biodives

For equipment I virtually always go to Big Al's. Best selection, good prices and on the odd occasion there is a problem I've had good support. If you become an Aquarium Club of Edmonton (ACE) member you also get an extra discount that for me pays for the ACE membership many times over. Big Al's probably also has the best selection for African cichlids in town. I order 95% of my fish from outside Edmonton because my fish of interest are simply not sold here. In addition, I find price and quality/health to be superior to what I find in LFS. If you are just getting a few fish shipping cost is prohibitive but there are regular group orders where you share shipping cost or sometimes people are  willing to bring your fish for free. I am bringing in a lot of fish from Curtis Jerrom in Calgary who specialized in South American fish. My next shipment is Sat Aug 26 and you can find his stock list on this site (

). I'll be bringing fish for others to Edmonton at no cost.

For African cichlids, Spencer Jack is normally a great source, but he is in the midst of a move from Winnipeg to an undisclosed location. So pickings are slim but prices are good. Below Water, in Montreal, has a very eclectic selection of fish including very rare imports but often with prices to match. I've use all three of these suppliers and have been satisfied with all. If you want to be informed about upcoming group orders and sales of fish bred in the Edmonton region your best bet is to sign up for the Edmonton Freshwater Aquarium Community facebook group that is very active.

To be clear, I have bought fish from LFS and mostly with satisfied results. But you have to take some time to watch the fish and be patient until you find the fish you want and in a state of good health and natural behaviour. Oasis Fish & Reptile in St. Albert is worth checking out. Not the biggest selection but on my one visit I thought they had the healthiest fish and I liked the attitude and respect for their animals of the owners. Aquarium Central has a bigger selection and they bring in some oddities that are fun to watch even if not on your bucket list. Big Al's has the biggest selection but staff knowledge and fish health is, IMO, a step lower but not a problem if you are a good judge of fish health yourself.

Welcome to the Edmonton aquarium community. I'm into South American (dwarf) cichlids for which fish selection in stores is much less satisfactory but there are good choices for internet ordering, and I love them for their behaviour, looks and being compatible with plants. African cichlids have their own advantages; good fit for our tap water, much greater selection in stores, and many other local aquarists that can help with advice of provide local-bred fish. Enjoy the process of figuring out what you want and putting it all together!

On 7/20/2017 at 6:44 PM, Iceturf said:

@biodives: Curious - I'm generally against certain internet freeisms that abuses user data - but what do you mean in particular 

More accounts, passwords, complications, in addition to potential unintended (ab)use of user data. I run a google cloud webserver (biodives.com) where I have full control what happens with my data and who gets to access it. Just not enough time to develop is as much as I'd like.

Nice to see another Edmonton member. I can't help you with the 4 tanks (and counting?) addiction problem but you shouldn't have to drop out of the hobby due to failing equipment. I'd recommend to always buy new heaters for tanks that matter, or consider a room temp tank. I personally don't use filters but a sponge filter or matten filter with air pump should be quite reliable. You can run all four tanks off of two air pumps and if one where to fail the one air pump could run all four until you get a replacement. I like the Eheim pumps that are very quiet and the bigger ones already have 2 outlets with adjustable flow. Whatever way you go, enjoy the fun in figuring out what you want and then see it all come together.

Some cichlids don't play nice with others and/or need a ridiculously huge tank. So perhaps there are cichlids both of you like (central american cichlids, pike cichlids, ...). If your wife likes the colourful gentler cichlids like dwarfs, discus, angels then get a second smaller tank for those and put bad-asses in the bad-@$$ tank. 

On 7/17/2017 at 4:44 PM, jvision said:

Bart, I always used Photobucket to post images. Photobucket (or other image sites) gives you almost unlimited storage, and a simple link loads the full size image in the post.

My Dutch predisposition at being "cheap" balks at $6/month and even if there are free sites I am not inclined to use them. The younger generation may not have such inhibitions but I see few images on this site.

As of July 17, 2017

Apistogrammas
A. baenschi (waiting for males)
A. macmasteri (bred & raised, now 2nd generation)
A. ortegai (raising fry)
A. norberti (raising fry)
A. rubrolineata (raising fry)
A. pantalone
A. panduro (bred & raised)
A. sp. Melgar (spawned but no success breeding yet)
A. allpahuayo
A. eremnopyge (spawned & free-swimming but no full success yet)
A. sp. Abacaxis
A. barlowi cf 'Hauswell' (waiting for females)
A. sp. Oregon (waiting for females)

Other cichlids
Dicrossus filamentosus (spawned & wrigglers but not successfully raised yet)
Dicrossus maculatus
Bujurquina sp. ?
Geophagus steindachneri cf 'gold dust' (may be undescribed new species)

Nannostomus
N. mortenthaleri
N. rubrocaudatus
N. beckfordi (a few fry raised without my help)
N. harrisoni
N. espei
N. marginatus
N. marylinae
N. eques

Tetras
Pyrrhulina australis (bred & raised just a few)
Hyphessobrycon metae
Hyphessobrycon sweglesi
Hemiodus gracilis
Crenuchus spilurus
Axelrodi riesei

Others
Siamese algae eaters (to be sold)
Otocinclus sp.
Paraotocinclus sp. 'Vampire oto'
Corydoras adolfoi
Brochis splendens
Poecilia reticulatus (Guppies)
Xiphophorus variatus (platy)
Jordanella floridae (American flag fish)
Some kind of native Alberta fish fry that sneaked in with some plants (illegal but unintentional)

Inverts
Cherry shrimp
Amano shrimp
Ramshorn snail
Pond snail
Batman snail
Some kind of nerite snail
Hydra (only when feeding baby brine shrimp)

Life food
vinegar worms
micro worms
grindal worms
white worms
red wriggler worms
daphnia
ostracods (outside in pond)
fruit flies

Plants (probably incomplete)
Echinodorus bleheri
E. 'Scarlet snake'
E. 'Ocelot'
E. '?' (need to check)
Helanthium tenellum (aka Echinodorus tenellus)
H. quadricostatus
Mayaca fluviatilis
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Eicchornia crassipes
Eicchornia diversifolia
Myriophyllum brasiliense
Riccia fluitans (also some collected in native Alberta creek)
Nymphoides hydrophylla 'Taiwan'
Some kind(s) of moss
Something that grew out of the moss
Limnobium laeviatum (Frogbit)
Salvinia natans
S. oblongifolia

Native plants
Duckweed
Star duckweed
Common bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris)
Sagittaria cuneata
Hornwort
Some Potamogeton species yet to be determined.
 

On 2/8/2014 at 11:19 AM, ckmullin said:

Looks good. Throw in doses of Glutaraldehyde as well. Even more of a jump in plant growth.

Current wisdom is that glutaraldehyde in things like Excel acts an algaecide but doesn't really work as a CO2 replacement. If you are already injecting CO2 there is even less of an argument for glutaraldehyde apart from (spot) treatment for algae.

Nice jungle is starting to grow in this tank now. I like this style and believe the fish like it too.

A lot of "I need to know this right now" questions go to facebook groups. More substantial posts are better suited for forums IMO but the fact that you can't post images, or at least are very limited in space, on this forum means I have started to post on my own blog or other more specific forums for my topics of interest.

I took the fish indoors in winter but they were reproducing in summer. The goldfish that were lacklustre during winter often started spawning in weeks if not days of release into the pond. Catching them at the end of the season was always a ritual. They may look slow and easy to spot but they were masters in hiding if need be. Pretty much all plants were planted with roots below water, apart from a few higher up on the wetland slope. We failed at overwintering lillies indoors but had a Nuphar variegatum that is lilly-like with buttercup yellow flowers that can overwinter in the pond and became a more prolific plant every year and develops and extensive root system. Highly recommended. I'm pretty sure it came from the Sherwood park pond store that jvision mentioned.

I indeed don't think the pond caused too much additional evaporation but the wetland and its plant may be a bit more of a water sucker. Still very much worth it for the 'filtering services' and just the visual impact of lush plant growth. I'll see if I can dig up some photos.

4 hours ago, jvision said:

You could see over 5gal per day evaporated. Put in an ATO if possible. I have not noticed any detriment of adding small amounts of untreated tap water directly to a pond.

That sounds about right. It would take about 2 weeks of dry spell before I felt it necessary to top up and just used plain tap water as well. Probably up to a 10% refill with no signs of discomfort to the fish. Now I know more about our tap water, it kills hydra overnight, I would probably do more regular small top-ups or, use an ATO though I typically prefer low/no-tech solutions. 

On 7/12/2017 at 8:22 AM, fishlover said:

Thanks!

How does the water rune between the 2 ponds? Do you run a pump from the pond to the 'dirted pond' and water overflow back to the pond?

Any pictures to share?

 

Think about the imprint left by a high block-heel shoe in soft sand. The large depression from the foot part is the main pond, the smaller but deep impression from the heel is the 'wetland' pond, and there is a bridge  between the two that is a bit lower than water level. After digging this out and putting the pond liner across both ponds and the bridge we simply backfilled the dirt in the wetland piece sloping it so there was a shallow water area near the bridge and then pilling up to about half a meter above pond level to create a gradient of fully to partially water-saturated soil. We had big irises, tall reed with 'cigars', smaller rushes, mares tail etc growing in the lower parts, with ferns, willows etc higher up. I believe the emergent plants helped draw fish waste nutrients out of the water and it made a good spawning ground for gold fish and hiding place for cloud minnows. We had a submerged pump that fed a waterfall, but that was more for the sound and general enjoyment by us (and the birds) then the fish. We had the pond for some 10 years or so and with the exception of the first 2 months it ran crystal clear with never any maintenance, chemicals, filtration or whatever. The green water in the first 2 months before plants caught on was solved by releasing daphnia.

My favourite fish where rosy minnows where the males form territories under overhanging stones and then lure females in for spawning. As close as you get to cichlids in the pond (unless you put in real cichlids, which I never tried). We had many fry and with all the plants and wetland they had good hiding spots to hangout and survive predation.

We moved the fish indoors over winter and just let the entire pond freeze over. We didn't use filter or skimmer and had a zero maintenance pond (except from netting out tree leafs at end of Fall). We used a 'dirted pond' attached to the main pond with abundant tall wetland plant growth. That was out filter. A bit like the way I run my aquariums.

If both the landscaper and Edmonton official gave you the same story then it seems how the rules are applied. We had a pond with three levels, the deepest being 2 foot to avoid the permit hassles. Especially the need for 6 foot fence and locks didn't appeal to me.

I'm a low, and on occasion, no-tech aquarist. Never filters, sometimes no circulation pump, some on sunlight others on DIY LED, and in summer some without heater or anything electric. That is certainly not the only way, or best way, to do it but don't get all distracted by the shiny UV sterilizers, CO2 setups, wifi-enabled pH readers and what have you. They can help but they can also create needless complications and leave less money for the most important thing - high quality fish and plants.

Welcome to the local aquarium community and nice to have a 'partner in crime' when it comes to fish addictions. If you'd like to meet some other aquarists in person you can check out the Aquarium Club of Edmonton (ACE) but meeting don't start again until 1st Tuesday of September. They also host an auction later inFall where you'll see many of the locals, both new and experienced, and a more eclectic choice of fish and plants.

What type of tank/fish are you looking at getting. Planted, rock, biotope, community, ... I'm partial to planted tanks, they look prettier and more diverse to me and I believe they are easier to maintain and better for the fish. There are a few plant gurus in Calgary and Hung Lee always has a wide assortment of plants, including less common ones. If you are into South American fish Curtis Jerrom in Calgary has some really cool fish. You'll find his stock list in the fish classifieds under "back at it ..." or something like that (look at the first post of first page for up to date list.

Thanks for reviving this post. I hadn't seen the original and it was worth the read. My mantra is:

Learn from fellow hobbyists, but don't trust them completely
Learn from your local fish store, but trust them less

Learn from books, but don't trust them completely
Learn from the internet, but trust it less

In case of doubt, learn from nature

ACE (http://www.edmontonfish.com/) is the Aquarium Club of Edmonton and they organise two auctions a year, March/April and Sep/Oct periods. When one is coming up it will be announced the ACE website, here and elsewhere. There are always tons of fish, plants, and equipment up for sale. Entrance is free and anyone can bid. You have to be a member of ACE or other Canadian aquarium club to sell. ACE also has monthly club evenings on first Tuesday of the month in the Allendale community league, with a guest speaker, raffle, etc. Membership also gives you extra discount at Big Al's which more than pays for the $25 membership cost for me. Most important you get to meet a lot of locals with experience on a wide variety of types of tank and know-how on what to get where.

They were selling a surprisingly large collection of guppies at the ACE auction earlier this year. I don't know much about them in terms of special breeds but I got the impression there were special ones among them based on the prices they were selling for. There should be another auction this Fall.

Curtis Jerrom in Calgary is selling the following:

Endler Guppy – N-Type – 3.00ea (14)- males only

Green Cobra Endler Guppy – 3.00ea (12)- males only

Red Tuxedo Guppy – 3.00ea (17)- males only

If it worked 10 years ago it can still work today. I used to use gravel but the apistogramma I now keep like to take bites of sand so I have gotten rid of all gravel. 

Welcome back to the hobby. I run lowlight planted tanks but the only scape I have 'mastered' is jungle

I don't see any reason to boil them. Perhaps it is suggested to leach out some tannins which some people love and others hate. However, I expect it will also leach out, or break down, the good stuff so don't boil. If the water does get a bit of a yellowish colour it will disappear with future water changes and your apisto won't mind.

You can collect your own alder cones in the river valley and catch some fresh air as a bonus.

I've read a lot about apistos but haven't come across this. If it was a temporary issue that caused it, like the snail, he may recover by just some TLC. At least the normal behaviour is a good sign.