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Daniel

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Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    On the unexpectedly non-aquatic side I woke up to find this this morning: Who knew Jungle Val was a jumper?
  2. Daniel
    Unfortunately I have never been able to meet this standard and this point have given up even trying.
  3. Daniel
    It took me a while to figure it out, but what @Streetwise says about Unread Content is the way to go. I like the 'next unread topic' link at the bottom right of the post you are reading as it takes you that very post. That doesn't always work for me if I just click on say 'Other Pets' on the topics page.
  4. Daniel
    Other than blackworms, the livefood most eagerly taken by my fish is whiteworms.
  5. Daniel
    Not technically a guppy, but I have a love/hate relationship with Endler's.
  6. Daniel
    The edge of my driveway has been a reliable source for aquarium plants. 3 of the plants you can see in this photo are, hair grass, pennywort, and alligator-weed. According to my trusty 'Manual' The hairgrass keys out as Eleocharis acicularis, the pennywort as Hydrocotyle umbellata, and the alligator-weed as Alternanthera philoxeroides. All three of those grow very well totally submersed in my aquariums.
  7. Daniel
    I have been thinking about what are the limits (for example, my home is heated and cooled, is this historically accurate) and I have found a line I am not willing to cross. You can still buy this at Eric Bodrock's AllOddballAquatics website.
  8. Daniel
    That is so cool that you have the 1936 Tetra issue! And yes, I would very much like to see what is in that issue. If you are willing please upload to here. Does Innes mention how the first neons were originally imported in to the United States from Germany on the airship Hindenburg? Apistogramma, Corydoras, and Elassoma (pygmy sunfish) are mentioned in the 1936 book that I uploaded, but no mention of discus. I haven't seen earlier versions of the book so I don't know what is new for 1936. Is your 1931 version the book 'Goldfish Varieties and Tropical Aquarium Fishes' or the 'The Complete Aquarium Book'?
  9. Daniel
    It helps that you @Streetwise know what to do when on the little tanks. Personally I spend most of my time looking at one of these 4 tanks. Bigger doesn't make a tank more interesting.
  10. Daniel
    @Brandy They look hard to pronounce. I looked them up on Wikipedia and wiki said 'They have been found in water of pH 3.68 to 9.4'. Certainly not fussy about pH. What do like about them?
  11. Daniel
    I feel like a beginner. I haven't kept most fish or grown most plants. I have kept a few kinds of cichlids, and a few kinds of corydoras. The only deep dive I have done was bettas. I've grown a handful of easy to grow plants. My go to plant is hornwort. The hardest thing I ever tried to do was breed Heckel discus and that didn't work. But that is what makes it fun, lots to learn!
  12. Daniel
    @DaveSamsell How do you know? 🙂
  13. Daniel
    That's a lot of baby angels!
  14. Daniel
    My first tanks had box filters, I remember filter floss and charcoal. Penn Plax made them maybe? Seems like you must had those a one point? Very ingenious!
  15. Daniel
    And in this corner, in defense of the Big Is Beautiful Camp Big tanks are like piloting a supertanker nothing changes rapidly A dead house pet like a cat in the tank probably wouldn't cause much of an ammonia spike and wouldn't be too hard to find During extended power outages you will have a month's supply of water to flush toilets and cook with There is never a shortage of aged water. When doing water changes just put the Python hook on the other of end of the hose and pull water from the big tank down into the littte ones Your children are probably better off going to a state college than those fancy private schools (if you spent their tuition money on the big tank) Big tanks come with big tools, a 32 inch long pair of tweezers can reach most items including missing pets But more seriously, Everything is hideously expensive. You can't just put in a half a dozen rummy nose tetras. 500 look much better. I do think very long and hard about introducing a new a fish to the tank as last time I changed my mind (about those Endler's guppies) I had to put a minnow trap in the tank to get them back out. Even the strongest aquarium lights are very dim at 36 inches water depth. I am old and overweight and can't really get in the tank, so on the few occasions we changed the aquascaping my wife has gone over the side and in to tank. Thankfully we have an excellent marriage counselor and most of these aquarium issue were resolved in less than a year. But the one thing big tanks are definitely not is they are not a chore to maintain. Of all the tanks I have ever had, I spend the least amount of time doing any maintenance on the big tank. It doesn't need maintenance anymore than the creek behind my house needs maintenance. If I did nothing for 6 months the only thing that would happen is that algae would build up on the glass. And once you have a big tank, don't worry, your are never leaving the hobby. That ginormous aquarium in the middle of your living room has made it so unlikely that you can ever resell your house, you will be an aquarium keeper until the day you drown.
  16. Daniel
    I got to look into this Victorian conservatory thing!
  17. Daniel
    Thank you. I learn something new everyday on this forum.
  18. Daniel
    @Brandy I don't have plants in the same tank now (that photo is 10 years old). I've liked the stark cleanliness of no plants and the maintenance is a breeze, but I am about to see if I get Jungle Val to grow without feeding the Val. Might not work.
  19. Daniel
    @BrandyI had big Amazon swords and Vallisneria at first in that tank and they were tough as nails. And this single celled, free floating, green water algae was merely competing for light and nutrients with the swords but otherwise not getting on the plants or hurting the plants. Slime is usually bacteria, and bacteria feed off dying or dead matter. The slime is more likely a symptom than a cause.
  20. Daniel
    This is the worst way to get rid of green water. Wait. When I set up my big tank in 2007 I used several hundred pounds of something like ADA Amazonia and PowerSand and hit the tank with so much light the fish were sunburned. Within a week the tank was inky green. You couldn't see your hand if you put it in the tank. It was like this for 66 days. On day 67 it went from opaque to merely murky. On day 69 it cleared and it has been clear going on 13 years. What happened? Eventually the excess nutrients got used up and the balance between what the plants consumed and what was available stabilized. There was no more excess nitrogen for the algae bloom to feed off of and algae population crashed hard, never to return. I will admit that after about day 45 you start getting discouraged.
  21. Daniel
    Yes, mostly from eBay, some from ABE Books, but the first old magazines I ever acquired were like 25 cents a piece at a club auction. And as you read through the book, you will see that mostly the methods aren't weird. Plants need light, fish need healthy water and good food. You had to be a little more resourceful back in the day, but what it took to keep happy fish is the same as now.
  22. Daniel
    Historically accurate spousal bargaining The deal so far has been something like it's okay to put trash cans out in the yard full of mosquitoes, and keep worms in the refrigerator, but all the fish tanks must be confined to my room (the science room). That creates a problem for my 1930s style aquarium. I need a window to solve the lighting problem. I started dropping hints about this yesterday. This morning she offered me a deal. If I were to get all of my junk out of the spare bedroom so that it was clean and she could use it as her room (the exercise room), then I could use the window in the breakfast nook to set up my 1930s style aquarium. I took the deal.
  23. Daniel
    I like the idea of this whole little world, where my diligence matters and I can do good things. If fact my job once it is set up, is to be responsible for the little world, do good husbandry. And yet...it is still mysterious and could go off the rails. It is that paradox of achieving stability in a system that is intrinsically chaotic. And chaotic potential gets worse the smaller the tank is. My 500 gallon tank doesn't need me. Back in 2013 our house was destroyed by a fire but that big aquarium barely suffered from the fire (although the ceiling above it dropped into the tank). Its was only the lack of heating that caused a problem for the fish. On the other hand I am not sure I am a good enough aquarist to maintain a 5 gallon aquarium. Nano tanks are like finicky hot rods. Anything can wreck a small system at any moment.
  24. Daniel
    That baby is so cute. Aren't you glad you got some infusoria going?
  25. Daniel
    I love the foreground carpeting in the 75 gallon. What kind of plant is that? Nice photos (lots of bokeh).
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