stribbelldk

P.I.T.A charge -roll- I just found out that they dentist was also getting charged for fish. Everytime I went to the dentist there was different fish! The company that was "maintaining" the tank told the receptionist that the fish got too large for the tank and had to be switched out. The recectionist also states the she was told that all fish will continue to grow and would never stop. Hence the reason to switch out the fish. I feel, in my opinion, that this company was just out to make some easy money from another company that knew diddly about fish other than they a pretty. It is a shame that a very reputable company would do this. But they have lost my business. Derek

I had to goto the dentist today, what a way to spend Saturday morning, and they asked me if I wanted their fish. I am not into the community tank but I asked why. They have a company come in twice a month to maintain the tank, do water changes , tests, fill the auto-feeder, clean the glass....... BLAH BBLAH BLAH. All normal stuff when you have a tank. This is only a 55 gallon tank. Their bill for this is $300 a month and does not include the food , fish, chemicals,or filter replacement parts. :shock: Is that normal or is it extremely high??? Might be time to start a week end business. If I found 20 tanks to clean every two weeks and charged $300 but included everything I could make an extra $6000 amonth minus supplies. So say $4000 take home. I could kill two birds with one stone, make money and feed the MTS!!! :smokey: Derek

:welcome: From a former Lethbian :smokey: err... Lethbridgite!?!?!

Then I would buy it from you at another 20% :tongue: Still a smokin deal

I go to the dollar store and get the plastic style pot scubbers. 5 for a buck. They are rainbow colored but the fish don't get offended. Derek

I would have to agree that a betta in with those mates might not be the best idea. You could however put a hanging display tank in the main tank to show off your betta. Derek

GE silicone one is the right stuff. I actually stood in Home depot and read every tube of silicone there to make sure it was the right one. Sam Chicklets does a great step by step training topic, try to find it Derek

I would like to say that not all people are as enthusiastic about fish as some people are. Some of those bettas may get abused, or neglected while on the table. And what is going to happen to them once they go home with the guest. Are you prepared to have a lot of extra fish in your place too? I would possibly rethink the idea. I went with a 2x10 board cut into squares and covered with a black satin and pink ribbon, then a 6" rose bowl filled 1/3 with black gravel, a tea light and decorative holder surronded by fake pink roses. we also put a few tea lights around the center piece. We had 45 center pieces to do. Each one only cost about $8. Ebay!!!! Gotta love it. I can email a pic if you want. Derek

Thanks DK. I did move the babies into a "fry tank" inside the main tank with air stone. They are growing like weeds on Cyclops. Now I have to empty my pleco tank to put them in there. Derek

So here is the story. I went out and bought a wild caught breeding pair of Altolamprologus compressiceps Goldhead. I got them home and the male got stuck inside a conch shell I had and died. I was devastated that I lost $75 on one fish. I found a second male to replace my dead on at a LFS, so I bought him for $100. I now have a male and female wild caught in the tank hoping they would pair up. After about a week of owning the new male, he got a major eye infection. It swelled up and burst. I was thinking I just threw another $100 away, but he survived but with only one eye. I got the two fish into a nice 55 gallon with some juvie sunshine peacocks and everything seemed fine. I waited several months and no babies, so I bought a few juvie F1 from fairdeal. I was hoping I could grow them out and possibly get a breeding pair somehow. Three days ago, I found my blind one eyed poor excuse of a wild caught male stuck to the powerhead ind the tank. Again, I was crushed. I noticed yesterday that the female was acting really strange. She was protecting a conch shell I have in there. And she would quickly grab a few pellets of food the back to protecting. No one gets close to that shell!!! Today I was walking by the tank and notice some quick movements out of the corner of my eye in the shell. I stopped and waited, and low and behold I saw a few little guys!! :smokey: Now I am kinda stumped as what to do. Do I remove the shell with or without the mother? Or leave the shell alone? I do have a few hard plastic breeder nets, should I put them in there? Doesn't the father usually look after the young with Goldheads? Maybe it was his dying wish or some lucky fluke but I need to save these guys!! Any advise would be great. Thanks Derek

Thanks African for the info. I was getting my info from the net and most sites were saying 7-8" but I did find 2 or 3 site say 11-12 inches. No where do they recomenda tank size. I have a 48x18 but not sure if I want a foot long cat in there, nevermind 6 of them. Birger, thanks for the tip. I was thinking of going through a supplier but it seemed to good to be true. Like I was saying, I was told they were $80-$100 at one place then I see them for $25!! May be a reason for that. Derek

I wasn't sure if this post should go here or with the cichlid section but..... Has anyone ever had the Synodontis njassae? I am just trying to get some info on these guys. So far I know they get up to about 7 -8 Inches, They are one of Lake Malawis only cat fish,They are known as the Malawi Squeeker. And not a whole heck of a lot more. I have wanted this fish for a long time but was told they would cost about $90 each! So I was glad to see them at $25 in the group orders. I just wanted a bit more onfo on them. Thanks, Derek

I have a cichlid tank and I have used 3 clown loaches to control Trumpet snails. Thet were small when I bought them and were up to 5 inches when I got rid of them. They did a good job but I still had to remove some when I did water changes. I recently got some Blue botia, and they have wiped my snails out. So much so that I have to transfer from my other tanks just so I have some in my big tank. Yes the water perameters are different and one likes hard and one like soft but plekos and cichlids have different water conditions too and everyboby seems to do it. That being said, no I would not mix loaches or botia with wild caught cichlids if I was buffering the ph up to 8.3. Just my two cents Derek

I tried to upgrade but I didn't have much to fight her with. All she had to do was mention the 4 tanks that are running in the house and the 18 tanks to be set up! Well I went out and bought silicone and razor blades and all the fun stuff needed to scrap silicone. I got 2 big rubbermaids on the floor. Transfered heater and added air pumps. I got the AC500?(the big one) on one bin but was unable to get my Eheim canister filter to work on the other one. I did have 2 AC300 as well but they didn't fit on the lip of the second bin. But with a very sharp Henckel knife, the two filters fit! I added water from the tank to the bins andd started to move fish around. I finally got all the fish moved and went to find a few buckets for the gravel. When I got back, I had not one or two but three fish flopping on the floor.A quick hand scoop and they where safely back in water. So I emptied some water and through a towel over the top of the bins. This has been a challange and I have not even started siliconing :cuss: Derek More updates to come and I am sure many more four letter words!!!

Thats a great idea!! Wanna tell my wife :shifty: Her :boxer: Me :boxed:

So I decided to do a water change on my 90 gallon tank today. I noticed a small wet spot under one corner of it 2 weeks ago but I chaulked it up to sloppy water changes. Today the wet spot has grown and is now completely saturated the corner of the wood stand it is sitting on. I am thinking it is not just sloppy water changes but a leak in the corner of the tank under the gravel. What to do now?? 1. I was thinking of replacing the tank with a new one, but not overly excited about blowing another couple hundred bucks on a tank. 2. I could temporarly house the fish in a couple of Rubbermaids I have here. Then I would have to empty the tank anddry it. Re-siliconing is not one of my most favorite jobs, considering I still have a 50 gallon in pieces in the garage. What would you guys do? Replace or resilicone? Would I have to take the entire tank apart if I resiliconed or could I just scrape/peel/curse the beads in the corners and the bottom? Would the fish be alright in some Rubbermaids for a few days? I would put filters and heaters and air in the tubs. Derek

Just so we all don't forget and show an hour late, Turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight. Derek

Wow!! I thought I saw a huge one at Oceanagrafico in Spain. It was about 3.5 feet. That is huge and nice to see they released her too!! Derek

I couldn't seem to download pics on here so I made a Facebook alblum. These are the two new tanks I set up and I transferred all fish into one tank while I go on holidays. Enjoy! Derek my new 50's

I used to live in lethbridge a a major portion of my life. Welcome to AA from a former Lethbian -roll-

Lana, No I was not able to save the fry. And thank you for all the comments already. On a good side, as soon as I pulled the platic castle out(where my BNs breed too), I put in a breeding cave. I noticed this morning I have BN eggs!!!! Derek

I noticed an electric yellow cichlid holding a few days back so I netted her and put her in a 15 gallon. I was waiting for her to spit the fry then give her a chance at a few meals then put her back in the main tank. Two days ago I noticed she was "hiding" in a fake plastic castle I had in the 15 gal. Yesterday she still had not come out of hiding, so I when in to remove the castle. Much to my surprise the yellow was trapped in the very top. Her head was wedged between the edge and another piece. It is a good thing these ornaments are "top quality". I started physically breaking pieces off the castle until I was able to free her. She had suffer some major damage to her scales from thrashing around, and her gill was pretty messed up too. I immediately put her into a small hard plastid breeders trap and treated with some stress coat and salt. The next morning she was really bruised and swiming funny. She died a few hours later!! The lesson I learned from this experience is: Keep a close eye on all my fish. If I don't see one, find him!! Also I have pull all my plastic "traps" out of my tanks and only have slate, wood, coconut shells, PVC pipe and pots for decoration Derek

congrats Fred! I had my first batch of fry about 3 weeksw ago. Then yesterday I was doing a waterchange on my fry tank, which the first batch is in with some very small electric yellow cichlids, and I noticed my male fanning another clutch of eggs. Today after a Walmart run I saw a few of those eggs "swimming" around. They grow up so fast :cry: Derek

I agree. The more synos you have the more active they are. I think I got about 12 in my 90 gal. Some people say that it is hard to keep bristlenose plecos in a cichlid tank, they die on them, but I have 5 in mine and they are okay. That beening said, I wouldn't throw a small 1" in the tank. All of mine a 3"+ Derek

If you have a cycled filter large enough for your 33, you shoulde be able to add the water. I would use some water conditioner and some Seachem Stability. If your filter isn't big enough or cycled, you might have some issues. You can take water from a larger tank. Or if you have to get a new filter you can you some of the media out of a cycled filter. Derek