Now I've gone and done it

[Eric Schreiber]

My wife told me that I ought to get out and enjoy the nice day today.
She neglected to tell me that I should *not* take a net and a jar
along. I ended up at one of the drainage ponds in the neighborhood.
Despite its general rank stench and stagnant water, this pond hosts all
kinds of things... frogs, turtles, snakes, muskrats, an occasional
heron or egret, and yes, fish. And therein lies my error.

I swept my net along the murkey bottom several times. Every time, I
came up with two or three fish. Soon, I had a dozen in my one gallon
jar, and I brought them home. Shortly thereafter, I realized that this
maybe wasn't such a swell idea, but I decided it might be interesting,
and I wasn't too busy.

I had a spare 30 gallon tank sitting empty, as well as assorted
filters, heaters, gravel, rocks and driftwood. So, I got that set up in
a spare corner of my office/living room tonight, and I'm carefully
acclimating the fish to the new water conditions (temperature is easy,
but their 'natural' pH and hardness are each a point or two higher than
my tap water). I've got three established tanks, so material to kick
start the ammonia cycle shouldn't be a problem. For that matter, I've
got some Bio-Spira that might still be viable.

I don't know what kind of fish they actually are. Like I mentioned, the
pond is a drainage area for the neighborhood, and it's only been there
about five years. These may be a native species that got carried in by
natural means, or they might have been put there by someone. Once I've
got them in the new tank and they've settled in enough to resume their
usual colors, I hope to figure out what they are.

Ah well, I've always wanted a 'local color' sort of tank.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Happy'Cam'per]

Local Biotope........kewl bananas. Nice puttering around in local streams
is'nt it? :)
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Eric Schreiber" <eric at ericschreiber dot com> wrote in message
...
> My wife told me that I ought to get out and enjoy the nice day today.
> She neglected to tell me that I should *not* take a net and a jar
> along. I ended up at one of the drainage ponds in the neighborhood.
> Despite its general rank stench and stagnant water, this pond hosts all
> kinds of things... frogs, turtles, snakes, muskrats, an occasional
> heron or egret, and yes, fish. And therein lies my error.
>
> I swept my net along the murkey bottom several times. Every time, I
> came up with two or three fish. Soon, I had a dozen in my one gallon
> jar, and I brought them home. Shortly thereafter, I realized that this
> maybe wasn't such a swell idea, but I decided it might be interesting,
> and I wasn't too busy.
>
> I had a spare 30 gallon tank sitting empty, as well as assorted
> filters, heaters, gravel, rocks and driftwood. So, I got that set up in
> a spare corner of my office/living room tonight, and I'm carefully
> acclimating the fish to the new water conditions (temperature is easy,
> but their 'natural' pH and hardness are each a point or two higher than
> my tap water). I've got three established tanks, so material to kick
> start the ammonia cycle shouldn't be a problem. For that matter, I've
> got some Bio-Spira that might still be viable.
>
> I don't know what kind of fish they actually are. Like I mentioned, the
> pond is a drainage area for the neighborhood, and it's only been there
> about five years. These may be a native species that got carried in by
> natural means, or they might have been put there by someone. Once I've
> got them in the new tank and they've settled in enough to resume their
> usual colors, I hope to figure out what they are.
>
> Ah well, I've always wanted a 'local color' sort of tank.
>
> --
> Eric Schreiber
> www.ericschreiber.com

[Kay]

Very Interesting, Please keep us undated! You just might inspire someone
else!

Kay

[Eric Schreiber]

Happy'Cam'per wrote:

> Local Biotope........kewl bananas. Nice puttering around in local
> streams is'nt it? :)

Yeah, I had a pretty good time. Came home covered in stinking mud, but
that was a small price for spending a gorgeous day in October playing
outside.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Eric Schreiber]

Kay wrote:

> Please keep us undated! You just might inspire
> someone else!

The gallon jar was pretty murky, so I couldn't get a count. I've moved
all the fish to their new 30 gallon home, where they appear to be
pretty happy, though a little spooked by the clear water.

Total critters, 13 fish of a still unidentified species. All are under
1.25 inches long including tail. They're fairly transparent, and the
silvery internal organs are very visible. The bodies are covered in
vertical stripes, and shimmer a rainbow/blue color under bright light.

They *might* be bluegill, though I hope not. A thirty gallon tank is no
place for 13 growing bluegills!

Also, I have one dragonfly nymph in the tank.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Robert Flory]

My dragon fly nymph ate everything in sight....

bob

"Eric Schreiber" <eric at ericschreiber dot com> wrote in message
...
> Kay wrote:
>
>> Please keep us undated! You just might inspire
>> someone else!
>
> The gallon jar was pretty murky, so I couldn't get a count. I've moved
> all the fish to their new 30 gallon home, where they appear to be
> pretty happy, though a little spooked by the clear water.
>
> Total critters, 13 fish of a still unidentified species. All are under
> 1.25 inches long including tail. They're fairly transparent, and the
> silvery internal organs are very visible. The bodies are covered in
> vertical stripes, and shimmer a rainbow/blue color under bright light.
>
> They *might* be bluegill, though I hope not. A thirty gallon tank is no
> place for 13 growing bluegills!
>
> Also, I have one dragonfly nymph in the tank.
>
> --
> Eric Schreiber
> www.ericschreiber.com

[Eric Schreiber]

Robert Flory wrote:

> My dragon fly nymph ate everything in sight....

Yeah, that's a concern here as well. I'm keeping a close eye on things.
Closes experience to that sort of inhabitant that I have is a crayfish
I kept once long ago, who seemed to have a tase for fish.

I also expect to start seeing an ammonia spike today, as the tank
wasn't cycled. Between Bio-Spira, existing media from other tanks, and
water changes, I hope to keep it under control. Gonna be a busy day.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Eric Schreiber]

Eric Schreiber wrote:

> Closes experience
> seemed to have a tase for fish.

I might just have to switch to a newsreader with a decent spell-checker
built in.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Eric Schreiber]

Eric Schreiber wrote:

> I had a spare 30 gallon tank sitting empty, as well as assorted
> filters, heaters, gravel, rocks and driftwood. So, I got that set up
> in a spare corner of my office/living room tonight, and I'm carefully
> acclimating the fish to the new water conditions (temperature is easy,
> but their 'natural' pH and hardness are each a point or two higher
> than my tap water). I've got three established tanks, so material to
> kick start the ammonia cycle shouldn't be a problem. For that matter,
> I've got some Bio-Spira that might still be viable.


Just an update...

The fish, all thirteen, are doing fine in their new home. I still don't
know what species they are. I did a quick romp through Axelrods' atlas,
but not a careful, in-depth search yet. Hopefully they aren't game fish
that will outgrow the tank over winter.

The fish took to flake food right away, and race to the top at feeding
time. I'm also feeding occasional freeze-dried bloodworms.

A piece of driftwood I put in the tank released a lot of tannins, as
expected. I finally accepted that a very small Penguin filter wasn't
going to cut it for this tank, and yesterday I pulled the Big Gun out
of storage - a Magnum HOT with bio-wheel. The charcoal media is doing a
great job, and overnight pulled all the tannin color out of the water.

Through regular water changes (10 to 20% daily) I've kept the ammonia
levels fairly under control at about 1.0 ppm. So far, Nitrite levels
remain at zero, so the cycle hasn't really gotten a good start. I did
add some Bio-Spira early on, but it had been in my fridge for a long
time and was probably no longer viable.

I haven't added any material from an established tank yet, but now that
I've got a bio-wheel in place, perhaps this would be a good time to do
so. Get that wheel seeded so it can do its magic.

Best of all, since the project didn't cost anything (everything used so
far was from a heap in the basement), my wife decided not to kill me.
Not being dead is good.

All I'm missing are some decent decorations (the rocks and driftwood
are better scaled for a ten gallon tank, and look a tad absurd in the
30), lighting (currently being provided an an overgrown room lamp) and
a cover of some sort. With a little creativity I may be able to hobble
together a lighted hood on the cheap.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Happy'Cam'per]

Is it this tank with the bga problems?
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Eric Schreiber" <eric at ericschreiber dot com> wrote in message
...
> Eric Schreiber wrote:
>
> > I had a spare 30 gallon tank sitting empty, as well as assorted
> > filters, heaters, gravel, rocks and driftwood. So, I got that set up
> > in a spare corner of my office/living room tonight, and I'm carefully
> > acclimating the fish to the new water conditions (temperature is easy,
> > but their 'natural' pH and hardness are each a point or two higher
> > than my tap water). I've got three established tanks, so material to
> > kick start the ammonia cycle shouldn't be a problem. For that matter,
> > I've got some Bio-Spira that might still be viable.
>
>
> Just an update...
>
> The fish, all thirteen, are doing fine in their new home. I still don't
> know what species they are. I did a quick romp through Axelrods' atlas,
> but not a careful, in-depth search yet. Hopefully they aren't game fish
> that will outgrow the tank over winter.
>
> The fish took to flake food right away, and race to the top at feeding
> time. I'm also feeding occasional freeze-dried bloodworms.
>
> A piece of driftwood I put in the tank released a lot of tannins, as
> expected. I finally accepted that a very small Penguin filter wasn't
> going to cut it for this tank, and yesterday I pulled the Big Gun out
> of storage - a Magnum HOT with bio-wheel. The charcoal media is doing a
> great job, and overnight pulled all the tannin color out of the water.
>
> Through regular water changes (10 to 20% daily) I've kept the ammonia
> levels fairly under control at about 1.0 ppm. So far, Nitrite levels
> remain at zero, so the cycle hasn't really gotten a good start. I did
> add some Bio-Spira early on, but it had been in my fridge for a long
> time and was probably no longer viable.
>
> I haven't added any material from an established tank yet, but now that
> I've got a bio-wheel in place, perhaps this would be a good time to do
> so. Get that wheel seeded so it can do its magic.
>
> Best of all, since the project didn't cost anything (everything used so
> far was from a heap in the basement), my wife decided not to kill me.
> Not being dead is good.
>
> All I'm missing are some decent decorations (the rocks and driftwood
> are better scaled for a ten gallon tank, and look a tad absurd in the
> 30), lighting (currently being provided an an overgrown room lamp) and
> a cover of some sort. With a little creativity I may be able to hobble
> together a lighted hood on the cheap.
>
>
> --
> Eric Schreiber
> www.ericschreiber.com

[Eric Schreiber]

Happy'Cam'per wrote:

> Is it this tank with the bga problems?

Nope, this is a brand new setup. No visible algae at all, so far.

The BGA problem I'm working on is in my divided betta tank, which has
four males, and no 'official' live plants.

http://www.ericschreiber.com/aquarium/tank3.html



--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Happy'Cam'per]

Hey, thats a very clever setup you have going there. Heh.
Good luck with the BGA, hope you come right!
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**