Tuesday, August 23 our area experienced a 5.8 earthquake, which was a dramatic and very rare event for us. I was at my desk (where else?!) and the house began to shake with a rhythmic pattern, and the noise was deafening. I could not understand what was happening, and at first did not think of an earthquake. It is just not what comes to mind when you grow up in the mid-Atlantic area of the country. I tore downstairs as quickly as I could, since my reptilian brain wanted out of that house, pronto, and when I got to the kitchen I saw my sister, nephew and the twins in the pool, gawping up at the house in wonderment, mouths hanging open. I truly thought for a second that one of those large personnel carrier helicopters was landing on my roof or something, lol. Then I realized the sound and shaking was coming from all directions, and it must be an earthquake.
I made it outside, and they told me they could not feel anything while floating in the pool, but they saw the house and the plants and furniture on the deck shaking violently. The dogs were not particularly alarmed, though they were eager to head outside to confront this potential threat, until they got out there and could not determine where the threat originated! They were confused but not at all upset. I was very surprised that there was no damage to my house. The shaking was such that I immediately felt like my solidly built and well constructed home was the flimsiest thing ever built. Nothing even fell off the walls like they did in 2000 when we had a much smaller quake here.
Next up, Hurricane Irene. Today is 8/27/11 and the hurricane is pretty much here, at 4:18 p.m. A lot of gusty wind and we've had a ton of rain since early this morning. The pool is overflowing. A few branches down but not too bad. We still have power, but I expect that to change pretty soon - it has flickered off and back on several times already.
Rick is at the boat in Kinsale, where the storm is going to be much worse, and I wish he'd come home. He wants to be there to adjust lines on the boat as the storm surge causes the water to rise many feet higher than normal high tide, but I think it will be dangerous for him to be there. Also, if the gusts get more than 50 mph they'll close the bridges, and he needs them to get home. I don't want him to be injured or trapped in the direct path of the storm, where "devastating" winds are forecasted. We've got "damaging" winds forecasted here. This storm reminds everyone of Isabel in 2003, which caused us to be without power for 6 days, though not all neighborhoods had it that bad. My sister, who lived no more than a couple of miles away, lost power for only one day with that storm.
So, with Isabel fresh in our minds, we've made quite a few preparations, and I think we've done what we can. We have two generators, a small one that is relatively quiet and can be expected to run all of my fish tank filters, since they all have pretty low wattage, and also a fan or two, and then we have a very large generator we got when Isabel hit, and that one can run the refrigerator and a few other things if it looks like power will be out long-term.
Maybe I've got selective memory, but I grew up here and I don't recall hurricanes. Not at all. I'll have to ask my mother, who will be able to tell me more, but since we've moved back here after living in Florida for 9 years we've had more trouble with hurricanes here than in South Florida. In fact, the reason we moved back to Virginia at all was because of the devastation of hurricane Andrew in Homestead, which alarmed my husband enough to want to move away. He was in construction and volunteered his time to inspect homes there to determine if they could be saved or were a total loss from the storm. It hit him very hard to see first-hand what a storm like that could do to a community. Then we move back to Virginia and have had several hurricane scares, and a tropical storm (Gaston) that caused widespread flooding here.
I will check back in when all is said and done.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
What goes up must come down
This past weekend I decided I had to take down the 45-gallon with the leopoldi angel, black neon tetras and cardinal tetras. My work schedule is such that it has become tricky to maintain all these tanks, and the tank itself was not enjoyable for me. I had planned on stocking it more to make it more interesting, but I am going to have to put together a snail tank for Otis, so something had to go.
Since I'm down to only one leopoldi it was hard to justify keeping this tank up, when he could be moved to the 40 heavily planted community with tetras and one wild ram. My wild ram and the wild caught leopoldi angel are both snail eaters (more so than a domestic cichlid, interestingly) and I cannot keep a population of snails going for my puffer, Otis.
I've therefore taken down the 45, and relocated the angel into the 40, along with the black neons and cardinals, and all is well, for the time being. I'm not terribly optimistic about the angel, since this is a wild caught fish who has difficulty settling into new situations and does not like to be moved. On top of that I put him into a relatively brightly lit, heavily planted tank, and this is really not the ideal setup. He should have a deep, dim and branchy tank with floating plants only, but I can't really do that for him at the moment. We shall see. I put the 45 into the eaves for my next adventure!
I kept a dedicated snail tank once before, but it ran aground at some point due to my inability to keep it as clean as I'd like - the water likely became too acidic and the snails died out. I kept it on the floor (no available lateral surfaces!) so I had to use a Python to do PWCs, and this would suck up eggs and babies, but I could not get a siphon going with a regular siphon with it so low to the floor. *Sigh* Anyway, I obtained a very large supply of snails from an Aquabid dealer and she was VERY kind and informative, and gave me full instructions on maintaining a good healthy colony. She can be found on Aquabid under Nelly's Fishy Friends, so hit her up!
I have resurrected Otis' old 10-gal and set that up with calciferous sand, rocks and driftwood, and a lance-leaved anubias plant. This is home to some of my new ramshorns, most of which are a very good pencil-eraser size and larger, which impressed me. I have put about 25 of them into my tank at work, which is where I have been harvesting snails from for Otis of late, though they are thin on the ground. Now that I'm going to be working full time I can take special care to feed that tank and support the new population of snails.
Now I want some tankmates for the snails in the 10-gal at home, and envisioned a nano setup with celestial peal danios or some of the nifty micro rasboras, for instance, but I am picturing the wee fishies snacking on tiny snail babies, and decided I needed to rethink this. What about shrimp? Crystal reds? Would they eat eggs and babies enough to prevent my snail colony from thriving? I'm off to email Nelly and get her advice on this.
Update: Nelly does not see any reason why I could not keep shrimp with the snails, but she has not done it. She keeps guppies with hers. I do think I'll try some very small shrimp species and see what happens. I like shrimp anyway, and this will be a suitable setup for them. She mentions that the most important thing for a snail tank is the GRAVEL, since that's where they breed and the babies can safely hunker down in the crevices, but this is, as mentioned, already set up as a sand tank. I'm hoping this is going to be okay! There is irony in the reality that so many aquarists have nuisance snails they have trouble getting rid of, and here I am, trying desperately to cultivate them.
I've said it before, but here it goes again: If you have an uncontrollable snail population I promise you are overfeeding your tank. If the fish get all the food the snails will die right out. This is why I have had poor results at work - I'm there only three days a week and the fish don't get fed during that time, and they go 4 days without food when we aren't there every other Friday. I'm not getting the molly babies I'd expect, either. That's not such a big deal, but I'd like to have more than one tank for snails, since if something goes wrong I'll have a backup. My schedule is switching to 5 days a week at work, so I am positive this will result in a thriving snail population (that is a gravel tank!) and more molly babies.
The jury is still out with regards to the angel in the 40-gal, but this was the right choice for me right now and hopefully he will settle. An interesting thing is going on, though, and that is that these fish suddenly do not like flake food. I watch carefully and they all take it up and spit it right out. I'm not sure what's up with that. They also do the same with the tiny NLS "growth" pellets that are about 1-2 mm in diameter. I don't really know what kind of food they want.
Since I'm down to only one leopoldi it was hard to justify keeping this tank up, when he could be moved to the 40 heavily planted community with tetras and one wild ram. My wild ram and the wild caught leopoldi angel are both snail eaters (more so than a domestic cichlid, interestingly) and I cannot keep a population of snails going for my puffer, Otis.
I've therefore taken down the 45, and relocated the angel into the 40, along with the black neons and cardinals, and all is well, for the time being. I'm not terribly optimistic about the angel, since this is a wild caught fish who has difficulty settling into new situations and does not like to be moved. On top of that I put him into a relatively brightly lit, heavily planted tank, and this is really not the ideal setup. He should have a deep, dim and branchy tank with floating plants only, but I can't really do that for him at the moment. We shall see. I put the 45 into the eaves for my next adventure!
I kept a dedicated snail tank once before, but it ran aground at some point due to my inability to keep it as clean as I'd like - the water likely became too acidic and the snails died out. I kept it on the floor (no available lateral surfaces!) so I had to use a Python to do PWCs, and this would suck up eggs and babies, but I could not get a siphon going with a regular siphon with it so low to the floor. *Sigh* Anyway, I obtained a very large supply of snails from an Aquabid dealer and she was VERY kind and informative, and gave me full instructions on maintaining a good healthy colony. She can be found on Aquabid under Nelly's Fishy Friends, so hit her up!
I have resurrected Otis' old 10-gal and set that up with calciferous sand, rocks and driftwood, and a lance-leaved anubias plant. This is home to some of my new ramshorns, most of which are a very good pencil-eraser size and larger, which impressed me. I have put about 25 of them into my tank at work, which is where I have been harvesting snails from for Otis of late, though they are thin on the ground. Now that I'm going to be working full time I can take special care to feed that tank and support the new population of snails.
Now I want some tankmates for the snails in the 10-gal at home, and envisioned a nano setup with celestial peal danios or some of the nifty micro rasboras, for instance, but I am picturing the wee fishies snacking on tiny snail babies, and decided I needed to rethink this. What about shrimp? Crystal reds? Would they eat eggs and babies enough to prevent my snail colony from thriving? I'm off to email Nelly and get her advice on this.
Update: Nelly does not see any reason why I could not keep shrimp with the snails, but she has not done it. She keeps guppies with hers. I do think I'll try some very small shrimp species and see what happens. I like shrimp anyway, and this will be a suitable setup for them. She mentions that the most important thing for a snail tank is the GRAVEL, since that's where they breed and the babies can safely hunker down in the crevices, but this is, as mentioned, already set up as a sand tank. I'm hoping this is going to be okay! There is irony in the reality that so many aquarists have nuisance snails they have trouble getting rid of, and here I am, trying desperately to cultivate them.
I've said it before, but here it goes again: If you have an uncontrollable snail population I promise you are overfeeding your tank. If the fish get all the food the snails will die right out. This is why I have had poor results at work - I'm there only three days a week and the fish don't get fed during that time, and they go 4 days without food when we aren't there every other Friday. I'm not getting the molly babies I'd expect, either. That's not such a big deal, but I'd like to have more than one tank for snails, since if something goes wrong I'll have a backup. My schedule is switching to 5 days a week at work, so I am positive this will result in a thriving snail population (that is a gravel tank!) and more molly babies.
The jury is still out with regards to the angel in the 40-gal, but this was the right choice for me right now and hopefully he will settle. An interesting thing is going on, though, and that is that these fish suddenly do not like flake food. I watch carefully and they all take it up and spit it right out. I'm not sure what's up with that. They also do the same with the tiny NLS "growth" pellets that are about 1-2 mm in diameter. I don't really know what kind of food they want.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Tank Updates
Yesterday was devoted to tank maintenance in my office, where I keep a 40-gallon planted, which contains a single wild caught ram (the mate died recently of bloat - I may have mentioned I have horrible luck keeping rams alive, like many people), the ember tetras and het rasboras. This tank gets overgrown very easily with the plantings, and the floating salvinia needs to be scooped out regularly. There is a curious substance all over the sand that I can only describe as an algae, but the rest of the tank has no algae whatsoever. It is a debris that is dark and coats the sand in clumps, and it is not possible to suction it out with a siphon. I stir the sand regularly, what little there is, and I'm not sure why this tank suffers from it, though it does make the sand look "natural," lol. I'm increasing the PWCs in an effort to gain control of it. If that does the trick then I'll know there is some kind of nutrient imbalance.
I did a PWC for dear Otis, who is just a dream in his 20 long. No issues there other than the persistent diatom algae, but this tank easily gets higher nitrate levels due to his meaty diet, and the brackish water seems to have this problem more than a similar tank that was fresh. No worries, though - he's looking great and I'm content.
The HOB filter on the 37 gets clogged quickly and I'm constantly having to clean it out, when it does not seem that dirty. At least not dirty enough to cause the clogging. Even after I rinse everything out and put it back together it seems to run as if the filter pads are clogged. I don't have any extra media trays in it at all. Recently I noticed that the water level was dropping dramatically - more so than the other 3 tanks in the room, and yesterday I found out why: the curtain hanging next to the tank was being splashed by the filter, which was clogged and not flowing properly, and the curtain was sucking up the water up its entire floor to ceiling length! I cleaned out the filter, again, and did a big PWC, and took down the curtain.
The reason I did such a big PWC was so that I could pull the rocks and get out the extra leleupi, which was cramping the style of the pair that has formed. Slowly but surely all six have whittled down to two, and now that they have the tank to themselves they are much calmer and hopefully will spawn for me. Even the one stunted little leleupi left in there was a huge distraction for them, despite the fact that he kept to an upper corner, completely out of their way. They took turns all day long chasing after him. I sold (what appeared to be) an extra dominant male initially, once that situation made itself clear, then one day my daughter happened to find a leleupi on the floor next to the tank, and my husband was able to save it and got it back into the tank alive. It was quite clear that the fish was being bullied and chased and needed to go, so I put it downstairs in the 150 with the other Tanganyikans since I had nowhere else for it to go, and the frontosa and Altolamps in that tank are of a decent size now so as not to be bullied by the wee leleupi. That left 3 fish in the 37, and it soon became obvious which fish were the pair, and yesterday I got the third one out and put him downstairs as well. I'm not sure how that is going to work out, but, again, I have nowhere else for him to go and he is very small still, so he'll either sink or swim downstairs. I fear the leleupi and the Paracyprichromis in the 150 are doomed once the frontosa get bigger, but we shall see. It is remarkable how relaxed the leleupi are in the 37 upstairs now that they are alone together. They can concentrate on making babies now! If one of them decides it wants to "own" the tank and bullies the other, then I'll just sell the pair off and take down the tank.
That leaves the 45-gallon in the office, and sadly I lost another leopoldi angel last week. It was wasting away and looked like it had been beaten up, though I did not see the other bullying it. I think it was just ill, or old, and it did not make it too long after I noticed its deteriorating condition. I now have one single leopoldi left, with some black neons and a few cardinal tetras. This tank is a puzzle to me because I don't like the looks of it and would just as soon put all the fish in the 40 with the others, but I don't think the 40 is a good place for the leopoldi. Too many plants and too much light. I think I will create a community in the 45, with more tetras and perhaps some catfish of some type. Deborah will help me determine which species would work.
This week I'll need to do a PWC on the 150 and the 20 high goldfish tank (love this tank! Too cute!). The frontosa are getting big and it is nearly time for me to swap out the small, fussy stacked rocks for larger boulder type rocks so they don't knock everything over. I'm looking forward to going rock shopping, which is something I very much enjoy, lol. I've got a great landscaping place right up the street and they've got a huge pile of the right type of rock for me to look through.
I still have all of the Altolamps that I originally put in this tank, so there are 8 of them, and the 5 Paracyps, 4 Kapampa frontosa and now the two small leleupi. I just went down to check on the new leleupi addition, and what do I see? He's somehow gotten behind the overflow box where the filter intake is located! How on earth did he squeeze into that spot and how on earth am I going to get him out??? I just swore and walked back upstairs when I saw that..... I've got work to do first before I even begin to tackle that. The hood is in the way for me to lean over at the right angle to get a net back there, so I might have to get Rick to help me take the hood down first, and then I might be able to get him if I stand on a high stool. I suppose he was chased and he was able to squeeze back there. The gap is only big enough for fry, so I'm not sure how he pulled it off. I suppose I should have them siliconed in place but I wanted more flexibility with the setup so I have it wedged, hiding the filter intakes and heater. *Sigh* I knew there'd be something, since it is hard to add a fish to a well established setup without something happening. I'll need to get some pictures of the 150 soon to show how the frontosa have grown, and how great they look. I'm really eager to see them reach their final size, when the tank will really show off well.
I did a PWC for dear Otis, who is just a dream in his 20 long. No issues there other than the persistent diatom algae, but this tank easily gets higher nitrate levels due to his meaty diet, and the brackish water seems to have this problem more than a similar tank that was fresh. No worries, though - he's looking great and I'm content.
The HOB filter on the 37 gets clogged quickly and I'm constantly having to clean it out, when it does not seem that dirty. At least not dirty enough to cause the clogging. Even after I rinse everything out and put it back together it seems to run as if the filter pads are clogged. I don't have any extra media trays in it at all. Recently I noticed that the water level was dropping dramatically - more so than the other 3 tanks in the room, and yesterday I found out why: the curtain hanging next to the tank was being splashed by the filter, which was clogged and not flowing properly, and the curtain was sucking up the water up its entire floor to ceiling length! I cleaned out the filter, again, and did a big PWC, and took down the curtain.
The reason I did such a big PWC was so that I could pull the rocks and get out the extra leleupi, which was cramping the style of the pair that has formed. Slowly but surely all six have whittled down to two, and now that they have the tank to themselves they are much calmer and hopefully will spawn for me. Even the one stunted little leleupi left in there was a huge distraction for them, despite the fact that he kept to an upper corner, completely out of their way. They took turns all day long chasing after him. I sold (what appeared to be) an extra dominant male initially, once that situation made itself clear, then one day my daughter happened to find a leleupi on the floor next to the tank, and my husband was able to save it and got it back into the tank alive. It was quite clear that the fish was being bullied and chased and needed to go, so I put it downstairs in the 150 with the other Tanganyikans since I had nowhere else for it to go, and the frontosa and Altolamps in that tank are of a decent size now so as not to be bullied by the wee leleupi. That left 3 fish in the 37, and it soon became obvious which fish were the pair, and yesterday I got the third one out and put him downstairs as well. I'm not sure how that is going to work out, but, again, I have nowhere else for him to go and he is very small still, so he'll either sink or swim downstairs. I fear the leleupi and the Paracyprichromis in the 150 are doomed once the frontosa get bigger, but we shall see. It is remarkable how relaxed the leleupi are in the 37 upstairs now that they are alone together. They can concentrate on making babies now! If one of them decides it wants to "own" the tank and bullies the other, then I'll just sell the pair off and take down the tank.
That leaves the 45-gallon in the office, and sadly I lost another leopoldi angel last week. It was wasting away and looked like it had been beaten up, though I did not see the other bullying it. I think it was just ill, or old, and it did not make it too long after I noticed its deteriorating condition. I now have one single leopoldi left, with some black neons and a few cardinal tetras. This tank is a puzzle to me because I don't like the looks of it and would just as soon put all the fish in the 40 with the others, but I don't think the 40 is a good place for the leopoldi. Too many plants and too much light. I think I will create a community in the 45, with more tetras and perhaps some catfish of some type. Deborah will help me determine which species would work.
This week I'll need to do a PWC on the 150 and the 20 high goldfish tank (love this tank! Too cute!). The frontosa are getting big and it is nearly time for me to swap out the small, fussy stacked rocks for larger boulder type rocks so they don't knock everything over. I'm looking forward to going rock shopping, which is something I very much enjoy, lol. I've got a great landscaping place right up the street and they've got a huge pile of the right type of rock for me to look through.
I still have all of the Altolamps that I originally put in this tank, so there are 8 of them, and the 5 Paracyps, 4 Kapampa frontosa and now the two small leleupi. I just went down to check on the new leleupi addition, and what do I see? He's somehow gotten behind the overflow box where the filter intake is located! How on earth did he squeeze into that spot and how on earth am I going to get him out??? I just swore and walked back upstairs when I saw that..... I've got work to do first before I even begin to tackle that. The hood is in the way for me to lean over at the right angle to get a net back there, so I might have to get Rick to help me take the hood down first, and then I might be able to get him if I stand on a high stool. I suppose he was chased and he was able to squeeze back there. The gap is only big enough for fry, so I'm not sure how he pulled it off. I suppose I should have them siliconed in place but I wanted more flexibility with the setup so I have it wedged, hiding the filter intakes and heater. *Sigh* I knew there'd be something, since it is hard to add a fish to a well established setup without something happening. I'll need to get some pictures of the 150 soon to show how the frontosa have grown, and how great they look. I'm really eager to see them reach their final size, when the tank will really show off well.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
American Cichlid Association Convention
My friend, Deborah, and I traveled to the 2011 ACA convention held in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago. This was a much anticipated trip for me, as a long time keeper of cichlids, and though I've wanted to attend this event for many years, it has never been this close to where I live.
Though the convention lasts for four days, we were interested only in attending on Saturday, so we left early that morning and made our way up I-95. There was traffic, as you'd expect, particularly in the Tyson's Corner area where there is a great deal of construction underway, but we made very good time and found our destination easily. We also found free underground parking just a few blocks from the hotel, which was a plus considering the nearly 100-degree weather; we knew the car would at least stay relatively cool while we were inside.
We registered and were given a very, very generous goodie bag, which contained our meeting credentials on a lanyard, a raffle ticket, a t-shirt from Drs. Foster & Smith, and quite a few samples of food and water treatments from various vendors, as well as periodicals, posters, coupons, stickers, etc. Not too shabby! The only downside to this was that the bag was heavy and we'd have to carry it around all day.
We then proceeded to browse the commercial tables where all of the familiar aquatic products were on display for sale at a reduced price. All the big names were there, and I must praise Aqueon for giving away full-size containers of food, water treatments and liquid plant food. They were very generous, though many of us were timid about taking two or three containers of food, as suggested, when the adjacent tables were selling their wares. Aqueon is really trying to make a name for themselves as they have expanded their product line, and they felt the patrons of the convention ought to come away with something to make the trip and the stay in DC a little more worthwhile. I agree, and these small gifts wound up being worth more to me than I realized at the time.
We wandered around, looking at the tanks set up in the hallways up for auction. They were pretty typical setups, though I think they were my favorite part of the convention, since you got to see some creative aquascaping (though some ho-hum setups were on display as well) and some interesting species mixed with other non-cichlid species, in some cases. I'd have really liked to have seen some more unusual cichlids, though, like Altum angels, for instance, and I was really expecting that, but did not see anything I had not seen before.
The main area was downstairs on the first floor, and there were also rooms set up on the 4th floor where if you rummaged in your goodie bag you'd find a ticket to receive a free t-shirt from the Capital Cichlid Association, who hosted this event. This giveaway was for a limited number of T-shirts, so at the specified time we all lined up to receive our shirts. I'm truly not sure why I wanted a T-shirt, since I don't wear that type of shirt, but I thought it might be an interesting momento, and perhaps Rick would wear it, or I could put it in one of my own local club's goodie bags at an upcoming meeting.
We finally get up to receive our shirt and see that they are standing you against a background and they have a photographer taking a picture of everyone who gets a shirt, and this was, apparently, required to receive the shirt. I'm not sure what this was about, other than some mention of the pictures going up on Facebook, but I thought it odd that you were not able to receive a shirt without getting the picture taken. I don't like getting my picture taken, so I asked, and was told that I HAD to if I wanted the shirt. I am a rebellious type but I went along anyway, and once I agreed two young men, 15 or 16 years of age, who were obviously assisting in the process of handing out T-shirts, asked if they could be in the picture with me. I readily agreed, and thanked them for the offer. I'm not sure why they did that, but they probably wanted to be in as many Facebook pics as they could.
Anyway, off we go, eagerly seeking out new gems, hoping to see more fish, and wanting to sit in on an interesting lecture. We happened upon the conference room where the lectures were being held, and we caught the beginning of what we thought would be an interesting lecture on pike cichlids, a variant that neither Deborah nor I knew much about. We were not impressed with the bawdy style of the speaker, whose manner would have gone over great in a hall full of college students, perhaps, but I'd have preferred more science and fewer "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" off-color humor. Our speaker is a chemist and runs a pharmaceutical company and may indeed have biology credentials, but we we left early, lol. We are SUCH snobs!
Let me interject at this point that a mitigating factor to our so-so reaction to everything was that the hotel's air conditioning system was not functioning properly, and, as mentioned, the temps were approaching 100 degrees F outside. Air was moving, but it was not cool, so we were a bit crankier and harder to please that day than we might have been.
We then made our way to the auction room, which had many tanks set up, stacked from the floor to head height, all with number designations and in many cases a species ID for the fish within. There were no lights on the fish so you had to really know what you were looking for in order to make a bid. This again reminded us of our own club auctions, where people bring in fish in bags and float them, and if you don't know the person to ask you might not know what fish you were bidding on.
I honestly can't say what I expected, and why I was disappointed. I guess I expected Heiko Bleher to be there with a beautiful river biotope containing Altum angels, rummynose and cardinal tetras, leaf litter and floating plants placed strategically to mimic his personal recollection of the cichlid's native home. Maybe I expected displays of fish with descriptions, like a public aquarium. Why did I think the whole thing would be bigger and more interesting? I can't tell you - nobody ever told me, but I thought there'd be more fish for sale, rather than the tanks of discus, oscars, jack dempseys, jewels and assorted mbuna like you'd see at any decent fish store. Don't get me wrong - they did have some less common species, but in the dim stacked tanks they were hard to see, as many of them hid behind the sponge filter or other structure, naturally, after their ordeal of being moved.
I think once you return time and again you begin to recognize the people who are putting the fish up for auction, and plan ahead as to what fish you want, so you can bid on them when you get there. I would have loved to have gotten some interesting Apistogramma species, which is something I'm in the market for, but there were only A. cacatuoides, and though I would not mind having that species I was hoping for something a little less ordinary (the specimen they did have was in marvelous shape, though!).
We wound up leaving earlier than originally planned, and made a side trip to Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria, since one of our favorite things to do is to visit hole-in-the-wall fish stores wherever we go. It left much to be desired, though when I checked the web before heading over there they got rave reviews. It was on the way home, so no biggie, but we'd have sure been pleased if they had some Apistos or catfish that caught our eye! It is a very nice, clean shop, and a large one, so maybe they were low on stock and having a bad week.
Next up will be the Catfish Convention hosted by the PVAS next year, which I hope to be didactic and fruitful, though now I'm jaded! I know very little about catfish in general, though, so I'm looking forward to it.
Though the convention lasts for four days, we were interested only in attending on Saturday, so we left early that morning and made our way up I-95. There was traffic, as you'd expect, particularly in the Tyson's Corner area where there is a great deal of construction underway, but we made very good time and found our destination easily. We also found free underground parking just a few blocks from the hotel, which was a plus considering the nearly 100-degree weather; we knew the car would at least stay relatively cool while we were inside.
We registered and were given a very, very generous goodie bag, which contained our meeting credentials on a lanyard, a raffle ticket, a t-shirt from Drs. Foster & Smith, and quite a few samples of food and water treatments from various vendors, as well as periodicals, posters, coupons, stickers, etc. Not too shabby! The only downside to this was that the bag was heavy and we'd have to carry it around all day.
We then proceeded to browse the commercial tables where all of the familiar aquatic products were on display for sale at a reduced price. All the big names were there, and I must praise Aqueon for giving away full-size containers of food, water treatments and liquid plant food. They were very generous, though many of us were timid about taking two or three containers of food, as suggested, when the adjacent tables were selling their wares. Aqueon is really trying to make a name for themselves as they have expanded their product line, and they felt the patrons of the convention ought to come away with something to make the trip and the stay in DC a little more worthwhile. I agree, and these small gifts wound up being worth more to me than I realized at the time.
We wandered around, looking at the tanks set up in the hallways up for auction. They were pretty typical setups, though I think they were my favorite part of the convention, since you got to see some creative aquascaping (though some ho-hum setups were on display as well) and some interesting species mixed with other non-cichlid species, in some cases. I'd have really liked to have seen some more unusual cichlids, though, like Altum angels, for instance, and I was really expecting that, but did not see anything I had not seen before.
The main area was downstairs on the first floor, and there were also rooms set up on the 4th floor where if you rummaged in your goodie bag you'd find a ticket to receive a free t-shirt from the Capital Cichlid Association, who hosted this event. This giveaway was for a limited number of T-shirts, so at the specified time we all lined up to receive our shirts. I'm truly not sure why I wanted a T-shirt, since I don't wear that type of shirt, but I thought it might be an interesting momento, and perhaps Rick would wear it, or I could put it in one of my own local club's goodie bags at an upcoming meeting.
We finally get up to receive our shirt and see that they are standing you against a background and they have a photographer taking a picture of everyone who gets a shirt, and this was, apparently, required to receive the shirt. I'm not sure what this was about, other than some mention of the pictures going up on Facebook, but I thought it odd that you were not able to receive a shirt without getting the picture taken. I don't like getting my picture taken, so I asked, and was told that I HAD to if I wanted the shirt. I am a rebellious type but I went along anyway, and once I agreed two young men, 15 or 16 years of age, who were obviously assisting in the process of handing out T-shirts, asked if they could be in the picture with me. I readily agreed, and thanked them for the offer. I'm not sure why they did that, but they probably wanted to be in as many Facebook pics as they could.
Anyway, off we go, eagerly seeking out new gems, hoping to see more fish, and wanting to sit in on an interesting lecture. We happened upon the conference room where the lectures were being held, and we caught the beginning of what we thought would be an interesting lecture on pike cichlids, a variant that neither Deborah nor I knew much about. We were not impressed with the bawdy style of the speaker, whose manner would have gone over great in a hall full of college students, perhaps, but I'd have preferred more science and fewer "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" off-color humor. Our speaker is a chemist and runs a pharmaceutical company and may indeed have biology credentials, but we we left early, lol. We are SUCH snobs!
Let me interject at this point that a mitigating factor to our so-so reaction to everything was that the hotel's air conditioning system was not functioning properly, and, as mentioned, the temps were approaching 100 degrees F outside. Air was moving, but it was not cool, so we were a bit crankier and harder to please that day than we might have been.
We then made our way to the auction room, which had many tanks set up, stacked from the floor to head height, all with number designations and in many cases a species ID for the fish within. There were no lights on the fish so you had to really know what you were looking for in order to make a bid. This again reminded us of our own club auctions, where people bring in fish in bags and float them, and if you don't know the person to ask you might not know what fish you were bidding on.
I honestly can't say what I expected, and why I was disappointed. I guess I expected Heiko Bleher to be there with a beautiful river biotope containing Altum angels, rummynose and cardinal tetras, leaf litter and floating plants placed strategically to mimic his personal recollection of the cichlid's native home. Maybe I expected displays of fish with descriptions, like a public aquarium. Why did I think the whole thing would be bigger and more interesting? I can't tell you - nobody ever told me, but I thought there'd be more fish for sale, rather than the tanks of discus, oscars, jack dempseys, jewels and assorted mbuna like you'd see at any decent fish store. Don't get me wrong - they did have some less common species, but in the dim stacked tanks they were hard to see, as many of them hid behind the sponge filter or other structure, naturally, after their ordeal of being moved.
I think once you return time and again you begin to recognize the people who are putting the fish up for auction, and plan ahead as to what fish you want, so you can bid on them when you get there. I would have loved to have gotten some interesting Apistogramma species, which is something I'm in the market for, but there were only A. cacatuoides, and though I would not mind having that species I was hoping for something a little less ordinary (the specimen they did have was in marvelous shape, though!).
We wound up leaving earlier than originally planned, and made a side trip to Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria, since one of our favorite things to do is to visit hole-in-the-wall fish stores wherever we go. It left much to be desired, though when I checked the web before heading over there they got rave reviews. It was on the way home, so no biggie, but we'd have sure been pleased if they had some Apistos or catfish that caught our eye! It is a very nice, clean shop, and a large one, so maybe they were low on stock and having a bad week.
Next up will be the Catfish Convention hosted by the PVAS next year, which I hope to be didactic and fruitful, though now I'm jaded! I know very little about catfish in general, though, so I'm looking forward to it.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Back From Purgatory
I must have been a bad girl because it indeed felt like punishment to be without my computer for three weeks while... (hmmm, should I give up the name of the esteemed personal computer megacorp as I tell my tale? No, better not. For ease of reading, however, let's say it rhymes with Hell) I waited for technical service and support to ship and install a new power supply.
Yes, the rare and elusive power supply that few IT people are ever able to get their hands on. Wouldn't you know that this was the very part that went bad on my machine while under warranty? Dang it! It stands to reason there would be a delay, since these crucial components are spun from the distilled condensation of the exhaled breath of the endangered Mauritius Kestral, then shipped to Bequia in the Grenadines for assembly by Rumpelstiltskin, who is the only individual capable of fitting the delicate parts together. Well, it takes a village, after all. So I waited patiently.
In all seriousness, the chap from service visited me twice after my initial call to Hell on 7/1 when my computer would not boot up at all. He came and identified the problem as the power supply, not the motherboard, as the chap on the phone in New Delhi diagnosed. In all fairness, the local service person said that it is typically one or the other, motherboard or power supply, and in his experience they always ship both, so there would be no delays, but wouldn't you know it - this is the one time they did not. "Oh well, they'll overnight it and I'll give you a call tomorrow to set up my return to get this all taken care of."
Ok, my business is almost impossible to run without my data (my careful backups I've been performing for years on an external hard drive are not recognized when I install the HD on my spare computer - that is an entirely different story!), but I'm remaining patient, cobbling together what I can from emails and my vendors to try to function with a fraction of my usual resources, slowing me down to a snail's pace but not letting my customers know there is anything amiss.
A few days later he returns with the box under his arm, and opens it to find, *gasp!*, no power supply. What the....??? He's just baffled. They sent another motherboard. He showed me his order form that clearly requested a power supply, but at this point I can't even deal with this fellow. I have no clue what the problem is but I need to complain about this. He said he'd place another order and apologized profusely. I'm frustrated and hobbled by an inferior spare computer (thank goodness I have one of those, I must say....) and I'm tired of this.
I call New Delhi once again and am told so many, many nice things. There is a script for the apologies, and also a script that goes something like this: "Let me give you my personal email, and you must use this from now on - do not call the number and get in the phone queue - I am taking personal responsibility for this case and I will see this through to resolution. My manager is also putting this as a top priority and in a moment I will put the call through to him so he can reassure you that he has taken personal responsibility to see that you are satisfied." I was told I'd be getting a call from him in the next few days to be sure my machine had been fixed. What can I say? I talked to his manager and asked to speak to HIS manager, and someone else got on the phone, etc., but they really can't say a whole lot to me except to express empathy for my situation and promise to rectify things.
Another week goes by, and I call again. They thought my problem was long since resolved! They thought I had another issue. Oh no, no resolution, no phone calls, no nothing. We go through the thing again, and I again get the same scripted "taking personal responsibility" thing, and I'm not having it. I explained that someone needed to get over here and put a new power supply in my machine so I can get on with my life. Their customer service had failed and I was not going to be quiet about it. Enough with New Delhi.
I went to the Hell website and began to search for someone who handles complaints. There are no individuals who do that - you can post feedback, which I did - but if you can't get any satisfaction there are simply no people who take responsibility for customer service, at least not that I could find on the website. I took myself over to the public forum, where you discuss with other Hell owners various computer problems and fixes for this and that. I ranted, and got some responses that essentially said I ought to have just fixed it myself and went on with my business, because this is nothing new. I suppose it is the principle of the thing now.
I got a call a few days later from New Delhi informing me that the power supply was on back order. That's right, back order. That's like going to Goodyear and being told they don't have tires because they're all on back order. Or Dunkin donuts has empty shelves because the flour is on back order. My &*%$ the power supply is on back order! They have power supplies stacked 25 deep, I promise. Contrary to my very immature opening of this post, power supplies are not fancy, not unusual, not an elite component whatsoever, and are as basic to a PC as a keyboard.
My feedback on the Hell website, which was comprehensive, sarcastic (you're kidding!) and lengthy, got someone's attention, but it was a very generic email asking me to provide contact info so they could call and get to the bottom of this issue. Hah.
Well, yet another week goes by and this morning my good buddy showed up again with yet another box under his arm, which did, in fact, contain a power supply and a motherboard, both of which he installed in just a few minutes. My computer is up and running, and I am giddy with excitement to be back up to speed. I have to update with all that went on while it was down, but that's no biggie. I'm an expert at this now. And all this only took 25 days! Amazing.
The best part? My monitor now works only at half brightness, so you can barely see what's on the screen. Perfect. Oh, wait, it was purchased at the time of my computer and is still under warranty! Thank goodness. Let me find that 800 number.....
Yes, the rare and elusive power supply that few IT people are ever able to get their hands on. Wouldn't you know that this was the very part that went bad on my machine while under warranty? Dang it! It stands to reason there would be a delay, since these crucial components are spun from the distilled condensation of the exhaled breath of the endangered Mauritius Kestral, then shipped to Bequia in the Grenadines for assembly by Rumpelstiltskin, who is the only individual capable of fitting the delicate parts together. Well, it takes a village, after all. So I waited patiently.
In all seriousness, the chap from service visited me twice after my initial call to Hell on 7/1 when my computer would not boot up at all. He came and identified the problem as the power supply, not the motherboard, as the chap on the phone in New Delhi diagnosed. In all fairness, the local service person said that it is typically one or the other, motherboard or power supply, and in his experience they always ship both, so there would be no delays, but wouldn't you know it - this is the one time they did not. "Oh well, they'll overnight it and I'll give you a call tomorrow to set up my return to get this all taken care of."
Ok, my business is almost impossible to run without my data (my careful backups I've been performing for years on an external hard drive are not recognized when I install the HD on my spare computer - that is an entirely different story!), but I'm remaining patient, cobbling together what I can from emails and my vendors to try to function with a fraction of my usual resources, slowing me down to a snail's pace but not letting my customers know there is anything amiss.
A few days later he returns with the box under his arm, and opens it to find, *gasp!*, no power supply. What the....??? He's just baffled. They sent another motherboard. He showed me his order form that clearly requested a power supply, but at this point I can't even deal with this fellow. I have no clue what the problem is but I need to complain about this. He said he'd place another order and apologized profusely. I'm frustrated and hobbled by an inferior spare computer (thank goodness I have one of those, I must say....) and I'm tired of this.
I call New Delhi once again and am told so many, many nice things. There is a script for the apologies, and also a script that goes something like this: "Let me give you my personal email, and you must use this from now on - do not call the number and get in the phone queue - I am taking personal responsibility for this case and I will see this through to resolution. My manager is also putting this as a top priority and in a moment I will put the call through to him so he can reassure you that he has taken personal responsibility to see that you are satisfied." I was told I'd be getting a call from him in the next few days to be sure my machine had been fixed. What can I say? I talked to his manager and asked to speak to HIS manager, and someone else got on the phone, etc., but they really can't say a whole lot to me except to express empathy for my situation and promise to rectify things.
Another week goes by, and I call again. They thought my problem was long since resolved! They thought I had another issue. Oh no, no resolution, no phone calls, no nothing. We go through the thing again, and I again get the same scripted "taking personal responsibility" thing, and I'm not having it. I explained that someone needed to get over here and put a new power supply in my machine so I can get on with my life. Their customer service had failed and I was not going to be quiet about it. Enough with New Delhi.
I went to the Hell website and began to search for someone who handles complaints. There are no individuals who do that - you can post feedback, which I did - but if you can't get any satisfaction there are simply no people who take responsibility for customer service, at least not that I could find on the website. I took myself over to the public forum, where you discuss with other Hell owners various computer problems and fixes for this and that. I ranted, and got some responses that essentially said I ought to have just fixed it myself and went on with my business, because this is nothing new. I suppose it is the principle of the thing now.
I got a call a few days later from New Delhi informing me that the power supply was on back order. That's right, back order. That's like going to Goodyear and being told they don't have tires because they're all on back order. Or Dunkin donuts has empty shelves because the flour is on back order. My &*%$ the power supply is on back order! They have power supplies stacked 25 deep, I promise. Contrary to my very immature opening of this post, power supplies are not fancy, not unusual, not an elite component whatsoever, and are as basic to a PC as a keyboard.
My feedback on the Hell website, which was comprehensive, sarcastic (you're kidding!) and lengthy, got someone's attention, but it was a very generic email asking me to provide contact info so they could call and get to the bottom of this issue. Hah.
Well, yet another week goes by and this morning my good buddy showed up again with yet another box under his arm, which did, in fact, contain a power supply and a motherboard, both of which he installed in just a few minutes. My computer is up and running, and I am giddy with excitement to be back up to speed. I have to update with all that went on while it was down, but that's no biggie. I'm an expert at this now. And all this only took 25 days! Amazing.
The best part? My monitor now works only at half brightness, so you can barely see what's on the screen. Perfect. Oh, wait, it was purchased at the time of my computer and is still under warranty! Thank goodness. Let me find that 800 number.....
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A bit of catch-up...
It has been a while since I've updated the blog, and there are many reasons. Kids, especially those who plan on entering college next month, have taken a lot of my time (don't. even. mention. money.), plus rising 5th graders out of school and needing to be kept busy when I'm not working myself, which is not much of the time.
My tanks are all still up and running, and I am proud to say, right off the bat, that Otis, the adorable F8 puffer, has now been upgraded to a double wide, with his 10-gal swapped out for a 20! The tank looks virtually the same, with his central rocky cave and tower structures so he can explore on both sides, but there is a ton more room and this is the right amount of space for the little bugger. I used to think it would be too big, but honestly these are very dirty fish, messy eaters of heavy proteins, so the water quality is much easier to stay on top of with more water, and I truly believe he needs the space to stay sane. He uses every last inch of the tank, too.
I have also had some pretty major computer issues that have cropped up recently and I'm trying to get those resolved. My spare machine cannot recognize my camera and won't load the software to run the driver, so I can't upload any pics, so I will hopefully get that resolved soon.
The big news is that I have ember tetra fry, in a community tank, no less! This is the first time I've ever been aware of spawning tetras. The only other fish I've spawned in a community tank that was not one of the usual suspects (cichlid or livebearer or invert) was white cloud mountain minnows, but I'm much more excited about the embers. I noticed a subadult lurking in the java fern one day, and he was just too small to be one of the ones I purchased. I was scratching my head over that one when I noticed a wee tiny little group of fry! About 4 mm long. I got very excited and took a pic but, alas, I can't post it until I get my computer back. As of today I seem to have only one fry left (wahh!) but that is to be expected in a community setup. Current residents include het rasboras and a pair of wild caught rams. The rams truly stick to the bottom and I never see them even in the middle of the tank, and the ember fry stick right up to the very, very top, so that's why it worked out as well as it did so far.
Keep in mind, I did not plan on spawning the embers. I did not do extra water changes or prime the breeding pair (I don't even know which fish are the pair...) but simply kept the tank like I normally do, with weekly 50% water changes and daily feeds of quality flake (Omega One) and pellet (NLS Grow). This was a pure accident, and I could not be more delighted.
I'll post pics soon.
My tanks are all still up and running, and I am proud to say, right off the bat, that Otis, the adorable F8 puffer, has now been upgraded to a double wide, with his 10-gal swapped out for a 20! The tank looks virtually the same, with his central rocky cave and tower structures so he can explore on both sides, but there is a ton more room and this is the right amount of space for the little bugger. I used to think it would be too big, but honestly these are very dirty fish, messy eaters of heavy proteins, so the water quality is much easier to stay on top of with more water, and I truly believe he needs the space to stay sane. He uses every last inch of the tank, too.
I have also had some pretty major computer issues that have cropped up recently and I'm trying to get those resolved. My spare machine cannot recognize my camera and won't load the software to run the driver, so I can't upload any pics, so I will hopefully get that resolved soon.
The big news is that I have ember tetra fry, in a community tank, no less! This is the first time I've ever been aware of spawning tetras. The only other fish I've spawned in a community tank that was not one of the usual suspects (cichlid or livebearer or invert) was white cloud mountain minnows, but I'm much more excited about the embers. I noticed a subadult lurking in the java fern one day, and he was just too small to be one of the ones I purchased. I was scratching my head over that one when I noticed a wee tiny little group of fry! About 4 mm long. I got very excited and took a pic but, alas, I can't post it until I get my computer back. As of today I seem to have only one fry left (wahh!) but that is to be expected in a community setup. Current residents include het rasboras and a pair of wild caught rams. The rams truly stick to the bottom and I never see them even in the middle of the tank, and the ember fry stick right up to the very, very top, so that's why it worked out as well as it did so far.
Keep in mind, I did not plan on spawning the embers. I did not do extra water changes or prime the breeding pair (I don't even know which fish are the pair...) but simply kept the tank like I normally do, with weekly 50% water changes and daily feeds of quality flake (Omega One) and pellet (NLS Grow). This was a pure accident, and I could not be more delighted.
I'll post pics soon.
Central Virginia Aquarium Society!
It is finally here, the Central Virginia Aquarium Society, or CVAS. Someday soon we'll launch our website, cv-as.com.
I've been working with some awesome folks in the local Richmond and Tidewater aquarium hobby to make this thing happen, and we've had a few meetings already, which have been a success. Now our Tidewater contingency have broken off to start their own regional club, which I think is a rational decision considering what a pain it is to drive to Richmond for our club meetings - I belong to the PVAS and they have to have something pretty darn interesting happening for me to drive to Northern Virginia to attend. I can certainly understand. We will likely combine our chapters several times a year for a large meet and greet, but both our clubs need to get our footing.
We've mainly focused on holding swaps and auctions to raise money to fund things like our website, business cards, etc., and now that we finally have a club name (very recently) we can proceed with a logo and get our internet presence established.
This all could not have been possible without the aquarium hobby website USA Fisbhox, where we all met and realized that there are quite a few hobbyists in the central Virginia area.
It has taken quite a bit of time to get things organized. Right now we have a board, a secretary and a treasurer, but otherwise we don't have a constitution or a mission statement, bylaws, or any of that. I think we need to keep things simple right now as we grow.
This weekend is the big American Cichlid Association convention in Washington, DC, and I know I will be in attendance. This is my first ACA ever, though I've known about it for many years. This is the first time it was close enough to me and I did not have any conflicts. Love a road trip! I will try to post pics here upon my return.
I've been working with some awesome folks in the local Richmond and Tidewater aquarium hobby to make this thing happen, and we've had a few meetings already, which have been a success. Now our Tidewater contingency have broken off to start their own regional club, which I think is a rational decision considering what a pain it is to drive to Richmond for our club meetings - I belong to the PVAS and they have to have something pretty darn interesting happening for me to drive to Northern Virginia to attend. I can certainly understand. We will likely combine our chapters several times a year for a large meet and greet, but both our clubs need to get our footing.
We've mainly focused on holding swaps and auctions to raise money to fund things like our website, business cards, etc., and now that we finally have a club name (very recently) we can proceed with a logo and get our internet presence established.
This all could not have been possible without the aquarium hobby website USA Fisbhox, where we all met and realized that there are quite a few hobbyists in the central Virginia area.
It has taken quite a bit of time to get things organized. Right now we have a board, a secretary and a treasurer, but otherwise we don't have a constitution or a mission statement, bylaws, or any of that. I think we need to keep things simple right now as we grow.
This weekend is the big American Cichlid Association convention in Washington, DC, and I know I will be in attendance. This is my first ACA ever, though I've known about it for many years. This is the first time it was close enough to me and I did not have any conflicts. Love a road trip! I will try to post pics here upon my return.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
They Ought to be in Pictures
Well, for the legions of folks NOT reading this blog (actually, I think of this as simply a journal to keep track of my tanks, so do not feel bad for being one of the millions of people not reading it) I will post pictures of my tanks as they are currently.
10-gallon: Figure-8 puffer, "Otis"
45-gallon: 2 P. leopoldi, 6 Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi (black neons). Will likely add more neons and also some rummynose if I can find some nice ones. Considering Corydoras sp. Will be adding domestic silver angel from 40-gallon that gazes longingly into their tank almost constantly.
40-gallon: One P. scalare (domestic silver, bred by me), Hyphessobrycon amandae (ember tetras) and Het rasboras (not sure exactly which species). Soon to add 6 juvenile Apistogramma cacatuoides, when the lone silver angel will go next door to be with his mates in the 45.
As you can see, the angel is always found on the far left side of the tank looking over.
37-gallon: Neolamprologus leleupi, young colony (I hope). This is the feisty bunch that I suspect were the downfall of my Moba frontosa fry in the 150, but who knows about that. They need to be by themselves, unless you have a large enough tank and appropriate feisty species that can put up with them. They are pretty in this white tank, at any rate. If they spawn for me I MIGHT forgive them.
The adorable kitchen goldfish tank. This tank now sports two silicone "jellyfish" that are tethered to an invisible length of fishing line buried in the substrate, and they float in the water. Goofy, but I like them!
150-gallon: 6 Cyphotilapia gibberosa (Kapampa), 9 Altolamprologus sp. (gold head compressiceps, mystery compressiceps, black calvus, inkfin calvus).
10-gallon: Figure-8 puffer, "Otis"
45-gallon: 2 P. leopoldi, 6 Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi (black neons). Will likely add more neons and also some rummynose if I can find some nice ones. Considering Corydoras sp. Will be adding domestic silver angel from 40-gallon that gazes longingly into their tank almost constantly.
40-gallon: One P. scalare (domestic silver, bred by me), Hyphessobrycon amandae (ember tetras) and Het rasboras (not sure exactly which species). Soon to add 6 juvenile Apistogramma cacatuoides, when the lone silver angel will go next door to be with his mates in the 45.
As you can see, the angel is always found on the far left side of the tank looking over.
37-gallon: Neolamprologus leleupi, young colony (I hope). This is the feisty bunch that I suspect were the downfall of my Moba frontosa fry in the 150, but who knows about that. They need to be by themselves, unless you have a large enough tank and appropriate feisty species that can put up with them. They are pretty in this white tank, at any rate. If they spawn for me I MIGHT forgive them.
The adorable kitchen goldfish tank. This tank now sports two silicone "jellyfish" that are tethered to an invisible length of fishing line buried in the substrate, and they float in the water. Goofy, but I like them!
150-gallon: 6 Cyphotilapia gibberosa (Kapampa), 9 Altolamprologus sp. (gold head compressiceps, mystery compressiceps, black calvus, inkfin calvus).
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