Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2014 22:56:25 GMT -5
Greetings All,
I joined here at the request of Carl. I am having fun! I am in no way an expert on freshwater fish care. I just started taking care of freshwater fish when I took in my son's 75 gallon aquarium and all of his fish back in June 2006 (we moved them from college to our home - a three and 1/2 hour trip - all fish survived. We found a big cooler someone had left behind). Sure, when my son was little, we had the occasional Betta fish.
I am a retired art teacher and often did drawing projects with live fish (Bettas and/or gold fish in glass mason jars). Once the project was over, we would draw names to see which students would take the fish home (students interested had to bring permission slips from parents). My "avatar" is a photo of a work of art that I did back in 1998- a cut paper collage which represents my family. My husband is the fancy fish, I am the plain one. Long story why my son is the little lizard. Being a Pisces, I often used a fish to symbolize me in artwork that I did. This artwork is actually one part of a triptych.
It was my son who got me interested in rainbowfish. When I adopted his fish, there were two Boesemani rainbows - now I have many varieties. He had two tinfoil barbs (when one died, I gave away the other to an associate at a local store who had a 250 gallon freshwater aquarium) - and I have a new pair of tin foil barbs. I still have three of his silver dollars. His two Boesemani met a sad fate.... My husband thought a cray fish would be "cool".... Well.... huge mistake, that cray fish killed a lot of fish. No tears were shed when that cray fish died. I have since added two 20 gallon aquariums and a ten gallon so I can have smaller fish. The smaller ones are in his former bedroom. I set up another ten gallon when I need a hospital tank. I have a Fluval 2 gallon tank on my desk for a Betta and 2 young cory cats. It is hard to keep up with my "fish count" as sadly, some do die. All of my aquariums are overstocked.
The plan was always to give the 75 gallon aquarium back to my son when he bought a house.... Well... We bought him a 90 gallon aquarium instead. Each time we visited, I would buy him fish -- and sometimes I would take fish to him (a 2 1/2 to 3 hour trip - I used a a bucket with battery air pump and plastic corner filter). He still has cory cats and three silver dollars I raised here for him. He is swamped with work, so now I drive there once a month to help with his water changes. He has a 50 gallon and 20 gallon planted tank, too (no plants in the 90 gallon). I take 6 five gallon water jugs of RO water (and use some tap water for the 90 gallon as there isn't enough room in my car for more jugs - a Prius v - too risky to put the jugs in the cargo area).
I have referred many people to American Aquarium Products web site for disease information. Absolutely the BEST information available on line. I have learned so much. Carl's wisdom helped me save my fish many times. Information I have in books is outdated (as far as treatments go) and many folks have no idea what they are talking about on some forums. I also refer to .edu (university sites). I look for authoritative information.
Carl and I don't always agree on treatments for fish, but that is OK. I do plan to help get the information out on Wonder Shells (just ordered some today).
Judy D.
I joined here at the request of Carl. I am having fun! I am in no way an expert on freshwater fish care. I just started taking care of freshwater fish when I took in my son's 75 gallon aquarium and all of his fish back in June 2006 (we moved them from college to our home - a three and 1/2 hour trip - all fish survived. We found a big cooler someone had left behind). Sure, when my son was little, we had the occasional Betta fish.
I am a retired art teacher and often did drawing projects with live fish (Bettas and/or gold fish in glass mason jars). Once the project was over, we would draw names to see which students would take the fish home (students interested had to bring permission slips from parents). My "avatar" is a photo of a work of art that I did back in 1998- a cut paper collage which represents my family. My husband is the fancy fish, I am the plain one. Long story why my son is the little lizard. Being a Pisces, I often used a fish to symbolize me in artwork that I did. This artwork is actually one part of a triptych.
It was my son who got me interested in rainbowfish. When I adopted his fish, there were two Boesemani rainbows - now I have many varieties. He had two tinfoil barbs (when one died, I gave away the other to an associate at a local store who had a 250 gallon freshwater aquarium) - and I have a new pair of tin foil barbs. I still have three of his silver dollars. His two Boesemani met a sad fate.... My husband thought a cray fish would be "cool".... Well.... huge mistake, that cray fish killed a lot of fish. No tears were shed when that cray fish died. I have since added two 20 gallon aquariums and a ten gallon so I can have smaller fish. The smaller ones are in his former bedroom. I set up another ten gallon when I need a hospital tank. I have a Fluval 2 gallon tank on my desk for a Betta and 2 young cory cats. It is hard to keep up with my "fish count" as sadly, some do die. All of my aquariums are overstocked.
The plan was always to give the 75 gallon aquarium back to my son when he bought a house.... Well... We bought him a 90 gallon aquarium instead. Each time we visited, I would buy him fish -- and sometimes I would take fish to him (a 2 1/2 to 3 hour trip - I used a a bucket with battery air pump and plastic corner filter). He still has cory cats and three silver dollars I raised here for him. He is swamped with work, so now I drive there once a month to help with his water changes. He has a 50 gallon and 20 gallon planted tank, too (no plants in the 90 gallon). I take 6 five gallon water jugs of RO water (and use some tap water for the 90 gallon as there isn't enough room in my car for more jugs - a Prius v - too risky to put the jugs in the cargo area).
I have referred many people to American Aquarium Products web site for disease information. Absolutely the BEST information available on line. I have learned so much. Carl's wisdom helped me save my fish many times. Information I have in books is outdated (as far as treatments go) and many folks have no idea what they are talking about on some forums. I also refer to .edu (university sites). I look for authoritative information.
Carl and I don't always agree on treatments for fish, but that is OK. I do plan to help get the information out on Wonder Shells (just ordered some today).
Judy D.
! I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth--and it almost hurt ME physically to do it.... Lilly Oscar LOVED it, tho 
, boy did she tear into it! 
