Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

Daniel

Moderators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,598

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    150

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    I have always wondered what Spixey snails ate besides hydra and at least one of the answers is...duckweed Plus I love all the little stuff you can see in the water also. Apparently that goes down the Spixey snail gullet too.
  2. Daniel
    I am on iPhone and there was no code, no invite. I got it to work but cannot remember what the trick was. 🤔 This answer will not be that helpful. It is just to say I had the same problem as you do. Here is the problem, I don't remember the trick was to get it to work, but basically you are in the wrong place sort of. It seems like I went in and searched for the Co-Op or something and shazaam, I was in. Like I said, I don't remember the trick, but maybe this post will cause someone else who still has un-decayed brain cells to post the actual steps.
  3. Daniel
    It seems like bio-film, or in other words a collection of microorganisms growing on a surface and each other. In a way it like the plaque on your teeth.
  4. Daniel
    Ben (the sludge guy): "Let's start off by defining activated sludge" 🙂
  5. Daniel
    @KBOzzie59Do I remember correctly that you are in wastewater treatment field?
  6. Daniel
    That would work, that is how my 1930s aquarium (which was likely built earlier than the 1930s) is built.
  7. Daniel
    It is either the first photo in the post or moderators add them.
  8. Daniel
    Sorry for the setback. But you can only have setback like this if you have a serious project in the works. No project = no setbacks. I am glad you to see you post your failures as well as your successes. It is one of the things that make this forum so valuable. Thank you!
  9. Daniel
    Plus 1 for the @Bill Smith Instant Ocean method. That is what I use also with excellent results.
  10. Daniel
    I would suspect no one has figured this yet as this would like involve fingerprinting the bacterial DNA using something like PCR. I don't think there is any hope for ID'ing the denitrifying bacteria the old fashioned way on agar. But given PCR is now just a high school level lab, we may not be too far away from you and I and Brandy doing this. I've got a good PCR machine but I wouldn't know where to start with on making the primers. We need a graduate student looking for a project.
  11. Daniel
    Great review! There is nothing quite like an experiment followed by a discussion of the results.
  12. Daniel
    That's my back up plan for my 500 gallon aquarium in the living room.
  13. Daniel
    @Marnol D mentions algae and mulm. Those are fantastic indicators as they are both universal and easy to measure or at least observe. If we have algae, we have primary producers, with which without we have no food chain, no ecological system. And mulm, which is the dark mysterious end of the food chain with its decomposers and beneficial bacteria doing all the heavy lifting of the nitrogen cycle and all the other cycles that never enter in to our thinking.
  14. Daniel
    Mine would be to pass useful experience to a novice fish keeper. It would help them understand that what they thought was some pandemic killing all of the fish in their tank was really the result of water quality issues not a specific pathogen. It is why experienced fish keepers rarely deal with disease or use medications. It is not because experienced fish keeper's fish don't have the same parasites, fungus, and bacteria everyone else has. It is just that without the added stress of water quality issues, these problem never manifest themselves. But one more thing, somehow when my knowledge is passed to the novice fish keeper, none of my silly biases, prejudices, arrogance and outdated thinking were also passed.🙂
  15. Daniel
    I am still inclined to think azalea wood is aquarium safe, but interestingly as a beekeeper, I can tell you that some species of azalea (and for us locally in mountain laurels) are the source of the toxic 'mad honey' as they contain the toxin grayanotoxin. Grayanotoxin Poisoning: ‘Mad Honey Disease’ and Beyond WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV Many plants of the Ericaceae family, Rhododendron, Pieris, Agarista and Kalmia, contain diterpene grayanotoxins. Consumption of grayanotoxin... But what is important is that in azaleas grayanotoxin occurs in nectar, which is a long way from occurring in dangerous amounts in dried wood, so despite toxicity of the nectar, and to a lesser extent the leaves and flowers, I would still be inclined to run a test with azalea wood.
  16. Daniel
    And it was a real bear to get the siphon going in the first place. You had to hold the siphon tube underwater to get the air out. Then put your thumb over one end and get it into the filter box without an air bubble sneaking in. Oi Vey!
  17. Daniel
    I had never heard of that artist until I started researching the golden age of fishkeeping. His name was Arthur Bade. His work spanned from fine art to science fiction.
  18. Daniel
    The angelfish will tell you that the best food is live blackworms and live mosquito larva, but just remember that they have expensive tastes. In reality almost any high end flake or pellet food will raise healthy angelfish. Variety is important. Frozen food is a good substitute for live food. Here is a video I just made showing how much they enjoy Vibra Bites. They haven't yet figured out that they could probably eat some of the guppies in the tank🙂
  19. Daniel
    Hey beekeepers get immunity too: Bee venom and SARS-CoV-2 WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV So, if I am beekeeper and a fish keeper, then am I darn near impregnable? I don't believe I am inclined to test that theory.🙂
  20. Daniel
    The last few times I bred them it was in a community tank. Here was the tank prior to adding the angels. I took out the discus before I put the angels in, but there were apistos, corydoras, neons, rummy nose, hatchet fish, etc. in that tank. But if I had never bred angels before and I wanted any hope of raising fry, I would put the pair in a 20 High by themselves to reduce the number of variables and complications. That way you can monitor and feed them closely, keep the tank clean without all the headaches of a community tank that has a lot going on beside angelfish breeding. I just did the community tank as a challenge, most breeders will go the 20 High (or something like it) route because they want to raise the fry.
  21. Daniel
    For me they have always laid their eggs on Amazon sword plant leaves. I think the temperature was 80 degrees but it has been a while. But plants and temperatures and pH and stuff are just a side show. If you have a young mature, mated pair that are housed in clean water and generously fed, there will definitely be breeding. They will not understand the meaning of 'Just say No'.
  22. Daniel
    Roughly 6 to 9 months. A lot just depends on how fast they grew and under what conditions. I would be interested to hear @Brian Scott‘s answer to this question. It might be different than my experience.
  23. Daniel
    You can if the tank is large enough and heavily planted enough. I once had 3 pairs of angelfish breeding at the same time in a heavily planted 500 gallon and at one point there were probably about 3000 angelfish fry. But I didn't remove any fry and after predation and such, only about 50 angelfish fry grew to reach adulthood. But here is the irony...some of the angelfish (fry) were eaten by neon tetras! Why, because they could fit in the neon tetra's mouth. There is another active thread about angelfish eating neons, but let it be known, this process also works in reverse. Here are those babies (at about 5-6 years old) and their parents in the aquarium they were raised in back on August 2, 2020 just before I sold them to my LFS. One last word of caution, babies in community aquariums are usually just that much more live food.
  24. Daniel
    This is what has worked for me. Start with half a dozen juveniles. Raise them in a 40 breeder or even a 75 gallon tank. Feed them generously with a variety of foods including some live food if possible. Keep the water clean with live plants or water changes or both. Eventually pairs will form and territories will be staked out. You can move the pair, or move the other fish, but whatever fish get moved the pair has their own breeding tank. They like to breed on vertical-ish surface like plant leaves, pieces of slate, aquarium plumbing, glass side of tank or even the heater. Sometimes when the breeders are young they will eat their eggs. Some pairs never seem to outgrown this. Some eat their eggs the first time around and then become good parents after that. This part can be frustrating. Eggs can be hatched and raised separately from the parents (which is where removable items like a piece slate comes in handy). But personally, if it is at all possible to leave the fry with parents, you will get to witness one of the most glorious sights in all fish keeping, which is proud angelfish parents shepherding their flock around the tank.
  25. Daniel
    I am thinking about doing the same combo in a 40 breeder, I think it will work. Now I have to decide if I want to find out.
×
×
  • Create New...