What are you doing today?

[bgarthe65 82]

I did something for the first time since I kept native fish, I placed real wood in three tanks that had resin fake wood. I had to make a few slate anchor bases, but all went well with my 75g Congo Tetra tank, the 33g long Diamond Tetra tank, and my 33g long Cardinal Tetra tank. They really came out ok….like them. There are still other tanks with resin wood. Hopefully the wood will last.
I posted a few pics. Got two real cool pieces for the Congo Tetra 75g tank.

 

[jaylach64 180]

I did something for the first time since I kept native fish, I placed real wood in three tanks that had resin fake wood. I had to make a few slate anchor bases, but all went well with my 75g Congo Tetra tank, the 33g long Diamond Tetra tank, and my 33g long Cardinal Tetra tank. They really came out ok….like them. There are still other tanks with resin wood. Hopefully the wood will last.
I posted a few pics. Got two real cool pieces for the Congo Tetra 75g tank.
View attachment 385246View attachment 385247View attachment 385248View attachment 385249View attachment 385250

In my opinion real wood is the way to go especially with species such as plecos. Even if using fake plants real wood is better. They do a better job, especially with silk, of making a good looking fake plant than fake wood.

 

[Naughts63 135]

This was a very expensive kit and was a gift from my late wife and I feel compelled to finish it as a tribute to her

That sounds like a very heavy load you’re carrying. Work on the ship if it’s enjoyable but otherwise wait until a time when you’re ready for the challenge. Be kind to yourself when the waves of grief come and do whatever you need to do to keep on top of them. She would understand.

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

Noah built his Ark faster than you are building that ship. You should post updates in the thread you started in the hobby area of the forums.
PS: I asked Alexa how many years it took for Noah to build the Ark and she said it took 120 years.

120 years ! Man ! I’ve got it made then . Let’s see here . . . . I’m almost 71 and I’m going to live to be 120 so I’ve got about 49 years left to finish it . I’m going to ace this !

 

[jaylach64 180]

120 years ! Man ! I’ve got it made then . Let’s see here . . . . I’m almost 71 and I’m going to live to be 120 so I’ve got about 49 years left to finish it . I’m going to ace this !

Noah, according to the Bible, lived 950 years. You still have some time.

 

[GaryE25 23]

I think you're going to need a bigger rasp, @Back in the fold . Right now we know of around 2.3 million species here, and estimates are that's about a quarter of the life on Earth. I think the bacteria can fend for themselves, but given that a viable breeding population for most more complicated creatures is 300 individuals, that's going to take a few sanded planks.

Think of the fish you can keep if you get 950 years. Not bad.

Based on my progress with a simple fishroom, you'll be busy. I took apart a major rack yesterday after I shifted some 4 foot 40s to a new structure. I found an unexpected area of softened wood - a tank that had leaked and been repaired had done more damage to the stand than I expected. I only have two more 25 gallon tanks to move, after I reposition some lighting. I'll have a good clean up job tomorrow. One more 6 foot rack has to be disassembled and converted to holding seasonal car tires out in the unheated half of the garage, and I need to construct a work area for egg collecting and incubation. I'm no carpenter, as the coming photos will show. This is high finesse 2x4 work.

I can dress it up all I want stating I'm doing plumbing and lighting, but this is crude hackwork. I'm good with fish and getting better with plants, but there's a reason I've been redoing a lot of this room 5 years after I put it together. My respect for the trades that do this right keeps climbing.

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

I found an unexpected area of softened wood - a tank that had leaked and been repaired had done more damage to the stand than I expected.

Interesting . Don’t you paint anything on the bare wood to protect it from that eventuality ? Some sort of stain or linseed oil or something ? After going to all the trouble of building and fixing that’s a necessary step . Makes things look nicer too .

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

Egad ! ! ! I just spent an excruciatingly long and frustrating time with PayPal and The Great TFF Forum to pay my supporting member dues . Next time I’m going to headquarters with the cash in hand and pay . I hate our modern cashless society .

 

[GaryE25 23]

Send me the money, and I'll, uh, take it in to the 47th floor Mod Office in downtown Gotham City. Yes I will.

I don't paint the racks. They originally went up quickly as I had the fish crammed in little space after the move and had to get them into better quarters fast. We finished the room, I painted the walls and the racks were going up while the walls were still drying.

Moving with a large fishroom has just a few drawbacks, and since I did it that way, I went for a largely uniform bare wood look. I would prefer painted/stained wood, but.

It's interesting. I have a group of young Alestopetersius smykalai, Congolese Characins, and for months now they have been shy and barely visible. Now, in their the same tank on a different wall, with about 30 minutes sunlight from across the room on their glass, but every else unchanged, they are downright show offs. Knowing the group, they'll be another 6 months before their looks kick in, but the activity change is curious. Same filtration, same lights, same temperature, and totally different behaviour.

All tanks are now moved into place, but the floor is covered in chunks of wood and reconstruction debris. Tomorrow, I do the cleanup, and then start cleaning the tanks that were shaken up in the lifting and moving. By the weekend, I can sit down in there, open a cold beer and admire the fish and plants.

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

Send me the money, and I'll, uh, take it in to the 47th floor Mod Office in downtown Gotham City. Yes I will.

I don't paint the racks. They originally went up quickly as I had the fish crammed in little space after the move and had to get them into better quarters fast. We finished the room, I painted the walls and the racks were going up while the walls were still drying.

Moving with a large fishroom has just a few drawbacks, and since I did it that way, I went for a largely uniform bare wood look. I would prefer painted/stained wood, but.

It's interesting. I have a group of young Alestopetersius smykalai, Congolese Characins, and for months now they have been shy and barely visible. Now, in their the same tank on a different wall, with about 30 minutes sunlight from across the room on their glass, but every else unchanged, they are downright show offs. Knowing the group, they'll be another 6 months before their looks kick in, but the activity change is curious. Same filtration, same lights, same temperature, and totally different behaviour.

All tanks are now moved into place, but the floor is covered in chunks of wood and reconstruction debris. Tomorrow, I do the cleanup, and then start cleaning the tanks that were shaken up in the lifting and moving. By the weekend, I can sit down in there, open a cold beer and admire the fish and plants.

You sure could have put the word out earlier that you performed this financial service . Would’ve saved me a lot of time and hassle .
AND ! You just confirmed something that I have long suspected but am unable to prove . The placement of an aquarium does indeed affect things . The light hits differently in every place in any room and although we may be unable to detect any difference our finny friends pick up on it .

 

[bgarthe65 82]

In my opinion real wood is the way to go especially with species such as plecos. Even if using fake plants real wood is better. They do a better job, especially with silk, of making a good looking fake plant than fake wood.

I agree, real wood with fake plants does look a lot better. These two large pieces were pricey, but look way better than resin fake wood. So glad I switched a few tanks to real. I don’t have plecos in there, but my CoryCats are in heaven with all the little nooks and crannies.

 

[gwand64 180]

I’m selling off the last of my line bred A. cacatuoides juveniles today to a lfs. I’m done breeding line bred cockatoos. I had multiple successful spawns from Orange Flash, Triple Reds and Lemon Candy. The local fish shops gobbled them up. But these line bred fish barely make it to one year before dying off. Even keeping them in black water conditions did not extend their lifespan. If I breed Apistogrammas again they will be from wild caught parents.

 

[Back in the fold18 3]

I’m selling off the last of my line bred A. cacatuoides juveniles today to a lfs. I’m done breeding line bred cockatoos. I had multiple successful spawns from Orange Flash, Triple Reds and Lemon Candy. The local fish shops gobbled them up. But these line bred fish barely make it to one year before dying off. Even keeping them in black water conditions did not extend their lifespan. If I breed Apistogrammas again they will be from wild caught parents.

You know what Man ? You’ve gone wild , with fantastic results , with your dwarf cichlid breeding .

 

[GaryE25 23]

I used to get about three years out of my wild caught Apistogramma cacatuoides. Some who had killed their partners and ended up alone lived longer. The unsubstantiated rumour on the linebreds is that fish tb got into them years ago. That would explain the shorter lifespans.

The largest number of spawns I had out of a pair of wild caughts was from agassizzi, which gave a little over 20 on an every 6 to 8 week cycle. But I can't help feeling that humans with our puny tanks are not good for fish. We create the ideal conditions for disease transmission, especially in intense farming for profit situations. We can buy fish and give them great tanks, but the damage is done before we even saw the fish.

@gwand - you have rapidly become a very skilled breeder. You also have an outlet for your young fish, and that isn't to be scoffed at. There are some commercially interesting dwarf Cichlids that are challenging and that I don't see around much anymore. Pelvicachromis subocellatus is on the same level of difficulty as cacatuoides, and Nanochromis transvestitus is slightly harder but in demand in larger markets.

If you want to test your skills, look at the various South American Dicrossus species, They are by nature short lived (as are rams) but they're weird and wonderful.

A cacatuoides is different from a lot of other Apistogramma as they're a generalist species for habitat, and are tolerant of medium water. A lot of the others need very soft. I like higher bodied Apistos like njisseni, macmasteri, hongsloi, veijita, eunotus (low in colour though) and panduro, but what do my tastes matter? I'm locked into my African forest and savannah dwarfs instead.

 

[gwand64 180]

I used to get about three years out of my wild caught Apistogramma cacatuoides. Some who had killed their partners and ended up alone lived longer. The unsubstantiated rumour on the linebreds is that fish tb got into them years ago. That would explain the shorter lifespans.

The largest number of spawns I had out of a pair of wild caughts was from agassizzi, which gave a little over 20 on an every 6 to 8 week cycle. But I can't help feeling that humans with our puny tanks are not good for fish. We create the ideal conditions for disease transmission, especially in intense farming for profit situations. We can buy fish and give them great tanks, but the damage is done before we even saw the fish.

@gwand - you have rapidly become a very skilled breeder. You also have an outlet for your young fish, and that isn't to be scoffed at. There are some commercially interesting dwarf Cichlids that are challenging and that I don't see around much anymore. Pelvicachromis subocellatus is on the same level of difficulty as cacatuoides, and Nanochromis transvestitus is slightly harder but in demand in larger markets.

If you want to test your skills, look at the various South American Dicrossus species, They are by nature short lived (as are rams) but they're weird and wonderful.

A cacatuoides is different from a lot of other Apistogramma as they're a generalist species for habitat, and are tolerant of medium water. A lot of the others need very soft. I like higher bodied Apistos like njisseni, macmasteri, hongsloi, veijita, eunotus (low in colour though) and panduro, but what do my tastes matter? I'm locked into my African forest and savannah dwarfs instead.

What is the lifespan of Rams under ideal tank conditions?