Dino52

i have been in the hobby for 48 years in Regina. We have gone from having many home based sales operations and some really good fish only stores to two independent stores and two chain stores, both useless. The local stores carry mainly the common bread and butter type fish and some decent salt/reef stuff. In the last six years we are in Saskatoon, Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver on a regular basis and the only stores I go into now are Golds in Calgary, the Afishionados in Winnipeg and Big Als in Edmonton, but I have never bought anything at Big Als as far as fish. in the 1990's I used to buy a lot of fish from Pisces in Calgary, but since they opened the new store I found the prices too outrageous, so I almost never go there except to buy reef stuff for a friend here. I do buy a lot of fish from Golds. I hit the Afishionados in Winnipeg at least twice a year and generally empty my wallet each time. He always has new fish and his prices are very reasonable. I also try to hit the big auctions in Calgary and Saskatoon and always come home with great fish!! I was in Francos in Calgary last month for the first time and I agree with the other poster in that they had a decent selection and pricing was too high. There were fish I would have bought if I could have got back there before we left for home. I have bought fish from Calgary members off this forum that were very nice quality. It's always nice to get fish from people that take great pride in caring for and producing top quality fish. I used to order a lot of fish from the States and had it shipped to Plentywood, Montana via UPS overnight air. Hardly ever lost a fish and the price for shipping was around 45 dollars a box. I hadn't done it for about ten years and then ordered again in 2010 and one box cost $120.00 so that was the last time.

I have to thank Ice turf as I immediately ordered two of them. Should be here tomorrow.

How old were your ornatums when they started spawning? I have seven wild caught that are pushing four years old. They all scrap but the biggest male, around 12 inches, spawned with a female Texas ciclid. I removed her and he reacted by beating crap out of everyone. There are three males and four females in the group. They are in a 10 foot long 260 gallon tank and I have tried every trick I know to induce spawning, but no luck. Any suggestions??

I bought a group of six wild caught from Spencer Jack last November 1. They grew nicely and should be able to start breeding this winter. I am no cory expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I did get some common types to breed years ago. I have been doing some reading up on them to prepare a tank for them. All that I have read and the photos I have seen appear to confirm this are eques. I believe I paid around $22.00 each for them and they were around one inch when I got them. Sooo, hopefully I will have some young this coming spring. If I can't get them to go, I would be willing to loan out one female and a couple of males for someone else to try come spring.

I recently bought two twenty five old System one filters. Both came with the small glass jars and cartridges and some spares. I was wondering if anyone out there had a spare large plastic jar and cartridge that you could buy for the System One?? Also looking for a jar for a Vortex XL diatom filter. Lots of places say they sell parts for the XL, but every time I try to order they say they are out of stock and back ordered. Thanks.

Hello All, Eight years ago I thought I was over and done with the hobby. After 35 years I sold off over three thousand gallons of tanks, fish and equipment. Moved on. Over and forever out. Then, it happened. Something drew me to aquarium sites. Just browsing for interest sakes I said. Then it was "just browsing" at fish stores in other cities. Just something to kill time. Then it happened. I saw an add for some Hoplacharis Psitticus fry. I had always wanted those fish, but could never find them. One tank I said. I bought eight fry and arranged to have someone bring them from Winnipeg. Hmmm, no tank, can't keep them in the bathtub. Little looking and found a 180 gallon setup for a cheap price. All was well. One tank, thats it. Then the Psitticus grew, paired off and bred. One more tank for some fry, what could it hurt. Eighteen months later, I have the 180, a ten foot long 230 gallon that I just had to have, couple nineties, a 75 and some twenties. What the hell is happening????? Next thing I knew I attended two giant auctions in consecutive weeks. First Saskatoon and then Calgary. Saw old friends, it was great. Many deals on nice plants and fish. I am toast. Just like you can never leave the "Mob" i was dragged back into the hobby. Oh well, I will just give in and keep it at the tanks I have now. No more, just those. Hmmm, now I learn there is another giant auction in Edmonton in a couple of weeks. I just happen to be in Calgary that weekend for a football game Saturday and it can't be that much of detour to go through Edmonton on the way back to Regina. I am glad to be back in the water and look forward to new challenges in the hobby.

I built a return for my FX-5 about a year ago that looks just like your diagram. I drilled about twenty five holes in the four foot long return. Holes were about three sixteenths of an inch. I angled the pipe so the return was pointed towards the front of the tank instead of straight down. Lots of current in the 180 gallon tank and lots of surface agitation. For the intake I glued together a cage out of egg crate that slid over the intake and then covered the cage with a piece of batting that I bought from a fabric store. The batting is just coarse enough to stop small fish from being sucked up, but it won't clog up quickly. I usually changed the batting about every three to four weeks. Doing this with the intake greatly extended the amount of time between filter cleanings!! The batting comes on a roll about three feet wide and it is thin. It is very cheap.