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  1. GaryE

    A horse of a different color... new air pump here...

    The Jehmco sourced Japanese ones make one noise - bubbling. They are surprisingly quiet - quieter than small diaphragm pumps. I run two. I have an old German made diaphragm pump I use for my brine shrimp, and it makes more noise than the two Medo/Jehmco running 60 filters between them. I have...
  2. GaryE

    A horse of a different color... new air pump here...

    They are Japanese, and medical grade. My only issue is I didn't buy a larger one, which I should have. I can run a lot of outlets, but not deep. That is a minor thing with small killie tanks, but for the big tanks, I wish I had gone larger. Cheapness gets me far too often.
  3. GaryE

    A horse of a different color... new air pump here...

    They are fantastic. I have two - and the smaller one has run for many years.
  4. GaryE

    sellers putting stuff in the shipping bags of fish...

    Carbon is there to absorb the fright hormone/toxins some Cory group species release. It has nothing to do with ammonia. The toxins are only released by a minority of species, but for good shippers, for the safe species, a little piece of carbon calms the customers.
  5. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    I've done that job, here and there and off and on. It's like herding mice at a crossroads - there's no stopping more and more and more of it. I would love to know if English speaking companies make as much of a mess of it when they translate into or write in Mandarin. It gets wild. I edited for...
  6. GaryE

    who is most susceptible to getting Ich???

    How badly it affects fish depends more on their scale structure, from what I've seen. As Colin noted, it spreads more slowly cool, but it spreads. You have to remember that as an organism, it isn't evolved to kill. I've seen several photos taken underwater in the wild where a fish might have...
  7. GaryE

    a. cacatuoides Spawn and It’s Strike one

    Th first spawn often goes wrong. Your cacatuoides type is what used to be called "an orange flash", and they are a selected form. A lot of breeders for farms separate fry from their parents almost immediately, and the instincts for parenting don't get modeled and often take a few tries to kick...
  8. GaryE

    The Many Different Species Of Kuhli Loach

    It's a very old thread, but a very interesting one. I slap my forehead in despair at them all being called "kuhli" loaches when the name only works for one species. Our hobby, sometimes... It's sad to see how many of the posters in very old threads are no longer on the forum, in spite of...
  9. GaryE

    OK, so what really is the blue stuff they put in the fish water when they ship some fish???

    That can work as long as they remain picky about who they buy from. I have had epidemics hit fish from the best of sources though. It just happens sometimes, without the seller knowing it. A few years ago I bought 50 cardinals from a trusted source, and they wiped out from what looked like...
  10. GaryE

    OK, so what really is the blue stuff they put in the fish water when they ship some fish???

    A lot of companies in North America still use bag buddies. They used to sell them in enormous quantities even a retailer would take a long time getting though. 8 on 12 is a worry - that's a poor survival rate although at this time of year it might be more expected. The average 1 or 2 tank...
  11. GaryE

    Baby snails appeared out of nowhere??

    I was congratulating myself on losing all my malaysian snails due to extreme cold when I moved. I went over a year without seeing any. It was all hubris. In 2 tanks, they are back, albeit in small numbers. Their lifestyle makes them very hard to notice, until you do something that disturbs the...
  12. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    Judge: Young man, you deserve to lose 4 points for doing what you did. Connor: Don't you know who I am? I'm the TFF Fish of the Month Contest Czar! Judge: Case dismissed.
  13. GaryE

    Need Help Diagnosing Fish Health Issues in My 75g Community

    This will pass, with the kind of advice above. You then you look longer term, and lock into disease prevention mode. That's not always easy, as most of the health problems we see come from the supply chain - the farms. In a perfect aquarium set up, you'll have a quarantine tank, set up like a...
  14. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    Go Goth. Black background, dark gravel. Why? Fish will adjust their colours to the surroundings, so their colouring will be deeper. With a decent LED, the green of natural plants will really pop, as will reds. I like a tank where you barely notice it - where the living things inside grab the...
  15. GaryE

    Celestial Pearl Danio Hybrid?

    If that's a question for me - I don't keep them. If I did, I would have them in single species tanks, because they breed so easily and a giant 'herd' would be cool to watch. I never keep fish I think can hybridize together. That's why we buy more tanks!
  16. GaryE

    Rams eating catfish pellets?

    If I am feeding prepared foods, I use at least 3 types in rotation. The differences are minor, but they may matter. I like a veggie flake, a colour flake and a staple. I use a lot of bug bites flakes because they're the only prepared food my killies will lay eggs after eating, although their...
  17. GaryE

    Celestial Pearl Danio Hybrid?

    Very few people read our discussions, but there is food for thought here. Danio margaritus, the CPD, is a "Data Deficient" fish on the red list for endangered fish. In effect, there is no proof of its status either way. There are rumours about limited wild numbers though, and the ones we get are...
  18. GaryE

    Japanese Ricefish Project

    If they're happy, you won't need to get more. They'll take care of that.
  19. GaryE

    Japanese Ricefish Project

    That isn't very much water, even for ricefish... They aren't killifish, although they resemble lampeyes. Different family.
  20. GaryE

    OK, so what really is the blue stuff they put in the fish water when they ship some fish???

    It's actually methelyne blue but also a sedative. I've used it for shipping swordtails, or I did back in the day. Any fish sold at the jumbo stage is more at risk in shipping, as it's older. Young fish ship much better, so I would guess they were concerned about sending the oldies. It's good...
  21. GaryE

    Bent Spine in Grass Pickerel

    Something seems wrong here. Is it a place that just happens to have North American native fish in tanks, or is it a place that deals in these fish? You have a large predator for a 40 gallon there. I would try to get it onto a diet of fish. If it is taking pellets or beefheart, it has learned...
  22. GaryE

    Bent Spine in Grass Pickerel

    The fish is starving to death. The bend in the spine looks to be from loss of muscle mass.
  23. GaryE

    Non species bonding

    Don't forget the old advice about being chased by a grizzly. You don't have to be the fastest, just faster than the slowest guy. A lot of inter-species hanging out starts that way - if a predator appears and you are with another fish, it's only 50% it'll attack you. We want our fish to be...
  24. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    Model ships... they were such a thing when I was a kid. I had a flotilla of plastic kit ships, some with rigging and elaborate paint jobs. I thought they'd gone the way of stamp collecting and canary breeding as once common hobbies that now hang on by the skin of their teeth. I don't think I...
  25. GaryE

    I need a knowledgeable answer

    We need more info. Once you've tested for hardness, or checked the readings from your well or from your municipal water supplier, we still don't know enough to give you a grounded response. When you tell us the results, please add tank size, all the species and their numbers in the tank, and...
  26. GaryE

    Future Species from Invasive fish

    Everything adapts and evolves. Introduced Tilapia are destroying native species at a terrifying clip, but eventually, they'll change and become new species. There are quite a few species under the banner of Tilapia already, btw, and quite a few species being introduced. What they can't become is...
  27. GaryE

    Jonah's aquarium question

    You'd have to ask. They are a small, specialized operation and probably don't have set prices. It usually depends on where you are in relation to them.
  28. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    The spelling seems wrong for that to be authentic... "honour". I've watched broodcaring chocolates demolish tanks once the fry hatch. They're amazing, but they take no prisoners.
  29. GaryE

    West Side Story???

    The Cory group only has a few uncommon members who get into private property. Most shoaling bottom oriented fish stay chill, though the wrong gang will mess up natural behaviour and may cause one species to get more food that the others. It's more shoalers and nasty loners like red tailed...
  30. GaryE

    Water Changes For Fish Health vs Plant Melt... Happy Medium?

    One advantage of small weekly water changes over larger monthly ones is they are much less likely to change the parameters radically. If wastes build up, the ecology of the tank changes. The water change swings it back suddenly and abruptly. But 25-30% every week keeps it stable. No swings, no...
  31. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    We had a really enjoyable local aquarium club meeting last night. I ended up in a post meeting very wide ranging conversation with a bunch of people that veered into why we thought we liked fishkeeping. You could see people had thought about this, since aquarists tend to be thought of as a bunch...
  32. GaryE

    Odd Question about Carpet Shampooing around a Fish Tank

    I don't know if you'll get a definite answer. There are a lot of factors with different cleansers, etc. I would do it with the windows open, any air filtration or bubblers temporarily turned off, the tank covered, etc. Really prepping for it would be quick and easy. There is always a risk, but...
  33. GaryE

    Too many frys :(

    I get this, though few will read it and follow your suggestion. It's unfortunate, but selling moves them out. I've found it harder to give away fish than it has been to sell them. There's this weird mentality that says free has no value, and I find the lifespans of fish I gave away rather than...
  34. GaryE

    Wild Xiphophorus maculatus, Rio San Pedro

    Allow me to express my deepest jealousy....
  35. GaryE

    Too many frys :(

    Fry are like moose. One fry, two fry... and you can also have too many moose. This will sound worse than my fishbook editor line up there - many species that won't eat their own fry for the first month or so will eat other species. And after a month when the parents begin to prep for another...
  36. GaryE

    Ok… buying another group of Cory’s for another tank… so really what is the practical size group???

    I generally buy Corys in groups of 6, for budget reasons. But my longer term goal with them is to have groups of 15-20, after they breed. I wouldn't buy six if I weren't set up to give breeding a try. Then, I would aim for 10. If 10 didn't fit in my tank, I would buy none. I always apologize...
  37. GaryE

    What are you doing today?

    I had one loss from my trip, though it wasn't travel caused. My old red eared slider turtle had been looking off for a few weeks, and I found her dead when I returned. She had clearly died in her sleep, 2 months short of 41 years old. That's a long time to have a pet. 1984 to 2024. I thought she...
  38. GaryE

    Gary back in Africa again???

    I love being anonymous, so an unfriendly city doesn't bother me in the least. I enjoy people watching in a huge city, but I don't really go to see individual people - it's the dynamism of the city. I'm also an amateur historian type, and spend a lot of time chasing ghosts. I love knowing some of...
  39. GaryE

    Gary back in Africa again???

    The TFF learjet is not what I expected. It turned out to be a large styrofoam glider. 11 days away and I only saw 5 goldfish, languishing in a tiny London petshop. We went to London, then Florence, Siena and London again. I have this thing about big, classic art museums and medieval...
  40. GaryE

    Thermometers

    The only advantage to old school thermometers is they also have fahrenheit on them, since they have US distributors here. So when I have to speak American temperatures here, I don't have to do a conversion!
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