Fish elevator, anyone?

[gimme30]

5. It makes it easier to drop things into a tank accidentally.

This. Even with a lid, if it's open, I'm going to drop something in. Especially if it's a brand new can of flake.
What a mess!

 

[Essjay]

That's why I measure out food away from the tank and into a small pot to carry the food to the tank

 

[gimme30]

You expect me to be sensible?

Here's something else I find useless, stressful and potentially dangerous for our little finned friends.....Storm, or lightning functions, on todays fancy leds. They replicate sunrise or sunset so that our fish don't freak out, and then add a feature like that?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have been turning the lights in my tanks one and off on a timer. No sunrise, no sunset.I have not seen any harm from this in 25 years. My fish are healthy, they mostly live lives longer than they would average in the wild and spawning happens a lot in my tanks.

In fact for seasonal fish the storms that are part of the onset of the rainy season have a lot of lightning going on. We know the barometric pressure drop of the storms is felt by the fish and triggers them in a large part. But what about the lightning, maybe that too has an effect on the onset of spawning? I have never seen any research on that.

 

[GaryE]

I know of a number of successful cory breeders who used to use camera flashes to make thunderstorms, while doing cooler water changes. I figure that, and the need for gimmick sales, to be the inspiration for the storm feature. It might also work with tetras, and other denizens of rain forests with rainy season spawning.

In a hobby where breeding is out of style, it is a gimmicky feature, but I keep planning to use it as intended. Then I forget to do so...

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I've tried tricks like that but not with fish.
I used to feign thunderstorms for my dart frogs. I had some adjustable strobe lights for lightning, I played a thunderstorm through the stereo, and gave all the frogs a long misting.

I've always been interested in environmental manipulation in captive animals. With fish we can manipulate water temperature, water chemistry to a lesser extent, and photoperiod. I'm positive we are missing clues that trigger reproduction. Perhaps water chemistry changes during the rainy season as the normal parameters of a creek or stream are diluted by an influx of rainfall? Photoperiod? Doesn't change much the closer to the equator you get.
It's also interesting how some animals react to light and photoperiod.
Tarantulas are creatures of the night. I can keep my drapes closed during the day and my tarantulas will be out of their burrows. But open the drapes or turn on a light a d the go back to hiding. The frogs and reptiles always knew when the sun rose and set despite being indoors and having lights on.
I kept my lights on a timer, but it didn't matter. In the middle of winter when it gets dark at 5pm in Chicago, the frogs and dragons would go to their hides for the night and go to sleep despite the lights being on till 8pm. In summer when it gets dark at 9pm in Chicago, the would be out and active after 8pm when the lights went off. They knew instinctively when it was light and dark despite artificial lighting. I have not seen that ability or instinct in fish.

 

[anewbie]

I do it the old fashion way - i git on my ands and knees and pray to the ol mighty statue of Aphrodite that nature will take its course.

 

[gimme30]

Huh, whoda thunk it. Light shock therapy for fish breeding purposes. I should have put a disco ball, with l a s e r s, in my fish room!