What are you doing today?

[jaylach]

Solved a problem with my being to setup my new tank.

The tank is a 21 gallon high that is 24 inches wide. The hood I got was advertised as 24 inches but is actually 23 inches. I would have returned the hood but I like the lighting connections as it came with a full spectrum white LED tube and also has a slot and connection for a second LED tube so I can also use my white, red, blue and green tube with the hood.

Since I need to completely cover the top of the tank to prevent the Panda Garras I want from mouth walking out of the tank. I came up with several solutions but just found the answer. I'll build a window screen.

No, not actually a window screen although that was one possibility with the hood sitting on top. Just didn't seem like a good idea.

The solution is using window screen frame material. These strips have a recess along one edge in which the screen is held in place. The hood has a ridge all around that perfectly fits the slot in the frame stuff. Lay a thin bead of silicone in the frame slot and put the hood ridges in. I can't see how it can fail and should be solid. MAY use Super Glue instead of silicone but I think the silicone would be less likely to break.

 

[jaylach]

Actually I'm thinking again. Instead of adding to the size of the hood I may just use the same frame material to build a frame around the top of the tank which would leave a surface to place the hood...

 

[connorlindeman]

Had some snow last sunday. Another storm coming this weekend.

 

[MattW]

Had some snow last sunday. Another storm coming this weekend.
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Beautiful beamer!

 

[Lanpenn]

That is a busy day! Replacing a catalytic converter is no joke, so it is cool you got to do that with your dad.
Since you are a "Plant Man" and into planted tanks, you might find that using the grass clippings from that lawn as mulch for a garden or even composting them helps keep the soil really healthy. Just make sure there weren't any weed killers used on the grass before you use it!

Grass clippings are good, indeed. My red wigglers love it when I put.

GaryE, what interesting. Is there Malaria where you live? Here, it is common to have in Amazon. I do not know if there had any case of Malaria in Southeastern Brazil. For the place, I suppose you are going to catch fish from a tropical rainforest, is it? I do not even know how it works in relation to catching fish for a hobby here in Brazil, the environmental law is a mess, and there is a massive legal insecurity and ambiguity, and it is common to have conflicting governmental agencies about the same subject. I hope the Brazilian Association of Aquarium Shops (Associação Brasileira de Lojas de Aquariofilia) can improve that, because this is terrible for the country as a whole. That is so "Crab on a bucket"...

 

[MuddyWaters]

Had some snow last sunday. Another storm coming this weekend.
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love the license plate!

 

[connorlindeman]

Beautiful beamer!

Thanks!

 

[connorlindeman]

love the license plate!

haha thank you. I do my best to make sure its always true. If you know anything about old bimmers, you will know that its no easy task.

 

[GaryE]

GaryE, what interesting. Is there Malaria where you live?

There's no malaria here now, but I'll be in West Africa for ten days, fishing. I'm going to look for killies, and that means river margins and swampy areas. So my chances of meeting malarial mosquitoes will be high. It'll be 85% humidity and 33c as an average temperature.

That won't be pleasant, but the fishing will be fun.

Brazil has environmental legislation in place, and a lot of fish can't be legally caught. The same laws exist in my country, parts of the US and Europe. In African jurisdictions, there are no controls. But I'll be going with a scientific researcher and all permits will be in place. The last time around, we had documentation from the local University's department of Ichthyology, and a Gabonese Ichthyologist joined our crew.

A lot of countries, like Brazil are concerned about people going in and grabbing species which are then used to develop out of country scientific sectors. In Brazil's imperfect system (environmental destruction carries on), researchers have to work with a Brazilian institution to get paperwork. Brazilian fish papers are public domain, while papers about fish from other countries are often too expensive for me to access them. They're put behind paywalls, and since people like me aren't academically connected, it can cost $50 to read one paragraph I want to learn about. I can't do that.

I'm no scientist, and a few killies coming here develops nothing. It isn't a noble pursuit, but rather fun. I could come back empty handed, but I won't be empty brained. I'm going to learn stuff, and am vaccinated and ready with anti malarials and hopefully other common sense caution to stay healthy. If I get sick I'd maybe have to stop doing this, and it fascinates me.

Got my tourist visa, and am living in an opposites environment. It's funny, the usual forecast for where I'm going in 5 weeks is +33c, and we're in a 4 day cold snap that will take us to -33c by Saturday. I w'll fall behind on water changes because the oxygen saturation'll be extreme.

 

[Lanpenn]

A lot of countries, like Brazil are concerned about people going in and grabbing species which are then used to develop out of country scientific sectors. In Brazil's imperfect system (environmental destruction carries on), researchers have to work with a Brazilian institution to get paperwork. Brazilian fish papers are public domain, while papers about fish from other countries are often too expensive for me to access them. They're put behind paywalls, and since people like me aren't academically connected, it can cost $50 to read one paragraph I want to learn about. I can't do that.

This may be true, but this does not work. I already heard biologists complaining about that, including the ones who care about protecting the environment. While Europeans already sell Paracheirodon axelrodi captivity-bred and with value-added, here they remain collecting the same fish and selling them extremely cheaply, while transporting them is stressful and costly (in Brazil, in the 19th century, there were already people complaining about Brazil's poor infrastructure). The distortions in transportation costs are almost the same nowadays in relation to the 19th century, although we have improved that considerably.

The biggest exporters of ornamental fish in the world are not Brazil, but other countries such as Spain and Singapore. In case anyone gets interested in that theme, I suggest the "Peixes Ornamentais no Brasil: Volume 1 Mercado, legislação, sistemas de produção e sanidade" from Embrapa (2021). Yes, I know that is in Portuguese, but, unfortunately, certain things are better to read in Portuguese. This same stupidity occurred with the rubber boom in Brazil. Once the Paris in the tropics (Manaus), some foreign people came here and brought Hevea brasiliensis to other countries, and then Brazil lost its rubber economic power. About the scientific papers, I confess that this is not a thing that I explore, but these expensive papers are a big issue, mainly for countries such as Brazil, where people do not use the American Dollar, and yes Brazilian Real.

I wish you a good trip. High temperatures and humidity have these issues. I have heard about hobbyists who could not "save" the native killifish in small ponds in Brazil due to bureaucracy, and then a company later destroyed these small ponds to build something... what happened with the company, nothing.

 

[GaryE]

I wish, as hobbyists, we could save species. Most of the time, we just collect them, but even if we are skilled breeders with room, we die in time, and that's that. Unless we can create funded beyond our lifetime institutions that can work with endangered fish, then we are fooling ourselves.
There are hobbyist organizations that are trying, and I respect that. They network and attempt to exchange broodstock. They tend to have trouble with records keeping and inbreeding though. People drop out, people get bored, people change hobbies. It takes a degree of dedication that's very rare.
Can you imagine any current politicians supporting such institutions though? They'd be closing them for political or ideological reasons.
So it's habitat protection we need, and we aren't often seeing it.

 

[connorlindeman]

More snow than ive seen here in 8 years.

 

[Back in the fold]

@connorlindeman Wow ! That’s some snowstorm you’re going through !

 

[connorlindeman]

@connorlindeman Wow ! That’s some snowstorm you’re going through !

Yup. Nice fine powder. Supposed to switch to ice later tonight.

 

[jaylach]

re-doing my main system as to my movie library of well over 1000 titles. No big deal but is taking ages to import all the videos to the player. When that is finally done I'll make a full system backup.