What are you doing today?

[GaryE21 136]

As much as I like my bike for fitness and health there are more mental benefits to it than anything and sometimes I just like to get into a Walter Mitty frame of mind and imagine myself doing something epic . Gary , I bet you feel the same way out on your kayak . The two activities are very similar . I envy you being out on the water like that . I bet it’s great fun .

When I get out on the water, there is something really calming to it. My wife is the exercise person, and she'll spring out ahead of me paddling madly. When the water's crystal clear and the aquatic plant growth is varied green and red - it's fantastic for me as a drifter. Add what happened on my last paddle when I had adult bald eagles flying low over my head, or watching me watch them from very close as I drifted along the bank - it's hard to say no to that kind of activity.

When you're in the kayak, if you move slowly and calmly, wildlife seems to think you're some kind of centaur - half man half boat. Things don't fear you as much as if you're a pedaling biped. You look up, and there's a %^%$% eagle right there. I've had loons swim beside me, and on the sea, seals pop up so close I could almost touch them. You can drift over fish nests and they think the boat's a passing log. Dragonflies light on the boat and let you admire them. It seems the one time a large human doesn't cause fear, but draws curiosity.

Fitness schmitness. I know it's good for my arms and shoulders, but we only do flatwater. As we age, exercise becomes more and more crucial, but the movement doesn't motivate me with the kayak. The stillness does.

I get my motion walking or riding the ever boring stationary bike. Today though, that was the activity - pedalling and fish watching in a humid fishroom. Around here, kayaking ends on October 1 when duck hunting starts.

 

[MattW21 137]

I spent the whole of today going between water changes and removing rust from the recently acquired vintage workshop. The result being all the tanks are clean, and all workshop parts are now rust-free. Thanks to an orbital sander, malt vinegar, and a very potent acid. I don't recommend those supplies for tank maintenance though.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

One thing I noticed on my last bike ride was air currents . Wind as it is called . That day was very calm and nearly windless and I could feel warm pockets of air which quickly changed to cooler and then back to warm and on and on . The wind would change direction and seemed to swirl . I thought of the TV weatherman’s wind charts which show the wind as little arrows moving in several directions and it was nice to connect with the air that way . I also noticed changes from terrain . We live in the air the same way that our fish live in the water and I also thought about @GaryE and his frequent comments about current in aquariums . A flat calm day when it’s hot out can be miserable and a windy cold day isn’t fun so I’m thinking more now about current in aquariums . The fish must feel the same way we do about air movement . Isn’t wind the same thing as a water current ?

 

[GaryE21 136]

I wonder if fish say "It ain't the heat, it's the humidity"? Or the aridity when things go badly for them?

I imagine for people on the Great Plains, wind must be constantly around. My short visit down to North Dakota and over to Saskatchewan was a windy experience. Here, last week, we had what I consider to be the real seasonal change in my corner of Atlantic Canada. We started getting high winds from the north. Then they turned to howling winds, every second night, and night time temps started to fall.
By winter, the wind becomes almost constant.

My house is at a weird angle on its lot, and when we moved here, I wondered about that. Then in time, I realized the corners of the house cut the winter winds which would hit flat on if the house was where I'd have put it. Someone long ago was wise.

The rainy season for tropical freshwater fish must be loaded with currents. The deeper water must flow. I've only ever seen dry season and every stream is in movement. But that's not just the tropics - it's all the same here though the seasons happen differently.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Currents aren’t something I paid much attention to before and I think they really could be a variable we’re overlooking . Creating current is going to be difficult in a small aquarium and easier in a large one . The filter a guy uses is going to be the only source of current so any changes within the aquarium will have to come from terrain . Rocks , wood , plant thickets and maybe different depths which , of course , are going to be feasible only in a long and large aquarium . I’m going to watch my fish closer now as I think about this . I just might have to change my set up in a couple aquariums too .

 

[Rusty_Shackleford21 136]

Every time I watch a video filmed in some South American creek/stream/river, I'm amazed at how much current there is. Schools of tetras or corydoras fighting the current together. Our aquariums are nowhere close to that level of flow.

 

[GaryE21 136]

The shock for me was catching killies. The stream where we caught Aphyosemion joergenscheeli and citrineipinnis was at the base of a 5 foot waterfall, and the clear shallow water formed riffles. The fish were in behind rocks or wood where it was slower, but the oxygenation must have been wild. We caught Aphyosemion escherichi at the base of a really high waterfall. Aphyo primigenium was in a quick stream. Epiplatys huberi were in the roots on the edge of a flowing stream. I had trouble standing against the current in the stream where we caught Epiplatys togolensis and grahami.

The lampyes were in very active water - normani in the wavy part on the beach of a wide river, and Platopocheilus in rushing streams. And what fish do we keep more in slow moving, almost stagnant tanks?

I want to go collecting again, and to look for killies. My biggest worry with age is balance - I have to work on it as you end up knee to waist deep in fast water. I had trouble with that last time, and am working actively with balance exercises.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Every time I watch a video filmed in some South American creek/stream/river, I'm amazed at how much current there is. Schools of tetras or corydoras fighting the current together. Our aquariums are nowhere close to that level of flow.

I was thinking that exact same thing . Watch certain birds and notice how they seem to be playing in the wind . Some fish are like that too . Some of the fish we keep must be bored to tears with where we have them living . We all know some of the fish that exult in turbulent water and since most of my nine aquariums are bare bottom I pour the water back in rather unceremoniously at water changes . The fish love that little blast of current . I’m really excited about this idea of water currents . Marine keepers have swiveling powerheads and wave makers and are way ahead of us in this area .

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Those are great observations about Killifish habitats Gary ! Very eye opening as well . I have never thought about currents before and this discussion we’re having is like the first day of aquarium school .
Balance ? Yes , that’s a big one . Something happens as we age and I’ve noticed it . It goes through your entire body from the soles of your feet right to the hips . Everything in that part of the body is connected and I think that imbalance issues can be corrected but it takes a focused effort . Balance and the lack of it has affected my riding . I’m nervous on fast descents and I ride the brakes to keep my speed down . I notice my balance problems first thing in the morning . I’m pretty wobbly for about ten minutes until I get moving . Start correcting balance issues with your feet . Go barefoot as much as possible .

 

[Rusty_Shackleford21 136]

Maybe we misinterpret things? If you research a fish on say seriously fish it may say it comes from waters with slow flow. But what is that? 1.5 mph? 3 mph? 5 mph?
The more I think about it the more I like the idea of using a wavemaker to generate more current.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Maybe we misinterpret things? If you research a fish on say seriously fish it may say it comes from waters with slow flow. But what is that? 1.5 mph? 3 mph? 5 mph?
The more I think about it the more I like the idea of using a wavemaker to generate more current.

THAT is a very good question . Read what Gary wrote in his post # 12,817 . The current almost knocked him down . Now . . . I look at my aquariums in a whole new light . Also , I love Swordtails but haven’t kept them in years . I recall reading that they are native to fast moving streams and are good jumpers . If that’s true then keeping them in an aquarium less than four feet without a power head is cruel .

 

[GaryE21 136]

There's another angle. I have kept some Cichlids that were downright nasty to each other. Killers. Until I got them into tanks with serious water flow, and they shoaled like tetras. All of a sudden, they were too busy riding the current and burning off their excess energy to fight. Life was good.
I have a friend who had a Geophagus (argyrostictus) that were murderers for me in a 75 with two of the largest aquaclears, but for him, in a 300 with laminar flow pumps, they were pretty easy going. I would watch them in his tank, and they barely squabbled. But they were dynamos in the water. I think I had a pent up energy problem I conveniently said was psycho aggression.

The issue with a lot of our fish is tank size. Put in a wavemaker and the flow bangs into the glass. Rather than a directional flow like in a river, we get turbulence.

I've been using more double sponge filters that stick to the glass with my killies. If I crank the air to max in a smaller tank (I'm experimenting with going back to 5 gallons for some pairs) I get water agitation. I think for them, the key is oxygenation, as they aren't built for sustained swimming.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Just to refresh our memory , what is a laminar flow pump ? I recall @WhistlingBadger mentioning that they were quite pricey .

 

[GaryE21 136]

Laminar flow are umm, things that do things somehow. It's an orderly flow lacking turbulence, and they do cost. I have a small one that I bartered for with a book editor for a small job (that turned out large...). They produce much less turbulence in an adequately sized tank, and the outflow doesn't mix but stays in layers. That is, til it hits the inevitable glass wall. Ideally, you use them in long tanks.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

Laminar flow are umm, things that do things somehow.

Yeah , that’s what I thought they were .