OnlyGenusCaps

Don't forget the crime that comes with prohibition: Chilling stuff.

I've never eaten one. What flavors to they come in? Apparently gouramis come in licorice, at least. Oh and honey flavor too!

Yup. Officially new fish season there. Wow, I'd not have thought of that for a native fish. Makes sense. I had to think about the for herps. Ugh. Somedays, I feel like all we'll be allowed to keep in this country is guppies and goldfish - and maybe not even those as they can escape and go feral.

Exciting! Between these and the bettas, it seems it is officially fish delivery season in western Maryland!

As someone who almost exclusively has their tanks in fairly tight spaces, I think the plan looks brilliant! I like the two shelf plan better, because it affords more space in a pinch. However, if you go that route, I would suggest thinking about the spacing of the brackets for the top shelf. Depending on the number of actual (vs. cartoon) jugs you want on a shelf, you'll have the diagonal support strut coming down at an angle. If you really are planning on packing the jugs in that tightly vertically then the shelf bracket struts can come down in places that might mess up your horizontal spacing. I speak from experience on this. No wonder your fish breed so well for you. They are afraid that if they don't, they'll end up on the wall!

That's an incredible video! I'd not seen it. There is far more flow than I'd anticipated. My experience with desert spring fish in Arizona was that the flow speed in the pool was much, much slower. Explains why the fry and doing alight in the catcher I created. Thanks for that! Ha ha ha, I might just. Thanks for the offer! I feel like I gave the expedition notes in short form. 😜 These fish are in part of the Great Artesian Basin is Australia. Incredible source of fresh water - if it was properly managed. It really is one of the great hydrological feature of our planet! I am happy if it is useful. It's been a game changer so far for me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Today was a heavy lifting day. Rented a van to pick up more foam board and the fake brick paneling to go over it (which was weirdly heavy, and not easy to maneuver into the awkward space I am in on my own). Now, I just have to get everything prepped in the room. It's a tight space to maneuver 96"x48" panels as it is, but I'll have to dismantle the rack to install the paneling behind it (yes, I believe this is worth it). That means cleaning up all the junk on the rack, and moving the empty 75gal on the bottom out in preparation for draining the 3 x 20H tanks that have fish in them. I'll have to work fast to mostly drain the tanks, place them on the floor, dismantle the rack, install and fit the foam-board, then the fake brick paneling, then rebuild the rack, replace the tanks, and refill them with water that I'll have sitting in the room to bring it to temperature in advance, all in a single day. If next Tuesday isn't a snow day for my kids (right now that's the forecast), I'll be very tired at the end of the day, that's for sure. Wish me luck.

Wow! This is quite the saga. Congrats, sir, on an impressive rescue! I was hooked on this thread before, but now I'm rapt with interest. Keep the updates coming!

Thanks everyone! I do. Cut to size and everything. It's currently sitting under weights to keep everything flat until the weather warms enough for me to do something with it. Lack of foresight on my? Absolutely! But, I really wanted to get the project going again, and once I get water in this quite large tank, I won't be moving it to get stuff on the back, so this seemed like a logical place to start. At the time. I thought - well if I have the tank running by the time the weather warms, I'll be able to get fish right away. I forgot that I kind of have to sit on my hands here through the winter for any "major" projects, which is anything larger than minor tweaks really. A product recommendation. Thanks! I'll look into getting that. It doesn't need to make it outside. Just needs to prevent the boards from warping so much they no longer stick on the sides of the frame. I have simple needs. 🤪

@JMiller2020 is in Kzoo, and might know the name of the club in that area.

First off what are you doing up at this hour @Biotope Biologist?! Secondly, it has been blissfully long since I have had to identify tiny little freshwater crustaceans to species. Now, do know that I've not pulled out my old text to key them because that's bridge too far. 😜 But, quickly I concur with #1. And for #2 I get some species of Simocephalus (in the dance party I thought I got a glimpse of the type of post abdominal claw), but I'm not going to species. No, sir. Not doing it. Certainly not before my second cup of tea. ☕

Thanks for getting back to me @a tired fish keeper! Sounds like polyurethane is the right way to go.

I feel a bit like I am turning this into the handyman's forum Sorry about that. But, I am seeking some opinions because I know there are folks much better versed in woodworking (I say I'm making a cherry bookcase or something) than I am. Here is what's happening. I have 1/8" plywood, of some sort, that I am attaching to a frame to obscure the sump under a tank. The pieces I have up are warping a bit. My basement is like 20%RH right now and in the summer it will be above 70%RH. Plus, once the tank is running there will be the gradient in humidity from the sump under the tank, to the outside air. I think if I am going to have any chance of preventing this wood from looking like a book that was dried after falling in a puddle, I am going to have to coat it in something. Now, I have time. I can really only do this in my garage, and it's going to be a few weeks here until it is warm enough to work with anything like that. Still, I'd like to have a plan. My first thought was to use a water based polyurethane. But, I am starting to wonder if a spray on acrylic wouldn't work better. Does any one have any suggestions about what I should use to keep the moisture from warping the wood? Thanks!

Very helpful indeed! Much appreciated.

I may give this a try. Thanks! I've also just remembered that I have freeze dried cyclops. I always have trouble getting them to sink, but that's probably worth a try too. ------------------------------------------------ And now for the promised "before" photos of the space. Prepare to be... Drum roll, please. 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 Unimpressed. The first photo is of where I have a few tanks on a rack. Right now just 3 x 20H and a 75 on the bottom rack. You can see the air line I put in and that the tanks are drilled to drain to the utility sink (with the 75 going to the floor drain). That the backbone of the system I'll build out. But I need to add some of the purple insulation behind the tanks, which means I need to pull the rack out. Which means I need to relocate the tanks temporarily. Etc. Etc. But that's not all folks! No, no. That is not the part that gives this journal it's odd name. To the left is the section under the stairs. As you can see there is a lot of purple foam board in there. This is because until about a month ago it was a seperate room I had built to grow some highland tropical (i.e. plants that like warm days and cool night year round) carnivorous plants. I'll plunk a photo of them at the end. Most of the plants are now gone. I've kind of gotten out of the exotic and weird plant growing world. Mostly. The plants at the end are now in a different grow room I built to overwinter the tropical plants my wife likes on the deck in the summer. But I digress. The plans here are to extend the area tanks can go down the wall into this space. It will allow me to keep, and importantly breed, more species. I also want to spruce it up a bit. The purple is not my favorite, so that's got to get covered up. I want to turn this sort of dank hole in the house into a place I can sit back and enjoy my tanks. It'll be a project. That's for sure. Okay and those plants. Here they are. Still alive, and in my care.

Just for clarity, to whom was your request directed? I think the HAP chair of the GSAS would do a great job of that! Just say'n. My apologies, I'd replied under the quote I pulled from @dmurray407, who I believe, if I recall correctly is in Minnesota. It was to her my suggestion was directed. Good to know that GSAS also have a PAR meter for members. MAS's is still new, and they are trying to figure out what model they want to go with in terms of how members can access it. How does that work for GSAS?

If you are a MAS member, MAS has a PAR meter you can borrow/rent. You just missed the "Plant Extravaganza" where they taught people how to use it. That could be a route to go if you just want to test what you have setup. As a plant physiologist, I approve of this message.

Just saw this. I'm so sorry you had to go through this! I fully commiserate having just gone through a few months of a disease that jumped from tank to tank and resisted early efforts to medicate. I am so glad things are on the upswing for you, and even more so that you are persisting! It's an incredibly hard learning process when mistakes and setbacks cost the lives of critters in our care. Glad you are hanging in there!

First off congrats on the Julies! They are all great fish. In terms of your question, depending on how log ago you got them, and how young they are, they'll stick to the rockwock for a while until they are settled in/grown a bit. I find that mine (J. ornatus), have appreciated being in with my Cyps. The main thing it has seemed to do for the Julies is to give the subordinate fish someone to hang out with, thus reducing aggression. I think the main driver of them being out of the rocks is the dominant fish chasing the weaker ones into the open. Then the dominant fish stay out to "patrol" their favored rocks. In short, I think your Julies will come out of the rocks eventually, but if you have the space and water quality to allow for a few other fish, the fish that are going to get picked on (and there will be those) will appreciate it.

Done:

The conundrum of the eggs and wrigglers needing high current so they don't, well, you know... Die. And the fry being swept around and bashed on the sides in the same maelstrom, has at least been partly solved today. Following inspiration from @Fish Folk's awesome floating fry container, I have decided to collect the fry in a fry container as soon as they hatch. I've done this by removing the sponge from the overflow on the breeder box, like so: The almost guarantees that the fry, once they release themselves, will be sucked over the falls. I now have a waiting container clamped to the side that I have drilled holed into and stuffed with Poret to let the water, but not the fry, out. This acts as an automated fry catchment device. The current was pretty strong in there still, so I added some sand, which pitted immediately, and some X-Mas moss. I think the moss will help. Now I just have to figure out what to feed these little guys. If I have a dirty greenwater tank with loads of little critters in it, that would be just the ticket. For now, some of the Xtreme Krill Flakes that I fed the parents got chopped up by the water pump and made their way into the box. Perhaps they will eat that? Given that BBS is as big as their entire head, I'm not sure that will work. I'm still figuring this out, but it's a really fun journey!

I'm glad someone is happy when they find aphids!

Inspired by your build, I am going to try to find something similar at Target today. Hopefully I can make a little fry box to clamp on the side of the tank. This is such a great idea, and really resourceful! Thanks for sharing it.

I like the idea, personally! But then again, I like gadgets and DIY stuff. I'm going to be building a DIY fry separator of a sort today. I need to get the fry separated from the eggs as they hatch, and I'd like to do it in an automated way. So, this sort of thing is right up my alley. If you build one, let us know how it goes!

I hope you successfully find them soon. They are awesome, and should be way, way more common in the hobby! Totally! The owner of TCG is a really smart dude, and he's so willing to share his knowledge. I really enjoy talking to him. This little trick of his may have solved my problem! That's hilarious! It did not occur to me it could be taken that way. Thanks for wishing me luck!

The main place I have to keep tanks of various sorts is underneath the stairs to my basement. Glamorous, I know. Actually, it's even worse than that. To get there, you need to exit the basement into the garage (cold in a Minnesota winter, and hot in a Minnesota summer), then through a cramped storage area, past the well tank and water treatment equipment, near the boiler, finally to access the one wall I can put tanks on. This rabbit warren of a space, is my little sanctuary. And inspired by @Atitagain's description of his aquatic vivariums, I have also decided to give this odd little space a Latin name - "Subscalarium", which roughly translates as the under stair -arium. Basically, I've decided to combine all of my efforts in this one place into a single journal. And I thought it needed a... Unique name. Yes, let's go with unique. I'll get photos of the space at some point soon, partly because I have plans to make it much nicer. You know, so I want to spend time there. I'd been thinking about this for a month or so, but then Zenzo's new vid really sold me on the importance of finding ways to spend time with your tanks. I mean, how can I enjoy them if I am never near them?! And this part of the house is about as far away from anything as I can get - so I have to go there. The thing that made me decide to post something today, is this: These are hatched but not yet released wrigglers of desert gobies (Chlamydogobius eremius). I have been trying to figure out how to get the fry for a while now, a little like @HillstreamBoy's efforts with his Rhinogobius. The problem is that the male cares very well for the eggs, and any time I pulled them they fungused on me quite quickly. So, I've been working on timing the pull correctly. But I've also figured out that the flow I was getting in my Ziss breeder box was woefully insufficient for this species. I suspect the male is fanning them almost constantly. I wasn't quite sure what to do, until I got to chatting with the guy who owns Twin Cities Guppies. He told me that the Fluval hang-on breeder boxes can be hooked up to a small desktop fountain pump and provide way more flow that way. So that's what I've done here: You can see I've stuffed some 30ppi Poret foam in the main overflow to try to keep the wrigglers in. And here is the tiny pump I bought on Amazon: I'm pretty encouraged. For one thing, one of the wrigglers went free swimming while I was finishing getting this set up! Sadly, it was pulled over the tiny stream of the secondary overflow, which lead me to put a second strip of Poret over that. I am a little worried that the current will be too strong for the little guys when they release. I need to go and get some moss tomorrow. I don't have any on hand. A big breeder no-no. But I'm excited because I am getting so, so close! Wish me luck on this batch. I'd love to BAP these. They are the coolest fish!