One of our local stores has had an influx of new staff, and I think new ownership. Previously I would not go to this store due to the attitude of the management. I don't care if you are an acknowledged world expert, if I say this fish is this fish thats what it is and if you don't like it there is the door. Those where the words I heard being used to a lady and it definitely put a bee in my bonnet and the money in my pocket elsewhere.

Anyway the previous folks are now gone and the store has a new name to go with it. I went in and spoke with the manager of the freshwater fish section at some length and he offered to take my cell number and email address and said if he ever found any new corries he was not familiar with he would give me a call and he would be thrilled for me to take pictures and get them verified. Talk about a horse of a different colour?

Then this morning I got an email from him with a link enclosed saying this was his main supplier and he was happy for me to look it over and if there were any I specifically wanted he would certainly try to get them in for me.

Consequently my new list of most wanted now consists of:  C: Caudimaculatus C: Guapore          C: Aeneus Black C: Similis and last but not least C: Atropersonatus.  These of course have absolutely no bearing on the auction of Dr Steve's Cory collection specifically speaking the Tukano. The Adolphoi of course are for Otto/KingLucky

I am seriously impressed by this guy to begin with and I call the store and start talking to him about the C: Reticulatus and where it is from and what river system (info gathered from Corydorasworld of course) and he starts laughing. So of course I have to ask why are you laughing? After he calmed down a bit he explains he knows the river system personally as that is the area he grew up in! He admits he never went fishing there or collecting fish but he did add if I ever want to go there to let him know as his Mother has a room she rents out! A small small world.

After a month and a half of ordering odds and ends equipment, planning, replanning, surfing the internet and replanning again I finally just decided to jump in.  My main plan for the tank was to set it up for my angels so I decided on an Amazon biotope.

Last week I set the tank up, cleaned all the components that came with the tank, gravel, aquarium decor.  I put together the new light fixture, tried to map out where everything was going to be plugged in - the basic stuff.

Wednesday  the boys and I went to House of Rocks and picked up some rocks then we swung by Home Depot to pick up terra cotta dishes to anchor driftwood and egg crate to elevate the rocks.  When we got home I couldn't find the masonry drill bit.  I also realized one of the rocks I bought was too wide for what I wanted so the project was stalled there.

Thursday we picked up some amazon sword from Jack and went to Home Depot again.  I  picked up a blade to cut the rock and a masonry drill bit.  It didn't take too long to put everything together, maybe an hour or two, but when I went to fill it up both of our outside hoses were frozen.  I ended up using 5 gallon Homer buckets!  Tony helped by using a pitcher while I used the buckets.  30 minutes in I told him he could stop but he said he didn't want to because it is about time we put some fish in there.  lol.  When I told him no fish for a week he brought me a bathtub fish toy to add.  I explained why that wouldn't be a good idea.

Of course at this time the filter didn't work.  I took it apart again and realized I didn't have the impeller engaged completely.  Thirteen  hours later the tank is running.  I went to sleep hoping the filter wouldn't quit or the aquarium wouldn't spring a leak.

Here are some pics.  It looks very vacant.  I am going in on the plant order next week so hopefully this time next week I will be able to post photos of the completely planted tank   I'm going to read up on fishless cycling too so I don't know if it will have swimmy residents next week or not.  I know I am not going to do huge, daily 50% water changes until I have a trash can on a dolly and a hose attachment for my bathroom sink.

Here is the overall tank:
[img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal.JPG[/img]

The left side.  The driftwood has java fern attached.  The plant on the far left and center are water sprite.  Behind the rock wall I plan to put A. Reinecki for a splash or reddish/green and add some stargrass to the right of the driftwood.
[img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal left.JPG[/img]

This is the right side of the tank.  My mom found the driftwood at the lake this past weekend.  Ignore the big rocks weighing it down, I didn't soak it long enough and once the water got 3/4 up the driftwood it started to float   Anyway, it also has java fern attached and the tall and shorter plants behind the driftwood are swords.  The short ones will eventually grow too huge for three to take up the space if Jack's are any indication of what size they will grow to, but for now I have three.  I am going to order a couple more of the taller swords and some smaller foreground plants.  [img]http://sites.google.com/site/auroraphoenix/home/75 gal rt.JPG[/img]

I know, too much info for my first journal entry.  If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there

Well here we are almost half way through January and major transformations are going on in the fish room.

We decided that we had a 120 that was really not needed for how we are wanting to proceed  and consequently we put it up for sale on the Wichita aquarium club site and sold it within 24 hours! 

We have had an air blower/pump for a while but have not had the necessary funds to run the pipework and buy the valves to get everything set up. The money we got for the 120 will allow us to order the multiple gang valves   http://www.jehmco.com/html/air_accessories.html plus the upvc piping and fittings.  It is our intention to run the pipe either high up on the wall or hang it from the ceiling (yet to be decided) with two of the larger manifolds on two of the walls and two of the smaller ones.  This will probably be way too many but I would rather have to many than not enough when all is said and done.   

Vicki has also made contact with an electrician friend of hers that will be coming over to check out what needs to be done so that we do not have the breakers going off all the time.  Having said that once we are using fewer air pumps I think that will make some difference, time will tell.

I have been making a serious effort to spawn my Corydoras Zygatus but they seem just as determined not too.  I have been doing daily 60 degree f water changes to no avail.  The males get all excited but the females are not interested at all.  I have been feeding them frozen blood worm almost exclusively but for whatever reason it is not doing the trick.  Back to the drawing board and see what else can be tried.  The guys in the UK are using live bloodworm but it seems impossible to get these here.   I asked the local store if they could get California blackworm on a regular basis but they were not interested due to the shipping costs  and me being the only one that wanted to buy them.

Smile, it makes people wonder what you have been doing.

Steve/Woo

So began the second month.  We'd already learned that tanks have to be cycled.  And we had already gone through 4 fish.  Fish keeping might very well be the hardest thing since finals week in college.  We contemplated giving up the hobby, but my personalty wouldn't let me give in so easily.

We decide to wait a week without fish, to give the tank a chance to "heal", whatever that means.  A week passes, and so back to the pet store we go.  I pick a mostly black dalmation molly and Meredith picks a sunburst platy.  We decide to start small, we'll get just two fish.

Two weeks go by, the fish are doing well, we decided to add a couple more.  This time I go alone.  I pick a mostly white dalmation molly, a silver (white) molly, and an all-black molly.  I was afraid to mix it up too much since I didn't know much about fish compatibility.

Our ten gallon tank is up and running, algae is forming on the glass, and according to "the google" that means it has successfully cycled.  Woo hoo!  Nothing to worry about now.  Everything remains status quo for the next few weeks, until one day we come home from work.  The day was July 4th (yes we both worked on July 4th.  It's a long story).  Anyway, when we got home from work and what do we see in the tank but a bunch of little tiny tadpoles, some yellowish-orange ones and a bunch of little grayish clear ones.  Wait! Those aren't tadpoles, they're babies!

Oh, I can't begin to describe Meredith's excitement.  I didn't know fish would reproduce in captivity.  How is this possible?  Google becomes my best friend for the next two hours.  I learn all kinds of interesting things, like the type of fish we have are called "livebearers" they don't lay eggs, and you can tell the males from the females by looking for the gonadopodium, and you need a breeder box or a breeder's net to take care of babies and ensure they don't get eaten.

The next day we rush off to the pet store to buy a breeder box.  Rush right home, get out the net and start fishing for fry.  Those little buggars are quick!  We determine the only way we're going to get them out is if we remove the ornaments.  I rush to the garage, get a bucket, and rush back in as if I were a kid running down the stairs to get my presents from Santa on Christmas.  First the rocks then the plants, then we pluck the babies and put them in their new home.  All told, 4 yellowish-orange ones and 12 grayish-white ones. 

I read online that if you take some flake food and crush it into a fine powder, you can feed it to with the tip of a pencil or a toothpick.  Like a proud papa, I keep watch, feeding them daily, being sure to take care of the little ones.

Lessons Learned:

1) Fish can have babies in captivity, they're called "fry".
2) Some fish "give birth", they're called "livebearers".
3) Fry are fast!
4) Fry can be fed crushed flake food.
5) Fry need a safe place so they don't get eaten.
6) Livebearers can be sexed by examining them for gonadopodium.  Livebearers with more of a fan-shaped anal fin are females, those with a more pointy anal fin are males.

I had an aquarium as a kid.  As I recall, it was a 10-gallon, I had three small fish, and I don't really remember which type of fish I had.  As I recall, I knew absolutely nothing about fishkeeping.  I likely overfed them and neglected their water and upkeep.

So roughly 25 years later, with my Fiancee in tow, we decide to look at the fish at Walmart.  Instantly, I fall in love with a beautiful pictus catfish, and she with a flowing blue betta.  Still knowing absolutely nothing about fishkeeping, we purchase a very small (quarter gallon?) betta bowl with a built-in divider. 

We take our prizes home, fill the tank, and put the betta in one side and the pictus in the other.  I wanted to learn more about my pictus, so I did some googling, where I soon found out I was already way in over my head.  This betta bowl was FAR too small to keep a pictus.  So, I pull an old 1-gal glass jar out of the closet, treat some water, and my pictus just gained 8x as much real-estate.

We kept our fish status quo for about two weeks, when I convince the Fiancee, the pictus doesn't look happy.  So off to Walmart we go.  45-minutes later, we're back home opening our brand new 10-gallon aquarium.  I open the box, the glass is broken all on one side.  So back to Walmart we go.  After a successful exchange, we're off to the races.

Fast forward a couple weeks, the poor betta didn't make it in it's little betta bowl.  But the pictus is doing fabulous all by itself in the 10-gallon.  But it looks lonely.  So off to Petco.  Meredith picks a dwarf gourami, and I pick a second pictus.  This will be good, Spot (the name I gave the first pictus) has a new friend named Rover (going with a dog's name theme), and Poseidon the dwarf gourami will keep watch.

About 4 days pass, the gourami gets very sick, has white spots.  We rush to the store for meds, but it's too late, Poseidon expires.  We continue to treat, but don't know what to think, one day later, Rover follows with Spot going soon after.  What could possibly be the problem.  Spirits are down, maybe we should give up pet fish.  The inquisitive mind in me, decides to read online about what may have caused the white spots and all of the fish to die.  Cycling?  What could fish possibly have to do with the Tour de France?

Off to the pet store, let's buy a water quality testing kit.  OHHH, so ammonia needs to be zero, nitrites zero, and nitrates around 2 and that'll be the all clear for adding new fish!  This really seems complicated at first... but after a while, it becomes clear it's purely a matter of patience.... Wade and patience don't mix.

Lessons Learned:

1) Know the requirements of the fish you buy.
2) Do your homework... tanks have to cycle.
3) If at first you don't succeed.... blah blah blah... don't give up.
4) Don't name your fish, it'll just break your heart.

It's been a busy couple of weeks since the last time I posted.  I had a real nice Bolivian Ram spawn.  The mother was doing great, but I got paranoid she was eating the wigglers, so I stole most of them and placed them in a 10 gallon.  They started jumping yesterday, but I went to the fishroom this morning and they were all dead.  She did eat all of her fry in the community tank as well.   Next time, I'm letting her parent raise until the fry are free swimming.  I say once they are freeswimming, they should be ok.  The apisto fry are doing great.  The double red agassizi age her wigglers, but I have two females in that tank, and both are gravid.  Should have eggs shortly.  The other apistos look like they are on the verge of, if not have already, spawning.

The fishroom got down to 68 degrees while we were gone, which wasn't good.  Might have lost power, but not able to tell.  The digital thermometer I have measures lows and highs for the past 48 hours...I've since put some plastic up across an open wall, and the fishroom is a comfy 75.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year.   2009 has been great, looking forward 2010.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bb

YAY! It's the new year.  Maybe that means new fish for some people.

Hope you dudes had a kewl holiday and a have GREAT new year!

I've used blogs before when I was breeding livebearers...hybrids actually, trying to improve certain traits. I fell out of the habit so perhaps this will help me remember. I've recently joined the Kansas City fish club. I've had fish since I was 6 (I'm currently 14), but I started keeping/breeding fish as a serious hobby about a year and a half earlier. My current tank contains: 3 anubias, well-developed wisteria plants (which I'm debating replacing because it looks a bit too much like a jungle for my tastes though recently I trimmed most of the unkempt features off and it has improved), seven molly-guppy hybrids, a mated pair of angelfish, 4 yo-yo loaches, 3 clown loaches (still pretty young) from Sumatra, 2 dojo loaches that spawned in the fall though unfortunantely I could not get the eggs to hatch(my theory is that they spawn in top-plants when a lot of fresh air is circulated near the tank, though others claim they scatter eggs on the ground, mine never did), an Indawgwi stream catfish(Akysis prashadi), a red eye tetra, and a red- tailed shark. Rocks from Jack's Fork and Current river along with a bit of red slate carve out many hiding places. The tank is 125 gallons. I keep the temperature at 79 degrees, the filter is a Rena Filstar xP3. I keep the pH nuetral and have two lightbulbs which are 18k aqua-glow that I leave on around 12 hours a day. My fish are fed on frozen bloodworms, frozen shrimp, freeze-dried shrimp & bloodworms, shrimp pellets, two diffrent kinds of algae wafers (one is Hikari, the other Wardley), the occasional treat of cuccumber or zuchinni, and rarely Omega One. The floor of my tank is gravel and was started in October 2008. I'm beginning to breed angelfish. Soon I will also be breeding Red Lizardtail Whiptails, Discus, various Dwarf Cichlids, and possibly a few others along the way. (I'm a dork enough to have made a list.) I do many other things besides keep fish, but it does seem to be an addicting hobby for me

Aaaah, today has been a busy day.

Started out on a trip to Lawrence to PetWorld for their semi annual sale.  I was second in line at 9:30; the store opens at 10:00.   I tried bribing the two kid brothers that were in front of me, for a dollar, to let me cut in front of them.  They said "no way!".  Nice to see that kind of enthusiasm in the youth.  Of course once the doors opened, they were aghast at the cookies on the table by the entrance...so I strode right past them to the fish area.

Saw a lot of great deals and passed some by.  I'm kicking myself for not getting the congo tetras, zebra danios, and white clouds...but oh well.  Ended up with four Bolivian rams, ten Black Phantom Tetras, four Metae corydoras, and six Skunk corydoras.   Didn't buy any plants or hard goods, but there were decent deals.  Thanks PetWorld for the great time.

Ended the day with the HAAS Christmas party.  It was nice to see alot of the regular folks and a few newer faces.  It's difficult times both economically and just planning things around in general; smaller crowd but it was fun.   Randy and Jenny (sorry if I misspelled your name) got a life time achievement award; which I'm sure both of them were excited and deserving of.  That was really cool.

The white christmas gift exchange went relatively mildly; not much stealing except for some discus.  I scored a L180 pleco.  Not sure what the heck it is, but it's alive and in a quarantine tank for now...so we'll see.   Thanks for bringing that DaveW and sharing that passion.

Time to go for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bb

I got a text message with a picture attached from Vicki yesterday of a Corry I had not seen before, the message read "may I buy some of these"?

I thought they "maybe" Agassizii, and we already have six of these but I thought heck why not, what are the chances Walmart would have them anyway?

We sent the picture to Corydorasworld.com for verification,  lo and behold we have Corydoras Delphax.  A new species to us so we are both pretty happy as these are not usually easy to get hold of, and as far as initial research shows there are no reports of them being bred in captivity. So who knows maybe we will be the first! 

We got our share of ice and snow last night so I am going to get the day underway a little earlier than usual.  Drive careful everyone!

Steve/Woo