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Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble!

Tuesday, October 4th, 2005

….The Witches Cauldron Brew, the
bogwood is still soaking nicely.

I’ve seen the
L190 this evening, it’s still in the tank and feeding. I visited
Petland in my lunchtime today in York, they have an excellent collection of Ls
in stock, I almost parted with an

L177 but needed to catch the bus! Maybe next time! I don’t think they
have a website, but here’s a
review by the Ryedale Aquarist Society.
 

I’ve just noticed that I use the
terms Ls and Lxxx numbers a lot, and some readers may be confused with what I am
referring to. The group of catfish I keep are in the scientific name
Loricariidae, this is pronouced
Lori KARI Iday or more commonly referred to Suckermouth Armoured Catfishes (yes
they do stick to the glass!), they have rows of armour plating covering body,
underslung suckermouth. They all come from South America. Originally when a
suckermouth armoured catfish was discovered, it was given a scientific name (latin),
and a common name, as more were discovered in recent years it became impossible
to readily identify them, and give them common names, so the L numbering system
was invented to uniquely identify each catfish, and hence the L series was born,
there is also an LDA series, the same has also been done for Corydoras
catfishes, Cichlids and Rays.

Endlers’ are doing well, and have another four fry.

Purple Spotted Gudgeon in the fish house are massive compared to the fish in the
display tank. Sexual difference possibly.

Many projects still to complete, fish house needs a tidy for the forthcoming
cold weather, and I’ve got a new temperature project finished, but need to
relocate the computer system in the fish house.

Again, I’m pulling the late shift all week, at the office, so not much time to
organise the fish house.

Had an excellent response from

Pond Supplies UK, and a replacement end-cap for my Hailea air compressor
has been posted. That’s Excellent Customer Service, I’m still awaiting to hear
from Java-Plants (I think all
the Vallis is now dead!).

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Search Archives Button

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

I’ve added a Search Archives Button, so you can now search the archives easier, the Search Tool is in the Right Hand Margin. It looks like this:-

The format is a bit off, but I’m not a graphic designer.

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Young Koi Angelfish

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

This is one of my special Koi Angelfish I’ve breed.

Young Koi Angelfish

Sorry for RSS users, I’m modifying the blog code, to add new features. So you may get this entry a few times, depending on how often you download the RSS feed.

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Cheap Alternative to Aquatic Planting Kit Pots

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

This was emailed to me by a fellow aquarist after having difficulties with the gibbiceps digging up the plants in my display tank. Reproduced here in its entirety with permission of the author – Amerce.

“Actually I managed to rig something a little bit cheaper up for myself with items I had left over or had squirreled away.

I had some peat left over from my killifish breeding pots (sterilized in the microwave), I had some aquarium sand (£2+ for a 3 kg bag), some fine gravel left over from another aquarium and some plastic containers left over from various things (Ferrero rocher container, strawberry punnet container etc. I’d punched some holes in the container bottom beforehand), the most expensive part was buying the plants and the plant rooter granules.

I lined the bottom of the containers with some peat, sprinkled some of the root granules and then tied up the plants (using the lead that java sent me), once I had decided where all the plants were going I then used the wet sand to firmly place the plants in the container (I’d washed the sand earlier and it was still a bit moist) the sand acted like putty and was easy to shape and mould around the plant roots, then I sprinkled the gravel over everything to make sure the sand and plants didn’t float up once it was placed in the tank, and because the containers had been punched before the water soaked in to the base of the container and gradually filled it and it sank nicely without loosing the plant, soil, or sand.

This way the undergravel isn’t bunged up with roots from the plants and you can take out the containers at any time to do plant maintenance and also move the container where ever you want without upsetting the plants too much.”

So this Christmas, save those Ferrero rocher containers, and recycle them, and save them from landfill!

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Soaking Bogwood

Sunday, October 2nd, 2005


These
are the four pieces of bogwood I purchased, currently soaking in a vat of water
before adding them to aquariums in the fish house, the brown stain in the water
is caused by the tanin in the bogwood leaching into the water. Boiling and
soaking for long periods can reduce the tanin leaching into the water, the use
of carbon in a filter will remove the tanin from the water but can also remove
other nutrients required for plant growth, regular partial water changes will
also dilute the effect. I quite like the colour, and it appears more natural
for the fish that I keep. It also helps to acidify the water  in the
aquarium. You usually have to pay for chemicals to do this e.g.
Tetra Blackwater
Extract. (the observant amongst you will notice this vat was last filled
with a potassium permanganate solution, this has been siphoned off into 20l
bottles, so I can dispose of, at a rate of 500ml (half a litre) a day!)

I’ve planted out my display tank this evening using Aquatic Potting Kits,
I’ve inspected the Totra Vallis, I received from Java-Plants and they are of
very poor quality unlike the Amazon Swords I received, I’ve emailed Java-Plants
for comments. All 25 plants look like they need a priest, very brown, I don’t
think they’ll recover.

On the subject of emailing suppliers, I’ve also emailed Pond-Supplies UK,
because I’ve noticed stress fractures/cracks on my new Air compressor, and
that’s not been in service very long. Air is leaking in via these cracks, and
not via the air-inlet.

On a happier note, my "aquarium sealant fix" seems to have fixed my other
Hi-Blow type air pump.

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Found an L190 on the A1

Saturday, October 1st, 2005

Okay, I’ve bent the truth a little here, a friend travelling south from Newcastle met me on the A1/A59 at Junc 47, so I could collect a L190 Royal Pleco/Parnaque L190 Panaque nigrolineatus, extremely nice fish, currently in quarantine. Do other people conduct similiar activities?

Whilst as I was only a few miles from Tropica, Knaresborough, I thought I would drop in and have a browse. Tropica have a fantastic planted Dennerle display tank, just inside the door. Well worth a visit if your travelling up the A1, only a few miles from Junc 47 A1 (and this garden centre has a cafe!) From 5th October 2005, they will also be stocking Tropical Marines. I purchased four aquatic plant potting kits.

On returning to York, made a quick visit to Maidenhead Aquatics to purchase some bogwood, I only wanted small pieces, so browsed around in the box to collect the broken pieces, good value for a tenner (10GBP), I don’t think the staff were too amused, as most of the larger pieces are at least 5 kilos, at 5.50 GBP per kilo, that’s a few quid. I just wanted a few small pieces to add to various tanks, for the L’s and plecos to graze on. This wood is definately bogwood, it’s not been sandblasted like Mopani wood. I also checked out the young Angelfish, but didn’t part with any, because I didn’t think they were in good condition, very poor condition, tatty and torn finnage.

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Breakdown near Animal House

Friday, September 30th, 2005

Well, I didn’t break down but a friend did, so apart from show him around the fish house, I had to collect his car not far from Animal House in Batley, West Yorkshire that’s the only fish connection to the fish house, and I got back that late, it was too late to feed the fish.

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I can do anything with aquarium sealant

Thursday, September 29th, 2005


I’ve
spent some time in the fish house this evening tidying up lose ends, probably
because it’s the warmest room in the house. I’ve installed, well actually I
dropped the bogwood into my angelfish rearing tank, which houses two unknown "plecos",
this evening there was evidence that the "plecos" had been grazing on the
bogwood because of the "bogwood pooh" left on the tank bottom, I would use the
scientific name bogwood faeces, but I think "bogwood pooh" sounds better, but I
think you’ll understand. It’s not uncommon for "plecos" and other relatives to
eat bogwood, The reason that plecos and other similar fish rasp bogwood is that
they need a substance called Lignin which is contained in the wood . It is
believed it helps them to digest their food. All the veggie catfish have finally
finished off the Tetra Plecomin, so they are back on Hikari. I‘m sorry I
couldn’t catch a picture of the plecos on the bogwood, there were two fast and
cunning for me.

Fish House pump covered in aquarium sealant, trying to seal the crack and
stop venting air, I don’t know if this will work, if not I might try super-glue,
but aquarium sealant, usually does well under high pressure.

I’ve also moved one large male Koi Veiltail Angelfish out of the quarantine
tank, this was the fish that was not deporting too well, a few weeks ago,
shortly after purchase. I think this fish, may be being bullied by the other
mature males. I’ve found a
Royal Pleco/Parnaque
L190 Panaque nigrolineatus, this could me mine, I’ll have to wait
and see.

Had a re-think, about connecting the air-inlet of the air compressor to the
outside, more later.

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Water Deflector for LifeGard FB300 installed

Thursday, September 29th, 2005



The
spare parts for my Lifegard FB300 Fluidized Bed Filter arrived today from the
AquariumSuperstore, I
ordered two replacement water deflectors a few weeks ago because I’ve recently
misplaced the originals in the fish house. The thread of the water deflector is
wrapped with 5 turns of PTFE "plumbers" tape, to stop any leaks. I thought this
was going to be a quick easy job, but trying to unscrew the existing pipe elbow
was difficult because it is made of plastic and the adjustable spanner kept
slipping, I eventually had to remove it from the tank temporarily to unscrew the
existing pipe elbow. TIP  Use the correct fitting spanner and not an
adjustable!
The new water deflector is now installed, and the water flow adjusted correctly,
there is no back pressure on the existing power head, and the media fluidizes
very easily, I may have to check after 24 hours, otherwise I may have a tank
full of sand! In the corner of the picture is the inlet pipe to the Eheim 2260
external bucket filter and the top of an Algarde Bio-Foam 200 Sponge filter is
just visible above the surface of the water. This fix tank is probably "over
filtered" if that’s possible, but it helps to keep mature filters on standby as
anything can happen and it usually does.
The Lifegard Fluidized Bed Filter biological maturation takes considerably
longer. In most cases, the maturation period should take no longer than 40 days
during this period the nitrifying bacteria will attach themselves to the media
within the filter. I’ve got another filter to setup in the same way, when this
filter has matured.
 

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Mopani or Bogwood?

Thursday, September 29th, 2005

Up
again early this is morning to collect a parcel from the local Sorting Office,
it turned out to be a small piece of Mopani or Bogwood, I’d purchased. The
Sorting Office, also had my remaining order from
Java-Plants, 25 Vallis Torta, which
were placed in a water vat at 28 degree C, until I had chance this evening to
disinfect in my vat of potassium permanganate solution. (yes still having
planting issues in the display tank!).

This is an ideal piece of bogwood for my angelfish to spawn on, and also for
my "plecos" to graze on. When I’ve soaked it and disinfected it, I’ll place it
in my tank, and post a picture here in the blog.

I’ve also have a small community of Endler
Poecilia Livebearers, these seem to be very
popular on eBay at present, and are selling for very high prices, I was recently
given some male Endlers because my females seem to be rather thin. These fish
have finished their quarantine period, and after studying them closely, I don’t
believe they are True Endlers, possibly Guppy hybrids, so I have not mixed them
with my true Endler community, just to be safe, Male Guppies will hybridise with
the females very easily.

I have also moved all the male True Endlers, and separated them from the
females because the females were being harassed too much, and I noticed three
young fry in amongst the java fern which has grown out of control in my display
tank, so I dumped some in the Endlers’ aquarium in the fish house. I’m a little
confused, because every time I examine pictures on the internet of Endlers’ they
all look slightly different, so I still don’t know what True Endlers’ look like!

The nice man "Mark" at
AquariumSuperstore telephone today and left a message to let me know, I
should get my water deflectors tomorrow by post.

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