Crystal

Welcome! I love the heavily planted tanks the most. I hope you enjoy yours! Lets see how long it takes for tank #2 to pop up.

Where is a good place to find bags for transporting fish? I only plan to transport them by car, I am not planning to ship the fish. In general, or in Edmonton. I am looking for a couple of sizes - some for guppy sized fish, and some for 4-5" fish. Are they just the regular poly bags you can find in a grocery store? Or are there other ones out there that are better?

They preferred it cool (no heater), but they actually didn't do too badly in warmer water - probably considering that they are usually found in the shallows in the lakes.

I had some when I was younger - I got them from a local lake, they were a bit different in appearance. They only grew about 2" round max, they grew pretty fast - but they only live about 6-8 months before dieing. I assume the wild ones in canada need a dormant period like most of our perennial plants that are adapted to winter.

I tend to run any "field" rocks through the dishwasher. It beats scrubbing them and does a better job too. My dad works at a gravel pit, and the owners don't care if I pick some rocks out of the grass because the big equipment can't get it out of the grass anyways. They have over 20 kinds of rock piles, and I can take anything from the regular gravel pile that goes to the crusher for gravel roads. Nice rocks, but boy are they dirty...

I know, but I am really starting to miss my planted tank... I am going to pick up a tank for my desk at work and put a couple in there and revert my 90g tank back to a planted tank this spring. Anyone want some (or a few hundred) multis? I will need the whole colony to be gone by May. That was originally a saltwater light fixture for high-light corals (a $500 ATI Sunpower 6-bulb hoT5 from progressivereef, they had a sale on it), I only run two of the bulbs (10,000k and aquablue+ - the plants adore for aquablue+ for some reason). Running all 6 at once will burn out any low light plant and some med-light plants in the tank - I tried once when it was a heavily planted tank - I burned out all my duckweed, java ferns, anubias, and other low light plants; and made almost every surviving plant turn red. Always considered getting just getting 2-bulb - but the I like how the 2 bulbs are spaced out 6" apart, and it is nearly impossible to beat ATI reflectors. Flourish excel is a life saver with the plants - algae just melts away (which is a good thing with my lighting).

I got some corys I have never heard of before - ehrhardti -(not surprising since I have never had corys before). Almost no cichlids, and not too many plants. The bidding was going pretty high on quite a few things, often reaching or exceeding retail prices. I was often outbid - but that is the fun of it and the auctioneers were in a good mood and funny, and some of the kids acting as runners kept dancing, which was cute. There weren't as many people as there usually are, and I have never seen the tables that empty before. Almost every time the were so many bags that they were close to falling off the tables and stacked carefully, this time the bags were lying flat and you could see quite a bit of table space. The icy roads probably didn't help in that regard. There is always the fall auction! Who was selling the neon rice fish? I want to get some of those...

The wrong silicone will kill them quickly. I silicone sand to all my bottoms (I have shelldwellers who dig and I hate seeing glass). Sometimes the print is very tiny, I don't trust any of the GE silicone brands any more in an aquarium. GE silicone has killed some of my fish before - it seems there are some additives that leach into the water - even if you bleach it and then soak it for 48hr in straight prime. I use a different brand as GE has never worked for me. If time isn't an issue, I would just scrape the silicone up and reapply with new silicone (not GE). If you are short on time, just scrape the silicone up and put sand/gravel down without siliconing.

Silicone 1 also has a kitchen and bathroom version which is mold resistant - and that will kill your fish. (http://www.homedepot.ca/product/ge-silicone-i-kitchen-bath-sealant-white-290-ml/947745) Which exact version do you have? 18" by 18" isn't too big. if you are really worried, you can go to the dollar store and get a razor scraper (meant for cleaning stoves) and scrape the silicone off and buy the right kind (100% silicone, with no mold resistance)(or get some from the pet store, pricier, but no worries). You did treat the water with prime or something, right?

That is one long drive and fairly big fish too. If each container has a heater and an air pump they should be fine (I would put a small aquaclear sponge in your tank until you leave, and then put the airstone in it - like a mini sponge filter). I would consider adding a 1/2 dose of prime before and after the trip to help with the water quality. I would consider getting (or picking up) a kids wading pool to put them into once you arrive, using the water they are in and slowly topping it up with local, prime-treated, water. At least to give them some room until you can get their tank up. Then it would be just like acclimating them to a new tank. I would make sure each moving container has a well sealed lid as a lot of water can slop out on longer drives. If Hinton's water is like most Alberta town water, ph would be between 7.2-7.6. Fairly hard depending on how they treat it. They usually just use chlorine, but I treat with prime to nail some of the metals in the water. Best of luck to you and your fish during the move - hope it isn't too stressful!

It has been a few months, so here is an update. I found out afterward that the shipper didn't have any wild multis in stock, so I have no wild multis. I then scoured Kijiji, Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton and ended up with a total of 12 multis from 8 sources (and hopefully, different bloodlines). I have used up all of my shells, but the Dollarama only stocks the shells in the summer (June-Aug). There are well over a hundred fry in the tank, maybe even over 200. As their numbers climb, I notice the older juvies hanging around higher up in the water column - they inhabit the entire bottom half of the tank and nothing is safe when it enters that range. I actually lost a cyp to one of the big male multis. From 12 to 100+ in half a year... I fail to understand why I had to search so hard to find 12 fish when these fish make rabbits and guppies look modest. Lol. Tank shot: Close up of fry: Juvie posing: (with a big male above and Mom below Mom with young fry:

That does not sound like fun. Those two fish were sure lucky. It reminds me of the time the bottom of my 90g started coming apart - I was lucky and I caught it while it was still at the 1 drip every 5 min stage. I didn't know I could drain a tank that fast... I can't image what damage even a 33g would have done as I have a raised sub-floor...

I can bring them down to Edmonton. I emailed him on Monday asking what his price is, and mentioning that all fish will go to good, and larger, homes. No response yet. If it is one of the farmer families, well, I know some are pulling 14-16hr days trying to get their crops off. I can come in Oct. 1 or Oct. 8 depending on when the person replies. If I get a reply I will let you all know. I am hoping the person is willing to let them go for free, although I doubt it. I guess we will see. If Sprucegruve's family is willing to bring them down, that is fine with me too.

I was pretty sure that the list of possible fish would be small. I may have to change my plans. Thanks for letting me know about the krib.

I had livebearers , which just pick, pick, pick. Dwarf rainbows are nice, but I would like fry. The Multis in my 90g never bothered the BN fry even when breeding (except when one tried to enter a female's shell). I had lemon lime cichlids before, they eat the fry whole, picking them right through the bars of the floating fry traps. I could never keep blue rams alive, although the red rams lived and bred for years, their eggs never hatched. I think I am leaning to wards a pair or two of gold occies, or maybe a pair of krib. The occies are about the same size as the Multis. I don't know if krib would eat BN fry or not.

I have a 20g tank with a pair of Albino Bristlenose plecos. I would like a easy breeding fish, preferably a cichlid with parental care, to go with them, but I don't want a fish which will eat/kill the newly evicted BN pleco fry. All I can think of is the dwarf cichlids. But our water is 7.6 and apistos and even rams don't fare well. I am tempted to try another dwarf shelldwelling cichlid, maybe Gold occies. Anyone know if Krib pulcher will eat young BN pleco fry? Always wanted a pair of krib, just so pretty... Any other suggestions? It is always interesting to see what people can recommend which I never even think of.

I would try to help, but I only have a spare 20g. If someone was interested, I could pick them up Sept 30 evening, or Oct. 1 morning and get them as far as Mayfield common in Edmonton, but I have no place to hold them in Athabasca or Edmonton.

Thanks Harold, I just didn't know if the seller had to stay in order to collect their money. I assume 20 lots means 20 items/bags?

I have always considered selling at the auction, but does the seller have to remain until the end of the auction? I live two hours out of town and October and especially March are notorious for dropping last minute blizzards, about half of the time I have had to leave early to get home safely.

I had a bit of difficulty finding daphnia, from hobbyists or ponds. So with a bit of research I found some people claiming that when they fed frozen daphnia to their fish, they often saw small daphnia 5 days later. So just out of curiosity, I filled a 3g pail with tank water, threw in a dozen snails (they produce enough infusoria to feed a couple daphnia), a couple of water lettuce, and 4 cubes of frozen daphnia. Sure enough, 5 days later I can see a couple of very small daphnia. A very good trick to know if I ever need to start a culture from scratch. Now for the fun part. Keeping them alive.

I am interested in starting a daphnia culture and I am curious anyone could give some advice and tips. I am after a small live food culture that can live in the aquarium for several hours if uneaten, and these guys are just the right size for cyp fry. From what I understand I need a container, starter culture, slow aeration with no fine bubbles, and can feed green water, yeast, or powdered/liquid spirilina. Does it require a light all the time? Can I get away with using the window for light? I am probably going to use yeast or spirilina. For the yeast, do I just mix a bit of water with it and add to the culture? How much should I feed and how often?

There are actually 5 small anubias and about 10 java fern glues to the rocks and more to the background. They will grow given time - the high lighting and co2 don't hurt either. Not quite. Although there are a few dollaramas on the west side that are sold out of whaleseye shells. 16 shells for $1 :thumbs: I have far more shells on a shelf which I will add when the new multis to arrive. Thanks. Yes, I used those big tubes of 100% silicone from the hardware store, squeezed it on, and used a plastic putty knife to spread it. Sprinkled down 1/2" of sand and pressed it in. I used one of those drywall hand sanders to press it in. If it isn't pressed in, it can easily rub off with energetic fish. My 90g took two 300ml tubes, although I also added my background, which took about 1/2-3/4 a tube.

I got bored with my old setup, and decided to rescape it and make it a Multie tank with some Cyprichromis Leptosoma Utinta. Old setup: Emptied tank: New background: Siliconing sand down so I won't see glass when the multis dig: Young cyps - I could only find 3 young ones, I believe all are female. Will get more when I can find them - anyone know where to get yellow tailed Utinta? Multi males - here is one of my 2 huge exiled male multis, about 2.5" long. I have 3 more males, 3 females, and several fry in a 20g, I will add the adults to the 90g when my 12 wild caught multies arrive at the end of July My other male has always used the rocks and I have never seen him in a shell, despite the fact that there are 10 huge muffin shells in there that he could easily fit into. And what everyone has been waiting for - the full tank shot: Left side: Right side: I will post more pictures later when the new fish come in. I am having a tough time finding cyps of any kind, let alone Yellow tailed Utinta. They didn't even have any wilds when I ordered the Multis or I would have bought a couple. I will add more shells when I add the other Multis, just to keep the big males off balance so the newbies can settle in.

I have had good luck with both Dollar stores and Dollaramas. Even Walmart in the Vase/pebble decoration section.

I often drop off 2-5 donations for the auction (snails, plants, unwanted equipment/supplies). Does this rule affect people who randomly drop things off for the auction as a donation to the club?