DanGofCalgary

this.

I don't keep anything with my Red Cherry Shrimp. I had a fantastic colony and color strain that I added some Betta picta too.. After a very short time, I just had Betta picta... Lesson learned. Now I am paranoid and only keep snails with them! lol!

Bad -- unless I'm not sexing them proper they are looking like they will be Barracuda food they are formerly known as Aphyolebias peruensis. linke to a pic of a female below http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/2560434758/ and a male, http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fische-killifische.de/Galerie/Suedamerika/Aphyolebias_peruensis.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.fische-killifische.de/Galerie/Suedamerika/suedamerika.html&h=268&w=504&sz=31&tbnid=i7-4g13UytylNM:&tbnh=64&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__CNewH_Ukal5XyV4yA8vspYYe75M=&docid=x1vzIfssZ12pCM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KTHhT6KeBMmr2AXvtb3dCw&ved=0CFgQ9QEwAA&dur=0

How's the m/f ratio on the p. peruensis, Jorg?

I've found that almost NO fish are compatible with shrimp, unless you add a little shrimp sauce! I had a fantastic colony of cherry shrimp, but ran out of tank space, so threw a group of.... Betta picta in with them.... I thought their predation would be minor, and that it wouldn't exceed the shrimps ability to reproduce... I was about 200% wrong on that! LOL! I am about to establish a new cherry shrimp colony (I love them for keeping my killie eggs fungus free), and there will be NO fish in the tank I think. Anyone had any experience with keeping shrimp with fish that DIDN'T get eaten? Wouldn't mind feeling safe with a few algae eater types... Edit: Through is not = to threw...

Welcome back. I have a couple tanks in my garage of various size that you can have for free. I don't think any of them are 70s, but I just smashed up a 4 ft 40 gall tank because it was taking up too much room. PM me if you're interested. Pick up will be west side of down town (old banff coach road)

I disagree. There's a couple of people in my family I'd love to delete from my life...

DI water is basically the same thing, just a different process. Although It seems unclear whether DI stands for DIstilled or DeIonized. Either one should result in an ultra low TDS (Total dissolved solids. The true indicator of the 'softness' of the water). I use a steam distilation unit that I bought at the Edmonton club auction a few years back. It produces water in the <10 ppm TDS range, which is more than adequate. Spring water however will have a normal or even high TDS so do follow Val's advice on that one and avoid them. Edit: Defined TDS

Interesting. I can see how the turkey baster would work nicely for extraction. I hang mine from a rack, just over my sink in my fish room. I'd knock it over if it was free standing! haha! I see how your set up would work though, and it sounds pretty efficient actually. Post a pic if you get a chance. I'll try to remember to take a pic of mine and post it. Dan

Interesting approach. I think the key phrase there is 'it works for me'. If it works for you, and you're happy with it, no reason to change. But with that said, I'll answer your question from my point of view as best I can. I am not completely clear on how that works? I somewhat visualize what you are describing and what comes to mind is; Wouldn't the eggs settle on the bottom away from the straw? It is my belief that eggs that are not moving don't hatch. Now this might be an old wives tale but that is the reason I have always set it up with the bottle inverted and the air source right at the bottom so eggs can't settle anywhere. I believe this gives a higher hatch rate. But again, that might not be true, but based on what I have been told in the past so always set mine up that way. You may be on to a 'myth buster!' haha! 2nd query on your method: How do you seperate the egg casings and the bbs (baby brine shrimp)? When I want to harvest, I disconnect the airline, let the bbs settle to the bottom, egg casings float to the top and I can drain them out through the airline without gettnig all the egg casings. Now I still get unhatched eggs with that as they don't float, but I am willing to accept that as opposed to other more complicated methods that are available that will get you almost only bbs when you harvest. Do you have a method of harvesting that gets a minimum of egg casings when you do? Dan

They arrived last night. They are a fairly rigid plastic. For fun, I timed how long it would take to get a new brine shrimp hatchery set up with this gizmo and a 2 liter plastic bottle. under 5 minutes it was up and running. They're perfect. Dan

wasn't cheesed off at all. I didn't see any value in your post and felt it was a bit patronizing and added nothing to the discussion, so I thought a good ribbing was in order. All in good fun. I do however like what you have added here, and think that adds to the discussion and value for folks. I see how you are doing yours. It's similar to the first style of brine shrimp hatcheries I built years ago, and suffered (for me at least I felt it was an issue) from one major flaw. the brine shrimp collect below the outlet, so you end up with a lot of gunk build up. I typically try to build up silicone internally to compensate for that, so the cap has a flush surface, and minimizes build up. However, it tends to break loose after a while, especially as I tend to run the same solution for a week at a time (most people I think change out daily, I don't) so there is a build up, that I need to clean, and again I break the silicone loose at some point. What I am hoping these caps that I have ordered yield is a quick removal, easy to reinstaill that can be cleaned, has a flush surface so no collection below the draining point and is quick and easy to build. It's not a big deal to wait for the silicone for a day, but I think these caps really do make it quick and easy to get a brine shrimp hatchery up and running. as shown in the following steps. 1: Get 2 litres of mix (preference to user) 2: drink said mix with preferred alcoholic beverage. 3: cut off bottom of 2 liter bottle 4: screw on my fancy gizmo cap 5: attach airline 6: hang it up, put in brine shrimp and pickling salt 7: harvest in 24 hours. 8: profit! Thanks Dan

wow! Not only have you figured out how to get 'the best' brine shrimp eggs to take 2-3 time longer to hatch than mine, but you also never have a leak! You must be very talented. I'd suggest not reading anything I post any more or wasting your talented time replying to it as it is obviously way below your skill and talent level! I'll try to remember to put in the title 'not for superheros or ckmullin' in the future, to save you time! Thanks for reading my weak post! you're awesome! haha! just kidding! If your method is working for you, you should stick with it. I however do have those issues with my 24 hr hatch out brine shrimp hatcheries. I get a lucky build occasionally (like the one I am using right now has lasted me a couple years with no issues) but when I try to clean the gunk out I often break the silicone. Perhaps you could post some pics of yours, and the methodology you use? What kind of glue? what are these devices you are referring to? that kind of helpful information would be great! For the rest of us though, I'll post what I think of it when it arrives. To me it looks like a super quick way to get a brine shrimp hatchery up and running. @Vince: I'll let you know when they arrive Vince, and what I think of them. I wonder what they were originally intended for? I am guessing some kind of lab tool? bottle wash? dunno. for $13 for 3 (including shipping), well worth the gamble I think to see if they work well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...E:L:OC:CA:3160 I just ordered 3 for myself. I've made brine shrimp hatcheries for years by siliconing a bit of tubing in place on the bottom. after a while they leak, or get all gunked up on the bottom and you really can't get in to clean it, OR I cut a piece off the tubing and it gets shorter and shorter. For less than $4, this is awesome! I only run one brine shrimp hatchery at a time but I want 3 just in case the 1st one gets damaged! These are probably available at a lab supply store as they look like common lab gizmos, but for this price, I'm not going to quibble and try to find them. This will make the making of bbs hatchery so easy!

good luck!

Bah. I missed everything. Flew in from Myrtle beach about 10:30 Sat night, only to be greeted with immediate repair problems. The price i pay to go away golfing for 5 days... In any case, by the time I got my daughters car fixed, the auction was all but over... Were there any interesting killies in the auction? Did Jim bring any with him? I know that pony tail fellow is breeding some interesting SA killes. Did he bring any? @Werner: Who is breeding the Royal Farlowellas? I bred those in the 90s. they are AWESOME fish! I have some regular farlowellas (sp gracilis I believe) that are spawning regularily, but I haven't tried to preserve the fry. Good luck with them! Dan

Sorry, been away and didn't see your response to me. I harvest every 24 hours, have in all my years of hatching brine shrimp. I like to feed every day so prefer the 24 hour hatch out, as I'd have to run multiple hatcheries otherwise. Somewhere around here are pics of my hatchery, but it is really just a simple 2 litre bottle suspended upside down, air line through the bottom siliconed in place, with a 25 watt bulb about 2-3 inches from the side. I use 3 tablespoon pickling salt, with 1/4 teaspoon (i think? it is the smallest measurment on my measruing spoon set) of brine shrimp eggs. Typically within 48-56 hours they will all be dead, so I'd say we are definetely using different methodology. But whatever works for you, stick with it. I use grade A from http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/ . I brought back a case of them, the last time I drove back to Calgary from our house in Arizona, for Dave at the Calgary Aquarium Society so anyone who has been buying them from Dave is using the same eggs as I am. I like the small size of the just hatched brine shrimp, and typically will double sieve to get the smallest possible to feed to newly hatched fry. Again though, I'd highly recommend getting golden pearls in the various small sizes to cover off feeding. I also like to add a cherry shrimp and a small snail to clean up any excess food.

I get around that whole plant problem by not having any plants. I do supplement the spixis diet with critter crumb and zucchini though.

Brine shrimp should hatch and be harvested in around 24 hours in my experience with them. At 5 days they'd be mush unless you are actually feeding them? In any case, one thing I would suggest is looking at some golden pearls in smaller sizes. You don't HAVE to raise them on live foods (although at least a partial diet is best). Hit up fairdeal (Harold) if you are interested in some. I believe he has them in the infusoria size (which you will want for them for the first week or two roughly) and then the larger 'brine shrimp' size. Sorry, I don't remember the micron size of these, just my rule of thumb sizes. Vince usually can pipe in with the technical sizes. I use these foods to raise fry whenever I don't have time to keep live cultures going, or just have an accident with my live cultures. They are also excellent supplements to live foods, providing some of the requried nutrition for the fry. As with anything be careful of overfeeding and polluting the fry tank of course. good luck with your baby bettas! Dan

Dangit. Just when you think you know what he is up to, he stealths in something. Thanks Ray. I'll be looking for them in Calgary.

Dammit. Stupid road trip to Arizona... Didn't have the ability to head up for this. I heard through the grapevine though that someone put in a trio of Cynolebias itapicuruensis. I cannot understand why I didn't get a phone call, FCG. Are we not friends any more? HAHA! Who is breeding those, and are they going to bring some to the CAS auction in two weeks? Need to know basis.

Sorry, should have added, by Harold I mean Fairdeal, who is on this site. I buy all my food, and a lot of fish from Harold. If you look under the sponsors tab you can find what he has available. Was just there yesterday picking up a bunch of NLS pellets, and somehow a bag of splash tetras found their way home with me!

I'm late to the party, but I would have reccomended seeing Harold. He always has some neat stuff!

Did you tell him that you probably should be strip searched? Sometimes, with those Benjamin Bratt type pretty boys, you have to clarify. Next time, I would recommend that you give him your phone number and inform him that you MIGHT be carrying contraband at a future time, and he should work some overtime... If he doesn't understand that, then he likely is more interested in Mr. Fishclubgirl... That is all.

not sure on everything. probably similar to what I brought to the Calgary auction Pair Simpsonichthys santanae pair betta picta pair Jenynsia onca might bring some kilile eggs like Kryptolebias marmoratus Lacustricola katangae A. striatum A. australe 'orange' just depends who is laying eggs or not and if I have time to collect them the night before.