patrick

I sure noticed that today and she was trying to chase me off lol. I guess I need to learn a bit more about birds

Nice shot of a great looking fish Evan

He's looking good. Nice shot too

Welcome to AA Ken

I found this little cute guy while walking the trail today.

Good info in those links Henry Jerry our bat house is 12 feet off the ground (bottom of house) on a pole with an open field in front. The house itself is 2x4 feet in size with two chambers. The house is facing south and I counted at least 37 inhabitants now this weekend. The bats like to have water close by for them to move in permanently and breed. They have to be able to crawl to the water line so it can't be too steep.

Looks great Nathin I am looking forward to see some fish in it.

If you import fish for private use with no intention to distribute or make money, then you don't need a license. If you intend to sell the fish, or if you import as a registered business but have no import license, then you need the one time license. Basically, if you are doing a group order with lots of fish, then the customs might get a bit suspicious when you say it's for personal use only... and you might end up having to buy the license. I have ordered privately from the US a few times and never needed to buy the license, but we are not talking about a lot of fish.

Yes and no. It does not have to be the port of entry but the shipment has to go through a forwarder. The shipment must be booked all the way from its origin to the destination without any interuption. Most countries in Europe have a very good relationship with for example Air Canada and other North American air lines that fly frequently here. I ordered fish from Sweden and the flight with SAS from Gothenburg via Amsterdam and then with Air Canada to Calgary-Edmonton. I could track the trip through Air Canada's web site the entire time, very convenient. Customs at Edmonton airport took 20 minutes, no hassles. Asian air companies does not have the same connections and therefore you have to checkout the shipment in Vancouver and then put it on another flight to Edmonton, hence having to clear customs at the port of entry. As long as the shipper is able to book all the way to the end destination there should be no problems. Canadian customs does not require any special documents for "ornamental" fish. If you import as a private person you don't have to prepare any documents. Health certificate is only for fish that are for human consumption. You have to pay GST to the customs and a cargo fee when you pick up the fish.

It has been silent in the bat house even though it's late May but I guess it's because of the cold weather. This evening I heard some noise so I waited with the camera. It was almost impossible to get any picture as they kind of just drop out of the house. I was surprised that there were so many already, at least 20 left the house as I was standing there. It will be interesting to see how many occupants there are at the end of the summer. Good bye mosquitos

Love the goldeye pic Taylor! Can't wait for next batch of photos

This is one of the new species that I imported from Europe. The parents to the specimen that I have are from University of Leiden where they were kept for research purposes. The great thing with University fish is that the exact collection point is known and also the ID of the fish is 100% accurate. They were collected at Senga Point and I have 8 fish that are F3's. Haplochromis thereuterion is often referred to as "Victoria Cyprichromis" because of the similar "sardine" shape but also because they just like Cyprichromis are open water fish. They can be found in large groups in the open water along rocky shores. According to several sources they also spawn in the open. From what I have heard the small fry are sensitive and can be somewhat tricky to raise. They have grown extremely fast and are now reaching maturity. This male is courting the females. As the male matures he will get more red anal and tail fin and also more dark contrasts on the body.

I usually move the female after a few days when the eggs have hatched. If she keeps swallowing them maybe they are not fertilized or she is stressed. Try removing the dominant male and see what happens and give the females some really good hiding spots like black PVC pipes. Mind you I don't have many hiding spots in my tanks but the females are still quite good at holding.

Yes they hatched but I can't remember how many.

Lol it was over a year ago when I still had some non-vics :ph43r: The macrops eventually ended up with Popeye and then I beleive you got them from her They were agressive little things that just could not stop spawning he he Oh and I still have fish from Lake Tanganyika, 4 Synodontis petricola F1's that I got on the fall auction

This is just amazing. Take the time to follow the thread to the end, it's worth it. http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24940

I don't have much hope in finding any of these guys but if figured I'd give it a try. Does anyone know if I can get any of these? Chiloglanis somereni http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...;species_id=410 Synodontis afrofischeri http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...;species_id=413

Hi, There are couple of things to look out for when the fish is gasping for air. First the oxygen level. If the temperature is too high and/or there is not enough surface agitation then water can not absorb enough oxygen. Second is Nitrite. If the Nitrite is high then methemoglobin level in the blood increases, preventing the blood from the ability to carry oxygen, and the fish will suffocate even if there is enough oxygen in the water. Your water can have a nitrite spike even if the levels were perfect the other day. I suggest that you check for nitrite as a first step. I am not sure how ammonia effects the methemoglobin but to be sure, check for ammonia as well. When did you move the fish from the 20 gallon tank? Is the tank fully cycled?

You can put a sponge on your intake then you don't need to clean the filter as often.

Yes and this is the only species of garter snake I have seen here, and there are so many of them. During the entire summer, especially in the morning, there is one spot on the trail where you will almost always see a snake when you walk there. Today I seen some of the largest and thickest garter snakes up to date, around 3 feet long.

Yes it is

They were everywhere. Standing on the trail in an opena area I could see snakes in the corner of my eyes to the left and right. It sounded like the wind was going through the grass even though there was no wind. I sat down in the grass and after a while they were up close, crawling over my shoes and between my legs. Some of them were mating as well. Too bad I did not have my macro lens with me so I could take some really good close ups.

When you are using an external flash on top of the lid you get a very narrow beam of light. This is fine if you are taking picture of a single fish that is not too close to the surface. A little trick is to put something under your lightstrip on one end so it's in an angle and with enough room to put the flash under this end aiming up rather than down. Now the light will bounce off the reflector in your light strip and down into the tank, giving you a much wider area that is being lit up. You need to tweak the angle of the light strip and flash until it's just right. It requires more power from the flash so you should have it set on maximum power. Even better if you have two flashes, one on each end

Awesome, how did he look while spawning? Nice and bright red?

no way... Patrick will laugh at my skill. I would not even bring my camera or talk about photo taking when he is around... Ha ha, come on Charles your photos are great I beleive you are not using a flash and are shooting with the aparture wide open. It's not easy getting sharp pictures that way.