Either the eggs were not fertilised or the pH of the water was wrong, all the eggs after 24 hours turned white, indicating they were not fertilised, this is unusual, I’ve not had problems with this before.
Sturisoma Aureum eggs are developing well. I’ve also now started culturing brine shrimp.
The webcams are becoming difficult to locate because of the PCs new postion in the fish house, and I also need to re-calibrate the temperature probes, because the temperatures are a little incorrect!
While I was in the fish house this evening, fussing over the Sturisoma Aureum taking photographs, I noticed the Platinum Angelfish madly chasing the Ancistrus catfish, which I have since removed, remember what happened last time! I quickly grabbed my camera (I’ve changed from the Sony Mavica 2 Megapixel to my Leica Digilux camera, yes I still cannot take pictures in focus, so don’t let the man in the shop tell you that a more expensive camera is better, it’s the person behind the lens!)
here are some pictures:-
Platinum Angelfish Spawning, Female is at the top of the sponge filter uplift.
Male Platinum Angelfish getting very agreesive with me, female in the background.
Male Platinum Angelfish, sparing at the glass!
Sorry for peeps, that don’t have broadband, this site isn’t dial-up friendly! Does any one do dial-up anymore? If you dont got to your local library and take the url with you!
I never bred Sturisoma Aureum before, so it’s time to prepare some Brine Shrimp for the fry, many years ago after a disaster where a batch of Brine Shrimp didn’t hatch, a friend recommended different grades of ZM Fry Foods to feed to my fry. Since that day, I’ve always used ZM Fry Foods. But some fry, don’t eat dry food because it doesn’t move. Not knowing how well Sturisoma Aureum fry will take to eating dry food, I best prepare my brine shrimp cultures. It’s easy to put a pair of fish together in a tank, and get them to spawn, but rearing the fry is the challenge.
Here’s the Brine Shrimp Hatcher I use
Many fishkeepers, use a traditional milk bottle, and air stone with cotton wool as a bung. I’ve had these years, and they install inside the fish tank, and are okay for small numbers of brine shrimp. I’ll try and move the Sturisoma Aureum fry onto dry food as soon as possible. I didn’t think New Technology Brine Shrimp Hatcher kits were still available, but I’ve just checked, and surprisingly they are!
The eggs from the pair of Sturisoma Aureum are developing well, the embryos are developing well in the eggs, and you can see the “eyes”. Here is a picture at Day three after lay. There are approximately 100 eggs. If you compare earlier pictures, with this photograph, you will notice a difference, these have become much darker as the embryos grow and develop.
It was lucky I caught the male parent fish, feeding, and away from the eggs chasing the female away. The male fish is usually guarding the eggs and fanning them constantly. Sorry about the quality, I’ll try and get a better in focus shot, But I was more concerend in getting a shot, so I could count the eggs.
Moving the pair of Sturisoma Aureum from their quarantine tank, to a seperate breeding tank, has triggered spawning.
Here are some of the first pictures, so for the quality, the new tank, is in an awkward place, not easily photographable.
Female is on the left of the picture near the bogwood, and the male is on the right guarding and fanning the eggs.
Male guarding and fanning the eggs.
Male guarding and fanning the eggs.
Don’t ever be tempted to part with any money for the above. You’ve been officially warned. I recently purchased this for a pound from a high street shop, thinking it might be worth a try, it’s supposed to pump water, by using an electric drill (Thanks Tim for the replacement, btw were you drilling the second chunnel!).
It’s Absolutely Rubbish save your money and purchase a pond pump.
This is a photograph of my First Aquarium recently rescued from my parents house, I don’t believe it was purchased for me, I think a friend of my fathers gave it to me, but my father insisted until I read about the subject of keeping tropical fish, I was not allowed to keep them, I had always kept Goldfish as a child, but was always fascinated by the Jacques-Yves Cousteau diving programs on the television in the 70s.
I think it could be a collectors item today, as it’s an angle-iron type frame but with chrome finish, the glass is sealed with putty, later silicon sealer has been added. Capacity of the tank is approx 25l, I originally breed Guppies, Platies, Swordtails, Bettas until it was the home of a small piebald catfish – A Walking Catish, Clarias sp. The keen spotters will notice a Practical Fishkeeping Magazine freebie LCD thermoeter, given away free with the magazine in the 80s!
I don’t have the heart to part with it, because this is where it all started!
If the answer is yes, then please read on, I’ve found an electronic wattage
and current meter which I’ve been using in my fish house for about a week, to
analyse running costs and efficiency of heaters, filters, air pumps and
compressors in order to reduce my electricity bill or possibly complete the
calculations and switch to Economy 7. I’m so impressed with this device, I want
to share my experiences with you, so you too can reduce your electricity bills.
The Wattage and current meter in use:-
1. Plugged into a standard UK Socket. The unit has seven modes of
operation that can be selected using the Function Button.. When first connecting
the units to AC it shows the date, day and time. This can be set using the Set
and Change buttons.
2. An electrical appliance is
connected to the socket, Voltage Display
Maximum current is 13A, 220-250v AC that can be drawn by an electrical
appliance, so this should be ample for most electrical appliances fitted with a
standard 13A plug. Mode 1 shows the present voltage (V) and frequency (Hz) being
supplied to the appliance. I’ve connected an Eheim 1260 External pond pump to
the meter for these tests. . The display shows 241v and 50Hz in the photograph.
3. Amps display
The present current strength (A) and the power factor received by the
appliance are displayed. The display shows 0.45A and 0.80 power factor in the
photograph.
4. Wattage display
In this mode, the power is displayed in Watts. The photograph shows 87.12 W,
this is an interesting measurement, because the manufacturer states this has a
power rating of 65 watts. I have found this mode very helpful, in checking
appliances for efficiency. You cannot always believe, what is typed on the
sticker, and certainly with air compressors and blowers, wattage increases under
heavy load and clogged air stones.
The wattage display has another display which is very useful, especially for
measuring Maximum wattage drawn by an appliance(s). When pressing the 2-Price
button in wattage display, it shows the maximum wattage recorded and pressing
the 2-button display again displays the date and time at which it was recorded.
The photograph shows a maximum recorded wattage of 1222W (1.2kW). This was
previously recorded when the unit was connected to a multi-channel thermostat
controlling the temperatures in six aquariums in the fish house.
This display shows the date and time the maximum wattage was recorded. The
photograph shows 15:56 Sunday, this coincides with me opening and closing the
fish house doors, when completing partial water changes. I’ve also now been able
to graph, temperature drops in the fish house, with external temperature outside
temperature, and add extra insulation, I’ll also be using a fan heater in the
colder evenings with a electronic plug-in thermostat, to come on to keep the
ambient fish house temperature at approx 25 degreesC.
5. Operation Duration
The total time displayed during which the connected appliance has been
switched on. If the electrical appliance draws no current, no time is recorded.
The photograph shows the multi-channel thermostat has been connected for a total
of 62 hours and 11 minutes.
6. kWh display
A very important mode, in this mode, the cumulative total electricity
consumption by the connected appliances in kWh is displayed. This is important
because it is this unit, that we are charged for by our electricity suppliers,
and is often referred to as the Unit charge. I currently pay 8.1p per kWh to
Npower. If the 2-Price button is selected, you can toggle between Peak and
Off-Peak settings, if you have Economy 7.In this photograph 20.38kWh have been
consumed. Most watt meters end here, but there’s more…
7. Electricity price per kWh
This is mode 7, but I’ve jumped to this mode for a reason. This unit, allows
you to program the cost of Electricity price per kWh, at day and night rates if
you have Economy 7. I’ve set the meter at 8.1p per kWh in the photograph. Other
current and watt meters do not allow you to set a cost, and you need to complete
the maths, not difficult, but if you have a device that can automatically
calculate the cost, and display it, you can easily see at a glance, how much an
item is costing you, and how hard it’s hitting your pocket.
8. Cost
This is what we all want to know and calculate, we can gather the the
manufacturers wattage for an appliance, calculate the kWh and complete the maths
to finally calculate the cost, BUT manufacturers specifications are incorrect,
it is very difficult to account for thermostatically controlled appliances,
aquarium thermostats and heaters, that are not connected 24 hours a day, fridge
freezers etc
Actual measurement of the appliance under test is the only true method, of
costing an appliance.
In this photograph it shows a value of 1.65 GBP, this is how much it costs me
to heat six fish tanks in my fish house for a period of 63 hours and 11 minutes,
maximum wattage recorded was 1.2kW at 15:56 Sunday 30th October 2005, when I
opened and closed the fish house door! I hope this information has been useful.
Some technical details on the current and wattage meter are as follows:-
This wattage and current meter is unique, do not be fooled by cheaper units
made in China, this is the only unit that can be programmed with your
Electricity Unit charge (price per kWh, available from you electricity bill),
that will give you a real cost displayed in pounds and pence, it’s also the only
unit that records maximum power drawn, which is time stamped. I believe this is
available exclusively from
JLB
Electronics, but don’t quote me on that. I’ve already purchased two units.
I’m not easily impressed with electronic gadgets but this wattage and current
meter rocks big time, and "it does what it says on the tin", don’t take my word
for it, purchase one and test it for yourself. An excellent Christmas Present.
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