--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00011 Date: 11/09/96 From: ALLAN TOMKINSON Time: 03:58pm \/To: ALL (Read 2 times) Subj: Here we go... I am taking the next step, a large one, but done on a small basis. I'm gonna start up a small discus hatchery in the back of a petstore in my area. One strain is all I will have a first, and if things go well I will expand into other strains. I'm gonna do this the cheap way, used equipment, etc, since this will be more of a hobby than a business (unless things go extremely well for me.) I will be able to sell the fry cheap since I will have very little over head (no rent, free water and electrical supply.) I talked yesterday with a breeder in Ohio, Bill Deem, who I am thinking of going with. He has a strain that he developed called Lemon-Lime Emerald Green discus. The fish sounded very nice, he was a very nice and professional man, and the prices are good. $17.50 each, about half-dollar to silver dollar size. I was just wondering if anyone else here has any experience with any discus breeders that they would like to suggest, and any strains of discus they would recommend starting off with... So far I've raised Pigeon Bloods, a Red Turquoise, and a Turquoise... --- SLMAIL v4.5a (#0226) * Origin: The Big Byte BBS 704-279-2295 (1:379/301) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00012 Date: 11/13/96 From: ALLAN TOMKINSON Time: 08:21am \/To: BEN COLEMAN (Read 2 times) Subj: Re: Discus R.I.P >-> Wow id love to keep some of those some day, but I don't think I have >enough >-> time to devote myself to a sensitive aquatic environment right now(and >-> Discus require it!!!!)... Have you ever bred the Discus?? Have you ver >-> had Anglefish, any luck with breeding em? I've managed to spawn and I do not know why everyone thinks that discus require such time to take care of. I've had a pair of Pigeon bloods for 2 years now. I change about 25% of the water a month. I use polyester pillow filling (same thing that you buy from the pet shops, but alot cheaper at wal-mart) and activated carbon that I change once a month also. For bio-filter I have a Quicksand fluid sand filter. For these two years these two fish have been happy campers on a diet of Wattley beef-heart and Sera flake food... I've never had any problems with them, and have now added 8 Cory's, 6 glowlight tetra's, a Kuli loach, and a black pleco to the tank. (Just as a addon, I am not planning on keeping this lack of a regimen when I start up my hatchery. I'll be A LOT more attentive there... :) --- SLMAIL v4.5a (#0226) * Origin: The Big Byte BBS 704-279-2295 (1:379/301) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00013 Date: 11/13/96 From: ALLAN TOMKINSON Time: 08:42am \/To: ALL (Read 2 times) Subj: Cost Cutting. The hobby of keeping fish is exspensive enough from the get go with the price of Aquariums and filters these days. Starting up a 30 gallon tank can easily cost you $300 these days. So, I've been doing some looking around and here's what I've found: Item Petshop Cost Alt Store found at and price ---------------- --------------- --------------------------------- Canister filter up to $1.50 a foot Lowes Hardware $.14 a foot hoses Filter floss $5 a bag Wal-mart, pillow fill. $2.77 a bag, that is about 10 times as big as the pet store ones. Light ballasts $15 & up Lowes Hardware $2.80 & up Wal-mart is a great place to save on generic stuff like Activated Carbon, some foods, etc. JUST DO NOT BUY YOUR FISH THERE!!! Now, in no way do I not advocate supporting your local pet shop. I envy these guys in doing what they do. I've worked in one before, and it's alot of work. SO, if you have the money to buy things from them, PLEASE DO SO! But, if you are hitting hard times in the budget, but gotta keep ya fish, look around town. You'd be amazed at what you can find. --- SLMAIL v4.5a (#0226) * Origin: The Big Byte BBS 704-279-2295 (1:379/301) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00014 Date: 11/12/96 From: CHRIS DOWNS Time: 01:37pm \/To: ENRIQUE CHEUNG (Read 2 times) Subj: Re: Snail AG> I have snail invasions once and a while, which eat some algae AG> but not all, when it starts to increase. They breed very quickly AG> and then most die due to lack of food. This is a natural way of EC> Can I put only 1 snail so then can't reproduce? Or are they asexual? At least some snails and maybe all snails are bisexual. --- Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 * Origin: The STL CATII BBS (314-351-7150) (314-353-9441) (1:100/757) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00015 Date: 11/14/96 From: CHRIS DOWNS Time: 02:38pm \/To: ROBERT RICE (Read 2 times) Subj: Re: more stuff..... RR> My greatest joy is being RR> waist deep in mud as the water tickles my chin and I RR> navigate my net past a tree trunk . Holy cow!! There's _another_ sick person out there!! I became fascinated with natives as an offshoot of angling. I would catch a wide variety of "minnows" for bait and those fish were fascinating. It wasn't too long before I was enjoying the bait collecting more that the fishing! RR> The most RR> important thing to remember is be smart, don't take what you shouldn't RR> , don't keep what you don't want, and don't take RR> what you don't have room for. The second most important RR> thing is not how you do it, but that you enjoy doing it . While those are important, I've found that the three most critical aspects to collecting natives are quarantine, quarantine, and quarantine. RR> I repeat, never dump the water RR> into the tank, that is the number one way to transmit RR> disease and parasites. And you'll find plenty of unwanted hitchhikers. RR> People often wonder what fish work well in an aquarium so here RR> are some that I have kept and really enjoy: I like the madtoms best! --- Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 * Origin: The STL CATII BBS (314-351-7150) (314-353-9441) (1:100/757) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00016 Date: 11/14/96 From: ADRIAN WORLEY Time: 05:55am \/To: SUSAN LEPRI (Read 2 times) Subj: Aquarium stand Hi Susan, 08-Nov-96 06:38:39, Susan Lepri wrote to Adrian Worley Subject: Aquarium stand SL> To many of us an All Glass tank refers to one made by the All Glass SL> Company...they have the plastic frame at the top and bottom just like all SL> the SL> others..ie..Perfecto, ODell, etc. Sometimes you just have to be more SL> specific :) Obviously. Actually, this post confirms a suspicion I'd had for a while. I was talking to James McGrail a while back about 'standard' tank sizes, and was suprised to see a thought that we, (in the UK), buy American tanks. My thought being that items as bulky as this, and so easy to build anywhere would not be economical to export. I have never heard of All-Glass, Perfecto or ODell. Over here, our tanks do not have plastic frames. All the best, Adrian... --- Terminate 3.00 * Origin: Adrian's point. (2:252/820.9) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00017 Date: 11/14/96 From: ADRIAN WORLEY Time: 06:08am \/To: BEN COLEMAN (Read 2 times) Subj: This Echo .. Hi Ben, 14-Oct-96 21:49:00, Ben Coleman wrote to All Subject: This Echo .. BC> Is anyone else receiving this Echo ? Hearing you just fine in Hampshire, Southern England. We used to get a fair few messages from Aus side a while back, but I guess the feed got interupted, this, and a couple of others in this packet, are the first I've seen from 'down under' for ages. Welcome back! All the best, Adrian... --- Terminate 3.00 * Origin: Adrian's point. (2:252/820.9) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00018 Date: 11/14/96 From: ADRIAN WORLEY Time: 06:11am \/To: JIM HUTTON (Read 2 times) Subj: Slate rock, safe? Hi Jim, 09-Nov-96 16:37:08, Jim Hutton wrote to All Subject: Slate rock, safe? JH> I recently cleaned out my 20 gallon tank and put in some black slate rock JH> I had JH> around the house. It looked real good but my new fish lasted only about 3 JH> days. JH> I wonder if the rock or sediment from it was harmful? They all got fin JH> rot JH> almost right away and died. Any ideas? Slate is normally neutral, in other words, it does not leach minerals or anything, so is pretty harmless from that point of view. There is one problem with slate, and that is the edges can be very sharp. If you keep fish which are a bit skittish and tend to fly about the tank bumping into things, you can get some nasty injuries. Did you clean the stuff well before putting it in? It may have had some pollutant or biological pest on it. All the best, Adrian... --- Terminate 3.00 * Origin: Adrian's point. (2:252/820.9) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 229 AQUARIUMS Ref: DFK00019 Date: 11/14/96 From: ADRIAN WORLEY Time: 06:15am \/To: BILL BARNETT (Read 2 times) Subj: Kribs Hi Bill, 10-Nov-96 22:45:15, Bill Barnett wrote to James Wagner Subject: Kribs JW>> could be verging on deadly. It is my understanding that they (like JW>> most other west african fish) like moderatly soft water with a low ph JW>> i.e.under 7 and over 5.5 As for a good algea cleaner I can't really JW>> recomend any for you, other than to say that with porper lighting and BB> Gee thats funny.... I keep and breed african ciclids (Have for years) and BB> it is BB> my understanding that MBUNA and other africans like HARD water and a p.h. BB> of BB> 7.8 to 8.9. Everything I have read seems to support this. I was wondering BB> about BB> kribs 'cause I am thinking about starting up a tank with this beautiful BB> member of the ciclid family. James is right. The water regime in the great lakes where Mbuna come from is exactly as you describe. The lakes themselves are more like inland seas. All the minerals disolved by rivers end up in them. The contain, hard alkali water. (Actually, Lake Victoria is not as hard as the others because water also flows /out/ of it in the form of the Nile.) This is not the case in West Africa. Here, the regime is much like any other tropical fresh water set up. Rivers contain soft acidic water as a result of flowing through forest, and the like with much organic material. Kribs would probably survive in slightly alkali conditions but would be much happier in soft acidic tanks. All the best, Adrian... --- Terminate 3.00 * Origin: Adrian's point. (2:252/820.9)