rodsboys

I keep mine in the pond over winter as well and they have came back for the last 5 years. Might be easier for you in the future.

The pond is completely above ground, so it would freeze solid, top to bottom. I left it in its bucket under the stairs, and its still sending up shoots and leaves, looks like some earlier leaves have rotted off, maybe. Considering putting it in the aquarium for now...

My pond is completely above ground too and stays ice - free most of the time. I run an air pump with 2 big sponge filters all winter and a small 750 watt floating de-icer.

Just a fyi my lilies in my pond have leaves on them already....lol really early this year.

Nice! Mine are not even close yet.

I wouldn't worry about it. They can do that under ice too. If you keep them dark and wet they will be fine. Just trim all of the winter growth off when you place it back into the pond in spring. I use to bring mine in too, but now I keep them in the pond.

I keep my fish outside all winter. My pond is relatively small and above ground too. 4' x8' x 2' deep. I use an air pump running 2 big sponge filters and a floating 750 watt heater/de-icer. I usually do not have any ice at all on the surface and my electric bill has no noticeable increase from the low watt de-icer. My pond is insulated though on the sides and bottom with 3" thick rigid insulation. I am sure that helps.

I don't have much experience with fluorite, but anything small and smooth would be most suitable for burrowing loaches.

I've kept dojo loaches often over the years and all color morphs. I've found there is quite a variance from individual to individual. There are a couple of different species that are common and commonly interchanged in the hobby. The differences are slight however. They are all compatable and similar in "personality". Unless you are specifically trying to breed them I wouldn't worry much about what you have. If you are interested in breeding then only purchase from one source and all at once.

I've kept dojo loaches often over the years and all color morphs. I've found there is quite a variance from individual to individual. There are a couple of different species that are common and commonly interchanged in the hobby. The differences are slight however. They are all compatable and similar in "personality". Unless you are specifically trying to breed them I wouldn't worry much about what you have. If you are interested in breeding then only purchase from one source and all at once.

I use one of these on my pond. Think I paid $80 for it. New bulbs only cost $20 and I change it every year. Never have disease or green water. Pond was like pea soup when I bought it. Cleared it up in a week.

EDIT: Sorry, for some reason I can't post a link here. It is from Lowes Canada though. 9watt UV

Sucks dude, I know mine are like family. Sounds like you have some decent sized ones too. Years ago I lost a bunch when I was an idiot and put them in a kiddie pool while I clean my "pond". Went inside for an hour or so, came out to like 20 dried up fish.

Lights look great. Love the tint.

I put in more plants and a UV. Mine is starting to be see-thru finally. Still not where I want it yet, but still a lot nicer than the 150 gallon stock tank I've had the last few years.

I have a serious bloom happening in my "pond" too right now. Horrible growing season so far. Out of 5 normally prolific lilies I have 4 leaves floating so far. Normally I'd have tons on each plant with a couple of booms showing up near the rhyzomes. I'm going to add some more marginals myself and hope it helps. Hate using chemicals and not enough funds to do a UV right now.

Looks great. Are you running die for algae control?

Great pond, can't wait to see pics of your fish.

Love it, looks like you put the liner right up against the siding?

The largest ones (pic 1) are in the 12CM range give or take a little. Smallest one (pic 5, always been an under achiever) is 5.5CM roughly. I have kept ACF off and on for about 12 years. I am planning to bring up a couple of different species this summer. X. Borealis and an undetermined other. These are all X. Laevis. As far as color and patterns are concerned, they are the most diverse species and most commonly available.

Anyone else keeping them???

4 Females, 2 Males.

Pic 1- 2 huge wild type females, 1 is 3 years old the other is 7.

Pic 2 female Reticulated Albino 7 years old

Pic 3 1 year old female albino

Pic 4 Wild type male 7 years old

Pic 5 Reticulated albino male 1 year old

You don't see too many post about these guys on here so I thought I would share some low quality pics of mine. Tank is 65 gallons, species only.

There not super hard to get. You see them fairly often here in stores. Varies species show up at the auctions too. There is a guy on here selling one also. http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=39402

okay got a reply back regarding the bags for the box etc.

Yeah, 6 bags of corys and 3-4 trios amongst the spare

room should fit nicely.

Packing is more flexible with the guppies as their bags

can fit vertically or horizontally. Cory bags have to lie flat so they can

spread out a bit or they are too crowded in the small ends of the bags and are

on top of each other.

so that's for the roughly $137 shipping cost.

cheers,

That's not so bad if spread out that way. I may still be in. I can't head this up right now though. Would anyone be willing to do it? Antonio?

Just heard back on the bags. 6 bags per container at $137 per box to ship. That's 22.83 per bag.Only 8 cories to a bag or 1 guppy? Next day by end of day shipping. I think I am going to bail on this one myself.

This has just prompted me to followup again.

I could add a few horror stories, but I don't have the time right now. They are greedy bastards hands down. Ebay owns them so when you sell on Ebay you have Ebay fees, fees on the shipping you charge, paypal fees to receive the money, and another Paypal fee to transfer to your account and heaven forbid they have to "exhange" the money for you before they transfer it to you. Their exchange rates are significantly lower than they should be.

I kept a trio(1M/2F) for a couple of years back when I first moved up here. I kept mine in a heavily planted 5.5 gallon. They were on my desk so I was entertained by them constantly. I would say if you can go bigger than 5 gallons, do so. The aggression was OK for me in a species only setup, but they are messy little buggers. I did try them with ottos and dwarf frogs and there was plenty of nipping going on.

I live close enough to the Airport and right now work even closer so that's not a problem. I also prefer to get my fish same day and was also looking at a $100 budget. Some of those prices are too good to pass up even if you add $2 per fish after shipping.

By the way, would Air Cargo be a cheaper way to ship?