Return of the Hobbyist: A Fishkeeper's Journey

[Shadow]

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/8/2023 at 9:30 AM, Shadow said:

All I can say about being a chef, the time I had creating with some incredibly talented(and several well known, famous) chefs was one of the best and worst times of my life. The work is very hard, abrasive at best. If you are faint at heart to bad language, alcohol/drug abuse & sexually inappropriate things, I highly advice never working professionally in a kitchen. Also, have to remember you make jack shit income wise for a LONG time and most the time you have little to no benefits or healthcare. Artistically and fun wise, it was a couple decades to remember but I am happy having the chill, non crazy life as a now ONCE AGAIN beer/wine salesman is much more my speed. Plus it allows me plenty of time for fishy things and to cook at home(AND ENJOY IT)! 🙂 

Netflix, there is a movie called burnt.  Check it out if you haven't. 

I decided a long time ago not to pursue cooking in a professional kitchen, but to keep it as a hobby.  Blame it on the Ramsey affect as opposed to what I grew up watching.... Emeril, Jamie Oliver, Tyler Florence, Mario Batali, Alton Brown, and so many others.   There is a tv show on HBO simply called "Julia" that I seriously recommend anyone who steps into a kitchen watches. 

There's a lot of good and a lot of bad stories from kitchens and it's really unfortunate.  Especially locally, here for me.   Seems like the dozens of "your restaurant is going to fail let's make a tv show about it" and the shouting chef things just really pushed me away from wanting to ruin what I cherish so much.  I choose to cook and use that skill for people I really care about.  That's just how I wanted to keep things.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/8/2023 at 1:27 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Julia

Julie & Julia is a good one too! It’s a movie about a girl that sets her mind to cook every single recipe in the Julia Childs cookbook. I found it very entertaining.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/8/2023 at 10:32 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Julie & Julia is a good one too! It’s a movie about a girl that sets her mind to cook every single recipe in the Julia Childs cookbook. I found it very entertaining.

It is definitely good! I really enjoyed it as well.

[Guppysnail]

Links for water change I don’t have. I use a 25 gallon heavy duty tote. I run a hose with a python hook to it to fill it/ dechlorinate the water. I use a pond pump from Amazon and pond tubing with a hook to return the water with a drilled measure cup to disperse. Into the tank. I gravel vac and drain into a bucket with another pond pump and tubing to carry waste water to my garden.
I’m having a bit of a day right now but I’ll get pictures for you in a bit of the setup. It sounds hard but so crazy easy. I love it. 
 

@Odd Duck has a fabulous trash bin on wheels they use with a return system. I’m not certain of the waste removal system though. 

[Guppysnail]

Worm. Micro banana and Walter I use coops mashed potato no yeast I’ll link those videos in a bit. 
I cannot recommend enough grindal and white worms. These are the methods I use. Catfish LOVE worms. Catfish breed like rabbits when fed lots of worms. Actually all fish do but corydora go out of their minds. 

 

[Shadow]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:27 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Netflix, there is a movie called burnt.  Check it out if you haven't. 

I decided a long time ago not to pursue cooking in a professional kitchen, but to keep it as a hobby.  Blame it on the Ramsey affect as opposed to what I grew up watching.... Emeril, Jamie Oliver, Tyler Florence, Mario Batali, Alton Brown, and so many others.   There is a tv show on HBO simply called "Julia" that I seriously recommend anyone who steps into a kitchen watches. 

There's a lot of good and a lot of bad stories from kitchens and it's really unfortunate.  Especially locally, here for me.   Seems like the dozens of "your restaurant is going to fail let's make a tv show about it" and the shouting chef things just really pushed me away from wanting to ruin what I cherish so much.  I choose to cook and use that skill for people I really care about.  That's just how I wanted to keep things.

Yea, as I am older, it was in its glory period when I decided to give it a go. I am glad I did, as I learned to become so much more of an efficient person than I ever would have been if I hadn't. I also became light years better of a cook and actually became a chef before it was all said n done, which was cool. Like I said, I wouldn't recommend it on anyone nowadays, but if someone is interested in doing it, I am always down to mentor them and warn them of the perils that come with the job. 🙂 

[Shadow]

@Guppysnail thanks as always for the links! I am actually using Co Ops method with the micro/banana worms I got from @DansFish. So far I have turned 4 cultures into 4 containers and will keep feeding it as needed although right now its fully stocked for feeding em. I will also look into the other white worm cultures...I also found a YT video on cultivating blood worms and daphnia. I would like to make a green water tank anyways(for the obvious benefits) but also to cultivate daphnia. As far as the links, I was asking more about lumber tank rack systems as opposed to water systems themselves. I think I have an idea of my own with a rain barrel to assist with mine, but I would def like to see how you are doing yours. I will have a garden for the winter and having a way to feed my plants will be awesome! I already use my sponge cleaning tank water for the potted plants around the house and they LOVE it! 

 

Corys have settled in right as rain into the Kitty City and are actually making the L134s come out a bit more. All seems well and unstressed in there which is great! I also got my 2nd CO2 regulator in from Co Op today and hooked the big 48 aka THE BEAST to it along with a Kasa Smart Plug. Now time to go do some food shopping for myself for once...Costco here I come! 🤣

[Guppysnail]

On 5/8/2023 at 4:11 PM, Shadow said:

As far as the links, I was asking more about lumber tank rack systems as opposed to water systems themselves.

Oh sorry I thought you were asking about worms. Lumber is so far out of my league. If I even think about helping it would fall down 🤣 

ok on the right that pile of hose goes out the window  I have a connector and more hose in the garage that reaches my back gardens.  
 

The return spigot also has a shutoff valve I put in to eliminate spills  

I move the blue yuck bucket in front of each tank as I go around the room  

[Shadow]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:23 PM, Guppysnail said:

Oh sorry I thought you were asking about worms. Lumber is so far out of my league. If I even think about helping it would fall down 🤣 

ok on the right that pile of hose goes out the window  I have a connector and more hose in the garage that reaches my back gardens.  
 

The return spigot also has a shutoff valve I put in to eliminate spills  

I move the blue yuck bucket in front of each tank as I go around the room  

Very cool! Thanks for the looksie! Love the room btw...all the greenery! 🙂

 

Yea I am going to need to research the stand system I see in fish rooms...maybe @SydneysAngels knows a good link or diagram? Anyways...onto Costco!

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/8/2023 at 1:04 PM, Shadow said:

Like I said, I wouldn't recommend it on anyone nowadays, but if someone is interested in doing it, I am always down to mentor them and warn them of the perils that come with the job. 🙂 

I watch Kenji on youtube.  Fills a need for sure on people wishing to learn some skills.  I find a lot of my own skill lacking.  I can't even chop using the claw grip (big hands) but I can shop up everything with speed and efficiency.  Lots to learn! But that's the fun part.  Give me a recipe and I will totally cook the heck out of it!

That is very cool that you mentor (or are up for) prospective cooks.  Maybe you should make a channel for videos on that!

[Shadow]

On 5/8/2023 at 2:15 PM, Guppysnail said:

Worm. Micro banana and Walter I use coops mashed potato no yeast I’ll link those videos in a bit. 
I cannot recommend enough grindal and white worms. These are the methods I use. Catfish LOVE worms. Catfish breed like rabbits when fed lots of worms. Actually all fish do but corydora go out of their minds. 

 

Just purchased some white worm cultures online and will try the technique from the first video...hyped to get even bigger worms to feed! Live stuff is so much fun...now if I can just master brine shrimp. I think I did it right but I don't believe I let it go as long as I should have. LOL

[Guppysnail]

The brine shrimp is a knack and I love how Cory put it in a video. It’s a recipe and that recipe that works for each person is slightly different. So the first few may not work out great but once you get that perfect hatch it’s a piece of cake to repeat. 

[Shadow]

Today has been just another fun filled day in the fish room with water changes and water prep galore. Nothing much exciting going on besides the clutch of eggs my newest Gold Laser Corys left me. I am keeping an eye on them to see if they provide me with some fry in the next day or 2, would be very cool as these would be my first Cory spawns since returning to the hobby. 

Having to do water changes still with them in there and being so high on the tank, I didn't drop the water much and did a minimal change in that tank this morning(nitrites/nitrates weren't insanely high, so I didn't worry as much). We shall see what happens in the upcoming days. 

In other news, start back at my old company of almost 2 decades ago on Tuesday morning. Excited to get back to selling beer and wine, having a much less taxing job than the Postal Service. Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!(I hope Manchester United win this weekend to ease my pain)

[Shadow]

 

[Shadow]

First off, Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there! You are honestly what make the world go round!

Next, Fish Room is still in multi daily water change mode(next time when I decide to do a 48 gal for my parents I will remember not to do 2 others for myself at the same damn time lol) and looking like I might be close to cycling in the first of three tanks...not the 48 gal one unfortunately. Right now I am water prepping and oxygenating 4x 5 gal buckets for water changes. I usually use 2 on the large tank plus one I prep the morning of & the other two on the other two tanks(ie Kitty City & my plant tank). I serviced the OG 20 gal guppy tank's canister filter for the month the other day and tried to see if the sponges might help seed the 48 gal(to no luck). The fry from the beach house are getting so big...out of all I had, 12 have survived, 11 Blue Dragons from the pair I lost & 1 Albino Yellow King Cobra from the Momma I lost as well. Out of my OG fish(Trio of Albino Yellow King Cobra & 4 Gold Laser Corys, a male & female made it from the guppies & 3 of 4 corys are still here...RIP the jumper overnight when we first got moved. So pretty happy that tank has been cycled and is thriving. I am not sure the Amano shrimp are still there as I never see them, but all the ramshorn snails are good & multiplying. Since I added CO2 to the planted tank & the OG tank, the OG tank looks better than the planted one. It seems to be lacking the plant pop. I am dosing 2x a week with Easy Green but not sure if my light settings are right or not. I used some of the plant ones I saw posted in the Fluval light settings thread @nabokovfan87 linked me to a while back. Maybe you got an idea what I am doing wrong? I set my lights to some settings I found a couple months back in that chat & set my CO2 to come on 2 hours prior to lights, go off 2 hours prior to lights going off. My substrate is specific to plants and used root tabs plus aquatic planting substrate that I locked in with flourite sand. Thinking I might redo a smaller tank for the Odessa Barbs and Dalmation Mollies that are in there, then split the 6 Siamese algae eaters between the 48 gal & the new tank with the Barbs/Mollies or put all 6 into the big tank as I will just have 3 plecos in there. Not sure if they would upset each other or not. Will need to research more as I know corys and algae eaters can be aggressive to each other since they love the bottom. 

Besides that, one more full day before I start my new(old) job at the beer/wine company. But, first, tonight I will celebrate my 75 year old Mama and cook her Smash Burgers(her fave) out on the griddle. 🙂 Even doing a small YT Short of it as a friend asked me how I do em...honestly I think they are the best way to eat burgers! Happy Sunday all!!! 

[Shadow]

Well, last update of my month off in between jobs and moving. Tomorrow I start back at my old employer of over two decades ago, selling and merchandising(to start) beer/wine/Red Bull. 

Good news is thanks to @nabokovfan87 with the big alley oop as usual, I was able to do some light setting maintenance to hopefully get some better colors/growth out of my tanks. Thinking my obsession with having them on too long was really hindering my plant growth along with how high I was setting them. So big ups buddy for the assist per usual!

Next, tanks...the 3 I put together like a madman are all getting closer to cycling, THANK THE STARS, as I didn't want to be changing 30 gal of water nearly every morning before work. The big boy aka The Beast aka Pop's 48 gal is very close to cycling, this morning nitrites were very low and nitrates were holding/lowered slightly...no Ammonia in a week or more. The planted tank even better number wise and the kitty tank is behind both as I backed off its water changes in the hopes the egg's spawned would possibly be viable. 

I will pause on any new things though, as I am watching the Angelfish in the big tank. I had an unfortunate end of winter beginning of summer shipment of the first 4 Blue Angels I got, two were DOA on receipt due to the temps being in the 30s where they came from and jumping from 50 to mid 80s here the next day combined with UPS keeping them on the truck all day long...so yea, was happy two made it. Well, the seller was very very kind and sent me 4 more as replacements even though I didn't expect but the two to be replaced. I had 3 black Angels(2 females and a male if I can tell right...someone mind helping me tell their sex...I was thinking the more rounded fins, domed upper bodies were females and the pointer fins, more concaved upper bodies were males...just a guess without research lol) come in as well but the first two Blues that made it are much older than the replacements and the black ones. The big male seems super dominant and likes to bully the smaller black male to where he hangs in the back of the tank with the other nano schools and with some of the smaller angels that hang there a lot. I might have to remove some and put in another tank but right now all I have are 10 gal rimless ones and I don't want to put two or three angels in one 10 gal, seems mean. Dunno. But, defo want to keep an eye on aggression. Not sure if this is regular with Angelfish, although I never really remember reading or watching anything speaking on that. @Guppysnail maybe you'd know a solution to that possibly. 

Anyways, to bed early now...5am wake up all will be interesting as I have been sleeping til almost 7a the last month(SOOOOO LATE, I KNOW). Hope everyone is having a great week! 

[Guppysnail]

I’ve never kept angels. Sight breaks are the best way I know to limit aggression. Sight breaks the go to the water surface and creating areas that give each fish their own little territory are great. 
I have encountered bully fish in other species. Sometimes removing the bully until everyone else settles in then returning them works. Sometimes bullies are just bullies no matter what and need rehomed to a person who can give them their own tank. 
Sometimes dither fish work. However a word of caution with large fish or bullies sometimes your dithers become lunch or are outright killed for sport. 

Good luck on your new-old job tomorrow!

[Shadow]

On 5/15/2023 at 9:16 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’ve never kept angels. Sight breaks are the best way I know to limit aggression. Sight breaks the go to the water surface and creating areas that give each fish their own little territory are great. 
I have encountered bully fish in other species. Sometimes removing the bully until everyone else settles in then returning them works. Sometimes bullies are just bullies no matter what and need rehomed to a person who can give them their own tank. 
Sometimes dither fish work. However a word of caution with large fish or bullies sometimes your dithers become lunch or are outright killed for sport. 

So far there is plenty of hiding places for the nano fish. The Cardinals seem super fine and not bothered by anything as they are in a very large school(I think 20ish if memory serves me), the Danios like the hang in the rocks, wood and other vegetation while schooling all over as well together. The Chili Rasboras are the ones I am most worried about as they are prob tiny enough to get womped by the Angels, but they lived in the big centerpiece wood/java fern combo and come out when food is prevalent but otherwise just school around in that area. So far though, I have seen all of what I believe went in there...15ish, so no deaths yet. Will keep an eye on the one fish and if he continues to cause issues, I might ask my friend who has tanks if she wants him. 

[Ken Burke]

My angels are very peaceful, until it’s time to spawn.  I had 2 males and one female in a tank for a while.  Even then, it wasn’t too bad while one was clearly larger/dominate. When Ricky finally caught up to Hank in size, “Peggy, bar the doors “. It was knock down drag out, and no backing down.  Ricky got a tank all to himself after that.  Not sure 🤔 the sight breaks can help in that case.  
 

Hank lives in the big tank with Lucy and a mess of discus.  Ricky lives in a 37 gal with Baby (one of Hank and Lucy’s babies). They are all happy now.

[Shadow]

New additions arrived for the Kitty City and The Beast today....3x Lemon BE Bristlenose Plecos for each. All settled and grazing on algae in tanks already. 🙂 

[Shadow]

This Kitty tank is actually super active all together...the LBE Bristlenose are super active like the Corys and move around the tank cleaning new areas nonstop. The Corys mid day are chill but late in the day, evening are super acrobats per usual. Then now the L134s are starting to come out and show themselves a lot more, especially late and the moonlight(night) time. 🙂 

[Shadow]

Lemme tell y'all...some kind of luck shined on me that I had 2 of the 3 tanks I did at the same time, one being the big Beast, both cycle the day before I started the new(old) job. I am still waiting with the kitty tank, likely as its not that heavily planted like the others. Also, the hornwort has all but died(my fault for not following directions or actually reading something properly 🙃) and as I wasn't aware that Java ferns cannot be planted in a substrate or they just die, those are perishing too. Luckily I realized all this and order 5 Java Ferns from Co Op this time instead of trying to save a little money only to be let down. So hopefully these coming in soon will be healthy and I will properly place them on rocks, not plant. 

Besides all that, kinda quiet in the fish room atm. I have some projects lined up, but I want to get use to my new job first before I take on anything more. I am enjoying what I got atm and until the time I decide otherwise, this is where I will stay at. 

Bearing all this in mind...I have a 40 gal long, 5x 10 gal(2 standard and 3 rimless) and a nano cube all waiting to be planted. I have decided to do a larger version of the kitty tank in the 40 gal long. In other news, my OG Corys in the OG tank, one I assume is the female(are the females bigger than the males in Corys as well? @nabokovfan87) is getting BIG...wowzers! She came to the front of the tank today and man, she is a unit. LOL! The other two are smaller and wondering if they are both males. Hoping once these white worms start poppin off, I can force some spawns. 😁

Until the weekend...(yes I work but it shouldnt be too bad)

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/18/2023 at 3:08 PM, Shadow said:

Also, the hornwort has all but died(my fault for not following directions or actually reading something properly 🙃) and as I wasn't aware that Java ferns cannot be planted in a substrate or they just die, those are perishing too. Luckily I realized all this and order 5 Java Ferns from Co Op this time instead of trying to save a little money only to be let down. So hopefully these coming in soon will be healthy and I will properly place them on rocks, not plant. 

Plant weights! I just let mine sit on top of the substrate.  Ferns are hard for me to glue/attach because the rhizome is so small compared to anubias.  You should be able to recover / pull the old ones out and check the base.  But yea... replacing them is a good thing too.

On 5/18/2023 at 3:08 PM, Shadow said:

In other news, my OG Corys in the OG tank, one I assume is the female(are the females bigger than the males in Corys as well? @nabokovfan87) is getting BIG...wowzers!

Oh yeah.  My female is so gigantic she's 2x the size of the males and it leads to some mating issues 😂  They will figure it out eventually!

Corydoras are just so cool.

[Shadow]

On 5/18/2023 at 6:11 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Plant weights! I just let mine sit on top of the substrate.  Ferns are hard for me to glue/attach because the rhizome is so small compared to anubias.  You should be able to recover / pull the old ones out and check the base.  But yea... replacing them is a good thing too.

Oh yeah.  My female is so gigantic she's 2x the size of the males and it leads to some mating issues 😂  They will figure it out eventually!

Corydoras are just so cool.

Ordered some plant weights...will use them instead of the rocks if the bugger me too bad lol 🙂

Yea she swam up to the front of the tank and I was like...guuuurl you getting big!