Archive for the ‘All’ Category

I want a refund!

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

I purchased a box of 250 airstones many years ago which I’m still using, and
I found a duff one, I never found an airstone to be duff before in all my 
years of fishkeeping, what is there to go wrong, airstones are not that
complicated are they? I thought my pump on my display tank had ceased 
working.

 I found some filter media on my travels, approx 150l of various types,
that I’ve decided to soak and clean in the garden before re-using in an Eheim
2260 external canister filter which is expensive to fill, because it has a large
filter chamber.

 Unfortunately, the poorly Purple Spotted Gudgeon has died. It’s always sad
to loose any fish, no matter how small or large, when you’ve   tried
very hard, and done all you can to try and save it.
 

Air Ring Main is installed

Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

I’ve finally purchased the parts and installed the new Air ring main. Inspired by fellow Discus breeder mad4discus see website here.

I purchased three 2m lengths of 22mm overflow pipe, two 90 degree elbows, and one endstops. Not wanting to use any marley solvent in the fish house, I opted for the Speedfit system, this is manufactured by John Guest (who also make the RO fittings) quick and easy to install, max pressure is about 4 bar. The Speedfit system is more expensive than standard solvent based pipework, but this is easier to install in the fish house, and uses no solvent, it can also be easily disassembled and reused. I’ve cut a length of Eheim 19/27mm external filter tubing (I’ve got plenty in stock! don’t ask!), jubilee clipped this onto the 22mm overflow pipe, the other end will be jubilee clipped onto my Airpump. This will be relocated out of the fish house, in the non-insulated part of the garage, to pump in cooler air. I already had a suitable hole in the jablite wall to allow the pipework to be connected.

Work to complete, drill small pilot holes, install algarde elbows, lengths of air-line to tanks, connect airpump.

The final migration to the new air main, will be completed over the next weekend. I’ve set a GoLive date of 9/10 Sept 2005. This is so I can monitor any potential issues over the weekend, it’s very important to have air in your tanks!

Thanks Thanks to mad4discus for the inspiration.

Note to self Must purchase a backup blower!

Angelfishcam is Fixed, Service Restored.

Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

Sorry for the inconvience the webcams in the fish house are now fixed and working again.

All webcams should update every 30 seconds, if you find the date and time stamp is not changing, please email me at andypandy00 at hotmail.com, and I’ll attend to it as soon as is humanly possible.

A Day in The Life of a Fish House!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad……

(Lennon/McCartney)

Do you have days, when you have a great day at work, and then it all comes crashing down around you head?

I arrived home this evening, checked the fish house, and found that the Bueno Aires Tetra was dead, also the fish house was very hot at 35 degrees C room temperature, I also noticed that the venturi aeration device on the hyflo internal filter had stopped working, couple with a tank medicated with with MelaFix, two quarantine tanks were depleted of oxygen, 20 Ancistrus sp. were diving to the top of the tank, I assume to take in oxygen. 50% partial water changes and brisk aeration using airstones, the fish seem to be okay. I’m not too sure if this accounted for the tetras death.

I currently have 120l of HMA filtered water aerated and heated at 28 degrees C for partial water changes, another 158l of HMA filtered water on standby at room temperature.It takes approx 75 minutes to fill the water vessels.

I’ve also found the missing Danios, I found one dry and crispy on the floor underneath the quarantine tank, and bones of the other stuck in the Juwel filter. One zebra danio has disappeared from the quarantine tank with the single Purple Spotted Gudgeon, I suspect the fish was hungry.

I’ve recently filled holes in the garage walls where the fish house lives with squeezable polyfilla, to maintain the warmth over the winter, the only problem is, during these warm September days the temperature increases, I’ve opened the internal fish door this evening to decrease the temperature during the day, until winter arrives.

Overall, a very eventful day.

Anatomy of a fish

Monday, September 5th, 2005

Fish Updates
A quick update on the fish I’ve discussed in the last week.

Ancistrus Sp.
The 40+ common and albino fish are feeding and growing on very well, eating vast quantities of cucumber, courgette and Tetra Algae Wafers.

Various Angelfish
Considering they are currently housed in the same quarantine tank with the Kribensis and Orange Gourami feeding very well on frozen bloodworm and Tetra Prima.

Bueno Aires Tetra
Dorsal and caudal tail are showing signs of re-growth. Feeding well as always.

Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon
I fear I may have one casualty, the fish that I had removed to a separate quarantine tank, has a bacterial infection around the caudal peduncle. It appears very red and bloody.
The qurantine tank has been treated with MelaFix at 5 millilitres per 40 litres. I’ve also another Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon because it was being attacked by the sole fish. So this quarantine tank now has only one Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon left in the tank. These are very vicious fish, I think I call this fish Sid!

Air Ring Main

Monday, September 5th, 2005

I was hoping to have built and completed an air ring main this evening for the fish house but our local B&Q didn’t have any 3 metre 22mm overflow pipe, so that ruined my best made plans.

Visiting friends in Otley, West Yorkshire (via tropical fish shop of course!)

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

I had hoped to attend the Otley Aquatic Society OPEN SHOW & AUCTION today, because I was visting Otley, West Yorkshire, but then I noticed the show is held at Wortley High School Swallow Crescent Leeds, so I didn’t have the time to route via Leeds, as the Auction was starting at 1.30pm. This will have to be an event I pencil on the calendar for next year.

Whilst in Otley I did get my “fish fix” by visting Waterscapes located in the Stephen H Smiths Garden Centre. An excellent range of tropical fish and Tropica plants on display, I especially liked the Leiarius pictus catfish, they had three small 4″ fish for 18 GBP each, but resisted the strong desire to own a large catfish again. These grow very large, a good example here at www.thetropicaltank.co.uk but are excellent catfish, and one of my favourites. But I certainly don’t have eight foot tank space in the fish house at present!

Purple Spotted Goby Mogurnda Asdpersa female?

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

I had to remove one of the Purple Spotted Gobies and move it to a seperate quarantine tank as it was being chased by the other two fish, this fish is smaller and weaker than the other two fish, maybe a sexual difference. I have divided the six fish into two groups of three and quarantined them in separate quarantine tanks.

Eheim 2313 External Filter cleaned.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2005

I’ve successfully cleaned out my Eheim 2313 external filter that filters one of my display tanks, the flow rate is much better, this is an old classic eheim and doesn’t have a flow rate detector built in, so you can easily see when it’s time to change the media, just don’t forget to clean the media in tank water, and don’t be too eagar to clean the filter and leave some muck in the bottom.

Purple Spotted Gobies have started fighting in their quarantine tanks, I’ll have to find another tank to home them.

Angelfishcam is broke again!

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Sorry for the inconvience the webcams in the fish house are broke again! It’s stuck on the 31 August 2005, I’ll fix them over the weekend, the problem is the webcam application crahses and restarts the PC, and then the PC BSODs (Blue Screen Of Death) on startup, and it loops!

All webcams should update every 30 seconds, if you find the date and time stamp is not changing, please email me at andypandy00 at hotmail.com, and I’ll attend to it as soon as is humanly possible.