a1foxes

I found a GE Silicone 1 in Home Depot, a big tube cost me $5.99. I read every label of every tube they had, it was the only one that did not say "not for use in aquarium". According to the sales guy and others I spoke to about it, if it werent ok for them and they didnt label it as such, lawsuit city.... Its better than 11.99 or 12.99 elsewhere and it works just fine.

hhmmm fishroom warming party/open house. sounds cool . it'll be a bit before mines ready, but I"m in!

No car til she's able to buy it herself- already established that.LOL PS I rent too- but I had pets when I moved in so he cant stop me as long as its not going to damage the house haha

I'm Ms. handy dandy so $55 can buy me a whole lot more than that! mosf of my stands now , the ones i posted pics of, I built. $1.50 gets me econo studs, $15 a whole sheet of plywood... not the best grade but the way i build things it doesnt matter- I could drop one of my stands off the back of a truck at 60mph and it still wouldnt fall apart. I'm going to build one to hold 4- 20 gals on the bottom and 6-8 tens on the top.... anyone remember the A-team show? well, 'I have a plan' hehe. Funny, i was thinking about going back to school to get a welding ticket....hmmm might be handy

I got an early Christmas present! My oldest daughter has agreed to sacrifice her downstairs bedroom, for my fishies!!! :beer: Coolest room in the house- cement floor, nice tilework, about 20X20, a shower that i can hook a hose into, no direct sunlight, no worries about tanks falling through the floor.....ahh life can be good after all...well maybe I should save the celebration for after I move everything down there. i'm sure my back will be hurting and I'll REALLY need a drink... I dont think my 2 55s will be going down though- damn heavy enough without anything in them, try doing it with substrate and some water....anyone know a good chiropracter? Well at least I'll be able to add more tanks:) I told my daughter than once the tanks are in, she's stuck, so if putting the boys together in a room doesnt work, she'll have to share a room with baby sister...I better get them moved before she changes her mind LOL :thumbs: I guess that means i'll be in 'construction' mode for a while- need stands for all those tanks ....only problem, I have to keep them away from the walls. Some of the drywall is going to have to be replaced soon, due to flood damage, once those tanks are in I aint moving them so I have to set them up a few feet from the walls. Oh well, its more space, and it sure beats having tanks spread all over the dang house.

Have to admit, my 12" Scarlett gave me a run for the money a couple times. When I went to pick him up, he was wedged into a log- took a while to get him out and there was some damage to his fins :cry: Then a few days ago i put him into his new tank(bigger), and the brat stuck me with his thorns- had to throw a towel over him to pick him up. Man, they squirm ...

Ok , I was there this morning- all the last of the tanks are out by the dumpster and FREE for the taking. Most of them are cracked or broken, especially by the drill holes, but if you look, theres probably a dozen or more that are good- mostly 20's, some 15's . IF you want em, get em quick! Carol

I'm one of those sadistic people that likes to go into a store, find a newbie and make them try to catch the fastest fish hehe. I think the longest i ever had to wait for my 'prize', was 3 little Botia Strigata(zebra loaches) from Petland. Those ornaments LOOK nice but also provide very nice little hide-e-holes. Stubborn fish wouldnt come out for nothin. I think the log was outof water for almost a half hour before the 4 fish in it decided to pop out. I know how many fish were in the tank when I looked, and I only wanted 3 of the 6 so how hard can it be right? -roll- The poor kid was so frustrated after just one, he had to walk off for a few minutes and come back. teehee He was almost sure that there were no more in there, then one scooted out, tore around and went back into hiding....damn there went the excuse 'theres no more left'. Yoyos are a blast, and tonight I had to catch me 6 fairly decent size syndontis cats out of my community tank-of course, I just HAD to do it with the plants and stuff still in it....those undergravel pipes are a pain in the BUTT...I did get them all, funny though, its NOT so funny when you're the one doing the catching Bulldog plecos are a pain in the you-know-what too....they must have really good radar- as soon as I get within a foot of the tank the brat is gone.... anyone got any good chase stories?

Now don't start giving me ideas Well I just crinkle up some aluminum foil, hit it with a little spraypaint, and voila, background. Actually, if you play with some different color, like I use black, blue and a little white, it comes out rather realistic looking and WAY cheaper than store bought stuff. I can't be the only thats ever done that? Heck, did it 25 years ago when I had fish! Wanna get real artistic, a little brown with some pinky undertone in some spots- spray paint is great, just thin coats at a time gets some neat effects!

Dont suppose you could hold some L260's for me? I live out of town, cant get in til Sat anyway

Ok, everyone knows about the Eheim canister filters, but I've been snooping around for some reasonably priced powerfilters for some of my tanks. I have to upsize on my breeding tanks, my guys need fast flowing water. I was looking at Aquaclear 50's for my 20 gall tanks, but found these Eheim powerfilters at Pisces- rated for 35 gal tanks, 150 gal per hour, on sale for $20. The next size up for 50 gal tanks is only $30 reg price, and 200 gph. You use the same type of cartridges for both, just an extra one for the larger unit. Gee no having to buy different types of cartridges for each size! So far, the one I've put on one of my 20's has done a marvellous job of cleaning up the crud, and are very quiet. Has anyone else had any experience with them?

I guess being handy with a hammer and saw is really a good thing! If I were waiting for a GUY(no offense intended) to do stuff for me, well, I'd still be waiting.... I cant afford to buy new stuff or pre made stands etc, so I use whats handy. BTW, black covers up icky looking wood really nice:) I missed 3 fish on my community tank count too--surprise surprise. 3 botia strigata(zebra loach). Think I'll leave that population alone for a while. Now might be a good time to buy shares in fish food companies -roll-

Ok, i'm not a photographer and now i know i have to clean the glass before I take the pictures My scarlett pleco is no the most photogenic- he is in a 20 gal by himself until his big one is ready(soon) but it sure is a hoot to see that huge sucker from the underside. My 55 gal community tank was just cleaned(inside anyway) so the rocks plants and other ornaments are mostly not there.... I did a count tonight... 2 royal pleco, 1 mustard spot pleco, 1 galaxy pleco, 2 chocolate plecos, 1 albino pleco, 1 spotted bulldog pleco, 1 tiger pleco and 1 rhino pleco, 3 syndontis multipunctatus, 3 syndontis euperuptus, 3 syndontis olleciefer, 2 metae cory, 4 yoyo loaches, 1 polka dot botia, 3 red fin blue botia, 4 botia berramodi(sp?) , 2 green tiger botia, 3 pictus , 1 bumblebee cat, 1 gold gourami, 2 opaline gourami, 1 blue and 1 lavender, 1 german blue ram, 2 rusty cichlids, 2 electric yellow, 2 festivums, 3 silver sailfin molly, and one little blue topaz guppy in a floater tank.... wheeww 55 fish holy cow :eh: It PAYS to have really good filtration and hide-e-holes for the shy ones. my little 10 gal beside it only has 4 sunset gouramis and a sailfin pleco. My 'betta stands', hold, well, lotsa bett jars obviously, one tank has 5 honeyfire gouramis(breeders), 2 panda corys and a teeny albino bristlenose pleco, one tank has 3 - L200's and one girl guppy., the scarlet pleco, and one tank for 5- L134's. My zebra tank is , well, my zebra tank and I dont put anything else in with them. I've got tons more betta jars and tanks in various parts of the house, waiting for me to build another stand or 4... :hey: If I had a room with a concrete floor I could use, then I'd have them all in one place, but for now i have to use smaller tanks and spread them out so I dont collapse the floor -roll-

Actually it was Burno I got it from. Most of their stuff was rather dirty, and alot of it, regardless of base color, seemed to have alot of iron stains on it. I know my wellwater has lots of iron in it, we have a water softener for that, but dont know how to remove it safely from slate? I use CLR on my fixtures, but its rather toxic... Have you checked your water hardness? Its quite hard, always has been. I didn't have any trouble with iron deposits until the last few days, it was about this time last week I put the slate in. I don't use my wellwater in my tanks, I only use the tap water from town, theres less crud in it.

Actually it was Burno I got it from. Most of their stuff was rather dirty, and alot of it, regardless of base color, seemed to have alot of iron stains on it. I know my wellwater has lots of iron in it, we have a water softener for that, but dont know how to remove it safely from slate? I use CLR on my fixtures, but its rather toxic...

I've got some nice slate I'd like to use in some of my tanks, but some of it has some iron ore in it and seems to have a tendency to leave that reddish film on the filter and side of the tanks. Question- does this effect 'wear off' or am I stuck with it? I paid $24 for 40 kg, but its ten times more from a fish store. On the other hand I wouldnt want to hurt the fish or equipement either! :cry:

I'm looking for suggestions as to what I can put in a 55 gal tank with a 12" Scarlet Pleco. I have few large syndontis for busy but friendly bottom feeders that won't get eaten, not too sure what else I can put in that isnt going to get too big or nip at him. I'm leaning towards a few discus, but I've never had them before so I'm asking... :eh: I've got LOTS of plecos, but never like this guy - he is my new favorite pet... He's rather shy, was picked on a little by a large tankmate so I'd like to see him be the king for the rest of his days!

I know nothing about snails- all I know is I didnt put it there and I dont want any! i dont use live plants, and snails is one reason why. It was very small, little pointy cone shaped shell. He got the royal 'flush' -roll-

I've heard that loached and botias are known for digging their way into sandy bottoms to hide? Hmm well ok I've had a wide variety of them, but I have one in particular thats proven to be highly amusing. We call him a 'clicker', cause he makes clicky noises when he gets mad at someone or is competing for food. After I did the tank cleaning today, I saw this 'tail' sticking out of the gravel I thought at first I had croaked fish, skeleton or whatever, then I see this little head poke out to see if the coast was clear, then he flew out, gravel everywhere.....I thought I was seeing things. Then he did it again. This time, one of my electric yellows, was cruising along and spotted this 'thing' sticking out of the gravel, well geez cichlids eat everything. Scared the living crap out of him when his 'dinner' disappeared under the gravel and this head pops out and you hear this angry clicky noise- never seen a fish swim that fast! Heehee. I always wondered where the heck those things hid- I would move plants, ornaments, etc, and rarely see one- guess I have to start looking for ---tails?

Ok, I"ve got a 10 gal community tank, its been doing well until I bought some fish from a store a few weeks ago and put them in. The whole tank got ich real bad, I lost all but the one betta I pulled out and put in a jar. I did the salt and heat, then coppersafe. Yanked out all the filters and carbon during the process, and sterilized every plant, ornament, net and piece of equipment ever used in the tank. I did a heavy water change today, 50%, and have yet to put anything in the tank. I put a brand new filter cartridge in , but I just caught a little snail in there and I have no idea where it came from-other than the store where the ich likely came from no doubt. There is no fish in there, I was going to wait a while before then, let the coppersafe and salt kill everything first. What the heck do I do about snails? Where theres one, theres likely more, and I REALLY don't want them. On the other hand, I want the tank inhabitable in the very near future...HELP!

I want to build myself some aquariums using real slate- is any type ok, are they all same and are there any good places to get it? I havent had much luck finding anything in pet stores, its usually way too thick. I had been thinking slate tile flooring, as long as theres no epoxy on it should be fine if I'm correct?

Ok, I've been meaning to ask someone about this. I live out of town, on well water. I seldom use it for the fish- heck I dont like the taste myself but it does go through a water softener. Anyway, I get tap water from town and just add the stuff to get the chlorine out. However, I'm finding although my ph was initially high, treatment has brought it down, almost too low. At the same time, its still very hard. I do use salt, is there anythiing else I can to do address both issues? i'm not sure how picky the average semi aggressive community tank would be- ie, cichlids, loaches, gouramis, plecos etc. I get some nitrate but 0 nitrite -very low ammonia. Its a crowded tank, I run an UG as well as a power filter and it seems to keep them all happy. But I'm working on some breeder guppies, not sure what they like? Any tips?

I have some older tanks not sure what gal they are. They are about 12x12x24, give or tank a 1/2 in here or there. The newer 10s I have are10x12x20 so I'm guessed these are 15's? Also have a couple that are the 12x24 size, but 15-16 inc high, guessing they are 20's? It wouldnt matter so much, but when you need to measure the additives etc its good to know

Well Bettas may not seem all that weird, but.....most people and stores keep them in plastic cups, etc. Mine I keep in 1 1/2 quart mason jars. If i give 1 fish out of the 50 1 food pellet, the one next to him sees it and starts dinging the glass. Next thing you know, you've 20 or more bettas dinging on their jars looking for dinner. Ever been to a wedding where people use a fork to ding a glass? Well thats the dinner bell at my place. I cant even give one a treat without the rest knowing about it and demanding theirs. Its very cool :beer:

Oh yes the hide and seek game. One of the reasons I take everything out, is my tank is literally a jungle, and its impossible to do a head count with stuff in. So, I remove all the ornaments and plants(silk ones). I remember shaking 3 red tail botias out of the leg of one ornament alone. One day I guess I didnt shake hard enough and one of the syndontis and a yoyo wound up on the I lay everything on. They lived though. Learned my lesson too. I had a pleco hanging onto his rock shelf I literally had to use my hand to sweep him off. My tiger barbs put in an appearance at dinner time but no sign of the clown or my little bumblebee's. Magic? LOL