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Daniel

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Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    I feed them to my cats, same concept as @Faedother
  2. Daniel
    I don't cycle my tanks. When I setup a new tank I just use water from the big tank and put in a lot hornwort. Typically I put fish in the same day. I guess they cycle it for me. Some tanks have a sponge filter some don't. Probably the only tank that needs a filter is the 40 breeder where I am growing up a dozen baby discus. The baby discus eat like pigs. I do daily water changes on the discus tank and frequent water changes on the other tanks. Every tank except for the 500 gallon is choked with plants, mainly hornwort and duckweed. The 500 gallon tank does not have a filter, but it is the source of water for the water changes in the other tanks and is therefore frequently refreshed.. So essentially the plants are my sponge filters. Like @Streetwise my fish populations are low. I have two 10 gallons each with 2 small fish, one 29 gallon with 2 small fish, and a 7 gallon with 6 guppy sized fish (pygmy sunfish). If you run low fish populations, you can get away with murder.
  3. Daniel
    Okay, this source of live foods is very easy and totally free. There's a ditch in front of my house that dries up from time to time, but when it has water in it, it has mosquito larva and Daphnia. Recently I've been keeping it from drying out by running a water hose into it. You can see from the video just what a couple swipes of the net produces. My fish love this stuff.
  4. Daniel
    In 1936 the average doctor made $3300 per year, the average lawyer $4200, a farm hand made on average $220 a year and a secretary just over $1000 a year. So that air pump, filter combination that cost just under $70 might have been affordable to the average doctor as it was merely a week's wages. But something tells me that that farmhand could never afford to keep an aquarium. I think the best comparison is a nice decked out 1936 freshwater aquarium is the equivalent to today's high-end reef tank. Most people then kept goldfish in an unheated, un-aerated box of water. And even a schoolteacher ($1200/yr) or a dressmaker ($780/yr) could afford to keep goldfish. On the other hand, in 1936 you could buy a set of four tires for your automobile for $6.35 🙂
  5. Daniel
    Many thanks to @J. Mantooth for locating, scanning, and then uploading to our forum the November 1936 issue of “The Aquarium” magazine. The November 1936 issue of “The Aquarium” magazine highlights three fish that are stalwarts of today's hobby. On the cover is the all-time favorite neon tetra and inside there are articles on both Japanese Rice Fish, and Oscars. The first imports of neon tetras into United States in the spring of 1936 were flown directly from Hamburg Germany to Lakehurst New Jersey aboard the very last flight of the airship Hindenburg (its next flight ended in a fiery catastrophe while trying to dock at Lakehurst). Interestingly, the pattern set by that first importation would continue even into this day, that is, five of the first six neons died shortly after arriving. If you think it’s disappointing your Petco neons died, imagine paying the equivalent of $10,000 in shipping and just getting one live fish. That one remaining fish ended up at the Shedd aquarium in Chicago and was referred to by the public as “the last of the Mohicans”. Eventually, Fred Cochu of Paramount Aquarium purchased the first large shipment of 4000 neons and was able to put them on sale for $10 a piece (big money in 1936). Fortunately the neons that had passed away still served good scientific use. The expired neons were sent to Dr. George S Myers at the National Museum in Washington DC for examination and he named the fish in honor of William T. Innes, Hyphessobrycon innesi. It would be like a new species puffer being named for @Cory, something like Tetraodon aquariumcoopi. In 1936 Japanese Rice Fish are referred to as Medakas The author of the article on Oscars generally refers to them by their scientific name of Astronotus ocellatus. But refers to his pair (which, by way of tribute German Aquarist) as Oscar and Lena. Could this be how they got the name Oscars? My favorite quote from about Oscars in the article is "God gave too many brains to the cichlids and didn't have enough left over to go around". Much of the aquarium equipment advertised in the November 1936 issue looks remarkably familiar. Even something that looks a sump or a proto-cannister filter If you haven't had a chance to download this file, I would highly recommend giving it a try. The advice in the articles holds up even 84 years later and the ads are a lot of fun.
  6. Daniel
    @J. Mantooth Thank you for the The Aquarium, Neon Tetra, November 1936! The scan quality is awesome. Better than the original ☺️
  7. Daniel
    Approximately 1/2 inch, just depends on how motivated they are. Grindal worms, which are smaller versions of whiteworms could be fed to 1/4 inch fish. I've seen tiny fish eat a relatively massive worm just by lining it up properly.
  8. Daniel
    @Wmarian Sach Aquaculture is first class and carries the strangest stuff you can't find anywhere else. There is a Daphnia Jr. called moina that's about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Daphnia magna. I collected mine in the wild but Sachs sells moina also.
  9. Daniel
    My beekeeping is slightly different than most. I produce honey bees and my customers are other beekeepers. I also make and sell observation hives to institutions and science centers. That's how I am getting the 1930s aquarium fixed. I made and installed the observation hive for the Imagination Station, and in return they are restoring my old aquarium. Here is a video I made about swarming.
  10. Daniel
    @Streetwise Here is the inexpensive version. Here is the deluxe version
  11. Daniel
    I knew you were going to ask. It seems like it was garden related, like for separating seeds. I will try and track it down and let you know.
  12. Daniel
    Bonsai!
  13. Daniel
    The set I have has 6 different graduations in it. You can stack them because they nest
  14. Daniel
    Dave, Dave, Dave, again with the fish. If we can stop aging in vertebrates (read 'Humans') with this product under our belts we could buy out Musk, and Zuckerberg, and Brin and Page. And again put @Cory in charge and he would finally have the resources to sell fish online (even to Canada).
  15. Daniel
    See me frowning down at the gray remark...
  16. Daniel
    Our generous host sells the specimen containers also:
  17. Daniel
    Blackworms are super, super well-loved. Whiteworms are super well-loved. Blackworms are expensive, whiteworms are cheap. Blackworms are easy, whiteworms take a small amount of work. Blackworms are expensive because you have to buy them. Strangely 1/8 lb, 1/4, lb, 1/2 lb, and 1 lb all cost the same amount $60 (I get them from Craig Shaubach at Eastern Aquatics) which indicates the entire cost is the cost of overnighting them to you. You don't have to put them in the fridge, you can just put them under a drippy faucet. All in all maintenance is easy. Whiteworms are cheap. Once you buy the $10 starter culture, you put them in a Tupperware container with, bread, or fishfood, or cat/dogfood and keep them cool (60°F – 65°F). You should have a spare culture and restart the culture every 1 to 2 months. Maintenance is very reasonable. Both Blackworms and Whiteworms are the pro move for getting your fish in to condition to breed. @Brandy I don't see you as a blackworm person (no offense), maybe whiteworms though. The first culture can be frustrating as it might not take, but once it gets going, your fish will love you forever. David Ramsey is the King of all whiteworms
  18. Daniel
    @J. Mantooth Just downloaded your file for the 1917 edition of the book. This makes my day. I can't wait to see what pre-WWI fish keeping looks like. Thank you, thank you! I used my reactions for the day so this is all I got
  19. Daniel
    Innes totally reminds me of @Cory. Very much quality oriented, if he thought the photograph of the fish didn't reflect real life, he would make a painting of what the fish really looked like. Also like @Cory a very wide knowledge base, and very patient in answering questions. And both have/had media empires.
  20. Daniel
    @J. Mantooth A few minutes ago I just scored the first 3 years of "The Aquarium" at an live online auction (there was real floor bidding and all): I would still love to see what's in the 1936 Tetra Issue. The introduction of neons in 1936 caused a frenzy!
  21. Daniel

    Oh no!

    Daniel replied to Daniel's topic in General Discussion

    Might have been for the NSFW snail video...
  22. Daniel
    Not much a risk of GloFish zebra danios going native again though right? Old Mr. Darwin would see to it that those were speedily weeded out of the gene pool. But sharks with frickin laser beams attached...that could be a problem.
  23. Daniel
    And you ask thoughtful and thought provoking questions!
  24. Daniel

    Oh no!

    Daniel posted a topic in General Discussion

    Holy poop! I think I just got banned I promise! No more pictures of cats.
  25. Daniel
    In my experience pearling come from high light input and indicates maximum photosynthesising. You want pearling, crank up the light, but you are likely to crank up the algae too. Maybe pearling shouldn't be the goal, as much as the goal should be adequate lighting. I suspect 'more bubbles' doesn't affect this one way or another. My aquariums like bubbles. The thing I think I will miss the most in my 1930s historically accurate planted aquarium is not having an airstone. It's probably just the water movement the airstone brings, but airstones are magical. I did CO2 at first but ultimately decided it was gilding the lily, as light and nutrients are the principle factors in healthy plants. Pretty much the same a terrestrial garden, good light, proper fertilization, and the CO2 is in the air for free. At least in an aquarium water is usually plentiful. Plants really have to be growning at a super intense rate for CO2 to be the limiting factor. If I were running an indoor greenhouse with a high dollar cash crop, I would do CO2 in a heart beat. If wanted to get a fun new tech gadget that makes my aquarium hobby just that much more fun, I would do CO2 in a heart beat. If I wanted one less thing to worry about I would give the CO2 a pass and pick plants that like my water, and give those plants adequate light and proper nutrition.
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