kristarockstar

If they are bad for fish, might be bad for shrimp too. Better to deal with it while infestation is small. This site gives a few options http://freshaquarium...-Pest-Hydra.htm if you want to remove the shrimp (for the heat solution for example)

how much is it to join? Where are the meetings? what time do they start?

ooh! just found this place http://www.greenslapidary.com/pages/products_view.asp?CatID=61&SubCatID=534

I wasn't planning on copying a picture but I looked through a lot of them to see what kind of 'style' I preferred. I have everything I need to get started except lighting (see post http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=38595) and some cool rocks. I have considered sculpting my own rocks but I don't have much experience using non toxic colourants. I was thinking of using a concrete product. I sculpted at the calgary zoo for some of their exhibits but we used acid stains which gave a great natural coloured finish but would not work for aquariums without a good sealer, but I don't know what sealer would be a matt finish and non toxic. I also was thinking of using apoxy sculpt (a two part sculpting compound) but I don't know if I have enough of it and it might be more difficult to do a natural looking 'paint job'. I think I will wait to see what this ornamental stone place has (as it seems to have some more interesting stuff compared to burnco) but that is still a week away as the guy is on holidays until the 7th. I can't wait!

I decided to try out and Aquascape tank. I currently have a 10 gallon planted/driftwood tank with shrimp, snails and a few cardinal tetras. I think I will try a 20 gallon (or whatever i can find buy/sell or on kijiji) something not too pricy as I spent a lot getting some ADA aquasoil and a bunch of ground cover type plants (used christmas money as I am currently unemployed, but now I have time for this proect!) And I may have to get some lights and some other equipment depending on what can scrounge from my house and other tank. I did a lot of googling and looking through pictures and I found this great thread to help me pick a style/design. http://www.aquascapingworld.com/threads/aquascaping-categories-my-own-take-on-it.5970/ I have narrowed it down to: (on pg 1) arches/caves tree stump waterfall/stream (on pg 2) fantasy avatar pandora tree I might change my 10 gallon to a 'tree' or 'tree stump' aquascape if this goes well (but I wan't able to find a good piece of wood for a tree shape while shopping) For the new tank I am especially drawn to the fantasy, pandora ones as it would allow me to keep some other creatures such as crabs or frogs or something that need some land above water. I also like the look of fantasy/ruins, if it is not too cheesy. But I also really like the landscape quality of the waterfall/stream or arches/caves styles. decisions, decisions! I am going to check out http://www.ornamentalstone.ca/Ornamental_Stone.html#2 in a couple of weeks (once they are back from holidays) for some cool rocks. I read that there was some chemical you should test rocks to make sure they are suitable for aquariums. Anyone know what it is and where to get it? Any other suggestions for unusual rock? I am also a sculptor, so I could sculpt some foam and coat it in something. Any idea what to coat the foam with to look like stone/ natural but won't harm the tank inhabitants? Or maybe another natural looking sculpting medium? other ideas? Anyone know how one would make those pandora floating islands? i was thinking maybe they used strong fishing line and hung them (maybe from the lid or light system) Any other suggestions/ideas? cool pictures? Thanks! Krista

Maybe someone has posted this before but... http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/super-mario-fish-tank/1glgo7a4a?from=en-ca-hpquad

Well it's been a couple months since I decided to get back into the hobby on a small scale. With help from a few AA members: Lots of thanks to fishclubgirl, DanGofCalgary and Aguabonita for the shrimp, plants and/or snails. I also added a few more plants at a 2for1 riverfront sale. So it is a 10 gallon freshwater with a black painted back and black rocky substrate. It has a heater, HOB filter, air stone, thermometer and a florescent light and a LED light on a glass top. I have a bunch of different plants in there don't know all the names but there is java fern, amazon sword, java moss, crypts, banana plant and moss ball. Also a peice of reddish driftwood. As for creatures I have cherry shrimp from 4 different sources, and some were berried so I have some tiny babies hiding that I see every once in a while. The dark background and substrate has made them a really dark pretty red. I have a few apple snails (Pomacea diffusa aka Pomacea bridgesii or mystery snail) in blue, ivory and pink stripe. And a couple of asolene spixi that are yellow and brown stripe. I currently have a trio of male guppies in there too but I think I would like some white cloud minnows instead. Thanks for the help everyone! I shall read the post on aquarium photography to get some really good pics

Help me win a new computer my laptop is dying! I need at least a thousand votes in three days so pass this along! You can vote once a day until Jan 7 at 11:59pm You have to be on Facebook and 'like' Intel to vote. But if you vote you are entered to win prizes too! http://apps.facebook.com/intelcanadacontest/View-and-Vote/?purl=67d400&entry=8355e379c13c3af34e7793ad74cc8a12 It is called The Hunter and it is a pic I took while on Kayaking trip in Kenya 2009

So it looks like they are reopening in calgary...anyone know when it will be open?

Wow, this is so exciting. I got a few beautiful male orange albino highfin mollys from riverfront, but there were no orange females. I also stopped by petland to get some gravel and I found they had some of the same beauties as well. So I bought a couple of females and set the bag into the tank to acclimate. When I came back twenty minutes later the bag was full of babies!! It sure was a suprise. There was about ten big orange babies which I put in my shrimp/snail tank so I hope they make it!! I'll try and post some pictures in the next few days.

I believe it helps for any livebearers.

You're welcome! The BC based Canadian aquarium connection forum has been a great help. (BC is more into livebearers, snails and shrimp like me, where alberta seems more into larger fish and cichlids) You should check it out (if you do register my referral name is kristarockstar) http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/...?referrerid=168

I read on another forum that feeding them peas are a great way to induce birth. Just get some fozen peas and cook them in the microwave and peel the skins off. Apparently the vegetable fibre moves things along. Ithink I'll try this as well as one guppy and a platy have been holding for a while too.

any luck with the sexing?

When I first got a few I had two clutches within a month then went months without any. Then recently I had five clutches! (Just hatched out two though) So it seems pretty random though. Some tanks I have had clutches and some none at all.

I love these snails too and have has fun hatching out a couple of batches of babies. I'm not very good at sexing either but the pictures here help: http://www.thesnailstore.com/index.php?act...oc&docId=28 You basically hold the snail with the trap door vertically towards you and the snail eventually comes out and reaches down to find something to crawl on. The female has a wide open space at the top and the male has a flap going across. They are so fun to watch cruising around the tank, and they are great for fry tanks too. I currently have the following colours: pink, pink stripe, chocolate stripe, gold, blue, jade and purple. And have had batches of chocolate stripe, gold and ivory babies.

Thats great! Did you do anything to induce spawning? powerhead? temperature changes?

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-pets-accessorie...QQAdIdZ11338077

POMACEA BRIDGESII (aka. P. Brig, apple snails, mystery snails) These are great snails that do not eat plants, help clean up extra food and algae and come in a variety of colours blue, jade, gold, chocolate, pink, ivory and purple. Some are stripes and some are solids. They are quite active and fun to watch! Currently have some gold pearl (gold and ivory cross) and Blue babies available $2 each.

From what I remember about the whole recessive gene thing it works something like this: Lets say the regular colour gene is represented as B and the albino (recessive) gene is represented as A. Each fish has two genes that they got one from each of their parents. So your albino would be AA and lets say its mate is AB (one regular colour gene and a recessive albino gene, but since the albino gene is recessive. the regular colour gene takes over so the fish is regular colour) Then they have more of a chance of having albinos as the offspring could be AA (albino), AB or BB(regular colour) If one albino fish is AA and its mate is BB (no recessive albino gene) then I don't think you can get any albino from this pairing (if what I remeber about getting one gene from each parent is true) If you had a pair that are both regular colour but have the recessive albino AB and AB, then there is a less chance of getting albino but it is still possible as the offspring could be AB, BB (regular colour) or AA (albino). At least that is what I remember from science. But I think there should be something else in there about random mutation or something.

So how does this set up work to get the co2 in the tank? Does anyone have any pics or describe the setup assembly?

See the Group orders section of the buy and sell forum.