Archive for January, 2006

Sturisoma Aureum Young Catfish Update

Monday, January 30th, 2006

I’ve moved all the Sturisoma Aureum young catfish from the spawning tank to the 48″ growing-on tank this evening.

The catfish are growing well, and I’m surprised how large some of the young catfish are in such a short time, feeding on a low protein diet of vegetable matter.

I’ve been ill since Monday 23 Jan with a nasty cold/flu viral bug, so bad I had to take a day off work sick, and slept in bed for twenty-four hours. So I’ve not been paying much attention to the fish, I missed a feed on Friday! So not much to report in the blog!

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Sturisoma Aureum Sixth Spawning Attempt

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

The Sturisoma Aureum spawned again this evening for the sixth time.

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Whoops..and thats…

Friday, January 20th, 2006

..another water experiment that’s gone Pete Tong!

I’ve been trying to sex the hundreds of Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. I have in the fish house, some have now matured, but I seem to have females, and no males, Males can usually be indentified as they have bristles on their noses and cheeks, but some species of Ancistrus both males and females can have bristle on their noses. I would have expected to see bristles by now.

While I was doing this, I overfilled a water butt in the fish house! I need to find a mop….quickly….

Sorry, no posts this week, I’ve been pulling the late shift again in the office, so apart from feeding the fish in the fish house, I’ve not been doing anything interesting to report on.

The large mature Angelfish with “pop-eye” is getting worse, I’ve been looking at photographs I’ve been taking every few days, and the condition is worse that at the begininning of the week.

I will remove this fish from the display tank tomorrow, and re-house in a small quarantine tank, it is possible that the Polyfilter has removed the MelaFix from the aquarium, as it removes organics. It’s much easier to treat a fish in a smaller aquarium and requires less MelaFix.

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Sera Catfish Chips

Saturday, January 14th, 2006

Purchased two tubs of Sera Catfish Chips this morning, as the catfish seem to prefer these now to Hikari Algae wafers, and I was told that Sera use to produce fish food for Hikari in Germany, before production was shited to Japan!

Visited Tropica near Harrogate, and Petland in York, excellent L numbers on display, and Twig catfish, but resisted the temptation, today!

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Pop-Eye

Friday, January 13th, 2006

I have noticed that one of my very old large Marble Angel fish may have developed Pop-Eye. Not to be confused with the Sailor!

Pop Eye

I do not breed from this angel fish any more, this female is too old, and lives in my display tank in the house.

Pop-eye is caused by: bacterial infection, parasite infestation, metabolic disorders, and poor water quality.

Symptoms: one or both eyes swell and project from the head. In severe cases, the eye can burst from the socket.

Treatment/Control: affected fish can be treated with MelaFix.

Large Old Angel fish

The water quality in the aquarium checks out okay, I’ll maintain a close “eye” on her condition. Excuse the pun!

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Fluorescent tube replacement

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006

Why do the fluorescent tube plastic clips break every time a change a fluorescent tube, these must be designed for one use only.

I had forgotten that this tube was a 40 watt Triton 1.5 inch, so I’ve replaced it with a 40 watt Aquaglow 1 inch from my dwindling stock of fluorescent tubes. Many years ago, a friend thought it was a good idea to purchase a batch of aquatic fluorescent tubes from a pet shop closing down sale, they would come in handy, I’ve been moving these tubes around with me for the last 10 years, and I’ve now only got one left. So Andrew, I’ve finally used them all!

6 foot tank 2
Replacement tube on top of 6ftx2ftx2ft tank.

6 foot tank 1
Close up of the occupants.

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Anyone for Endlers?

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006

Snails and Endlers are breeding out of control, I need to replace a few items, the fluorescent tube above my 6x2x2 tanks has started to fail, and I need to purchase some replacement combined heater thermostats or heaters for my tank in the house, a slim-line Algarde heater failed before I went away for the new year, so a temporay fix is currently in place, using Armitage heaters.

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Sturisoma Aureum Fifth Spawning Attempt

Sunday, January 8th, 2006

Sturisoma Aureum Fifth Spawning Attempt

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Electricity Update

Saturday, January 7th, 2006

I’ve been analysing all the electricity used in the fish house, with the use of my Power Meters, and I can reveal I use an Average of 70kWh a day!

Hence I’ve recently switched suppliers in November 2005, and gain to make a saving of over 800 pound per annum.

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Sorry for no posts!

Friday, January 6th, 2006

Almost five days and no posts, not a good start to 2006!

Sorry for no posts in the last couple of days, I’m trying to repair my Father’s TiVo!

It’s taking longer that I thought!

Endlers are breeding out of control, there are hundreds of fry in the tank at present.

Sturisoma Aureum catfish are enjoying the free algae that’s growing in the growing-on tank.

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