DanGofCalgary

That;s a 'depends' question. How old is the roofing? Has it been sufficiently weathered that you aren't picking up any chemicals etc. Rain water is very VERY soft. I knew a lady that used rainwater for cory spawning and was amazingly succesful with it. I think she eventually went high tech to RO system, but she spawned and raised a lot of corys in rain water mix. I'd suggest mixing the rainwater with tap water, about 50/50 and try it with some soft water species. see how they like it. Or start off with some guppies, see if they die. -roll-

What Vince said. Do not submerge beyond the recommended depth on the non water proof version. hehe. Playing with TDS is really bucket chemistry, so accuracy to 10 or so TDS is all you need. The other things to watch for are, if you are adding salt for any reason, that will show up as TDS. I find mine useful just to make sure the TDS isn't creeping up from evaporation, and to maintain a certain parameter for fish that need soft water to spawn. I've been fine with my $25 unit from Big Al's online. Dan

you guys are making me hungry.

Dan was that you in the yellow shirt, being a runner? If it was, thanks for helping out with that!

this

http://www.screwcumber.com/ I've had one of these for a while, but just tracked down the source and sent away for a few more. These things are AWESOME. For 2 packages (2 to a package, so 4 total) I paid ~$16.50 when converted from British pounds (paypal gave the conversion to be roughly .68 USD per British pound). Best idea ever ( from Jim of the CAS), I tied fishing line to it and to a bobber so I just lift it out when its done. Just thought I'd share. I've never seen the equivalent to these in stores here. Has anyone else? Thanks Dan

Looking good Vince. I had the pleasure of seeing it in person this weekend. Awesome set up. All it needs is a beer fridge and you've got the ULTIMATE fish room! :smokey:

Pea puffers will clean up your snail problem too. Whether or not they can work with your tank inhabitants is the question though.

I disagree Ma'am. I am actually worse, and have permanently vanquished myself to runner duty! haha! It's all you baby!

I thought you were auctioneering this year, what with all your CAOAC auctioneering and meeting auctioneering experience? :smokey: I'll be running, you'll be barking!

And I have no idea. You'll have to ask Harold..

Are those last ones the L052s Jorg?

my dwarf gouramis get that. They usually have a very short lifespan once they fatten up like that. I've always wondered what that is too.

so, what I am 'hearing' is Don't buy an excess of fish specifically with the intent of selling at the auction, and that is to the individual to 'police' themselves. The rule is in place in case the club itself needs to 'regulate' (REGULATORS, MOUNT UP!). In the case that Jvsision has laid out, where a person might bring in extra fish in a group order, to make minimums or such like that, the club will give you some lee way, but if it becomes obvious that a person or persons unknown are flaunting that, and deliberately bypassing, the club will step in, if needed. If I summarized that correctly, then I can completely see that. While we as hobbyists form a club to promote the hobby, the LFS support us in this hobby, but do anticipate that are enhancing rather than directly and actively competing with them. We are more the 'farmers market' version, and less the supermarket, if I amy use that analogy. Dan

Did you make that up Jorg?

pics as promised. This about covers everything I said. The cause of the dark water is indian almond leave tea bags. sideview, giving scale to it. this is a standard 5 gallon tank close up of his bubblenest.

hmm. I keep my bettas in glass canning jars, except when I am breeding them, where they go in to a 5 gal. I've got a group of bettas that are coming up on 2 months old, housed together. They'll of course have to be moved once they reach breeding age in a short time, or a bigger tank with lots of plant cover, but you'll find that with a lot of species. My recipe (much of which was from FCG and other folks from the CAS) is put the male in a 5 gal tank, about 1/4-1/2 full of water. Soften that water if you can. (I run them at about 50% calgary tap water, 50% steam distilled which is <10 ppm TDS) add half a styrofoam cup as a nest assister place the female in a glass canning jar in the tank, so that the male can see her, but not get at her. use the water from the tank in her canning jar so she is conditioned to that same level of TDS (it can be a shock to fish to make a sudden TDS change) heat the tank to roughly 78=80 live foods - white worms, bbs, frozen blood worms. some chopped up earth worms. stuff like that to condition them to breed. When you see the male is making a bubble nest, release the female in to the tank. Make sure there are some nice hiding spots for her. Now a lot of folks say that you don't need to wait on him building a bubble nest, this is just my recipe and how I do it. watch to see that they ahve spawned. It is amazing behaviour. if you don't catch them in the act, then you should know they have spawned by him chasing her away and being hyper aggressive to her. Get her out. You can put her back in the canning jar in the middle of the tank to give him something to focus his agression on. It provides a bit of 'dither' effect that can help to keep him from snacking on the fry when they hatch by encouraging protective behavior. I keep him in for a 2-4 days more, then pull him out and watch for fry. They're quite tiny, so if you have green water, start adding it. Also that 5 micron golden pearls is nice as a replacement for infusoria, Micro worms might work too, I dont know though as all my microworm cultures are dead. as they start free swimming raise the water level and shift them to bbs or bbs size golden pearls. Good water changes, add bio filtration (i lost most of a betta spawn to a nitrite spike from lack of filtration and overfeeding) always a good idea to add a cherry shrimp to help clean up the tank if you have them available. also a couple snails wouldnt hurt. raise them on up! FCG keeps an amazing array of bettas. I get most of mine from her, so if you are looking for good quality breeding stock definetely talk to her! Good Luck! Dan

Killies annual Simpsonichthys santanae Nothobranchius kafuensis N. eggersi non annuals Aphyosemion australe A. bitaeniatum (sp. I always butcher that...) A. striatum Kryptolebias marmoratus Lacustricola katangae Cichlids Neolamprologus pulcher Catfish Farlowella sp. gracilis livebearers Jenynsia onca and some other half beak that I can never remember the name of... minnows/tetras/etc Celestial pearl danios coming soon Callopanchax occidentalis Austrolebi​as paucisquam​a N. korthausae

Welcome back to the hobby! Lots of good cichlid folks in Alberta, so you'll be in fine company keeping them! African cichild tanks are an amazing thing to watch. So colorful and active! Also check out the Calgary Aquarium Society secion (under sponsors) to keep up with your hobby community locallly. It's a smallish club but steadily plodding along.

That's hilarious! I can just imagine the Oscar's thinking. 'You've got to hide from me every moment. I only have to catch you... once.'

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same and thanks for the heads up Harold. It wouldn't have been outside the realm of possibility for me to try tossing in some asparagus!

FIXED! haha! I just put 6 of them on hold with Harold. They're like the poor man's zebra pleco! If you're picking them Jorg, could you do 'best efforts' at getting 3 males and 3 females? I won't hold your feet to the fire or anything, as they might be too young to truly sex, just do the best that you can please. Thanks again! Dan

Thanks Jorg, and apologies to the OP for hijacking your thread. I did check Harolds thread for them, or at least I thought I had. I'll call him later this week and see if he has any left. I quite like them. Thanks for posting a pic of them.

Those are quite nice Jorg. Have you had any success on spawning them? Also, what is their price range? I have a 50 with a group of L204s in it. Do you think they'd coexist ok? Dan