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Grex > Pets > #23: Fellow aquarists unite! | |
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mziemba
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Fellow aquarists unite!
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Sep 1 09:33 UTC 1997 |
>==O) FISH (O==<
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| 26 responses total. |
mziemba
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response 1 of 26:
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Sep 1 09:38 UTC 1997 |
I'm just about to embark on a new tank, so I thought I'd see what my fellow
Grexers had to say about aquariums. Imagine my surprise when there wasn't
an item! Now that we've got that settled, let's talk fish...
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mooncat
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response 2 of 26:
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Sep 2 03:16 UTC 1997 |
When I was younger we had an aquarium. My favorite fish
was the glass cat I had- lived for quite a while. :)
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mziemba
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response 3 of 26:
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Sep 2 07:01 UTC 1997 |
I used to have two glass cats. They were pretty cool fish. I bought one,
at first, but all it did was hover in the corner of the tank. After some
reading, I learned glass cats were more communal, so I got another one. The
results were immediate: the two coasted back and forth together.
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valerie
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response 4 of 26:
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Sep 3 02:01 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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mziemba
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response 5 of 26:
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Sep 4 05:00 UTC 1997 |
I've never had tanks going long enough to get tired of them, I guess. On the
contrary, I found them pretty exciting studies of ecosystems. But, perhaps
the fact that this is so exciting to me has more to do with the fact that I
never really had much in the way of pets, as a kid.
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mooncat
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response 6 of 26:
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Sep 9 04:57 UTC 1997 |
My family got a little sick of our tank, even the cat lost interest in watching
it. ;) The glass cat was just stubborn, and wouldn't die like the rest of them
had. We ended up giving it away, the poor thing died three days later. :(
Fish can be fun though, if you have several.
Angelfish with guppies is a bad idea though... Angelfish seem to think that
guppies are most tasty... ;)
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n8nxf
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response 7 of 26:
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Sep 9 12:38 UTC 1997 |
Even mama and papa guppie think their babies are most tasty. The babies
"swim for their lives" the instant they pop out of mama. I've had Angle-
fish lay eggs, but they never hatched.
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valerie
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response 8 of 26:
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Sep 9 16:59 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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mziemba
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response 9 of 26:
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Sep 10 06:20 UTC 1997 |
I've had a progessive tank experience.
My first successful tank was a 10-gallon, with a few angels, some neon
tetras, a bronze catfish, and some red swordtails.
But the swordtails were a little aggressive, and, after one ate the
others, it went after the angelfish. I ended up selling the red sword
back to the pet shop, and made some money on it, as it was somewhat
bigger, by then. I'm not sure that covered the cost of its diet,
however...
I had some real survival problems, at first, which I finally attributed to
a lack of stable tank temperature. That was mainly due to large daily
temperature fluctuations int he tank's room, and a heater not powerful
enough to respond to those fluctuations quickly enough. It was also
partially due to the difficulty of maintaining a very small tank, where
the environment is too sensitive to changes.
I took some notes, picked up some good books, and hung out at the pet
store from time to time to pick up tips. Ran across a great book called
_Confessions of a Fish Doctor_, too, about the adventures of a
housecalling fish doctor in New York. It was really informative and fun
to read. Doesn't appear to be in print, however, anymore, so it's not
easy to find.
But I moved away, and left the tank behind, and then it wasn't until
several years later that I decided to try again...
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n8nxf
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response 10 of 26:
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Sep 10 11:15 UTC 1997 |
My biggest problem has been water. Living in the city of Ann Arbor, I
have to treat my water with chemicals to remove chlorine and, not too
long ago, ammonia. Called Chlorimine or some-such. Ann Arbor now uses
ozone to disinfect water and a small ammount of chlorine to keep it
disinfected in the pipes as it travels around under the city. I have
killed more than one fish by subjecting it to misstreated city water.
(And we drink this stuff??)
My best tank was a small 5 gallon tank set in a north facing window.
I place a couple of Guppies in it along with some algae. It bloomed!
Within a few months it was stuffed with algae and hundreds of guppies.
After a few years I had several generations of Guppies all in the same
tank. It was interesting to see nothing fancy Guppie parents and fancy
Guppie babies. Interbreeding?
My largest tank is one that I built: 170 gallons. It's a cool tank
but *very* expensive to heat. Hence it has collected domestic fish
that do well in our climate. Nothing in it at the moment: City
water did in the last couple of residents. I cant wait to get on
well water so I can reduce the water problem. A 170 gallon tank
takes a lot of make-up water.
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valerie
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response 11 of 26:
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Sep 10 14:45 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 12 of 26:
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Sep 10 16:10 UTC 1997 |
We have kept aquaria over the years. Currently we have two silver dollars
and one tetra in a 5 gallon tank. It is heated and filtered. It was the
silver dollars and three tetras for the past couple of years, but the
tetras have recently started to disappear at one a month. We have had the
usual assortment of startup problems - mostly disease. We use only
distilled water for make up, to avoid salt accumulation (and having to
treat city water). The most recent disease was ulcers on one of the silver
dollars. After much thought and reading, I replenished the start-up
minerals I add (magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, sulfate), and the
ulcer healed and disappeared. Plants (including algae) consume minerals, I
figured, so they got too low.
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n8nxf
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response 13 of 26:
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Sep 11 11:28 UTC 1997 |
Interesting. Most of the books I read recommended that 1/3 to 1/2 of the
aquarium's water be replace every couple of months. Perhaps to keep the
required minerals in the water. I don't think I, or most other fish
keepers, would be up to the task of replenishing minerals or even knowing
which ones need replenishing.
My old 5 gallon tank now house Goldie, my sons once feeder goldfish ;-)
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rcurl
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response 14 of 26:
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Sep 11 17:36 UTC 1997 |
Certainly if you use tap water for replenishment, you have to exchange
water to keep mineral concentration from building up. I do know that
plants remove some minerals, (certainly Mg and K) so if you are cleaning
algae off the glass and cleaning your filter, you are depleting minerals.
Unless you are equipped for analysis, however, you can not know what you
have, and few sources say what you need. I have a "start up" formuila for
a tropical fish tank, but no info on maintenance. I just tried it, and it
was amazing how quickly the ulcer disappeared. I would guess K was the
depleted nutrient - but, who knows?
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n8nxf
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response 15 of 26:
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Sep 12 11:41 UTC 1997 |
For my large tank, I use to "age" 30 gallons of city water at a time to get
rid of the chemicals they added. I successfully used this method to age even
chlorimined water, though I was told that only chemical neutralizers would
be effective. It took two to three weeks to age the water, with an airstone
going to circulate the water, but it DID work. I tested the water, before
and after, to verify this. I was soon able to tell if the water was aged
simply by smelling the gas coming off the surface of the water: No more
chemical odder indicated that the water was ready to use. I never had
problems when I used this method. My last loss of fish was due to my reading
in the paper that the water department was adding only chlorine to the water
supply. So, I only treated for chlorine and didn't test it before adding
it to the tank. Big mistake! I suspect that the city was having a few
start-up glitches with their (very complex) ozone treatment process so not
all their water was ammonia free.
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mziemba
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response 16 of 26:
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Sep 13 08:04 UTC 1997 |
It's entirely possible that your 1 gallon tank was simply too small for two
goldfish, actually. Each fish requires a certain amount of water and water
surface area to survive. Goldfish usually double the standard requirements
because of their metabolism.
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valerie
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response 17 of 26:
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Sep 13 13:30 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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mziemba
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response 18 of 26:
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Sep 13 16:33 UTC 1997 |
They did tell me at the pet store that Ann Arbor city water was especially
difficult for tanks. I imagine that's true of most city water.
Sounds like you had a good fish bowl, at least. One that allows a lot of
water surface area is great.
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n8nxf
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response 19 of 26:
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Sep 15 11:14 UTC 1997 |
My sons goldfish swims in rain water we collect. It seems quite happy
in it.
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mziemba
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response 20 of 26:
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Oct 11 19:33 UTC 1997 |
I just stopped in to the Fish Doctors, on Washtenaw, right next to Putt-Putt
Golf, on the way back from the Grex walk lunch, and I was extremely impressed.
The staff was very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. They stock an
excellent selection of live plants, something that's pretty hard to find.
Their freshwater fish selection looked nice, as well. Having visited numerous
stores in the area in the past few months as I set up my new tank, I would
have to say this one wins, hands-down, on combination of service, stock, and
professionalism. I'll include a list of the local places I've visited and
my comments in a following message...
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mziemba
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response 21 of 26:
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Oct 13 16:10 UTC 1997 |
LOCAL AQUARIUM SHOP REVIEW
========================================================================
ANN ARBOR PET SUPPLY MO-FR 10A-9P
1200 Packard SA 9A-6P
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 SU 12P-5P
(313) 761-4785
COMMENTS:
Convenient campus location. Good service. Average fish selection. Good
plant selection. Limited supply selection. I was helped the moment I
walked into this store, and they knew their stuff. One of my top choices.
________________________________________________________________________
AQUA-TEC
1818 Packard
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(313) 769-8221
COMMENTS:
Almost convenient campus location. Good service, excellent fish
selection, good plant selection, good supply selection. Friendly,
knowledgeable, well-stocked. My second choice.
________________________________________________________________________
FISH DOCTORS MO-FR 11A-9P
2703 Washtenaw SA 11A-6P
Ypsilanti, MI 48197 SU 12P-5P
(313) 434-1030
COMMENTS:
Well-situated in the Washtenaw plaza strip, near Putt-Putt Golf. Superior
service. Extremely knowledgeable and helpful staff. Fantastic fish
selection. Excellent live plant selection. Good supply selection. This
store wins, hands-down, on best combination of service, selection, and
professionalism.
________________________________________________________________________
HURON PET SUPPLY MO-FR 9A-7P
Independence Plaza SA 9A-6P
5060 Jackson SU 12A-5P
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
(313) 747-7525
2890 Washtenaw (at Golfside)
Fountain Square Plaza
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
(313) 434-1234
COMMENTS:
Review pending...haven't made it there, yet
__________________________________________________________________________
PET SUPPLIES PLUS MO-FR 9A-9P
Woodland Plaza Shopping Center SA 9A-7P
2224 S. Main SU 11A-6P
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
(313) 994-5432
Traver Village Shopping Plaza
2639 Plymouth
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(313) 741-5100
COMMENTS:
Good service. Average fish selection. No live plants. Large supply
selection.
__________________________________________________________________________
UNIVERSITY AQUARIUM AND PET SHOP
Westgate Shopping Plaza
2561 Jackson
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
(313) 663-0224
COMMENTS:
Convenient Westside location in the Westgate Plaza. Good fish selection.
Don't recall if they had live plants, or not. Average supply selection.
__________________________________________________________________________
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valerie
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response 22 of 26:
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Oct 14 16:14 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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richard
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response 23 of 26:
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Oct 18 16:24 UTC 1997 |
I had a fish tank once, with lots of really cool fish. Then one day I
went to the pet store and bought two cool-looking Guppies. Problem was
they didnt like fish food, they liked fish. The two of them ate most of
the rest ofmyfish, and then one Guppie ate the other. So I was left
with one fat fish. It was too much trouble tokeep a tank withonly one
fish, so I gave the fish away. *sigh*
Id like to have an aquarium again someday.
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valerie
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response 24 of 26:
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Oct 19 16:46 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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