protected. Dont add water from the store's tanks to your own. Match temps and then blend your water with the water the fish were bagged with and then move the fish into a quarantine tank. Keep them there for a fews weeks for observation to see if any illnesses appear.

What is that and what is it used for? Master grow is an aquatic plant fertilizer. It's good stuff!

I've often wondered why there seemed to be so much variation in colour strains of RCS. I've had a few in the past that were a deep deep red but the stock I have currently is somewhat pale and the red is splotchy. I think I've made some posts looking for better quality RCS but haven't come across anyone that really has some nice ones (except the ones I got from Jason a while back -but I lost that group to a tank crash). Still looking for a few dark red females, w/o the white stripe on their back.

The real problem with amanos is getting the larvae to survive to free swimming stage. You basically need to move the recently hatched larvae from freshwater to saltwater and then keep them alive. This is why I was lookng for a phytoplankton culture a couple of weeks ago. I just haven't had time to isolate my berried amanos to collect the larvae. This is a good resource for Amano shrimp.

It's only silly if someone catches you doing it! Shubies will grow like any other comet goldfish. As an example, I have two five year old comets that are about 12" long. I've seen a few that were larger.

Antlers are not actually bones, they're made up of a protein called keratin. Your fingernails are also keratin. Like your fingernails, they will eventually soften and begin to breakdown. I can't see them releasing any major volumes of ammonia while they decompose but I would use ones that were well aged as oppossed to the recently dropped antlers. I'm thinking some of my plecos might enjoy some more places to hide. Sounds like a good idea.

Aquanourriplus. Not sure what they have available currently. Belowwater.com Another Montreal based shop that brings in some kick-@$$ wild caughts. Soon opening another store called Worldfish, mainly for plecos!!! Check eastern based aquatic forums for more leads.

There is no guarantee that the females of each of your pairs mated with the males that resembled them. He who has the cave wins and all those BN are compatible. Congrats on the fry.

Read up on swim bladder disease. It strikes short bodied goldfish quite often.

DT's? OA's? Ur abbr. r unfmlr 2 me.

Where would I find a marine phytoplankton culture here in edmonton? Also how does one maintain such a culture?

Other points against this idea have already been raised, another thing to consider is the amount of investment required to rear the offspring of your chosen 'cash cow'. You need to consider feeding and care costs, initial investment and potential returns. If you acquire a species solely to establish a revenue stream, chances are someone else has already done it and you are not going to see any actual profit, especially if you are only doing this on a small scale.

How deep is your substrate? I've had water clarity issues in tanks where I had the painted gravel too deep. Moved the tank, added less gravel, the water stayed clear.