Robert Keeney

If the pump is very loud, it is usually the magnet hitting the coil, and it needs to be moved further away. You may need to bend something to accomplish this. Keep in mind that as the distance between the coil and the magnet increases the less air it will pump.

These were Aquarium Coop eggs. They were dark brown. I have used them before and had zero issues and I don't scrub bottles after each hatch. However, I do rotate them occasionally and bleach the bottles that I change out.

Eggs can be bad. I recently ordered some shrimp eggs that were dead when I got them. nearly zero hatched. I suspect they got cooked sitting in a truck in the 100-degree heat.

Years ago, when I was a lot poorer, all of my aquariums were bought used or free. Lots of them (most) were leakers. One had a hole through the bottom that had a rock dropped through it. I resealed them, replaced broken glass, and replaced the bottom of one. I have completely disassembled and reassembled an aquarium. None of these ever leaked. Silicon bonds well to glass, but only if it is squeaky clean. If you will reseal these, be sure there is nothing on the glass. Even a fingerprint can cause an issue later.

I had two of these that leaked badly. One of them would have blown apart if it were not for the plastic frame.

If you use blocks with the holes vertical, you get the full strength of the block. If the holes are horizontal only the vertical dividers are providing support.

You need to attach it in in some way until it grabs hold.

I had Dynaflow filters, and I loved them. I always found the siphons easy to start. Mine came with a gadget that slipped over the end of the intake tube, and you squeezed the bulb a few times, and it pumped the tube full of water. But the big thing I liked about these filters was that the pump pumped filtered water. Modern filters pump unfiltered water, and you get jammed and broken impellers. If a fry or other small critter gets sucked into a modern filter, it gets chewed up by the impeller, and if it lives through that, it could get pinned to the bottom of the filter material and die there. With the Dynaflow filter, a fry getting sucked in will for a little ride and live in the filter until he is discovered. There were no seals at the bottom of the filter. Dynaflow filters had a magnetic drive that worked through the bottom of the filter box. Dynaflows worked great as a filter, and you could use just about anything you wanted for filter media. I used filter floss and sponges in mime. Looking at the outflow, I could quickly tell when the filter needed cleaning. They didn't flood the floor if they got clogged. They just stopped. There were also a good number of air-driven HOBs back then. I wish these were still available.

It would be nice if we had some of the air driven filters that were available years ago.

@Birdsnstuff Battery-powered pumps have been around for many years. I remember seeing them in the '70s. They are a DC motor driving a simple rubber pump. The same type of pump that is used in most 120V pumps. Modern pumps are made of silicon or similar materials. The USB pumps that everyone has have three smaller pumps and a DC motor. I cut one apart to see how it worked. You can find battery-powered pumps anywhere in the US because fishermen use them to aerate their bait buckets. Be sure to get the ones that use D-Cell batteries. For about the exact cost, you get almost three times as much life from a D-Cell than a C-Cell. Since they are DC motors, you can control the speed of the motor by controlling the voltage. It is possible to run one or more of these pumps from a 12V car battery with a little bit of electronics. They would run a long time off of a car battery or trolling motor battery.

What will you do when it is out for two or three weeks? I live in a hurricane country. I don't stock fish that need heaters. And power filters are only used for clearing up the water. Biological filtration is provided by oversized sponge filters and undergravel filters, all air powered. I can run several sponge filters off of one D-Cell-powered air pump. They are noisy, but they work and run for about 24 hours off two batteries. I have experimented with many systems. Most USB power packs will not last 24 hours unless you are willing to spend a lot of money, and if you have no power, how are you going to recharge them? I put an adapter on a 5 amp hour Dewalt 20 volt Lithium Ion battery expecting it to last a long time. It was much better than the USB power packs but less than I expected. It lasted about 48 hours. Now you need to recharge, and there is no power. At the beginning of each hurricane season, I ensure I have a stock of D-Cell batteries and test my air pumps. I have been without power for more than two weeks and never lost a fish because of it.

Today the temperature is 73 degrees. It is a bit warmer in warm weather.

I'm using 1 liter bottles to hatch mine. No heater, no lights.

I have an aquarium that I initially set up with Black Diamond Blasting Grit on top of potting soil in March of 2012. I don't think there is any dirt left because of the fish that loved to dig. Today (2023), it has a school of corydoras that will burrow into the substrate up to their eyes. I have kept corys in this tank since the beginning. As for plants, I have Anubias and java moss with a recent addition of hornwort.

I have bluefin killies, least killies, flagfish, mollies, and pygmy sunfish.

I have three pigmy sunfish and about ten least killies I feed with brine shrimp. These are tiny fish, and I always hatch more than they can eat. Is there something I can do to keep them alive for more than a couple of days?

I have variatus, corys (bronze/green, albino, julii, pepper), albino, ancistrus, feeder goldfish, white clouds (outdoors all year), zebra danios (outdoors all year), bluefin killies, least killies, and pigmy sunfish. I kept guppies and platties without heaters, which did well for me. I have also kept several common tetras without heaters. Black, Black Neons, and serpae that I can recall. I also have wild caught mollies outdoors.

I haven't used heaters for years by avoiding fish that require them.

Our weather is not harsh unless you count hurricanes. It rarely freezes here. Yes I think you will do for a reliable source. It's not really relevant to my question, I did enjoy watching it.

While I appreciate your interest, I am looking for someone with real-world experience with keeping this fish outdoors. I have found nine collection sites in western Montana. Do you know this from personal experience or from a reliable source?

I have some Xiphophorus variatus in outdoor containers. Recently we had an unexpected low temperature for several nights. The water temperature was as low 44 degrees. The fish are fine. This got me wondering about what the lowest temperature these fish can survive in. Do you have any first hand experience with this you would care to share?

Goldfish will eat duckweed. I occasionally have duckweed in my outdoor ponds. When this happens, I add some feeder goldfish. They will eat all the duckweed.

I have whiteclouds, and zebra danios outdooor year round in Tallahassee Florida. I am also trying native fish.

I keep Least Killifish in a 2.5-gallon tank with an Anubias and a small sponge filter. Java moss also works well.

If zebra danios are going to spawn, they will spawn in the morning. At least, that is what I have experienced with mine. The best I have ever seen for maximum egg count is shallow water over marbles. They lay their eggs on the fly, scattering them everywhere, and many will get eaten before they hit bottom. The shallow water gives them less time to eat the eggs, and they will fall into the marbles out of reach. I have also spawned them outdoors in a media mixing pan with the bottom covered with pea gravel and many plants.