What are you doing today?

[GaryE24 22]

Hmm, no symphony, fish factory or chance to visit York for me. I have a terrible case of travel yearning today. I just want to go and be somewhere exotic (to me). I want to be in a medieval city with an excellent aquarium store and teleportation facilities to get me from here to there and back before tomorrow. Ideally, I could bring my dog and we could make a good walk of it...

 

[Innesfan61 4]

The conductor was the wild Yannick Seguin with bleach blonde hair and finger nail polish. He is amazing. So was the orchestra. Yannick is also the music director for the New York Metropolitan Opera. A very busy man.

And several others. For the upcoming Carnegie Hall season he's conducting the complete Mahler symphonies cycle -- all nine of them--variously with Philadelphia, Vienna and the Met Opera Orchestra. He also guest conducts during the same Carnegie Hall season with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. And that's just New York and Carnegie Hall. He was the guy who mentored Bradley Cooper on how to conduct and, specifically, how to conduct as Bernstein would, for the film "Maestro."

 

[gwand63 180]

And several others. For the upcoming Carnegie Hall season he's conducting the complete Mahler symphonies cycle -- all nine of them--variously with Philadelphia, Vienna and the Met Opera Orchestra. He also guest conducts during the same Carnegie Hall season with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. And that's just New York and Carnegie Hall. He was the guy who mentored Bradley Cooper on how to conduct and, specifically, how to conduct as Bernstein would, for the film "Maestro."

Wow. I didn’t know that. Amazing energy and vision. His direction of vocal works including opera is the best I have heard in my lifetime.

 

[JCinPA]

Fish Factory (Philadelphia area) trip report.

Fun trip, about a 45 minute drive from home. This is a pretty big fish store as the go, and JUST a fish store, no doggy or kitty stuff. They have an amazing array of equipment and chemicals in stock, and at competitive prices (read less than Amazon, where though it says “free” shipping is baked into the price). He has a fresh water fish room and a salt water fish room, and quite the array of adult-sized exotic fish. He also has outdoor pond supplies and fish.

I would say this is not the place to go for fish for your kids’ tanks—platties, mollies, tetras, danios, rasboras. While he has a few of those and some glofish (which I find an abomination), I think a PetSmart or PetCo (U.S. pet chains) would have a better selection of those sorts of fish. But big Oscar’s, gars, a pleco that was at least 9 inches long, adult cichlids and such, this is the place! Has an incredible amount of adult live fish stock in the $15-$80 range if you’re looking for exotics for pick up rather than online and shipped.

I’ll some pics from my phone over the next few minutes, should be done by the top of the hour.

This salt tank with AMAZING anemones And coral has been running for over 20 years without tear down!

Some of the larger fish he has

Some of the adult exotics

That Oscar is about 8 inches long
Fresh water fish room tanks

 

[JCinPA]

Continued some salts

Fun trip!

He carries both marine land and seapora and feels they are similar quality but seapora has more interesting sizes. This May be my next tank

 

[jaylach63 180]

I especially like the above photo. It is like one of natures disguise tricks at its best. The body is like camouflage and the yellow mouth is like a fishing lure to attract other critters. Sort of like the bioluminescent lure on an angler fish. Nature is amazing!

 

[GaryE24 22]

The blue glow of an aquarium store with that kind of set up...

 

[JCinPA]

View attachment 382144
I especially like the above photo. It is like one of natures disguise tricks at its best. The body is like camouflage and the yellow mouth is like a fishing lure to attract other critters. Sort of like the bioluminescent lure on an angler fish. Nature is amazing!

That triggerfish, IIRC was about 9-10 inches long. Haven’t seen anything like that since scuba diving years ago. He had a live seahorse who was maybe 8” top to bottom with the tail curled up. The size of some of his fish is a testament to his skill in keeping them healthy.

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

I’ve been busier than a one legged man in a three legged race the past several days . My daughter and family have traveled to a distant Montana city to help my oldest Granddaughter move into her new house and I’m watching her house , fish , cat , dog and garden until she returns tomorrow . That and taking care of all my own stuff too . It’s been fun walking the dog and I also did some aquarium maintenance for her and weeded her garden properly . Also , today , I did a grand maintenance on my aquarium’s and fed the fish and watered my house plants . I’m sure glad the days are long because I really have filled them up this week .
Life is good .

 

[GaryE24 22]

We're all different. It's funny. When I visit a new store, I don't even look at the large fish. I try to see what variety they have in small fish and micro-fish - what dwarf Cichlids or killies or tetras/corys/blue eyes etc.

But that looks like the reputation Phillie used to have as the centre (with New York) of the US hobby storewise is still not all gone. Nice.

I'll be a long time before I get used to the coastal winds here. Life in the age of sail must have been rough for sailors. Yesterday's forecast just mentioned gusts, and we ended up with a wild windstorm. All three of my outside chairs are smashed. I'll pick up the pieces and do outside work today. I'm getting killie eggs from a few previously uncooperative species so I'll check for those first. The killies and the corys are really reacting to the weather.

 

[Boundava1]

What kind of rock are you doing for this one? You know, I think it was you who turned me on to the blue foam/drylok combo way back at the old forum. I have done a LOT with that technique! You and I should teach a masterclass in Fake Rock Making 101 at the next Fish Forum Convention.

Yeah the extruded pink/blue foam and Drylok (original) latex is the best IMO/IME. I have been looking at other methods but they use the expanded foam and 2 part epoxy or resins and lots of sand for texture which is HUGE mess for both cutting and covering. Yeah the hot knife stinks, but I won't have a bazillion white bubbles or light foam flying around the neighborhood using saws to cut the extruded foam. Even if I texture with wood files the pink stuff is denser.

I have been looking at videos of divers at Lake Tanganyika to get an idea of what the rocks look like. There are NO holey rocks or seiryu stones in sight!
Thought is to make 3D boulders that are flat on one side so they can be attached to the back and bottom of the tank. The boulders will be scaped to encourage gaps and cracks both within the "rocks" and when assembling the rocks.
Also we will be having a section for shellies so it will kind of be an attempt to do a rock "wall/cluster" starting about 1/3 from the right side and wrapping along the back to the left side of the tank. This will also solve the issue of the tank being in a higher traffic area and spooking the julies. I am going to paint the tank a beautiful jade blue to replicate the colors of the water at a certain location/depth.

 

[WhistlingBadger59 15]

Yeah the extruded pink/blue foam and Drylok (original) latex is the best IMO/IME. I have been looking at other methods but they use the expanded foam and 2 part epoxy or resins and lots of sand for texture which is HUGE mess for both cutting and covering. Yeah the hot knife stinks, but I won't have a bazillion white bubbles or light foam flying around the neighborhood using saws to cut the extruded foam. Even if I texture with wood files the pink stuff is denser.

I have been looking at videos of divers at Lake Tanganyika to get an idea of what the rocks look like. There are NO holey rocks or seiryu stones in sight!
Thought is to make 3D boulders that are flat on one side so they can be attached to the back and bottom of the tank. The boulders will be scaped to encourage gaps and cracks both within the "rocks" and when assembling the rocks.
Also we will be having a section for shellies so it will kind of be an attempt to do a rock "wall/cluster" starting about 1/3 from the right side and wrapping along the back to the left side of the tank. This will also solve the issue of the tank being in a higher traffic area and spooking the julies. I am going to paint the tank a beautiful jade blue to replicate the colors of the water at a certain location/depth.

Yeah, if I ever do a project with that stuff again I'm going to invest in a hot knife. Is the pink foam easier to work with than the blue?

 

[jaylach63 180]

Sigh, had to do another Chewy order for my bird from Hades. Forgot to order cuttlefish bones on the previous order I posted about. Also I didn't notice that a sea grass mat I ordered was out of stock.Added the following to the cuttlefish bone order for free shipping. While smaller than the one I wanted it has more toys involved. Also I can still use what is left of the old mat. LOL! As a bride would want; "Something old, something new.

Here is the new mat. Less grass but more toys to play with. Everything is edible safe as is anything I get for the beast.

 

[WhistlingBadger59 15]

Today is National Forklift Safety Day. Please spread the word.

 

[MattW64 180]

Today is National Forklift Safety Day. Please spread the word.

Are you forklift certified?