Returning to the hobby after some years.

[Bolendo]

A separate tank is a better idea. Frogs always do better in a species only tank. Besides the problem of feeding them when fish are likely to eat the food before the frogs find it, there is also the question of what to do if the fish get sick as frogs cannot tolerate fish meds in the water.

Be careful about which frogs you buy. Maybe there are golden dwarf frogs now but certainly until recently the olny non-brown frogs were African clawed frogs which grow a lot bigger. Look at their front feet. If there is webbing between the front toes, they are dwarfs, if there is no webbing,they are clawed frogs. Many shops can't tell the difference and they are mislabelled.

These are definately Hymenochirus boettgeri. I have decided to get some of the normal coloured frogs too. Their aquarium arrived today. There is a bit of controversy as to what substrate is best for them. I suspect the bottom of their natural environment in the wild is mud, however this is difficult to duplicate in an aquarium, as you will know. I prefer sand, as the food is more visible and won't disappear between the gravel stones, however I have also read that they can ingest sand grains. What do you think?

 

[Bolendo]

Welcome to this place.
80mm!

Gourock! Awwwwwwwhhhh mmmaaaaaannnnn. I worked up that way 30yrs ago this summer. Where does the time go? Wemys Bay, Dunnoon and Bute, had a great time. Food poisoning from the bakers on the left as you drove into Gourock, a beer on the ferry before work. Pretending we were footballers at night in Largs. Pub in Greenock were they’d not had an Englishman in for 25yrs. Heavy duty hangovers.
It’s all coming back to me now.

Anyway enjoy yourself on here.

I suspect that if you were to come back and visit Gourock, you would find that not very much had changed in the intervening 30 years. In some ways that is not a bad thing. However the American base in the Holy Loch, across the water, has gone, which pulled the plug on the local economy, as it generated a lot of business. The pier, which was a focal point and transport hub, together with the adjacent Bay Hotel have also gone, although there are still facilities for passenger ferries to Dunoon and Kilcreggan. Despite all that, it is not a bad place to live. Thanks for sharing your memories.

 

[Bolendo]

Excellent ! Another returnee to the hobby. Really helps to be retired. I am and I have time to play around with live foods, be serious about breeding and actually do my water changes on a regular schedule rather than hoping for the odd bit of free time here and there. The new technology that you mentioned isn't anything to get starry eyed over. Submersible heaters are nice but all the old standard stuff you used years ago is still the way to go. I saw a post here recently about those Bio Orbs that you likened to a goldfish bowl. I wouldn't buy one but I wouldn't refuse the gift of one if it were offered. The're cool in an odd way. Sure getting to be a lot of Englishmen here of late.

Again, thanks for the welcome. Yes, having plenty of free time is certainly an advantage. Gazing dreamily into the shimmering, restful light of an aquarium allows for some light meditation, and stimulates thoughts on how our world has changed since the days since I made my first steps into this hobby. A friend owns a pet store, which specialises in tropical fish. Near the entrance, he has a small display of how it used to be - a small iron-framed tank, topped with a cover made out of aluminium folded sheet, with a mechanical air pump rhythmically spinning its chrome wheel. The small cylinder hypnotically dancing to and fro, like some miniature "nodding donkey" Texan oil well. It certainly creates some interest amongst the clients more used to today's technology.

It didn't take long before I noticed the main drawbacks to the Bio Orb. It felt distinctly top-heavy, atop its table, and I never felt too comfortable passing near it. It just looked unstable. For the volume of water, it had a very small bottom area, and because of its shape, the substrate was out of sight most of the time when looked at from the side. I had some small shrimps and a crayfish. Being bottom feeders, they were difficult to spot, but when you did see them, they and their fellow tank inhabitants looked distorted, because of the magnification of the glass. The perspective was completely wrong.

From a practical point of view, the "rocks" that come supplied don't seem to be suitable for the bottom of an aquarium. Their irregular shapes leave great cavities between them, providing spaces for uneaten food to gather. The filtered section underneath seems to be the small raised disc in the centre, the remainder of the base being unfiltered, allowing debris to gather between these rocks. I had cause to clean the orb out after only two weeks, and was amazed at the volume of matter than soon soiled the water as soon as it was disturbed.

I offered it to a friend for his plants. I wouldn't recommend it for fish.

I have just bought a 64 litre (14 gallon) "Panorama" tank to replace it. Being rectangular, it has a much larger bottom area than the Bio Orb, and it is more visible. It also comes with a new-fangled special filtration system, which I decided to ditch in favour of a traditional undergravel filter. I intend to keep African dwarf frogs and some small shrimp in it, so hope to reduce the strong suction and water movement to a minimum. I can also walk past it without fear, knowing if I accidentally bump into it for any reason, it is more likely to remain upright!

 

[ClownLurch]

I suspect that if you were to come back and visit Gourock, you would find that not very much had changed in the intervening 30 years. In some ways that is not a bad thing. However the American base in the Holy Loch, across the water, has gone, which pulled the plug on the local economy, as it generated a lot of business. The pier, which was a focal point and transport hub, together with the adjacent Bay Hotel have also gone, although there are still facilities for passenger ferries to Dunoon and Kilcreggan. Despite all that, it is not a bad place to live. Thanks for sharing your memories.

Yeah. I knew the Americans had gone. I arranged to meet the local lads for a night out in Dunoon. I turned up at the bar agreed and walked in.....I was the only white face in there which is a shock to the system when you consider the surroundings. The music in there was the best in the area mind you.
The local boys were leaning over the wall of the hotel/bar just up hill from it laughing at my face when I walked back out.

Twas the summer Motherwell beat Dundee Utd 5-4 in the Cup Final. Watched it during a pub crawl so that may be wrong.

I stayed in a hotel heading south from Dunoon centre on the coast road about half way down to where the Campbells slaughtered their hosts in their beds a few hundred years previous. Just before you loop round to the loch that’s over the hills from Dunoon where........official secrets act kicks in here.

 

[ClownLurch]

Again, thanks for the welcome. Yes, having plenty of free time is certainly an advantage. Gazing dreamily into the shimmering, restful light of an aquarium allows for some light meditation, and stimulates thoughts on how our world has changed since the days since I made my first steps into this hobby. A friend owns a pet store, which specialises in tropical fish. Near the entrance, he has a small display of how it used to be - a small iron-framed tank, topped with a cover made out of aluminium folded sheet, with a mechanical air pump rhythmically spinning its chrome wheel. The small cylinder hypnotically dancing to and fro, like some miniature "nodding donkey" Texan oil well. It certainly creates some interest amongst the clients more used to today's technology.

It didn't take long before I noticed the main drawbacks to the Bio Orb. It felt distinctly top-heavy, atop its table, and I never felt too comfortable passing near it. It just looked unstable. For the volume of water, it had a very small bottom area, and because of its shape, the substrate was out of sight most of the time when looked at from the side. I had some small shrimps and a crayfish. Being bottom feeders, they were difficult to spot, but when you did see them, they and their fellow tank inhabitants looked distorted, because of the magnification of the glass. The perspective was completely wrong.

From a practical point of view, the "rocks" that come supplied don't seem to be suitable for the bottom of an aquarium. Their irregular shapes leave great cavities between them, providing spaces for uneaten food to gather. The filtered section underneath seems to be the small raised disc in the centre, the remainder of the base being unfiltered, allowing debris to gather between these rocks. I had cause to clean the orb out after only two weeks, and was amazed at the volume of matter than soon soiled the water as soon as it was disturbed.

I offered it to a friend for his plants. I wouldn't recommend it for fish.

I have just bought a 64 litre (14 gallon) "Panorama" tank to replace it. Being rectangular, it has a much larger bottom area than the Bio Orb, and it is more visible. It also comes with a new-fangled special filtration system, which I decided to ditch in favour of a traditional undergravel filter. I intend to keep African dwarf frogs and some small shrimp in it, so hope to reduce the strong suction and water movement to a minimum. I can also walk past it without fear, knowing if I accidentally bump into it for any reason, it is more likely to remain upright!

True.
MrsLurch has a 30L biorb with half a dozen endlers. They’ve a tendency to get stuck nosing around in the rocks as well. Not good for big fish and not good for small fish. I don’t like em at all. I’m a glass box man myself.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I was the only white face in there which is a shock to the system when you consider the surroundings.

Oof.