Posts Tagged ‘fish’

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Hikari Saga continues …

Monday, May 22nd, 2006

This hasn’t got aything todo with Noggin the Nog or Nogbad the Bad, although the later could be compared with the EU Legislation in place! Please read on …

I received an email today from a fellow aquarist who breeds Good Quality Discus in South Yorkshire, asking me where I obtained my secret supply of Hikari Algae Wafers, as he has been having difficulties obtaining them. I quickly checked a few mail order suppliers and was surprised to find they were all Out Of Stock, last October I posted an entry, stating the EU had lifted the temporary restriction on Hikari products.

I’ve spoken to PPI this afternoon, the Sole Distributors for Hikari products in the UK, which stated that some stocks of Hikari products were imported into the UK, in September/October 2005, but the temporary restrictions of Hikari products are still in place. I had assumed after this press release in September 2005, that the temporary restrictions had been lifted.

Inspectors are currently visting the Hikari plants in Japan, and a Press Release is due in the next two-three weeks.

The Algae wafer market seems to have been flooded by King British, Tetra and others to plug this hole that currently exists, in my opinion these are not as good. Sera have a good product. Catfish Crisps, my Whiptails prefer these to Hikari Algae Wafers. But I’ve not been able to purchase these in 1kg bags, have I posted this before? rumours state that Sera once made this product for Hikari, before production was moved to Japan – Allegedly.

Sera now have their own excellent coldwater, tropical and marine range of fish foods.

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WANTED: Zebra Danios!

Thursday, May 11th, 2006

I’ve only got a few Zebra Danios left, I don’t know where they’ve also disappeared, 12 months ago, I had 30+, in tanks throught the fish house.

Time to purchase more Zebra Danios, as they are handy fish to have around to mature tanks and filters.

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Dates for your Diary

Sunday, May 7th, 2006

Open Shows and Auctions over the next forthcoming months in the North East. These are in my diary. Purchase some excellent quality fish, bred by fishkeepers for fishkeepers. Purchase a pair of Mature Black Bar Endlers for 1.50 GBP, not eBay auction prices for Endler fry!

Castleford Aquarist Society 14th Open Show and General aquatic auction Sunday 28th May 2006 at The Civic Centre, Castleford, West Yorkshire.

Caer Urfa Aquatic Society Open Show and Auction 2006 Sunday 4th June 2006 at The Charles Young Centre, South Shields.

Select Aquatic Society Open Show and Bring & Buy Sunday 4th June 2006 at Appleby Frodingham Social Club, Scunthorpe.

Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies Open Show and Auction Sunday 2 July 2006 The Villiage Hall, Stockton on the Forest, Near York.

The Tyne Tees Area Association Open Show and Auction, Redby Community Centre, Sunderland Sunday 6th August 2006.

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Corydoras Loxozonus

Sunday, May 7th, 2006

I purchased two unusual Corydoras catfish today, at Ryedale Aquarist Society 7th Open Show and Fish Auction at Pickering, North Yorkshire. I purchased two Corydoras Loxozonus, I’ve not seen this species of Corydoras for sale before, a shame that there were only two, Corydoras look better in larger shoals.

I also purchased some in-expensive small catfish pellets, 2 GBP for 1kg, three 150 watt heaters and a Hagen 301 Powerhead for another Lifegard FB300 sand filter.

A good day out, and at least I came back with some fish!

There was also a breeding pair (this was the claim of the seller!) of Synodontis eupterus that sold for 10 GBP, I’ve not heard of this Synodontis being bred in capativity, but since tiny Synodontis eupterus keep showing up, I assume someone somewhere is breeding them. Almost had a punt on these, but I’ve not got the space, to accomodate two 8″ Synos!

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Mother of a filter!

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

I’ve spent the last few hours uninstalling an Eheim 2313 and 2315 from my 6ftx2ftx2ft tank (sounds like a computer software program!), cleaning all the filter media in the old tank water from the 6ftx2ftx2ft tank, this is very important to keep the bacterial load in the filter media, remember the filter contains the bacteria not the water! and installing a new Eheim 2250 Mother of A filter, rated at 1000 litres per hour, so it should turn the tank over twice an hour.

I filled the 12 litre canister or dustbin as some people refer to it, with the old media from the other two canister filters, Ehfimech – small pieces of ceramic pipes and Ehfifix – “Easter basket grass” both of these are mechanical filter media, I’ve also added some Practical Fish Keeping bioballs, and some pan scouriers, followed by some old Ehfisynth (filter wool) from the old filters and new wool. Using a ‘T’ junction and Eheim double taps, plumbed it back-in line with two output pipes back into the tank.

With the other two filters, and the L001 growing and “poohing” more, I wasn’t getting the desired tank turnover rate.

Just have to keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels, whilst this 12 litre filter fully matures.

Oh, and I dropped a 50kg UPS on my hose pipe, and cut it in half!

Need another hosepipe now!

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Aqualog Books

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

If you collect or keep Tropical Fish there’s an excellent range of books by the publishers Aqualog reference fish of the world.

Aqualog Books 1

I’ve purchased a few of the years all Corydoras features all corydoras catfish and Loricariidae all L-numbers, these are excellent reference books for indentifying fish with excellent colour photographs. In my opinion well worth the investment. Others Reference books are available on Cichlids, Livebearers, Freshwater Rays, Killifishes etc

Aqualog Books 2

These books can sometimes be difficult to obtain in the United Kingdom, but the following supplier in the UK; Steven Simpson books http://www.stevensimpsonbooks.com can supply them direct.

I’ve just identified some fish sold as Royal Pleco’s L190, as L191 Broken Line Royal Pleco from the Loricariidae all L-numbers reference book!

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Holiday: Mexico & Cuba

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

I’ve been on holiday to Mexico and Cuba in February/March 2006, hence the lack of posts. I’ll add an entry at a later date on my fish encounters.

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Pair of Sturisoma Aureum RIP

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

The electronic thermotstat failed sometime after 7.00am today and I found the aquarium temperature at 35 degrees C, the breeding pair of Sturisoma Aureum were dead, and 50 percent of the young catfish. I’ve managed to save a few young catfish and moved them to the grow on tank.

I’m devasted at the needless loss of life.

I’m hoping that in the future, I may have a pair from the young catfish, I’ve successfully reared.

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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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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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