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kkarsten

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Everything posted by kkarsten

  1. kkarsten
    I don't change the water on these guys until I start feeding them bbs. Until then, I want to keep all the micro organisms in there that I can. Once the bbs start going in, I start changing water (day 10 -15 with my set ups)
  2. kkarsten
    Nice pair! I miss mine. I have left the fry with the parents and pulled them from the parents. Both ways seemed successful, but for me the greatest reward was in watching the pair chaperone a school of fry around the tank. I do think keeping them with the parents gets them growing faster. My guess is it has to do with a more established tank and being led to food by the parents. Fyi- I'd be interested in some fry if you're looking to move some. Just throwing it out there
  3. kkarsten
    Solar flare swordtails (twinbar)? We'll see if any of the fry turn out to be solar flares. The largest is clearly a wag. Theres also some random medaka in there I pulled from another tank
  4. kkarsten
    That's a pretty nice set up you got there (months later... hahaha). I messed around with a few different options and am now kind of flushing the system every week or so. Basically pumping 140 gallons of aged/treated water into the display and overflowing roughly the same amount. I've been getting good results, although I know some new water is going down the drain. The pets are happy though
  5. kkarsten
    Very cool. How is the flow in your tank? Seems to be a regularly debated question with the hillstream loaches. Just looking at them, you would think it is a fish that prefers rapid like conditions.
  6. kkarsten
    Nice looking tapajos! I always found them to be great parents.
  7. kkarsten
    In his mind... he is a foot long. Love those guys. Great photo.
  8. kkarsten
    I was going through some old galleries and found some pics I thought were pretty cool. Figured I'd post them up just for fun. No ground breaking stuff here... just fish that were comfortable and enjoying their tanks. Feel free to drop in some photos of your own. The umbees in the dirty tank with eggs... 2 females. They didn't know what they doing. The pleco in that cave was well fed for a couple months though, so I couldn't complain.
  9. kkarsten
    Doesn't hurt to spend a couple bucks on dedicated nets for each aquarium. Obviously you wouldn't do this with all your equipment(don't need ten pythons for ten separate ten gallon aquariums), but for the cheap stuff it makes sense. Whatever puts your mind at ease
  10. kkarsten
    It's funny to me that some of the books I open the most are $5-10 Barron's "manuals". Angelfish Discus Tanganyika cichlids Guppys, mollies, and platys Freshwater stingrays But I do have a couple that I had to look for that I really enjoy flipping the pages of. South American eartheaters The endemic cichlids of Madagascar These two are probably my favorites. Honorable mentions... culturing live foods All of the auqualogs (for when I need to look at a picture book or ID something) All of the encyclopedia of tropical fishes (I like the 13th edition "with special emphasis on techniques of breeding")
  11. kkarsten
    You're gonna need an extra horse trailer!
  12. kkarsten
    I think you will be in worse shape than your pets. They'll be fine with a little planning. One more thing... fill up a few 5 gallon buckets with water before you head out. Some for little water changes half way through the move, and some for filling up the tanks when you arrive. One less thing to worry about(new water params) in the middle of unpacking.
  13. kkarsten
    It's amazing what these animals can handle. Chances are that betta has more traveling under his belt already than the majority of us people on the forum... in a bag smaller than a tennis ball! That being said, holding off on food for a few days, some decent water changes heading up to the event, and your fish should be alright. I'm not to familiar with shipping/moving shrimp though. I tend to bag anything small enough to allow it... it's a proven method of transport. Good luck with the move!
  14. kkarsten
    I'm with you Bill... I just showed the boss and she said, "Absolutely not!" Once upon a time... the bottom shelf of my fridge was covered with flats of earthworms, blackworm keepers, and all sorts of other things that are not for human consumption. Now there's food in there... for people!
  15. kkarsten
    I.V. drip on the way out... that's pretty clever. Feel free to take over the thread, I'm looking for ideas and experiences, exactly what you posted. Thanks. A friend of mine had recomended one of these to me. The cost was a little shocking, but it looked like a pretty nice unit. He also emphasized the importance of dwell time. I started at 40 gpd and went to 20. Even at 40 the chlorine was gone but the ammonia/ammonium byproduct (if thats is what you would call it) seemed excessive. At 20, I still had about 1ppm. I really should get dedicated nH3 and nH4 test kits to see what I am actually left with. Thanks for the input everyone.
  16. kkarsten
    Do you know how much ammonia is left in the water after the carbon blocks? Quality of the carbon blocks could be an issue. I purchased them from the filter guys... recommended for breaking down chloramines.
  17. kkarsten
    Do you ever change the water or just top off? I tried to raise to adults a few times indoors and ended up with a very smelly tank/room. Not sure what the problem was. Used reef crystals, an airstone and fed tiny bits of spirulina. I'm leaning towards my feeding being the issue.
  18. kkarsten
    I recently moved into an area that uses chloramine in the water. At my last house, chlorine was used and it wasn't a problem for the drip system. Sediment filter followed by a couple carbon blocks and all was good. Now I am struggling. I set up the 3 stage filter I was previously using and it certainly did remove the chlorine, but in doing so, I am left with around 1ppm ammonia... or ammonium. The API test kit doesn't tell me the difference. I should probably get specific test kits. Either way, I'm sure my biological filter could break that down, but i think it kinda defeats the purpose of the water change (feeding the filter ammonia/ammonium to produce more nitrites/nitrates when my goal is to remove the nitrates). So for now, I'm treating with Prime before pumping it into the sump. Any thoughts or ideas? I'm really missing my old easy drip. Picture of sump included for giggles... and suggestions. There is a 75 gallon vat in the left of the picture that I'm using to treat the water now.
  19. kkarsten
    We have a betta named Lil' Trouble in a tea jar. A couple pcs of driftwood, java fern and moss, and a home made ugf made from a salad spinner. This was an experiment on the long term cost of a $4 betta that we bought out of pity from the grocery store he was the lone survivor. I know... I shouldnt have bought a fish at the grocery store). The experiment is still going 4yrs later and Lil Trouble still hates me.
  20. kkarsten
    Hi all. My name is Kyle. Surprised and glad to see a forum pop up. Have been between houses for a few years, babies showed up, and who knows how many other excuses I have for being out of the hobby. But I've been working my way back in, digging my tanks out of storage, taking my time and trying to do it right. I have a corner of my basement that is just begging to turn into a fishroom... next to the filter for a display in my living room. I just need more time and money. Looking forward to posting progress.
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