Oxquo

By all means a pellet food carries the requirements needed and sometimes more. I have seen good results from NLS, Can it be crushed fine enough to raise Cardinals or neons? Maybe with soaking it in water and blending it. It would be messier than micros or rotifers. Will pellet create the craze and excitement that a net full of gammarus can produce? I am not bashing the food at all. Simply I am saying that giving Your fish a well balanced diet of quality flake or pellet is great, but lets not forget that most fish are hunters whether it be insects or fish, hunting is exciting for them and they love to do it. If one fed their fish 3 times daily, two pellet or flake and one live would be a good routine. One of the worst ways to advertise any product, would be to say that there is no other. It has been the reason that I have strayed away from NLS from the beginning. Aside from My experiment with the discus, which ended up being african food because they didn't like it much. I think the food is likely great, if the results are true as they appear, wonderful. As the be all end all of foods? We will see, every product is topped by another product sooner or later. That is the nature of today's World, Rather than create something new we try to re-create something and make it better. How a product is presented is mostly the key to success. Shopping in a commission based store often pisses Me off and I will likely buy somewhere else even at a higher price. All I am saying is the product can speak by itself. People still eat at Mc Donalds even after "Supersize Me". It hasn't hurt the business at all. Why? because people know what they are getting and aren't pressured into spending their money there. Are there other restaraunts? Yep. Are there other quality fish foods? yep. Should We omit live from our fishes diet? As a fishkeeper it is easiest that way, as an aquarist, live food is the nature of the beast, it's part of the science that brings the hobby to that next step. The truth is that there is no solid evidence that feeding any pellet or flake food of any brand produces better egg production or for that matter that any food is the be all end all. There is on the other hand solid proof that wild fish love live food, tame fish love live food and breeding when all else fails is best with live food. The fact is that live food often does not contain everything a fish needs for a complete diet. Commercial products can control the amounts that go into the fish and add the little extras. I have never heard of Astaxanthin growing in a killi pond but adding it helps alot with color. In the end, it is the consumers money, some will buy other products because it's cheaper and good enough, some like to raise live food as a supplement because they like the results it creates. As a cleaner upper in a killi or betta bowl no pellet compares to daphnia or scuds. Some can't stand the fact that even if a food is the lobster and steak dinner of all foods, they would not themselves love to eat steak and lobster everyday of their life and they want to give their fish that same option. For anyone to tell these people that it is wrong to feed anything other than their food will simply either piss off the consumer so they buy none at all, or feel like they are in a consumer trap. Example, the Oil patch VS Hybrid VS Biodiesel. No one likes to feel trapped. I myself put off NLS for two years after the discus experiment due to badgering about NLS and it's be all end all of foods. Be glad that I have bought 6 - 5lb pails, be glad that I may use it and enjoy it and become a testament of it's goodness. I will never and suggest that no one ever neglects the positive effect of live or even frozen foods, but chooses to experiment and feed a high quality staple food along with the live or frozen. No one has proof that a variety is a bad thing. If I wouldn't have gotten such a deal on the NLS I may not have tried it again. I know that You sell the stuff, I respect that and will never say where I got Mine so cheap, so I hope You can appreciate that and respect My opinion on mixing quality food with live. As for killies, keeping them and breeding them on pellet food seems mixed but somewhat passable, does anyone have plausible results on rearing fry from the start on crushed pellets, or even neons or cardinals? Africans, SA's and CA's are alot different. I would like to hear from the small fish breeders and no I don't mean livebearers but small mouths without polluting effects. Not trying to crap on Your party RD but, I believe I also know a thing or two about nutrition as I have a certificate that says I do, of course a majority of that is based on Dogs, cats and small animals and not fish, I would like to think that in 16 years of fishkeeping I have done something correct and that before NLS came along people were still able to raise quality fish and we weren't just poisoning them. I have nothing more to say on food except this...............KILLI

Both good ideas for food grinding... I am pretty sure that as with any fish, a combination of foods creates the best success. Live "not frozen" Creates the chase, I put gammarus in My nimbochromis tank and it was a blast watching them hit the hard to catch bugs, their color was almost that of wild fish. Yet a quality food or pellet to supplement vitamins etc... missed in live food and color pigments can't hurt. Whether they spawn littlle or alot is a non-factor. 4 healthy fry beats 100 gibbled fry any day but I still say there is no one food, a combination offers a variety and variety is the spice of life. In the same way, bigger is not always better, I look for color in fish and fish that are specific to their description, while a 4" guppy may look cool, it is not right and would not be a good specimen to breed. One of the problems with starting killies out on powder food is that You may end up with a largely male population due to the smaller females getting little to fit in their mouths. Paramecia, rotifers and microworms is the only hope that a few ladies make it to maturity. Often killi spawning reports state that mostly males survived, but started the fry off on BBS, meaning it wasn't that most of the eggs were male but the females who are much smaller starved and perished. Adding java moss to the tank allows the much smaller females to be able to hide and eat micro foods at the same time, that is truly the art of survival at it's best. More importantly is that killies more often than not prefer a 3-1 female to male ratio, this makes mostly males a waste of breeding time. It would be better to starve out males than females, therefore I will start the food experiment at 2 weeks or more for some species. Growing females in larger tanks with twice as often water changes can bring them up to speed with the males as well, they won't get beaten down so bad during spawning either. I think raising them closer to tetras as opposed to livebearing toothcarps is a good procedure to follow. Focus on the smaller fish, the larger fish will survive too. Damn, I'm almost ready for a Killi forum, lol. Hey Killi tanker? JK. I do know what You mean about interest, but just like aquiring killi's more info on them creates more interest. Betta popularity is alot due to two things I believe, Availability and cruel living conditions which create impulse buys. People want to rescue them. If a store replaced it's bettas with killies in little tiny jars, I bet there would be a tonne out there. I mean lets face it, recuing a betta and puting it in a 2 ounce shot glass or those little cute heart shaped death bowls is worse than in the store yet people do it. If You had a 2 gallon bowl, you could have 3 small killies some plants and offer them a good life still. To clear up the myth, betta's come from puddles, puddles in rice fields huge stinking rice fields. Even though they look cramped, as workers harvest the rice the fish can move from place to place. Betta's are placed in small ponds and puddles for mosquito control but it is not their habitat. Killies live in rivers, streams, lakes and ponds and puddles, some which dry up seasonally, killies do jump very well and can find the smallest flaw in Your aquarium lid, they do in the wild occassionally and depending on species of killi jump from puddle to puddle, I believe but it's not confirmed, looking for more mates not food. I would say the average Nothobranchius or aphyosemion is way more suited to large bowl or small tank life than bettas. They are more active, compatible and colorful. Nothing against keeping betta's at all, but I think they should squeeze over a touch cause there is a new, more suitable bowl fish in town.... GOT KILLIES??????

I'll post them with the write up for sure. Does NLS make or intend to make fry food? Sera made an incredible fry food, I would like to see the difference from birth but chrushing and screening food is a pain and too big of chunks means waste. I will also put My red devil and dovii on it because I have heard of great results. Let us not forget though that growth is also largely due to frequent partial water changes. They make betta food, guppy food and even flowerhorn food, I'd love to see someone make a food for killies that would let us put away the cultures permanently.

Well now that they are here I am gonna spawn them and raise half of each fry on NLS and the other half on live. I will use the Picture tank and the tripod so all pictures are true to form. I will have to start them on paramecia and rotifers but after I will crush up NLS growth. This should make an even cooler species report, with non-biased results since I am very much a live food lover but have seen the results of NLS second hand. To see it happen first hand would be like spotting a yeti, if I see it, You'll hear about it. Jvision, it is fun, Egg waiting is tough with fish like notho's and hell, I can't remember where I put My keys nevermind to hatch eggs in 6 months but somehow we manage. Who wouldn't love all those colors and that feisty little attitude, and the fact that there is sooo many of them but so little availability. To Me killies are like collecting stamps or hockey cards, You never know what You will get or when You will get them, but if You find them, there is always room for another little tank. Your wife won't even notice like she would a 50 or a hundred gallon. Just slip it on a table and say" what? that old thing, nah, had it for ages..." The......KILLI.... I mean.

They arrived!!!! Woo HOO!!!! I'm just setting up another stand and 7 more tanks for them. Christian was right though, Greyhound did change it's policy so beware. The fish ended up being shipped in a box that said "Very Fragile" Special care is always taken when they think something is breakable due to the insurance policy. For those who choose to ship this way, remember Your loss is non-recoverable, also wrap Your styro box in a cardboard box to hide it's identity. Anyways all arrived in beautiful condition and man that guy can pack... I have never seen such care taken in packing in My life, Pro's should take note. I am a huge fan of breathable bags but the care is often neglected in keeping them spaced properly so they can breath... Anyways, it shows that the shipper genuinely cares that the fish arrive in perfect condition. The way they look I should have eggs tomorrow. I will take some pick once they get settled. I will also start a full write and species report for those who have interest in keeping this aquarium Jewel. For pet store shoppers who shop in places where the staff has no knowledge of fish, I hope this will make You think again. You can only recieve this kind of care from an aquarist, not to mention this quality. They are so colorful even in the bag after the long trip, I can not even imagine them gaining more color but they will after they settle. An A1 job all around, and an honorable mention to Rick in Winnipeg. Oh yeah, for the post counters.......KILLI, lol

Ahhhh Well that is mighty extra super cool of Ya then Rudy Thanks.

It's funny what a diverse group killi keepers are compulsive, selective and persistent. I remember bringing home 2 sets of killies Apyosemion gardneri and aphyosemion striatum as My first gems. So I give them space, spawn them and in general add to the collection. Two years later I sold My first auction lots. To My suprise I didn't have Aphy Gardneri but I did have Aphy striatum, "what?". I had Fundulopanchax gardneri and aphy striatum. What the hell was going on? I went home and looked in My books, and they were wrong, they were new releases when I bought the books, how could they be wrong? Some A-hole decided He was bored so he would reclassify stuff for no reason, These certainly looked nothing like a panchax, truthfully although not as stalky they resembled Fundulosoma more than any panchax, Aplocheilus now on the other hand resembled panchax. Oh yeah, back to the point, wasn't meanin to pick on anyone but just misspelling a killi name could cause My stock to no longer be cool. Over all it's not as bad as betta keepers, sorry guys but, If You have 200 jars of betta splendens, You have one species, In four colors, that is somewhat like naming each worm in a culture. I suppose you could collect B imbellis or B. Coccina but few ever do, They give them a new fancy common name and sell Splendens as something new each week like they were a new species. Not pickin on betta people but I just wish killies could change common names that easy. Look at guppies I could have 100 strains of guppies, all poecilia reticulata , but I still only have one species. How quaint. Selling them becomes easy, just use the common name. Red tiger, Tuxedo, and By tail shape, fantail, double sword etc.... Lets face it, Aphyosemion is cool, has a ring to it, flows and is very cool. For three years I quit buying fundulopanchax, I even got rid of My killies who's names were rudely changed, and dammit, I loved My Aphyosemion Scheeli, but sold them Fundulopanchax Scheeli like they were a plague. Is there a point to this long drawn out story??? Yes and here is the moral.... Whenever someone counts the amount of times the Forum has used the word killi to reference a platform against having a killi board on the forum, it is within the confines of a crazed and slightly overdramatic and of course compulsive killi nut to reply with a message or two that have absolutely no point to them except to mention KILLI. HAHAHA how many posts have killi in them now Tanker??? For the time I would like those on behalf of the killi board to change Tanker's name to Killi Tanker as this should bring up the use of the word killi and the mention of the species enough that even he will see fit the need for a killi board.

Is it Female Rudy??? How big???

I personally try to keep My rearing tanks snail free. I prefer frequent water changes and vaccuuming but snails do work great. Don't know if I would trust them before the fry lose their egg sack though as they have a hard time swimming and snails could ruin their delicate slime coating or faint new scales. I use to put baby ramshorns in though, years ago. whether snails go in or not water changes everyday or two days is almost a must and small tanks to begin with which can be easily cleaned via turkey baster. Feeding live foods also helps keep tanks cleaner. I would like to add that alot of rivulus and aphy's are spawned in low water values and the results are stunningly identical, Males, males and more males. Alot of Notho's are the same, but many of them come from waters with high values. I can't stress enough to try new things for new results, don't go to far extremes but do make changes. I believe that alot of males survive when temps fluctuate too much and the smaller females perish even as young as egg. As You pull eggs, squeeze them gently, if they squish they are not fertile, if they are hard they are good. As important as counting Your eggs, remember to count Your unfertile eggs, there may be things You can change. If you line your eggs up on peat and separate the smaller ones and the bigger ones I have found that although a tiny size difference, small eggs become majorily female and larger eggs male, not although not a solid theory as some nice males have come from small eggs. Oh and I'm not being picky or an english major but it is Notho as in Nothobranchius theer is no R as in Northo. Sorry but I am odd that way and for people who have fishes and fries, it is fish and fry. No offense intended at all....

I may even drive down there for those. One of My ultimate favorites. I have often found that adding a heater at 76F is often the key with them to the sex ratio and 7.0 pH Not sure which make the biggest difference but it does make a difference. Colder temps and temp fluctuations always give Me a male dominancy even to the point of no females. Just a thought. To Me the rivulus are very valuable. Tell me when they are ready, I'd offer You $40.00 for a trio of MFF. I'd prefer sexed though as I do know that often due to the room temp and tap water breeding, girls are non-existent. Good part is that males sell easy even without females. You can use cocnut fibre for media instead of peat to keep pH neutral. I have found that storing the eggs on the fibre is important too. keep peat a little more moist than with notho's and hatch should be between 20 and 24 days at a steady room temp of atleast 74F.

A quick tip for You, I would personally spawn them fast, either spawning mop or java moss, hornwort whatever. In a community tank they tend to find the openings, stuff all holes with cotton batting. I have spawned them easily in a 1 gallon vase or better yet, put two jars side by side so they can see each other, Remember the smaller the jar the better he can catch her, in a large tank You may find 2 eggs a day, in this same manner, housing them permanently in small containers is bad, the female can get over spawned and with no where to run often dies. no plants necessary at this point, feed lots of live foods for 5 days to a week, grindals, brineshrimp, daphnia, even whiteworms. Get her nice and fat!!! Do a 50% water change in the gallon jar of the female and the male. Add the plant or as I prefer mop, and after about 30 minutes add the male. Within the day You should have a pile of eggs, depending on the age and condition of the fish, 30 is about average. If You never made mops before, here is how I do it. Take wool or Nylon based wool, I'd stay away from cotton as it holds bacteria and the dye may leech. Use a color that is light green if You can, in dark mops they find the eggs too easily, in a white mop it will be hell finding them yourself. Find a book about 8" tall and fairly skinny. Start by dragging about 5" off of the end of the book and then wrap the yarn around the book, I like 30 wraps minimum, for more eggs do 50 but it's more of an egg hunt for them and you. After the 50 wraps or whatever you decide on Take the long strand and tie a double knot on one side of the top which will be about 2" from the top of the book. Do the wraps loosely and you should be able to slip scissors inbetween the books pages to cut the bottom. Now that the bottom is cut, You can decide if You want a top mop or bottom. For bottoms I like to tie a small round rock in the top, for floating, styrofoam or a cork works best. place cork into the loops and center it. then use the double knot line to wrap the cork in like making paper ghosts in school. Rinse the mop in hot, hot water, soak over night, rinse again in warm in the morning and add to tank or bowl. In My opinion, there are a few ways to hatch the fry. Place eggs on peat, cover and open often, check for fungus eggs and remove daily or every second day, hatch is about three weeks this way, add tank water to peat and fry should pop, what doesn't, can be tried again in a few days. Better yet, drop mop in small container flat is best. add 4 drops meth blue or 6 drops acriflaven. Remove fungus eggs, Usually two weeks to hatch. Over plant a small tank and let the folks go nuts, few fry will make it. The best way for highest hatch out, find a film container, clear or white, not black. Place small amount of tap water and up to 15 eggs. 4 drops acriflaven, or 2 drops meth. Change a bit of water every 5 days more often is not necessary. Open the container daily. Shake well before opening. then close. Around the 12 day mark, carry them in your pocket, open often and shake. On day 14, check before You shake, some fry may already be out. If not open container, take a deep breath and blow CO2 into the bottle. Alternately, use CO2 from planted tank. Close and shake like a mad man, don't be afraid to shake hard. Open container, and with eye dropper remove hatched fry into small tank, jar or dish as they hatch, close jar and repeat. I get about 95% hatch with this method. Depending on room temp fry can take 3-5 days to accept food, placing java moss in the fry container can offer the fry natural foods until they can accept microworms, Sera fry powder also works great but live food allows less rot. Some people add micros to hatch the fry, but if the fry arent ready this method can backfire and kill the fry in the later stages. They grow fast and furious on rotifers, fine powdered food etc... and I can usually sex them before 3 months fairly accurately. Since I am one of the few on here who love to chat killies, if You have any questions let Me know. Maybe We can swap some fry one day. Best of luck with these gems of the aquarium............

Yeah He seems like a pretty cool cat, There seems to be alot in Winnipg I may have to make their Spring auction, with Spencer there I am sure there will be a good time to be had. I have met a tonne of cool people branching out to other aquarium society boards. Met a few boneheads too but You do everywhere. Had a guy from Saskatoon ship Me grindals, without even paying for them first, the postage came to $8.00 so I sent him $12.00 but he asked for nothing. Fishkeeping is such a relaxing hobby but members can get soooo intense over the silliest thing sometimes. It's nice to meet good people with common grounds across this Country and there are quite a few right on this board. :beer:

Rather than a "do not tap on glass" sign. Invest in an electric catfish and replace the sign with,"jam your hand in the tank and scare Me, it's hilarious". That should teach some aquarium respect. On a serious note, I allow few taught kids in My fishroom ever since a lady with 4 kids came to buy some fish and her kids went APE $#!+ After I got them out of My fishroom I discovered a crack in a ten gallon tank, thank god it was just a ten gallon. I have had adults do damn near the same thing. I am half as nice then. It's not even the moral of scaring the fish or the finger prints which we all love to clean because cleaning glass is wicked fun and the fish are really just a bonus, it's the fact that people are coming into Your space and abusing your stuff. Go to their house and juggle some of their finest crystal or china. As for kids, well, it's our fault as aquarists. There are very few aquarists who go out to the schools and present a product or speech about fish and fish husbandry. You have no idea how the school's jump at the occassion to have someone bring the field trip to the school. To teach a kid more than how to disect aquaria is awesome. Next time I speek at the school I'll get the teacher to take pics. You should see the questions and amazement in their eyes. Of course add into your speech that tapping on the tank causes stress for the fish and too much can cause the fish to become ill. Try this demo, put one volunteer in the closet, and have everyone run up and knock on the door as quickly as they can. Scares the crap out of the kid in the closet and they realise what tapping on the glass does. Even had a kid come to My fishroom one day, he said I won't touch the tanks cause it scares the fish. I made an exception and gave him a chair to view the fish. Here are some projects I have presented to classrooms. Remember, if You present a project and can take a buddy, do it. These kids gang up on you with questions... Also, Talk with the teacher and principal before hand, they give grades on this assignment if You do but You need to work out how to grade the assignment with the teacher, You need only ask permission to speak to the kids from the principal. We divided the class into groups and gave them 4 species of Killi eggs, 1 trio of guppies, 1 trio of endlers, the kids had to hatch the eggs and caree for the fry, spawn the guppies and care for the fry. Remember if using killies, no hatches of 6 months or they can't finish the project, I would give a week to hatch. Which should give them plenty of time to get eggs from the hatch outs. Oh yeah, You supply the stuff, tanks food etc... I also had some groups do live foods, BBS, grindals, micros and daphnia. The instructions have to be clear and precise. I had kids raise huge daphnia bright red, they were unclear of how they did it really. A few Sea monkeys went missing, I'm sure a killi fry or two as well but at the end, I allowed the kids to ask their folks if they could keep some. The cultures fed the fish, the project went great. Kids learned, respected and wanted their own. We were allowed to give them 5 points on their semester final. I chose 3 for project and 2 for group effort. The rave from the class after them and after them was so big that they asked Me back Last semester and this year too. I picked grade 6, well actually the school did as they study nature in grade 6 science. Anyway, the point is, these kids learned, then they teach others, parents included. All it costs is a little time and some junk you have laying around the fishroom. I may even present plants this year for the study of nature in balance and photosynthesis. Growing 5 of the same plants under different conditions. I am also hoping to donate a 75 gallon to the science class. We can complain about things but a wise man said, " until You teach Me right, I can do no wrong". Like I said, try a school project, it was a blast and even I learned a thing or two. Return to the class every two weeks to see the progress, You will be amazed at how they don't touch the tanks, unfortunately the class after them is usually not so nice but they can all be taught. I am getting some new killies in and can't wait to get started. I may get africans for their class tank though so they can spawn something else as well.

No, I was kidding, lol yes rick... -roll-

I agree, elastic bands allow for groth as well as break down, fishing line can cut into the roots should you forget about it and even though it does the same job, cutting fishing line can mean accidentally cutting roots. With elastic, try getting your plant on a horizontal then attach an elastic (not too tight>>) to each end of the hard stem. Later you can place the java any way you want but horizontally the roots tend to grow straight down. For best adhesion, Try it one day in a separate tank add water half way up the log. Score the log with a screwdriver or knife many times then lay the java on top out of the water, add some riccia or java moss along the top cover well with a good tight fitting lid. Twice a day mist the plant. Within a week even with low light the plants grab on tightly, turn log quarter turn every week and repeat with riccia and or java. When all 4 sides are done trim the java to length and submerge or even better, sell at an auction for $40.00 - $50.00. Plants sell well, logs sell well, logs with plants on them......Priceless.

Actually I think He was completely sober...

Well the first chick he spoke to was pretty dense, but the next person was all too helpfull, He shipped out a few times now, so we'll see I guess if they make it. I think from Calgary though I would DHL it. Thanks for the heads up though.

As of today a guy asked them and they said sure. They told him that it had to be marked as live though. I hope she knew what he was talking about.

Thanks Toirtis, I never knew Riverfront shipped. Previous shipments came via DHL or greyhound. Greyhound has always been good to me even lately. They always move the fish into the office when it gets there and last Winter they even put them on a seat inside the bus for a trip. I met the driver outside and went in the bus to get them, must have been an aquarist. Anyways, I will try to get a list or something from Riverfront. I don't even mind driving to Regina to pick them up. Thanks for the tip!!! Rudy Do You have a female??? If I could get a female for My boy, I'd be thrilled. I am still building their tank but can separate them in two 33 gallons side by side till the tank is cured. How much for the fish itself?

At the very least after all the time I spent trying to find some, I will keep them in circulation. I'd hate to be without again. That little wagging tail as You enter the fishroom it reminds Me of a puppy. Best of all, we all have enough room for Killies. Someone gave Me about 40 windows today, so I'll have tonnes of lids and maybe make 10 or 15 more tanks. Time to get busy.

Slowly I will rebuild that which is called the killi nation. They should be here Friday "spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch". God how I missed these gems of the aquarium. I am working in the garage on a planted, 8' long, 12" high By 12" wide retirement home for My old breeders. My fishroom bored Me ever since the freeze but it will shine again. I actually found them in Winnipeg, but they were originally from Birgit in Calgary. After freezing My bass off catching daphnia today I am totally ready for My little friends to arrive. Here is what I found. Fundulopanchax Gardneri "Gold form" Fundulopanchax Gardneri "Akure" Aphyosemion Marginatum (Gabuense) Aphyosemion Bitaeniatum "Tiko" Aphyosemion Striatum It's nice to have found some of the old favorites along with some I have never cared for. I will write up complete reports on them as I finish spawning them. Most of the killies I am getting are awesome beginner killies and everyone should own atleast one killi tank sometime. I am still looking for more though....Hint hint. Anyone??? I am sooo excited I could pop. I mean poop. Or did I? What's that smell??? My fishroom will be fun to be in once again... Yeehaw!!! :drool:

Funny, I just ordered an @$$ load of killies from a guy called Tanker from Winnipeg. I am very sure You are not related. As for write-ups on killies? I'll paste them in the breeding section, I will do one on every species I get as I am hoping to spawn them for BAP's anyways. My notho's I can't write up yet as I have another 5 weeks approximately for hatchout. I think some forums here are just as used as a killi one would be though. Killi's and betta's are popular forums on boards but to be fair, I would be satisfied with a toothcarp section livebearing and egglayers. After all, guppies, mollies and platies are some of our first experiences in the hobby. If it weren't for their easy breeding success and keeping we may have garage saled our tank and never become this domented. Not only that but guppies are often never recorded on Baps forms A) because they are so easy and fewer points and We forget about them, We likely weren't club members until We discovered convicts, firemouths and kribensis.

What store's there aside from Gold's ship fish within Canada? I need a female festae and need one bad. I know Gold's ships but have never seen a list for any other store in Alberta. I am sure I am not alone as for people who feel the drive to Edmonton or Calgary is a little far for a fish or two. What about Big Al's or Riverfront?

sure thing, Just spawned these Notho taeniopygus for the first time it was alot of fun, never even heard of them before this. Killi's are the most awesome!!! First day he kicked the crap out of My hand, now he'll lay right in it without trying to bite me. They are like mini puppies. I would love to do a thread or two on them, Where should I post them? LOL. No seriously, what catagory is good for a detailed article? I will post a step by step photo article of the guys I am spawning now. Good idea, I also have a friend sending his left over nls so I'll be rearing them on that of course after micros and rotifers.

Hey calling You was the best thing to do, what if it would have been your venustus laying on the bottom stalking prey and she just guessed it was dead so she scooped it? It's not so bad. I get My girl interested by letting her pick a fish or two, the fact that Your wife noticed the dead fish is a sign that she pays attention, the fact that she is not a fish geek allows Your house to have room for other crazy stuff like a fridge that isn't used for a chiller and fish foods and a couch to watch Your fish from. If she was too involved in Your hobby You would likely be converting a 150 gallon cichlid tank into mini betta bowls or even worse. Let her have her own hobby, maybe she could knit sweaters for your fish incase of a power outage or build them little gingerbread houses that you could seal and paint, hey, sky is the limit when You combine interests.