And everything is doing fine! The algae is doing too well, if you ask me, but the shrimp have been making a dent and just added a pair of otocinclus to the tank today to help with that as well. Also got two more ornate tetras for a tank crew of:
6 Ornate tetras
5 Columbian Red-Blue tetras
2 otocinclus
1 Rubberlip Plecostomus
10 (or so) ghost shrimp
and a couple of pesky pond snails...those jerks
I have decided I am going to buckle down and purchase a new digital camera to help out with the blog. Either that, or figure out how to work the hubby's and use it for better pics. Only other new happening is the new CO2 reactor! Weighed it out between making a homemade reactor or purchasing a kit with a bubble counter/diffuser and went with the kit, mostly so I can get some accessible carbon into the tank to help the plants out and (cross fingers) get them growing fast enough to stave off some of the algae. I am also holding off on adding any more liquid fertilizer until the plants begin to respond to the CO2 and can use the liquid better. At this point, I feel that I am just feeding my algae. The kit is by Hagen and it has some good looks. Will probably use the provided yeast kits until I run out and then use my own homemade mix to save money.
Kid you not, some of my ghost shrimp are larger than the otos I just put in. They are becoming MONSTERS!
Prepping for a water change tomorrow or Thursday and still trying to decide my showcase fish. I am having a dilemma here...I LOVE blue ram cichlids and think they would do mighty fine in my tank, but they are not readily available in my area and the places that sell them offer very short guarantee periods. My other preference is for Turquoise Severum cichlids, who get much larger and may nibble on the plants. But these we sell at my workplace, we have a long guarantee period, and I can observe them for illness/gender at the store before I buy. I don't know. I will have to think on it some more...I think my tank is better suited for the dwarf Blues, but I don't want to have a fuss about gender/illness/return policies!
Anywho, thanks for reading! Will post more soon!
-Bri
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
I'm horrible about remembering to take pictures...
...but I promise I'll get better! Just did a 20% water change on the tank and scrubbed down the glass. Getting some green algae growth on the rainbow rocks and have seen some oxygen accumulation on the bottoms of the ocelot sword leaves! Boo algae growth but yay plant growth. Also had to to cut back the bottoms on two of the cabomba stalks to get the current root growth closer (or into) the substrate. Three of them have already rooted on their own. The java moss is flourishing and I have had to split one of the sections into two pieces, moving the "new" section into a grove on the right side driftwood. I have yet to see the hairgrass go anywhere, but I have high hopes considering how well everything else is doing in the tank! Fairly soon I may have to rig up my CO2 reactor!
The fish and shrimp (the shrimp especially) are enjoying the fruits of my labor. The shrimp were all out investigating the bits of flotsam from the scrub down. The tetras all hid during the work but have come out to see what all the shrimp were doing. By the way, I am down to 4 ornate tetras and I may leave it that way. We'll see if I feel inclined to add any more as I get more fish for the tank. I think the next additions will be a couple of otocinclus to help out with the green algae growth in the small pores on the rainbow rock since I see the pleco going over it but missing the smaller crevasses. I think I will also get a school of cardinals before they go off sale price. As many as I want to have in the tank, I would much rather pay a quarter of the price for each than full price!
Sad day yesterday...Perseus is now swimming in the pond that never ends (fish heaven, right?). He passed while resting on his favorite fake plant. Not too bad, he made it to his 3rd birthday. I still personally think this was his way of getting back at me for moving him out of the "big" tank, but I can't blame him. Don't know if I'll end up getting another betta or not. I now have an empty bowl, but with the larger tank to take care of, it would be nice to not set up another betta for a while. We will see if anyone strikes my fancy at work.
That is all for now. Nutters says "Hi" from the cage, but I think it might be "Where are the snacks". I'm not so good at translating rat...
-Bri
The fish and shrimp (the shrimp especially) are enjoying the fruits of my labor. The shrimp were all out investigating the bits of flotsam from the scrub down. The tetras all hid during the work but have come out to see what all the shrimp were doing. By the way, I am down to 4 ornate tetras and I may leave it that way. We'll see if I feel inclined to add any more as I get more fish for the tank. I think the next additions will be a couple of otocinclus to help out with the green algae growth in the small pores on the rainbow rock since I see the pleco going over it but missing the smaller crevasses. I think I will also get a school of cardinals before they go off sale price. As many as I want to have in the tank, I would much rather pay a quarter of the price for each than full price!
Sad day yesterday...Perseus is now swimming in the pond that never ends (fish heaven, right?). He passed while resting on his favorite fake plant. Not too bad, he made it to his 3rd birthday. I still personally think this was his way of getting back at me for moving him out of the "big" tank, but I can't blame him. Don't know if I'll end up getting another betta or not. I now have an empty bowl, but with the larger tank to take care of, it would be nice to not set up another betta for a while. We will see if anyone strikes my fancy at work.
That is all for now. Nutters says "Hi" from the cage, but I think it might be "Where are the snacks". I'm not so good at translating rat...
-Bri
Monday, January 10, 2011
How to be the ideal pet store shopper!
Here are some tips on how to be an ideal pet store shopper! It may seem easy, but many can't seem to follow some of these basic steps!
Step 1: Do your research BEFORE you shop! Buying a pet, starting a fish tank...these are not in any way similar to renting a movie or buying clothing. They require education and thought, and on a busy day in the pet store, your pet store associates may not have the time to educate you thoroughly on what you are buying. Most places aren't commission-based either, which means we are staffed to help everyone who visits as succinctly as possible. In other words, the pet store staff may have to help several other people as well as you in a short time frame, and if you are taking up too much time asking questions that you could have researched yourself at home (the library, the internet, the local bookstore are all great resources!) you are making a LOT of other customers unhappy, which makes it hard on the business you are visiting. They try very hard to please everyone equally, and you can make it difficult by skipping this very important first step!
Step 2: Make a list of pertinent questions! After doing your research from Step 1, write down a short list of questions you would like to ask at your local pet shop. That way you do not forget about what you would like to ask and we can make sure your experience is as informative as you would have liked it!
Step 3: Do NOT come in with a time limit when starting a new pet enterprise! Nothing is more irritating and inconvenient than someone who needs to make a huge purchase in a short time frame. Give yourself time to be helped!
Step 4: (Within reason) Take the pet store staff's advice! Now if the staff member is obviously a complete idiot (have seen it happen before), please take all advice with a grain of salt. The good news is, if you did your research, you should be prepared with some knowledge of what you are trying to do. You can use this knowledge to "test" the staff member assisting you. Let's say you are buying fish. Now you have done your research and know that you should only add about 2-4 small- to medium-sized fish to your 20 gallon tank at a time. You test your staff member by saying "I would like to add 6 of these Red-Bellied Pacu to my 20 gallon tank". A reasonable response would be "Sir or Ma'am, I highly recommend choosing a different fish for your tank as this species can get quite large. Too large, in fact, for your tank! Let's look at these tetras over here..." Someone who nods their head and starts to catch your new tankbusters is obviously not up to snuff. Now, if you've done your test and concluded that this person knows at least as much as you, if not more, PLEASE take recommendations! I cannot repeat enough that when one has worked in a pet store environment long enough, seen enough returns of unfortunate critters, and keeps up on their knowledge base, they know a few things about what they are selling. I have seen too many ill-fated combinations of fish, birds, reptiles, and small animals to not want to prevent a death or two. I don't spend my time talking to you to spew out gibberish. I honestly want to make sure that your tank/vivarium/cage succeeds! I promise that most pet store staff are trying to help you out when they make recommendations as to number of fish, size of cage, and type of reptile bedding. Yes, we are a business and most businesses are out to make money, but there is a special balance in pet stores between making money and keeping happy customers. One bad experience with an inappropriate fish, a child being bitten by a dwarf hamster/parakeet, or a striky snake will end the store-customer relationship very quickly. Now if we take the time to determine that you, in fact, do not need to spend a lot of money today, and that brings about good results, then we will keep you as a customer and keep your future business, however much money that might mean for us.
Step 5 - HOLD ON TO YOUR RECEIPTS!! Almost all pet stores have some form of live pet guarantee. Most of those are null and void without your receipt. If you are keeping fish, store receipts in your tank stand. Small animals, birds, or reptiles...find a good stashing place for those receipts and keep them for the whole guarantee period, even if the pet is healthy the first few days. A lot of places have guarantees on their products as well. Hold onto those also. I cannot tell you how many times someone has had to buy a whole new filter/heater/lamp/cage/etc. because they did not bother to hold onto their receipts! My method? Take a plain envelope and stash receipts in it in a place you will remember. Mine is the drawer next to the sink. Hold onto them until the replacement period is over and then go through and throw out the no longer useful receipts.
Step 6 -REPEAT! Build a relationship with your LPS (local pet store) and it's employees! Be a model customer and they will treat you like gold. You will get to know them and they will feel more comfortable making recommendations to you and your specific needs. You will know peak times in the store and avoid them whenever possible so that you have a little more time with the staff. As we understand you, we can stop "babysitting" you and your purchase choices and start chatting about more advanced topics that are more relevant to you and your critters! The other plus side? If we know you well, we will be more confident in backing you up if you flubbed up and forgot (god forbid!) a receipt. Isn't that nice?
If you love your pets and you visit the pet store at least once a week, follow these steps to make certain that your visits are always productive and positive ones! Trust me, we know who you are when you are in that often, and if you are an ideal shopper, then we are more than happy to serve you every time! If you see your staff running away when you come in...well, maybe you should brush up on these steps and see what good may come of it!
In tank news, we have the traditional good news/bad news. Bad news first, you say? Lost two White-Finned Rosy Tetras in two days this week. The first one made it 6 days in the tank, the second made it 7. No symptoms, no fluctuations in my levels (still 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrate and nitrite). The only thing I could think of is that my pH is slightly more elevated than is ideal for the species, but considering levels at the store (between 7.2-7.5), my 7.6 is nothing too high than what they have been used to. We will see what another water change tomorrow brings to the pH and the health of the rest of my Rosies. Also purchased some more ghost shrimp. The ones from last week have (I swear to goodness) doubled in size and are very active in the tank! Hope they continue to enjoy it as I decrease the pH. Some more tetras have joined the bunch. A school of 5 hyphessobrycon columbianus have joined the tank and are loving it! The Red-Blue Columbians are VERY active when juxtaposed with the more docile and shy Ornates in the tank. They are shoaling together, however, and seem to be having a grand ole time. The Columbians are also more excitable eaters, which has helped the Ornates figure out when the food is coming. Everyone is currently enjoying their daily doses of Omega One flakes and algae wafers and their tri-weekly dose of frozen bloodworms! Plants are doing well, though I will have to make some time for pruning this week as some of the older growth on the swords may need some removal. The java moss is branching out nicely, and I even have some added bonus of duckweed from the shipped plants rooting out at the surface! The eventual hatchets will LOVE that!
That's enough for tonight! Pictures to come in the next few days of the newest additions and the "jumbo" shrimp!
-Bri
Step 1: Do your research BEFORE you shop! Buying a pet, starting a fish tank...these are not in any way similar to renting a movie or buying clothing. They require education and thought, and on a busy day in the pet store, your pet store associates may not have the time to educate you thoroughly on what you are buying. Most places aren't commission-based either, which means we are staffed to help everyone who visits as succinctly as possible. In other words, the pet store staff may have to help several other people as well as you in a short time frame, and if you are taking up too much time asking questions that you could have researched yourself at home (the library, the internet, the local bookstore are all great resources!) you are making a LOT of other customers unhappy, which makes it hard on the business you are visiting. They try very hard to please everyone equally, and you can make it difficult by skipping this very important first step!
Step 2: Make a list of pertinent questions! After doing your research from Step 1, write down a short list of questions you would like to ask at your local pet shop. That way you do not forget about what you would like to ask and we can make sure your experience is as informative as you would have liked it!
Step 3: Do NOT come in with a time limit when starting a new pet enterprise! Nothing is more irritating and inconvenient than someone who needs to make a huge purchase in a short time frame. Give yourself time to be helped!
Step 4: (Within reason) Take the pet store staff's advice! Now if the staff member is obviously a complete idiot (have seen it happen before), please take all advice with a grain of salt. The good news is, if you did your research, you should be prepared with some knowledge of what you are trying to do. You can use this knowledge to "test" the staff member assisting you. Let's say you are buying fish. Now you have done your research and know that you should only add about 2-4 small- to medium-sized fish to your 20 gallon tank at a time. You test your staff member by saying "I would like to add 6 of these Red-Bellied Pacu to my 20 gallon tank". A reasonable response would be "Sir or Ma'am, I highly recommend choosing a different fish for your tank as this species can get quite large. Too large, in fact, for your tank! Let's look at these tetras over here..." Someone who nods their head and starts to catch your new tankbusters is obviously not up to snuff. Now, if you've done your test and concluded that this person knows at least as much as you, if not more, PLEASE take recommendations! I cannot repeat enough that when one has worked in a pet store environment long enough, seen enough returns of unfortunate critters, and keeps up on their knowledge base, they know a few things about what they are selling. I have seen too many ill-fated combinations of fish, birds, reptiles, and small animals to not want to prevent a death or two. I don't spend my time talking to you to spew out gibberish. I honestly want to make sure that your tank/vivarium/cage succeeds! I promise that most pet store staff are trying to help you out when they make recommendations as to number of fish, size of cage, and type of reptile bedding. Yes, we are a business and most businesses are out to make money, but there is a special balance in pet stores between making money and keeping happy customers. One bad experience with an inappropriate fish, a child being bitten by a dwarf hamster/parakeet, or a striky snake will end the store-customer relationship very quickly. Now if we take the time to determine that you, in fact, do not need to spend a lot of money today, and that brings about good results, then we will keep you as a customer and keep your future business, however much money that might mean for us.
Step 5 - HOLD ON TO YOUR RECEIPTS!! Almost all pet stores have some form of live pet guarantee. Most of those are null and void without your receipt. If you are keeping fish, store receipts in your tank stand. Small animals, birds, or reptiles...find a good stashing place for those receipts and keep them for the whole guarantee period, even if the pet is healthy the first few days. A lot of places have guarantees on their products as well. Hold onto those also. I cannot tell you how many times someone has had to buy a whole new filter/heater/lamp/cage/etc. because they did not bother to hold onto their receipts! My method? Take a plain envelope and stash receipts in it in a place you will remember. Mine is the drawer next to the sink. Hold onto them until the replacement period is over and then go through and throw out the no longer useful receipts.
Step 6 -REPEAT! Build a relationship with your LPS (local pet store) and it's employees! Be a model customer and they will treat you like gold. You will get to know them and they will feel more comfortable making recommendations to you and your specific needs. You will know peak times in the store and avoid them whenever possible so that you have a little more time with the staff. As we understand you, we can stop "babysitting" you and your purchase choices and start chatting about more advanced topics that are more relevant to you and your critters! The other plus side? If we know you well, we will be more confident in backing you up if you flubbed up and forgot (god forbid!) a receipt. Isn't that nice?
If you love your pets and you visit the pet store at least once a week, follow these steps to make certain that your visits are always productive and positive ones! Trust me, we know who you are when you are in that often, and if you are an ideal shopper, then we are more than happy to serve you every time! If you see your staff running away when you come in...well, maybe you should brush up on these steps and see what good may come of it!
In tank news, we have the traditional good news/bad news. Bad news first, you say? Lost two White-Finned Rosy Tetras in two days this week. The first one made it 6 days in the tank, the second made it 7. No symptoms, no fluctuations in my levels (still 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrate and nitrite). The only thing I could think of is that my pH is slightly more elevated than is ideal for the species, but considering levels at the store (between 7.2-7.5), my 7.6 is nothing too high than what they have been used to. We will see what another water change tomorrow brings to the pH and the health of the rest of my Rosies. Also purchased some more ghost shrimp. The ones from last week have (I swear to goodness) doubled in size and are very active in the tank! Hope they continue to enjoy it as I decrease the pH. Some more tetras have joined the bunch. A school of 5 hyphessobrycon columbianus have joined the tank and are loving it! The Red-Blue Columbians are VERY active when juxtaposed with the more docile and shy Ornates in the tank. They are shoaling together, however, and seem to be having a grand ole time. The Columbians are also more excitable eaters, which has helped the Ornates figure out when the food is coming. Everyone is currently enjoying their daily doses of Omega One flakes and algae wafers and their tri-weekly dose of frozen bloodworms! Plants are doing well, though I will have to make some time for pruning this week as some of the older growth on the swords may need some removal. The java moss is branching out nicely, and I even have some added bonus of duckweed from the shipped plants rooting out at the surface! The eventual hatchets will LOVE that!
That's enough for tonight! Pictures to come in the next few days of the newest additions and the "jumbo" shrimp!
-Bri
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Had some time to upload photos...
So it's a mostly photo blog while I wait for my chemical tests to develop...
Here is a shot containing four of the ornate tetras, Mr. Pleco down by the right hand rainbow rock, the hairgrass in the front, the ocelot sword in the center, and the cabomba on either side!
Closeup of the cabomba florets!
New growth on one of the amazon swords! Yay!
Shot of the entire tank!
And here are some pics from downtown with the full Christmas get-up! The bonnet:
The hip drape. Amazing what a table runner can do with a little velcro and some yarn!
Jazmine's scallop braids. Lovely, if I do say so myself!
That is all. Off to see my test results after a 25% water change!
-Bri
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Stock Show, Cold Weather, and Micro-Nutrients
My plants survived! The java moss and ocelot sword are still looking under the weather, but are steadily improving with some pruning and the addition of my high output lighting system! That and the addition of substrate fertilizer pellets and some liquid micro-nutrients. The cabomba caroliniana I ordered came with two cuttings already sprouting florets on the top! The tallest two cuttings in the back-center of the tank are starting some dense new growth on the top.
Just added my first batch of fish and critters on Sunday. Five White-finned Rosy Tetras (Hyphessobrycon bentosi) and six Ghost Shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) are the newest inhabitants of the tank. Mr. Pleco enjoys chasing around the ghost shrimp in his spare time from nibbling the algae off the driftwood and the ghost shrimp enjoy using the filter flow to navigate around the tank. About the only time you see one of them is when they are catching the "express" around the front of the tank! One of these times, I'll get a vid of them floating by. The tetras are adjusting well and were coaxed into eating bloodworms on their very first day in the tank. I have to use the brine shrimp net from my bloodworms to feed flakes as well, dipping the net of flakes in the tank and letting the current catch it and take it to the little ones. One I get some more aggressive feeders in there, I may just be able to surface feed. Until then, these shy babies need a little bit of TLC.
Levels in the tank are still doing well. Ammonia, Nitrates, and Nitrites are still at 0ppm, though I should expect all of those levels to fluctuate slightly before the week is out after the addition of fish, but I am almost sure that the tank was more than cycled out before I started adding the tetras. Perseus did himself a good job getting things ready for the new inhabitants! Now he has been demoted again to the bowl. He is not thrilled. I need to do a water change tomorrow to start edging the pH back down to appropriate levels. Currently testing at 7.6 because I keep adding tap along with the RO water to buffer the tank, but I need to add less tap and more RO to get where I need to go here. Aiming for a balmy 6.5 pH.
Other things I am using in my tank for the plants and fish:
API Amazon Extract
A blackwater-ish extract that softens water, adds humic acids and tannins to the water to simulate amazonian waters.
Flourite Liquid Supplement
In addition to using their substrate, I am using their liquid fertilizer as well. MUCH more bang to the buck than other liquid supplements since one cup-full will treat up to 60 gallons.
Complete Substrate Fertilizer Pellets
From aquariumplants.com, these puppies are compact nuggets of great nutrients for the plants to help them grow from the bottom up! They even sell a handy-dandy home-made applicator for the pellets!
The National Western Stock Show kicks off Thursday and MAN is it going to be a chilly year for it. We have had trouble getting much out of the upper 30's the past week, with New Years Eve being the coldest at about 19 for the high temp. Needless to say, we did NOT take out the carriage ponies. They stayed nestled in their barn at home. We will however be out this weekend, banking on the stock show to buffer the post-Christmas "dead season".
Once I get time to upload photos of the new plants and critters, I will post for your enjoyment.
-Bri
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)