OnlyGenusCaps

First let me give a blanket apology to the folks within unanswered DM's waiting for me. There is very cool stuff waiting there that I just haven't had a chance to get to. I'm been up working on the room, and then being woken up somewhere in the 5 o'clock hour by a small child. I hope to get back to those DM's soon, but in the meantime please accept my apologies for my delayed correspondence. Then, just a quick up date. The wall is done and most of the stuff is back. There is a bit of clean up and re organizing to do. But it's largely back together. A new beginning. Before anyone freaks out, yes I know this is not a safe setup in the photo. Adding all of your tanks to the top is a terrible idea. I have cinder blocks on the lower shelves at the back side to bias the shelf towards the wall. I know, i know. Still not a a good idea. And it is not a permanent solution. Once I clean out and sterilize the 75, it will go below again and make the structure more sound. And it's getting warm enough these days around here to allow that to happen soon. I am 90% sure I am going to regret having those tanks up so high over time. I need a step stool to do anything with them. But the long term plan is to only use them a fry rearing spaces, so they won't be in constant use - I don't think. Plus, it's been nice to see right into the tanks when I am up there. Especially with the goby fry - which came through the process fairly well. That's all for now.

Weird. That's where I got mine too, but they are definitely a different species! Mine never get bigger than 0.25in and 0.125 is more way more common for my population from them.

I hope you do come back to it. It would be a great resource! The world isn't necessarily going to head in a direction that will become more motivating though. Sorry. There have been a bunch of studies on neon tetras with pH and interactions with various other materials. I have a number of them saved on my another hard drive. So, if @Biotope Biologist doesn't have any readily accessible, then I can scrounge around a bit for you.

It's that time again - MAS meeting announcement! This month (well March), we will have Marcel Wuethrich talking to us about "Collecting Ornate Rainbowfish at Tin Can Bay", so it will be another discussion of wild collection of fish, probably with some really cool habitat photos of around beautiful coastal Queensland! Here is the description if you aren't already excited: "Marcel Wuethrich is a Research Scientist in the field of microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin, studying pathogenic fungi. He has been keeping fish and aquaria since his childhood and has actively bred fish for the last 20+ years. His primary interest and focus is in breeding rainbowfish, blue eyes (Pseudomugil species), hillstream loaches, and plecostomus. Wuethrich currently maintain 75+ tanks for breeding and displaying fish ranging from 10 to 180 gallons. For the last 3 years he started breeding fish outside in 65 and 100 gallon tubs taking advantage of the conditions outdoor tubs offer for breeding fish during the summer months. As Marcel attended and spoke at a scientific meeting in Brisbane, Australia in July 2019, he actively explored the outdoors. Joined by Leo O’Reilly, who collects, keeps and breeds 20 locations of Ornate Rainbowfish (Rhadinocentrus ornatus), the two went fishing with at Tin Can Bay." This will be an online meeting over Zoom, and it is open to everyone, you do not need to be a member of MAS to attend. I know there are rainbowfish keepers here who might enjoy learning a bit about their native habitat. So, please consider registering (link here) and attending. We'd love to have you there!

I feared this might be the case. Where the sewage stack that runs behind what is now the wall and connects to the foundation, it has a large metal collar? which comes out a bit. I'd feared it might disrupt the project, which is why I started from the far opposite wall. That way if it took a long time to figure it out, I could at least get the fish rack back up, and if it caused problems down the line, any issues would be at the furthest point from where you enter the room (and the most concealed under the stairs). Turns out the latter was useful! The sewage collar bowed the base of the paneling out just slightly but not the top of the panel, which left the lagging end of that panel 0.78 degrees from plumb with he bottom essentially shorter along the wall then the top. This is why the bricks don't line up on the last seam. The final panel, to get it flush with the previous one, ended up at that very slight angle. Oh well. For a space well under the stairs that will, hopefully, have a bunch of tanks in front of it, it seemed like a lot of work to try to correct such a slight misalignment. While it would otherwise drive me nuts over time, the thought of how much work it would take to correct will probably keep that feeling under control.

I'm exhausted after two days with a sick kid and then trying to fit in some work on this space. I still need to do the finishing work, and the last panel simply wouldn't line up perfectly. But it's largely done. This is the space I will make a wall of tanks. This is the first time I have had a space I have made an effort to look nice, and not just have my stuff in what lookes like storage. Here is the wall that will back my future photos:

I hope I haven't misrepresented them. This is just a panel board product. So, it is some sort of molded, textured "hardboard" I believe, that has been painted to look like brick. Which is good because I only own two, real power tools. The second one I only got after being convinced to buy it for cutting plywood by the person to introduced me to this forum. Anyhow, long answer just to tell you that I am using a variety of hand saws, though the most effective so far seems to be the 7tpi reciprocating saw blade that screws into a handle.

Is my classical rhetoric alarm going off?! Argument from authority! It is. It is! 🥰 Sorry, I just don't run into loads of people espousing formal rhetoric much on the internet. A great skill, and under appreciated. Well played!

I think that's your nice way of saying, "you probably don't know about these". And you'd be correct! 😆 Sadly, I think it's too late as I'd have to excavate the foam, but it stuck out previously, so, it shouldn't be too recessed. And if it is not too late, I'll have access to that spot even with the rack in, so can fuss with it later. And I might... Couldn't be happier that I got the fish set up well yesterday. Woke up last night to a barfing child. I suspect little to no progress will be made today. And even less if I get this creeping crud, which is possible as it has been moving through our house. 🙄 At least the fish are okay where they are for now!

Day 1 of the background build is done. I got a bit more completed than I'd anticipated. I got the fish off the rack and settled in on the floor. My backup pump couldn't deal with the clogged jetlift tubes (Once they are back up, I'll give them a good cleaning), so I had to run long air lines down to them from my central air line to keep them going. I can't tell you how handy that ACOOP large air line roll has been! I ended up needing all of the water in those bins, too! But here they are, surviving, if unceremoniously, on the floor: I took the rack down, and was making good progress. So, I got a bit over confident. That always comes back to haunt me when I do that. I decided I had time to start putting up the foam board. And just like that, I had both up. Looking pretty decent, I must say: The faux brick paneling was much, much heavier and less flexible than the foam board, so the dangling airlines had to go. But it was otherwise, more straightforward then I'd feared. I'd planned to use a bunch of adhesive on the back of the boards to stick them to the foam. Even ran around town to find the right stuff. In the end though, the panel board nails are so much easier and work shockingly well. But with two panels up, it was looking pretty decent: As I inspected it, I realized the bricks didn't exactly line up, which was a bit annoying. It might be because I should have flipped the second panel? Clearly the pattern is the same on both, so maybe that would be the solution. But it wouldn't be one of my projects without at least a little hiccup. The inspection also revealed I had neglected one little detail. In my initial excitement at my unexpected progress, I had forgotten to make an opening for an outlet. It had been covered by the foam board. After taking the panel down, I decided was really glad I didn't use the adhesive! And I simply cut out a spot for the outlet: I foamed around it because the hole I cut was not particularly nice. I wasn't going to have enough time to get the drill out to start the hole in the paneling, so here is where the project sits tonight: Not a bad bit of work. For me at least. Tomorrow, I'm going to grab some grey silicone (I only put the nails in where it looked like "mortar". Then I can pick up by cutting off the foam around the outlet and make a proper hole in the panel for the outlet. I even get a second chance to flip the panel around and see if it looks better - so not all bad. I'm pretty tired and a bit sore. Part of the tetris game of doing the work on such a confined place required me to haul the 75 gal around several times today. I'll get to do it a few more tomorrow, but not quite as far or as intensively. But it's already feeling worth it to me.

I love it! You and @modified lung should get together to perfect home blackworm culture. Then I can just copy it and not have to do any real work. 🤪

And they are off! All of the goby fry and finally released and, with the exception of two stragglers, are over the falls into the fry container with the moss. Took them two weeks from when they were laid as eggs. With them now out of the box, I pulled the rock, but left the box up. I'm going to keep the arrangement for a few weeks, as I am a bit concerned that they will fit through the mesh on the Ziss. Once I am sure they will make it there, I'll put them into the larger Ziss space though. I think that's going to be their home for a little while though. I'm new to this breeding fish where you can't just leave the fry with the adults. I tried to get a photo of all of the little ones, but I couldn't get my camera on my phone to focus through glass then acrylic, all under water. So, I am not going to bother with posting that photo. I'll try for a better one later. As far as the room goes, I am a bit nervous about the fry dying, so... I've decided to not try to overload and do everything in one day. Here is my goal, assuming tomorrow is not a snow day here: Day 1 - Disassemble drains and plumping, drain tanks, pull and place on ground, refill from extra water, add air from extra pump, take down rack Day 2 - Put up foam board and then faux brick board over foam, two sheets wide Day 3 - Reassemble rack, drain tanks, move to rack, refill tanks from extra water, reassemble plumbing I think this is a much more tenable course of action. Plus, I think the slower, more stable pace will decrease the likelihood of losing as many fry. My "extra water" is already in the bins. It's important because I am on a well in Minnesota and my water comes out at about 5°C, which is a bit too chilly for a quick bath for the fish. I don't have any heaters in any of my tanks, the room is to temp. So, by sitting the water in bins, I hope to minimize and stress on the critters. But it's a lot of water to sit around: Now the astute among you, dear readers, might recall photos from the other direction and be thinking ":that's not going to leave a lot of space to work in once the tanks are next to the bins, is it?" You would be correct. It's not a spacious or glamorous space. But it is mine, and there is something lovely about that.

I am so, so sorry this is happening to you and your fish, @laritheloud. This thread helped my fish and saved my snails. So I am deeply appreciative that you were willing to post about your challenges here. Thank you, and I hope everything comes out as well as it can.

Well, it's not top on my list right now. I've set out a rather ambitious schedule ahead of myself for the coming weeks. But blackworms are top on my list of life fish snacks I want to culture. So, at the very least I am following this closely with intent to try it. Right now all I have enough of to spare is intent. 🤪

Welcome! WA is one of my favorite parts of the world. It's the luckiest part of The Lucky Land, as far as I am concerned. Glad to have you here!

I have some I've been playing with. They are voracious on driftwood! If your fish don't keep them well in check they can degrade your wood in a matter of weeks starting what amounts to an inverted Walsted-style tank whether you want one or not. The fish live to eat them though! I think they will be omitted from any new tanks of mine. I know that @Biotope Biologist just put a larger species into one of his tanks. It might be early for his long-term observations, but I;m sure by now he must have some thoughts.

Sorry to hear about the heater, but I'm glad the danios kept right on going for you! I wonder how long that can last. I have Endler's and they are nothing if not... Productive. Nice work! Although, those fainting goats were popular for a while. I wonder what a strain of fainting fish would be like? 😛 I'm guessing you are doing some sort of modified version? The way I have this set up helps me grab fry as they pull away from the rock they are adhered to. My understanding is danios are egg scatterers (I don't have any, so what do I know!). Are they eggs sticky? I'm fascinated to find out what you are up to!

I don't know if I'm ambitious or a poor judge of my abilities. I think I was inspired by the incredible progress @Jimmy made on his Fish Room 64 build. I am certainly not as talented though, so we'll see how it goes. Thanks! @dasaltemelosguy has named it "Fry Falls", and I have decided I quite like as a moniker. I have an update on it today actually. Today was the largest release of the fry into the water. The system has caught every single one now, over the course of a week. They all seem to be doing well as far as I can tell. I was a bit worried about the really high flow rate in there until @HillstreamBoy posted that awesome video taken from their native spring. The fry seem to be okay with the flow for now. Or at least they are when they can hide in the X-Mas moss and behind it in a calm spot. Still, when the freeze dried cyclops go in many of them rush up into the stream and seem quite capable of dealing with that sort of flow. So, who knows, this crazy contraption might just work yet. I hope so. I'd be really excited to have a bunch of these!

This is a great idea, and seems to be working out very well! I've been trying to figure out how I want to increase my home blackworm production, and when I do so I might try out the tower technique of yours. I'm enjoying following this. Thanks for keeping us updated!

In 2016 there were amendments made to the Lacey Act that essentially banned salamanders and newts as pets. It banned 201 species. It ended that as a hobby. You may notice that aquarium shops still don't have them, and they were at one time highly available. Here however, there was a clear danger. Bd (the chrytrid fungus) that infects and kills frogs is in the US already, but Bsal, which is carried by and kills salamanders and newts, is not. The US is the global center of diversity of salamanders. That trade, and that hobby had to end to save the vast majority of our native species. As much as that change impacted me personally, when there is a direct and clear threat, there really is no discussion in my mind. I said goodbye and moved on. So, I do not wish to ruffle feathers around here. I have too much respect for this community and the ethic of civility it espouses. Therefore, I will simply say this: After speaking with a lawyer friend who councils nonprofits on the impacts of legislative actions (though a somewhat different arena), and to a friend who is well established at US Fish and Wildlife, I do not share your optimism about this current amendment. Nor do I share your willingness to passively accept the outcome. However, if it does pass, I 100% hope that you are correct, and that all of my concerns prove to be unfounded. I'll leave it at that and say no more on this topic out of respect for the guidelines here, which I value.

There are a many very well stated thoughts here already. I won't try to rehash them. As always, I love how this forum has managed to stay civil when discussing a potentially charged topic (under the watchful eye of Zenzo, like a benevolent eye of Sauron 🤪). First off, as I think has been well pointed out to our original inquisitor, @Anon, there are fish that run the gambit: from those that can't be bred in captivity and so are exclusively taken from the wild, to those that are fully self-sustained via captive breeding, and even species which have legitimately been saved from extinction by hobbyist keepers. I think tarantulas are challenging because of their life history, with the males not persisting as long as the females. In concept, it should be possible to breed tarantulas in captivity, though running a few numbers for fun, it looks like you'd have to have a decent number on hand, and fairly high production. This also likely makes them a bit more vulnerable in the wild to low population numbers - something called the allee effect in population biology, if anyone cares. Few fish have such extreme life histories, and most of the barriers to captive breeding are learning what induces breeding, or simple the size of the enclosures required. For the latter group, it may never be economically viable to breed in captivity on a commercial scale (unless the demand is high enough to make it economically worthwhile - but that could take a lot). For the former, getting fish in the hands of curious and experienced breeders is what unlocks the means to sustainability in captive breeding. Additionally, most fish species also have high potential rates of reproduction, meaning they can tolerate fairly high rates of loss by predators, or collection. Of course this is not invariably true. When numbers are low, and demand is high the results can be tragic. I suppose this brings us to poaching and legislation. I have a few responses to, well, really just one section from @BlueLineAquaticsSC. Please note, I am responding to a single place where we might slightly disagree, or not actually, I don't know. However, the vast majority of what BLASC said, I completely and fully agree with. It just doesn't seem worth going through point-by-point with all of the places where we agree. That would take some time for such an thorough and insightful reply as they provided. Here I just want to point out that this is technically true, but there is a bit of supposition that illegal is equivalent to immoral. I would suggest that though this is often true, in the case of unjust or overly burdensome laws this ceases to be the case. Now, I'm not trying to get into a discussion about where people want to draw the line on that. But, I do want to point to a few cases (I know, I know, many cases could be posited to provide evidence to an opposing view, but here we go anyhow) where species of have literally been saved by hobbyists while the native populations have gone extinct. In some cases reintroduction has even happened. I know these are rare and this is the worst possible case for those that do conservation. But my point is that in several of these cases the populations in captivity were "illegal" entirely because the founding stock was "poached" according to the country of origin. Had the US or EU decided to enforce, several of these species would no longer be with us. This then also proposed changes to the Lacey Act. These changes are going to make not just import, but interstate transport of most rare species in the hobby illegal. This means you wouldn't be able to move states with nearly any uncommon species, ever. These changes are going to unintentionally make criminals of potentially millions of Americans. People whose morality has not changed. Indeed, bichirs are very unlikely to be immediately whitelisted because not enough are imported (which means morally responsible practices that minimize impact on wild populations will be punished). And again, BLASC may or may not agree with me. I don't know. But, I wanted to respectfully share these thoughts as Anon had requested various thoughts on the topic. I have been surprised, and a little disappointed TBH, that more people with large platforms have not spread the word about these potential up coming changes, given the massive impact they will have on this hobby. Perhaps they feel it is political to do so, but this is not advocacy for a party or politician. Indeed it is apolitical enough to advocate for your own hobby that even 501(c)(3) nonprofits which are banned from political endorsements can do so. I guess I just don't understand the hesitancy. If this law passes, the entire conversation we are all having here will also fundamentally change, as nearly all of the most active members on this forum will at least be flirting with violating federal law that will come with steep punishments. But will it become immoral to trade fish with a friend in another state simply because the FWS has not gotten around to evaluating the species because there is so little demand? I'll end by saying that this legislation is an amendment on a bill that looks to pass unless it is specifically removed. If hobbyists do nothing, we will only have ourselves to blame for the outcome. I for one would like to keep our laws as inline with our morals as possible. If anyone is curious please feel free to DM me.

Been so busy getting things ready to make my space nicer by redoing the wall behind the tanks (will require moving the tanks + fish, and tearing down the rack, getting the wall redone, then rebuilding the rack to get the tanks back up - all in one day I hope). But, I wanted to update on the goby fry. I don't want to jinx anything, but this crazy setup might be working. Here are a couple terrible photos: The blurs are the fry excitedly eating freeze dried copepods. I'd say I have about 15 fry in there so far. They are kind of dribbling out slowly. Most are still firmly attached to the rock. I sort of expected them to hatch within a day or two of each other. Nope, they've been doing this for almost a week, and there are way more to go! Not really sure what the end game looks like yet, but for now I'm pleased.

I just caught this thread. What an emotional ride! I probably would have done anything for that nurse too.

Those isopods are absolutely massive! After having a smaller species in a tank with driftwood, I'm not surprised that your shots of them are on it. Mine seemed to feed off of it, and rapidly turned it into compost at a rate I've never seen before. I'll be curious how they do for you. It's looking like a nice setup!

I like the dancing rotifers!