Bubbletrouble

I made my own fish trap from clear plexiglass. It's a 4x4 inch rectangular box about 8 inches long. Nice thing about being rectangular is that you can lay it on the bottom against the side glass and the fish can't escape between the glass and trap. If you use a glass jar (which works, too), they can escape between the gap. Leave the trap in place for a few minutes, then gently chase the fish toward the opening with a fish net. By the time they realize it's a trap, it's usually too late and they are in. Cover the opening with your net and pull the trap out. It doesn't have to be totally water-proof and if it leaks, that's okay. once at the surface, I pour the fish into the net and remove it from the tank. I put a long handle on the front of the trap to make it easier to remove. When I set up my tank I made sure there would be a suitable spot for a fish trap left bare of rocks and plants. Works like a charm... Mine has a lid which usually closes as soon as you lift the trap, but it's not necessary. Holding the net over the opening works, too.

I live in an old house (1972) which has an open partition between the dining room and living room. For 15 years I have been thinking the ledge between the two rooms would make a great spot for an aquarium. My old one was in the basement, next to my office door, so I saw it every day. Once I moved my office upstairs I had little reason to go to the basement and I found I rarely spent time looking at the aquarium anymore. There is no room in my new office for an aquarium so I got rid of it a few years ago. Earlier this summer I rekindled the idea of the aquarium in the living / dining room and built this cabinet which straddles the ledge. It's a solid 2x4 wall and bears most of the weight of the tank. The rest is built from solid 3/4 inch pine, with a 3x3 inch laminated post in the center.

I'm not so much concerned about how to fix the problem; I have put the under-gravel filter on a timer for now, running it for a few hours a day. I am just wondering if anyone else has encountered this issue?? This is not my first aquarium, and not the first under-gravel either. This has never happened before. BTW - ran the powerhead and outside filter overnight without the under-gravel, and all the fish are fine.

I set up a 65 gallon tank about two weeks ago. I had intended to run an under-gravel filter into my internal filter and then back into the aquarium. The internal filter has a venturi valve on it. It worked fine for a day until I noticed my fish were breathing heavily all the time. It got so bad my Maison Reef chichlids were lying on their sides at the surface, gasping for air. I disconnected the under-gravel filter and ran only the internal filter with the venturi valve. The fish were fine within a few hours. Then I hooked up an "outboard" filter with the intake connected to the under-gravel pipe. Same issue. Fish were gasping for air within a few hours. Disconnected it from the under-gravel and ran it by itself, and within a few hours all was fine. Last try was running the outboard filter by itself, with a powerhead connected to the undergravel filter tube. After about six hours the fish started to breathe heavily again, congregating at the surface. I disconnected the under-gravel again and just running the outboard and the powerhead as a circulator. What's wrong here?? Surely the bacterial build-up in the gravel can't be that bad yet after two weeks?? Any ideas? The fish are so far okay. No losses.

Hello, all. I am hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. We have one retailer here (April's Aquarium) who carries the Aquarium Co-Op line of products. An impressive operation with the most amazing display aquariums I have seen outside of a public aquarium. Anyway, I have been an aquarium enthusiast since I was 15, and that's half a century now. On and off I have owned perhaps a dozen aquariums, built my own several times, from 10 to 120 gallons and had just about every sort of tropical fresh water fish at one point or another. 50 years ago, technology was still poor. Plants didn't grow well under incandescent light bulbs, and fish were prone to disease because both breeders and retailers did not practise the kind of hygene which is commonplace today. Furthermore, there was no internet, no forums, no advice outside of books and aquarium clubs. It was a costly and frustrating hobby! I stopped keeping fish for a few years, then started again, stopped again, and so on. Now that I am mostly retired I have more time to dedicate to keeping an aquarium again. I just set up a 65 gallon tank and am getting used to the "new ways" of keeping fish. Nowadays, with all the fancy LED lighting, high-quality livestock and abundance of high quality feed, fish live longer, plants grow better, and having a resource like this forum makes the hobby much more fun. 30 years ago I went back to college for a degree as a Certified Fishculture Technician. I have spent many years in salmon hatcheries and on fish farms. The fish may be different, but their physiology, behaviour and husbandry is similar to other species. So, between all this past experience you would think I was some expert on fish. Not so. I am finding out every day that I really don't know much at all. This forum is very helpful for filling in the gaps. I am looking forward to browsing all the topics.