Roxy

I'm looking forward to doing an order and have just left 2 FB messages. It's a convenient way for me to get some of what I need. Small town fish keeper is a challenge!

Wow absolutely stunning! I love the planted tank and discus of course. I've never had luck with plants. ive just started with some low tech plant cuttings, I got for free. They seem to be growing and I'm amazed!! They're rooted and growing tall. I don't know what they are. My java moss has melted or dispersed. A beautiful tank any fish keeper would be proud of!!!

Don't live next door to a crazy fish keeper, who buys used tanks. Then gets 20 tanks when local fish store relocates!! I had been out of the hobby 12 years and now I have 4 active tanks and craving more! Also don't get into breeding fancy guppy strains. I see more tanks in my future for F1 and F2 generations. This all started with a 15 gal for my teenager. He added a 33 gal. Then I couldn't resist the 55 gal with stand. Then I bought a trio of Mang guppies they now have a 20gal, have to keep strain pure. Babies from store bought guppies, my son calls mongrel. He told me to get my homebred store bought F mongrel guppies out of his Moscow guppy tank! Good thing 55 gal has only a few fish! Research is a must if you never kept the species! We now have a Bala shark in a 3' tank that in a couple years will need a 6' tank. Told our small town pet shop, to indicate the size of tank they need and that they like to school. Tag says not a community fish, nothing else. Also always quarantine and treat new purchases! Have a spare tank set up and running, it saves a lot of time and grief! Dont listen to neighbor whose trying to rescue goldfish from golf course pond, where he works. Shouldn't have told said neighbor, goldfish are considered invasive species! Now teenage son wants to do a backyard pond. Dont want to think of all these goldfish getting killed! I can't kill a guppy or rosy red minnow if I've had it over a month!! The minnow is 11 months and sole survivor of 6, after buying chain store platys, my guppies survived along with 1 minnow and 2 of 9!platys. Rose reds get over 3" and a thick body. I can't feed little Conrad to Neighbor Conrad's phirana (sp)! I've grown up since a child with a fish crazy mom, who even had tanks on the back of the toilet tank. When I moved on my own, I had 4 tanks between 33gal -54 gal. Now I've passed the addiction on to my son. Who I awoke to him at 9 months, swimming in my 48 gal fish tank. Learned babies can crawl weird places, even if it's 3' tall and thin edge stand! Also don't leave the tank with no top. In conclusion friends don't like moving 4 big tanks, along with 300lbs of rocks collected from the wild. My excuse was it's to decorate my tank. I moved 3 hrs W of Edmonton and I still have my rocks and my old 48 gal, however, it needs the bottom glass replaced, so not sure what to do with it! Emotional attachment as it was second tank I bought once living on my own!! I've reused some rocks in current tanks and the rest are in my rock garden.

Yes, biodives, I agree the amount of bottled preparations has greatly expanded and the gadgets. The selection of fish has greatly decreased too. I've also noticed that a lot of different colours have entered the scene on the livebearers. I'd love to have a CK, but tank size stops me. We live in a 1995 manufactured home and I'd worry about a big enough tank going through the floor. My neighbor in a 1972 trailer has a 210 gal with a 90 gal sump and a 110 and a 60 I'd be scared !! The other big change I noticed was people using sumps. I never even knew what that was. Of course back then a 77 gal was a big tank for in the house. Thanks for the tip on the Edmonton group. We want to experiment with a planted tank outside this summer. So have been reading up on it. I remember many old timers having them. Unfortunately we have a tiny hobby and pet store out here. So selection is dismal.

My 48 gal tank ran on a under gravel filter with 2 power heads. During the 90's when I ran the tank for 13 years, before retiring from the hobby. I had cichlids and a clown knife. It was a sad day when I had to rehome the CK, they are a cool fish!! He started throwing water out of the tank, as a renter, I was worried about the carpet. I had him 3 years. Then before my son was born I switched to fancy gold fish. They also gave much enjoyment. However I had to give them away when I moved out here. Now that I'm getting back into the hobby, it seems like no one uses the under gravel filters anymore. I also saw my favourite lfs using them, sponge, and corner filters. They also bred fish and were successful. I did use an AC 2000 on a 54 gal as it came with the tank. They are the filters currently using. I would like to set up a tank on the under gravel system. However I don't know where to get power heads and lift tubes. My power heads had the adapter to sit on top of lift tubes. can anyone shed light on why the old style filters went the way of the dinosaur? No under gravel or box filters. From my reading hobbyists don't use charcoal anymore. My water and the fish stores were always crystal clear. I'm still trying to adapt to all the changes. It seemed simpler years ago. I guess the biggest change is the types of filter media and the use of sand.

I've read most of the threads on this topic. I'm very interested in trying a small scale outdoor pond. I have some fancy guppies that are young. I also enjoy lion head gold fish. I was thinking of getting either a hard plastic or inflatable children's pool to start with. I also have access to several 20-30 gal tanks. My neighbor has about 25 empty tanks. My concern is the cooling night temps or if it's a rainy summer that average highs are around 20 degrees. What type of equipment and precautions will I need? I know I will need a cover to keep cats and crows out. What would be a good choice? I want to experiment with using plants as filtering. I plan to run air stones. Would fancy gold fish be suitable, or for raising and growing out guppies? Would a different choice of container be needed? If all goes well this year, the plan would be to do something more permanent next year. I'm about 15 minutes away from Jasper National Park gates, so our climate has variability. Are there any solar pond keeping supplies? I don't want to keep feeder gold fish, comets or minnows. Reason being that I wouldn't have space to over winter. Since I'm almost at my limit for indoor tanks. I live in a 1995 manufactured home and don't want to risk bigger tanks eventually going through my floor in a few years down the road. I've been reading on several forums and the above fish need a lot of gallons. I have 1 Rosy from a group of 6 my son was given, last August. This was when he set up the 15 gal. i inherited them when for Valentine's Day my son set up my 55 gal. I went against sound fish keeping practices by not quarantining some Petsmart purchases from Edmonton. I lost all but 2 of 9 livebearers. Then I lost 5 of the Rosys all within 4 days. So now the lone Rosy is 3". I never thought they get so big. Its still a mystery, why they were the only ones of my established tank to die with the new fish. It wasn't a fun Easter weekend watching fish die. The funny thing, I have guppies from 3 days old, 2&3 months and 4 adults. Along with 3 swords and a pleco all were fine. I did the higher temp and on day 2 added aquarium salt only half strength. Before the salt I had lost 5 3" Rosys. I would figure baby guppies would be the first to die. I never did figure out what caused the die off. So since I like my livebearers, I don't want to lose stocking room to minnows. I look forward to hearing others experiences and suggestions.

I grew up with fish in the 70's in Edmonton, my mom had 20 tanks. Mainly angels,oscars,convicts and live bearers. Starting in 87 when I moved on my own I started with 4 tanks, 33,48,54, and a 40. I kept angels, severums, the odd discus, silver dollars. However I moved a lot, so pared down to just the 48 gal. I later kept a few fancy gold fish in 2000. My son and I just got back into the hobby, last Aug as our new neighbor is a fish keeper. So we were bitten by the fish keeping bug. We have a 55, a 33, a 15 and a 20 as backup. They are basically community tanks. I'm looking to connect with fish breeders of Moscow guppies and quality swords and platys in Edmonton. We come monthly for medical appointments. My son just had major hip surgery at 17. So he finds his 2 tanks very relaxing. He has this betta in a 15g with a few tetras. He's loaded with personality, he likes hanging out in a submerged glass 7up bottle. He's the only fish that goes in there. He likes to sit with his head poking out. The neons aren't even interested in the bottle. I'm amazed the changes that have taken place in the hobby since the 80's. I've learned plenty just reading on the forums last few weeks. So we are looking forward to making contacts in the Edmonton area. All my old haunts are gone: John's Fish ponds, I knew jack quite well and my mom knew both of his parents. Tropical Fish gallery in the N end, I remember when they started on 42 st and 118 ave, then 45 st and 118 ave, last moved just off of 66st across from the SPCA. They had some beautiful discus, I used to drool over!! Another favourite was the Koi fish shop on Stony Plain Rd and 152 street. These 3 places were the only ones that I bought from. It was always a treat to see the new shipments. The owners took time to talk fish. Jack was my favourite in a private home in Highlands. I often wonder what happened to these people? We run AC's on our tanks. I expect to be asking many questions!