Media Configuration For Aquarium Canister Filters

Early on, I made the jump from hang-on-the-back (HOB) filters to canister filters.  They are much more powerful and can be mostly concealed in cabinetry.  I standardized on the Rena XP series of filter, and now have 3 XP2’s, 2 XP3’s and an XP4 across 4 tanks.

I started out with a pretty standard media configuration that looked like this:

Read more…

What To Do With Unwanted Fish?

Maybe the pretty fish you bought has gone on a rampage and killed many of its tank mates. Maybe the fish has grown too large for you to house. Maybe you just don’t want it any more.

You don’t want to flush him, but what do you do?

There are a few primary options:

1. If the fish was purchased recently, check with the shop to see if you can return the fish for a refund.
2. Contact local aquarium shops to see if they will accept the fish.
3. Advertise the fish as available for free to a good home on Craigslist.
4. Post the fish as available for free to a good home on aquarium forums.
   1. http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/forum/113-classified-section/
   2. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15
   3. http://www.fishforums.com/forum/want-sell.html
   4. http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/buy-sell-trade/

Bottle Feeding Koi

This is a very cool video of someone who has trained some large koi to eat from a modified bottle:

It’s subtle, but I think the person with the bottle is mostly squeezing the food out into the fish’s mouths.

Disaster Strikes… A Leaking Fitting On An External Filter Causes An Under-Carpet River

Here’s a post to learn from…

Yesterday was my day for weekly aquarium maintenance.  I had drained one of my 55G tanks down about half way and noticed that my Rena XP 2 filter was barely trickling out.  I keep the filter in a decorative box next to the tank, so I unplugged the filter, disconnect the input/output hoses, and take the filter to my sink.  In the process of disconnecting the hoses, I had to wrestle with it a bit, because of the angle that the hoses come through a hole in the back of the box.  This is important.

I cleaned the filter, hooked it back up, and saw that it was pumping a good flow again.  Satisfied, I closed the box, and went to dinner with my family, who have been staying with us for the holiday, at Macaroni Grill. Read more…

Lesson learned – Glofish and Angelfish Don’t Mix

Years ago when I first got into keeping aquariums, I had zebra danios and Angelfish.  Over time, the danios died off, but I kept going with angels.  In fact, I have a 4th generation spawn of angels in my 10G fry tank.

I had been thinking about adding some dither fish to the 125G tank in my bedroom to distract the 4 angels in it from constantly beating each other.  Zebra danios are good for that – they are very active swimmers and big enough and fast enough not to be anyone’s lunch.   So, I went to my local Petsmart last weekend to get some zebra danios.  While there, I saw that they have glofish and decided that I’d like to buy those instead of the normal danios.  Now, for those who don’t know what glofish are, they are a Zebra Danio genetically altered to contain a genes that causes bio-fluorescence.  The fluorescent genes was originally added to the fish to detect pollution.  So, basically glofish are a brightly-colored zebra danio.

Knowing that zebra danios like to be in groups of 6 or more, I bought 7 – at $5 each.  I took them home, floated them for a bit, and released them into the tank.  Immediately my 4 angelfish begin hunting the glofish, snapping at them.  One by one they disappeared.  One was left alive, and I found the remains of two more.  But, the other 4 I am afraid were tasty and expensive snacks.  It would seem that the colorful glofish remind them too much of their natural prey.

The remaining glofish swam the tank for about a week.  I felt bad for him, and figured that the angels were probably accustomed to the colorful fish now.  So, I bought 12 more.  Immediately on release, they start getting hunted again.  This time, I netted all of them out and put them into a 55G tank with bandit cichlids and a firemouth.

I now have 13 glowfish zipping around a different tank than I had intended.

Glofish are quite pretty, but they do not mix well with angelfish.

What Kind Of Fish Can I Keep in a Bowl?

A bowl does not provide a proper environment for any kind of fish. Bettas and gold fish are both commonly kept in bowls. though both suffer from it.

The Problem With Bowls

There are a few major problems with bowls

• Bowls generally do not hold much water.  The small volume of water results in quick changes in water parameters like temperature, ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, which can stress the fish.
• Bowls do not have filters which allow for efficient cycling of ammonia produced by the fish.
• The geometry of bowls generally provide a small surface to exchange Oxygen and CO2 between the water and the air.

If I Don’t Use A Bowl, I Won’t Have Space Or Money To Keep A Fish

Using a bowl and knowing that it’s not appropriate for fish is like adopting a dog knowing that you have no where for it to run or play – making it live in a cage.  Fish are live animals that have specific environmental needs to keep them healthy.   If you are unable to provide the right environment for a fish, you should not be keeping fish as pets.

Can a Betta Live in A Bowl?

Much like my other post on keeping goldfish in a bowl, the answer is “yes”, a betta can live in a bowl, just not for long and not happily.

The problems with a betta bowl

There are 3 main problems with bowls for bettas:

1. Bowls are generally quite small.  A betta, just like any other fish, should be kept in a larger volume of water than a bowl can provide to prevent the rapid build up of toxins and organic compounds from the fish and fish food.
2. Bowls are not heated.  Bettas are tropical fish.  They need the water to be between 76F and 82F, which is generally not achievable, at least steadily, without a heater.
3. Bowls are not filtered.  Filtering provides a mechanism for the nitrogen cycle to process ammonia and nitrite.  This is generally off set with frequent changes of the water in the bowl.

Why do stores sell bowls if they should not go in a bowl?

Simple: stores sell betta bowls because people buy them.  Unlike many other pets, there isn’t a big industry built up around preventing abuse and neglect for pet fish.  And the reality is, it keeps people coming back for more.  If you buy a bowl and a betta, the betta will live for some period of time – 6 months, maybe even a year or two.  After that, you’ll come back to buy another betta.  Additionally, selling bowls really expands their customer base.  Relatively speaking, there are not a lot of people who want a big aquarium in their house, but there are many more that find a decorative bowl acceptible.

RIP TwoFishGuyz.com

I had ordered many dwarf cichlids in the past from TwoFishGuyz, an online fish store, and had a lot of luck with the fish they sold me.  I went to their site about 3 weeks ago to check if they have some of the more rare/colorful apistos, and sadly, the site just gives an error.  At the time, I thought it was probably a temporary issue, but after 3 weeks, I think it’s a safe bet that the store is gone.

Update:

Two Fish Guyz was apparently bought out by Discus Hans USA.  It appears that they won’t be offering dwarf cichlids any longer.

Cycling a New Freshwater Tank

What is “Cycling”?

A “cycled aquarium” is a tank that has established bacterial colonies to process fish waste, in the form of ammonia, into nitrates.  It is very important for aquariums with fish to be cycled, as ammonia is toxic to fish.  Adding fish to un-cycled aquaiums will generally result in most or all of the fish dying.

What cycling is NOT

Despite the bad advice of so many pet store employees, cycling does NOT mean adding water to the aquariums and letting it sit and filter for a few days.  Doing that can be useful to make sure your equipment doesn’t die right away, but does nothing to cycle the tank.

How to Cycle a Tank

There are three methods for cycling:

• Fishless cycling
• Fish-in cycling
• Seeding a tank

EVERYONE who ever keeps fish has used one of those methods.  Those that are not aware of the choice have chosen fish-in cycling by default.  Read more…

Thinking of getting an Aquarium for Tropical Fish: Aquarium advice I wish I knew from the start

Here are some pearls of wisdom I wish I had when I was starting out with my aquarium.

Starting Out and Buying Aquarium Stuff

Accept that you are probably going to kill some fish on accident.  You will either learn from the mistake or drop the hobby.

New Aquariums need to be cycled.

Small tanks are not easier to maintain than large ones.  The large volume of water generally provides a more stable environment for fish, and is more forgiving of mistakes by beginners.

Under-gravel filters suck.  You will hate them.  Also see the comment on gravel.

Unless you have a specific need, don’t put gravel in the bottom of your tank.  If it is not kept clean, it will contaminate the water, causing sick and dying fish.

Do not buy fish on impulse

Don’t rely on the tank size rating when buying a filter for your tank.  Most filters are rated on their flow without media, which will slow down the flow.  You want filtration that will turn the water over between 5 and 10 times per hour.  For a 10 gallon tank, that’s a 50 to 100 gph filter.  For a 55G tank, it’s 225 to 550 gph.

Canister filters are well worth the extra money

Maintaining a planted tank is much harder and more expensive than it looks

Spend the extra money and get a “master test kit” to test your water with (this is the kind that uses drops of reagent chemicals in test tubes).  The strips are not that reliable.

Online pet stores are MUCH cheaper for most food, chemicals and hardware.

Pet stores regularly sell fish that are entirely inappropriate for 99.9% of fish keepers.  Know what you are buying and whether you can properly care for them.

The employees of pet stores only appear to know what they are talking about.

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on setting up a new tank

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on how to treat a disease with your fish

• Pet store employees have a medicine to sell you to cure just about anything you can come up with.  The trouble is, medicine can rarely cure the cause of a problem. Read more…