How Do You Keep Track Of Your Fish?

[iankent]

thought I'd let you know about something I've been working on, which lets you track your fish etc. - still under development and a long way to go, but provides quite a bit of basic functionality:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...quarium-Online/

 

[OldMan47]

For me its none of the above. When I have a fish that I want to breed and need to keep breeding records, its worthwhile tracking that fish. Usually my fish are tracked only by me knowing what is presently in each tank. If I need a record system for that, I have too many tanks. I am about to embark on a breeding program so the detailed tracking records will be coming into play for the first time. For that, every time I put 2 fish together I will need to track the fact and the location of each batch of fry in a particular tank will be very important.

 

[iankent]

For me its none of the above. When I have a fish that I want to breed and need to keep breeding records, its worthwhile tracking that fish. Usually my fish are tracked only by me knowing what is presently in each tank. If I need a record system for that, I have too many tanks. I am about to embark on a breeding program so the detailed tracking records will be coming into play for the first time. For that, every time I put 2 fish together I will need to track the fact and the location of each batch of fry in a particular tank will be very important.

Hi - thanks for your comments. In all fairness, it wasnt aimed at the breeder, whose records would of course need to be more detailed than usual. It was more aimed towards anyone who likes to share photos etc., or for an easy place to keep track of water test results - especially useful during fishless cycling!

If you do think it could be extended to support the breeding process and it's something you'd be interested in, please do get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do! Breeding isn't something I'm familiar with in the slightest, but I'm always willing to learn!

 

[OldMan47]

iankent, if you are using excel to track cycling activity, why not record your readings on one sheet and graph them on the next sheet. That way you end up with a graphic representation of what your cycle looks like. That strikes me as a useful thing to do with excel.
Most record keeping can be done readily using any text editor much more easily than with excel. If you have a standardized set of records then a database is the best tool but many people don't have database software so it's not an option for them. I have seen a tendency to try to keep database records in spreadsheets like excel and although it keeps decent lists, it's no database. With a true database you could ask questions such as how many of a thing do I have or what is the average age of this type or what is the oldest or youngest of a particular type. A simple list makes you do too much work after you do the sorting so it is not such a great tool for database manipulations.
Many, I would say most, people have never seen an effective database at work and don't know how much time it can save them. For that reason very few copies are sold and people like me who can actually use one end up paying too much for the software. So much for my rant about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. At one time databases were part of the typical office suite bundle but are no longer included because not enough people learned to use them.

 

[iankent]

OldMan47, I feel your missing the point here. The website I developed basically acts as a front-end to a database, which is where water results etc. are stored, so yes it is possible to ask it "how many corydoras did I add to my tank in 2007", though as of yet that's not an option on my website - as you'll see on my aquarium, if you view the Water result data, you can create a report, which does produce a graphical representation of your water stats - all without needing Excel or Access etc.

the website is more there for the people who have notes scribbled on a whiteboard, or have post-it notes stuck to their walls with info written on! my idea was to let people keep the info online, in both a friendly and shareable way

if having looked at myAquarium, you feel that it is completely useless, then of course thats your right to do so - if on the other hand you feel that it could be extended to be of use to you (tracking breeding information, gathering stats (e.g. how many neons have been born in 12 months and survived past 3 months old etc.), then I'd be happy to add a breeding section to the tool

and for clarification, when I say application, it's not something that you download and install to your pc, it's a website based application that runs from your webbrowser, with the only basic requirement being Javascript (which the majority of people will have installed anyway) - and on top of that, its free for anyone to use!

if you have any more comments i'd be pleased to hear them
thanks!