DanGofCalgary

I didn't see one by any of the Club executive, so this should spur something out! hehe. Tonight's meeting topic is of interest to me with the upcoming spring auctions and workshops looming. Proper bagging and showing of fish, by Alberta's one and only Ken Ealey. As long as I have bagged fish and shown them, I still manage to screw something up once in a while. This will be a good reminder for me, and a good information session for all i think. Also, the club typically has a good number of items for auction (I will likely bring a bag of cherry shrimp, or possibly a bag of Asolene spixi snails), and some good conversation before and after with some of the local breeders and keepers of tropical fish in Calgary. Info on location under the CAS subsection in the Alberta Aquatca sponsors forum. PS: Heckling Ken is not only allowed, but encouraged! But don't be surprised if he heckles you back just as much! haha! see you tonight! Dan Grimbly Edit: Just in case anyone doesn't know, abbreviation CAS is for Calgary Aquarium Society. http://www.calgaryaquariumsociety.com/

We're very lucky in Calgary to not be on chloramine.... yet. Some rumors of them switching to it soon. I typically change 20% or so just adding direct out of the tap. I've done that since the 90s, never adding any conditioners of any kind. That of course will change if and when Calgary goes to a chloramine system.

So, was feeding these guys, and noticed one of those fishies was not like the others! It looks like a female metallicus except it definetely has a gonopodium! see for yourself.

I think they would be ok with some of the other 'nasty' goodeids, like the Orange tail goodeid. They can hold their own in a conflict. I will be bringing a pair to each of the Edmonton and Calgary auctions.

I'd like to see your bare bottom! (hey! you asked for it! ) I run most of my tanks bare bottom, outside of annual killie tanks that are covered in peat, I only have one small tank with substrate. What I like about it is the ease of cleaning. Although I suppose I lose a lot of bacterial load potential from the gravel or sand, the need to check for build ups like you described, and having to always move it about, don't make it worthwhile for me. It's a maintenance time issue for me. Also, I tend to tear tanks down, start up different ones quite often, so don't care for the extra work in that regard either. What I don't like about bare bottom is those times when you go a bit long on water changes, the gunk build up reminds me that I am a bad bad fish keeper. That is a positive and a negative however. The other thing I don't like about bare bottom is the look. I actually really like the look of a nice substrate, and if/when I start some show tanks in other parts of my house, they are likely to have substrate.

Any line or possibilities on wild caught bettas Harold? My biggest interest would be on the mouth brooders, but some of the nest builders would be interesting too. Not sure if it's just me and FCG that would be interested, or if there is other interest?

nyuk nyuk nyuk. wise guy eh? -roll- FCG: Would be nice to see a bunch of sweet wild caught bettas in the auction too, if that can be arranged. preferably ones that don't launch themselves out of the tank in the dark of night like every one I have bought so far....

Fantastic Gary. Will this be a 'hands on' type of workshop on photography? Should I bring my digital camera, or is it more of a you talk we listen type thing?

Should maybe talk to Fairdeal. He often travels from Calgary to Edm to deliver fish, and has some Fronts I believe.

Cool. Ok, I will likely bring some cherry shrimp for the auction. Maybe some livebearears. I have Skiffia lermae, Girardinus metallicus and Xenotoca eiseni. I'll see what looks good and bag something up. Also have Krytolebias marmoratus (mangrove killifish) off the BAP, but not sure anyone would want brackish non annual killis? Maybe I will wait till the big auctions to bring them out.

Is Rick still scheduled to speak?

Thanks. All my tanks are stacked beside each other, so they have plenty of dither fish to distract. personally I think they are just stupid. The female randomly died too. I have never seen such a healthy looking fish just fall over dead. Even when I 'buried (read flushed) her I was thinking 'omg. other than being dead, that is a perfect angel" She made a beautiful corpse... Wasn't aggression, no signs of bloating/puffing/nothing. not a mark on her. Beautiful coloration... again, other than being dead. The male, perfectly healthy....

And Dave's are very reasonably priced too. Best to let him know in advance that you want him to bring a can to the meeting though. His phone number is on the CAS website. another altternative is ordering them online. Mops.ca carries them. The teensy little cans that you can buy around town are ridiculously priced for the size imo. But with that said, I know Big Als and Riverfront both have tiny cans of brine shrimp, as well as little tubelets.

Interesting. I bought a couple bags of 'cherry shrimp' at the CAS auction. Some were quite a bit lighter and I thought I'd gotten some mixed or hybrids. In checking them I see now that there are some slight differences as described, so the lighter ones were just males I believe now. I've been feeding them to my cichlids, maybe I'll actually take a few bags to the meeting auction instead! haha! good topic. thanks.

There are typically a few folks that come from Edmonton for this auction. Perhaps a convoy/road trip should be organized! About the only thing that I can be sure of that I will be putting in the auction will be a few Kryptolebias Marmoratus that are coming off the BAP this week. But there are some amazing fish and some good buys at Calgary auctions.

That's too bad Jay. For the first spawn though, sounds like they did great. I have a pair of Blacks that have eaten their eggs six times now.... I'd say you have better than 'fair to middlin chances of success if they were that far along on their first run!' btw, are you coming to the Feb 8 CAS meeting?

:thumbs: Thanks for the info! As I am sure Galaxy rasboras haven't changed their breeding behaviour in the last 3 years, this information is as valid today as it would have been then. Nice to know that they will spawn in our rock hard waters of the majority of Alberta! I wasn't aware that Galaxy rasboras were in a precarious position in the wild. Anyone in Alberta breeding them, or seen them around the LFS? Good thread. Thanks Dan

you're welcome. Looking good!

So, picked up a pair of Jenynsia Onca at the ACE auction. Finally set them up in their own tank last night to see if I could get some fry out of them. In the time that they were in a community tank I never got the imrpession that the female was gravid. ON another forum I was informed that the 'one sided' livebearer theory is supposedly debunked. Also, there doesn't seem to be a lot of information available on them on the web. Outside of the usual suspects of lots of live food, good cover for the fry, and softened water (possibly?) , any input or thoughts from anyone that has spawned them succesfully? They are in a 20 gal, with a lot of hornwort. Thanks Dan

Best. Fruedian slip. Ever. That is all.

I put my hybrids in my Angel tank. They told me they didn't mind the hybridization, especially if I could roll them in some spice first.

My TDS meter is wonkered. Looking for a replacement for it. Hanna Primo looks like about what I would want - Who sells them in Calgary or Edmonton?

he must be hiding them.

That was so much fun. I really enjoyed just chatting and talking fish with the fish heads. The food was amazing too! Thanks CAS folks for setting that up and running it. And as I promised I brought some Fish gut buns. (The Safeway variant). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!