Chick-In-Of-TheSea Aquashella Adventure

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Today I attended Aquashella Daytona 2023! It was epic! I learned a lot of things from a lot of cool people. It is 10pm and I just finished acclimating my new kids to their respective tanks and tidying up the fish room because with all the merch and previous maintenance I failed to clean up, it looked like a bomb hit. For now, I will leave you with a few photos and a video of the entrance.

 

I have a lot of photos and videos, so we will have to do this in parts. What would you like to see next?

1. Interesting items I found, or

2. Shrimp contest

Edited November 5, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

#1 for sure.

[TheSwissAquarist]

Betcha went home with a couple of new fish! 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

This shows the difference between Kat’s Aquatics calcium vs competitor calcium.

 

I asked the guy, what’s so bad about phosphates? He said phosphates = algae probs. Noted!

 

A pepper grinder with fish food! They sell several varieties. Dr. Tim’s products are worth another look. They have a bunch of media to help with various tank issues. Also a gel food that doesn’t turn to mush in the tank. You put in a block; it stays as a block. Seaweed-based binder vs gelatin. But some cons: must be kept frozen. Once prepared, can only freeze 1 week. Once in tank, must be removed in 2-3 hours.

 

I won full size bottles of Prime and Stability.

 

This is tank safe:

 

corydoras 

 

re: The paludarium in the video. BiOrb has similar with built in light and mister, and they are pretty slick! They are not marketed for animal use but they sure are cool for plants. The bottom of the biOrb will detect dryness and inform the top of the biOrb to put out mist. Also these products are built with such ventilation to regulate humidity as well as keep the glass clear for viewing.

I had grandiose plans to see speakers. I never saw any! There was too much going on, and a lot of ground to cover! We even forgot to eat, until about 2:30 when we realized our tummies were grumbling loudly. We were living off the Halloween candy that practically every vendor booth had available! 🤣 We didn’t get to all the booths, but we believe we got to all the freshwater ones at least, skipping some saltwater things as the event closed for the day. Speaking of saltwater, one booth had this pill bottle lookin thing with holes. It attaches to the side of the tank with magnets. You put frozen food in it, then you slide it down to the bottom with the magnets, and it allows the bottom feeders to eat the frozen food as it thaws.

If you download the Fish Stream app it will notify you of the livestreams happening at the event today (today is the last day).

I got to meet Joanna and Jason from Prime Time Aquatics, Dustin from Dustin's Fish Tanks, and the gal from Aquarium Info. She was so sweet!  I also got to see MD Fish Tanks and Matt from Matt's Fish Room (they were on their way to a speaking engagement so I didn't get to meet or speak with them due to their "bouncer" with the big frown). 

What would you like to see next?

1. Who I adopted

2. Aquascaping contest

Edited November 7, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TheSwissAquarist]

#1 ! Nice wall of ACO goodies 😅

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Alrighty here are the new kids.

 

These are ember tetra. I bought 8; he gave me 9. 🎉

 

They are tiny nano fish! ❤️

 

This is what they will look like when they color up.

And you know I can’t resist a snail 🐌 ❤️ 

I adopted this little blue guy from Kat’s Aquatics. He’s still a little tyke! He found a nice leaf to spend the night on. He decided to sleep in this morning. 🙂 

What would you like to see next?

1. Loot haul

2. Non-fish animals at Aquashella

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[GoofyGarra]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:33 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

1. Loot haul

2. Non-fish animals at Aquashella

all of the above?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:35 AM, GoofyGarra said:

all of the above?

I wish, but that would mean I would have to spend a day writing a post! 🤣

So we will go in phases.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[GoofyGarra]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:35 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

So we will go in phases.

ok, ill vote for non-fish animals

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Ok excluding shrimp, which has its own chunk of photos from the contest, here are some of the non-fish animals of Aquashella.

 

Danger noodles:

 

Rat snek:

 

Bearded dragon:

 

Not pictured: parrots, bengal cats, owl (looked at bengal kittens like, “mmm, lunch” - no srsly..)

 

Look at this aquatic frog @Guppysnail@Lennie

 

What would you like to see next?

1. Shrimp contest

2. Fish

Edited November 7, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Pokey]

#1 😃 No wonder you didn’t get to go to any presentations! Looks like it was a huge event! Glad you had a great time!

[TheSwissAquarist]

My obsession before fish was reptiles 😍

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The judges were us! After the shrimps passed their health checks (visible health issues are a disqualification).

 

 

OK, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I feel like a lot of my blue dreams were as good as these. 😉

 

What would you like to see next?

1. Fish for sale

2. Loot haul

Edited November 5, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:55 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

OK, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I feel like a lot of my blue dreams were as good as these. 😉

you should've entered! That's one of the fun things is for contests like that, I think it's open to everyone.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/5/2023 at 11:06 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

you should've entered! That's one of the fun things is for contests like that, I think it's open to everyone.

 

I don’t have pure blue dreams anymore. I gave those to my friend and kept the wilds and inkblot blue dreams.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/5/2023 at 8:11 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I don’t have pure blue dreams anymore. I gave those to my friend and kept the wilds and inkblot blue dreams.

I would've sent some of your wilds. Some are awesome.  A good portion of the score is having them be the same size and similar patterning (wild is a bit of a different mix though.)

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The embers have already started to color up

 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Aquascaping contest

All of the above tanks were being raffled off after, everything included but the stand.
 

This may not have been part of the contest?  It was part of a vendor booth. The gentleman found a hole puncher that made leaves. He used that on catappa leaves and put those at the base of this tree.

This one was in a vendor booth.

And then don’t tell the contestants but, my favorite scape was the sunset tank at the CaribSea booth.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/6/2023 at 2:25 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Aquascaping contest

They really should apply backgrounds for the contest or do something like rate it from both sides?  That first photo, I can't imagine the color that the background would be, but having it without peoples legs would greatly improve the visual aesthetic!

On 11/6/2023 at 2:25 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

And then don’t tell the contestants but, my favorite scape was the sunset tank at the CaribSea booth.

I love the idea of using watercolor as the background (or oil paintings).  What a visually striking and really impactful piece of the design.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Fish for sale at Aquashella

 Bettas already starting to sell out. This is the Badfish booth: a sister store of Aquarium Co Op. My friend bought a betta from Badfish.

Here is another booth selling bags of fish hung up.
 

 

Trust me. This setup is good. Also each bag had ammonia removal sponge. (Friend bought a trio of bumblebee gobies from here)

Some booths had bags of fish in bins. Sorry, but that was a hot mess. All the customers were picking up the bags to look at the fish; the fish were freaking out; then the customers put the bags back down; the next customers would come and do the same. So much stress for the fish.

I bought my fish out of the clear bin next to this one.

I asked the shop to hold my purchase until I was leaving. They bagged the fish and kept the bag in the bin for me. Easy peasy.

Display tank at entrance

Coral frags

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

I seriously want answers of why I can never find awesome cool wood like these

[Lennie]

On 11/5/2023 at 12:54 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

This shows the difference between Kat’s Aquatics calcium vs competitor calcium.

 

I asked the guy, what’s so bad about phosphates? He said phosphates = algae probs. Noted!

 

A pepper grinder with fish food! They sell several varieties. Dr. Tim’s products are worth another look. They have a bunch of media to help with various tank issues. Also a gel food that doesn’t turn to mush in the tank. You put in a block; it stays as a block. Seaweed-based binder vs gelatin. But some cons: must be kept frozen. Once prepared, can only freeze 1 week. Once in tank, must be removed in 2-3 hours.

 

I won full size bottles of Prime and Stability.

 

This is tank safe:

 

corydoras 

 

re: The paludarium in the video. BiOrb has similar with built in light and mister, and they are pretty slick! They are not marketed for animal use but they sure are cool for plants. The bottom of the biOrb will detect dryness and inform the top of the biOrb to put out mist. Also these products are built with such ventilation to regulate humidity as well as keep the glass clear for viewing.

I had grandiose plans to see speakers. I never saw any! There was too much going on, and a lot of ground to cover! We even forgot to eat, until about 2:30 when we realized our tummies were grumbling loudly. We were living off the Halloween candy that practically every vendor booth had available! 🤣 We didn’t get to all the booths, but we believe we got to all the freshwater ones at least, skipping some saltwater things as the event closed for the day. Speaking of saltwater, one booth had this pill bottle lookin thing with holes. It attaches to the side of the tank with magnets. You put frozen food in it, then you slide it down to the bottom with the magnets, and it allows the bottom feeders to eat the frozen food as it thaws.

If you download the Fish Stream app it will notify you of the livestreams happening at the event today (today is the last day).

I got to meet Joanna and Jason from Prime Time Aquatics, Dustin from Dustin's Fish Tanks, and the gal from Aquarium Info. She was so sweet!  I also got to see MD Fish Tanks and Matt from Matt's Fish Room (they were on their way to a speaking engagement so I didn't get to meet or speak with them due to their "bouncer" with the big frown). 

What would you like to see next?

1. Who I adopted

2. Aquascaping contest

I love the pleco plushies. Adorable

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/7/2023 at 5:21 PM, Guppysnail said:

I seriously want answers of why I can never find awesome cool wood like these

It could be because you also find it hard to pay upwards of 40 bucks for a stick? 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/7/2023 at 11:00 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

It could be because you also find it hard to pay upwards of 40 bucks for a stick? 

It's a whole lot of things glued together....

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Guppysnail my LFS always has spiderwood. I could go in there and take photos and you can tell me what you’d like to buy, then I can ship it

we can do it over text or something

Edited November 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea