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Articles: 1, 2

Crayfish catching some fish
2008-01-09 07:08:00
Aquariums are a piece of nature, a chunk of the habitat its dwellers lived. As it is, some creatures eat meat and others are vegan, and we have the responsibility to feed these creatures with the food they are used to, because that will ensure they are healthy and happy. We are keeping a crayfish in a 20 gallon tank, and the only things that was doing was trying to escape, as you saw in the last video. Just before we are leaving to Chile, we decided that would be much healthy to left the crayfish with some other fish, because just seen movement around and other fish will help to dis-stress the crayfish for a while. So now is very busy trying to catch those fish. The following video was taken right after we drop the fish there so she was very hectic, but after a while, Calipso, as we named it, catch a fish (not shown in the video) and consumed it in few seconds. I’m glad that was quick, and didn’t left half fish dying slowly. So this is the nature way.
More About: Fish

Crayfish escaping by the filter
2008-01-08 04:55:00
This is the last video for the Crayfish, we are leaving in 2 days to Chile for two monts. Bye Crayfish
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Leaving for 2 months
2008-01-07 05:09:00
All the fish we introduce last time died, except for the 4 gouramies and on plecostomus. The rest are gone as the water was poisonous. The problem is that I had to put the fish right away in the tanks as the quarantine tank is been used by the crayfish. Next Wednesday Im leaving in a two months trip and there are an infestation affecting the platies in the big tank. Most of them had died and the survivors are whit fungus. I made a 90% water change and clean the bottom, so I hope they recovered and resist for the 2 months. I put the 4 neons I had with the crayfish in the 20 gallon tank, along with the scalars. There are many plants in that tank so they may be ok. There is no fish to clean the plants, so when I am back I may find the sword with black leafs.
More About: Months , Leaving

Crayfish grows
2007-12-16 00:07:00
Today when I saw the crayfish looks some weird to me. It’s bigger now as it moult last night. The exoskeleton was lying looking like a dead crayfish. It is amazing how this animals grows. If I turn the light on it blinks the eyes. For today it will be better with the light off.

Crayfish attack angelfish
2007-12-09 10:29:00
The blue crayfish seems to contaminate the water a lot. The water in the 20 gallon tank was unclear and smells. One factor that may be important is that we removed from that tank a plecostomus and 3 corydoras, which help to clean. We thought days ago to separate it due it violent behavior. We got gravel (white) and some stones to suit the crayfish in the small 10 gallon tank. I was thinking to do that tomorrow but this night I heard a splash and when I look at the 20 gallon tank the crayfish had a angel fish grabbed from the dorsal fin (upside down), as the fish tried to escape the lobster tear all it fin, the fish swim away dizzy, staying in a odd position for a while. It probably was half sleep as the crayfish try to get it. I turn on the light and feed them to make them go to the surface. I set up the small aquarium right away and now I’m finishing of clean the 20 gallon tank. Tomorrow pictures.
More About: Attack

Blue Crayfish in 20 gallon tank
2007-12-03 00:25:00
After putting the crayfish in the 20 gallon (80 Lt) tank the crayfish was behaving for few days. They angelfish laid eggs on a leaf. Sadly I wasn’t prepared to breed those so I let them go. 80% of the eggs spawn and a little tale could be seen moving on each eggs. The crayfish then start removing some plants, the ones I just put last week, that have weak roots. And making holes everywhere. The water also is getting dirtier that with the other fish. The absence of the Plecostomus has all the plants growing algae on it. The Blue Crayfish don’t attack the angelfish at all. But I will have to remove it because is damaging the tank. In a 10 gallon (40 Lt) with just stones it will be better. I may consider to add some cichlids. I have read that they do well. (Anglefish are cichlids too)
More About: Tank

Crayfish eating algae wafer
2007-11-21 11:08:00
The Blue Crayfish eating a algae disk in the quarantine tank.
More About: Eating

Thanksgiving acquisitions
2007-11-18 13:24:00
The tanks need some new plants so last Friday we went to Decatur, Al to visit some stores. Sadly we didn’t find any real aquarium plant. In PetCo and PetSmat they only sells mondo grass and other NON aquarium plants. We will have to get them online. I would like some long vallisnerias and some more swords that grow so well in our tanks. Michelle liked a Blue crayfish (Procambarus alleni) so we got it for $21.60. We pick 4 Blue Blue Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus) and 2 Three-Lined Cory (Corydoras trilineatus), this last listed as “spoted corys” in PetCo. We put the new fish and crayfish in a small 10 gallon tank for quarantine for some days. The crayfish seems to attack when other fish come closer, so we separated the 2 corydoras and we add them already to the 55 gallon tank. They seems to be in very good shape. We moved the plecostomus and the 3 corydoras in the 2o gallon tank and we add them to the 55 gallon tank as well, so the crayfish can be alone w...
More About: Thanksgiving , Acquisitions

Blue Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus)
2007-11-18 07:07:00
  Also: Three Spot Gourami, Opaline Gourami. Family: Osphronemidae Characteristic: 5 inches (12 cm),females smaller with rounded fins. Tank and water: 42 Gallons (160 Liters), Ph 5.5 - 9.5, 72 - 81°F (22 - 27°C) Care:  In aquariums filled with many structures. They like floating plants, loose plantings along the sides and roots. Feed flaked foods, especially green flakes. They like various live and frozen foods. Place only one pair in 3.5 ft (1-m) tanks. Habits: Often found in standing, many times cloudy waters in Indonesia and Malaysia. They can be found in rice fields as well. Compatibility:  With Asian bottom fish (loaches, catfish) and calm barbs, danios, and rasboras. Personal note: The males can chase each other. They are peaceful and like to touch each other with their fins which look like downward pointing "antennas".
More About: Blue

Three-Lined Cory (Corydoras trilineatus)
2007-11-18 06:34:00
Also: Corydoras julii Family: Callichthyid armored catfish. Callichthyidae. Characteristic: 2.4 inches (6 cm),females are plumper. Tank and water: 15 Gallons (56.8 Liters), Ph 5.5 - 8.5, 77 - 83°F (25 - 28°C) Care: Keep in groups in your aquarium. They like sandy substrates in parts and loose plantings. They appreciate structures for resting areas. Feed with live, frozen and dry food or you can use Corydoras food. Habits: Sociable fish with their kind and from the soft-bottomed expanses of water in the Peruvian Amazon region. Compatibility:  Ideal companion fish for South American fish of the middle and upper regions. In small tanks but do not keep with cichlids. Personal note: These fish are active cleaners and enjoy spending time together in groups with others of the corydora family. They are quite entertaining to watch.

Blue crayfish (Procambarus alleni)
2007-11-17 05:18:00
Also: Florida crayfish Family: Cambaridae. Characteristic: Male has two extra short appendages at the rear of the back legs. Female has none. In the aquarium can grow up 5 inch (13 cm). Tank and water: 20 Gallons (75.7 Liters), Ph 7 -7.5, 65 - 75°F (18.3 - 23.9°C) Care: They like to burrow and hide in caves. They can live in the aquarium, as long as there are not other bottom dwellers or expensive fish. These creatures are scavengers as well as hunters. They clean up the bottom the tank, but will also grab at a passing fish too. They too can be eaten by fish. A large oscar, for example, would consider it for lunch. When they molt their protective shell they are vulnerable to smaller fish also. Crayfish are great escape artists and will try to climb out of the tank, so any holes in the hood should be covered. Feed food which is high in Iodine as this helps it moult. Kelp tablets are one source. Illness: It can be affected by a leach worm kind called Branchiobdellida. This is not d...
More About: Blue

Tennessee Aquarium
2007-10-30 17:57:00
This is the aquarium in Chattanooga Tn. we visited few weeks ago. It is a beautiful place surrounding by a lot of nice restaurant and stores. The aquarium is separated in three buildings, one for salt water, fresh water and the Imax 3D Theater. This last it's amazing, whit a screen the size of a football field and real 3D it's amazing. I'm looking to come back next month to watch Beowulf. There is a special store call Candyland that Michelle loved, and she remembered from a visit some years ago. They have a lot of different kind of candies and they charge by pound. We spend $30 in candy here, but it last all the way back home and more.
More About: Aquarium , Tennessee , Tennesse

Georgia Aquarium
2007-08-24 22:22:00
This Wednesday we had to travel to Atlanta for other business and we toke the chance to visit the aquarium during a weekday where is not too crowed. This aquarium claim to be one of the biggest in the world. It have 4 different sections including a gigantic tank of 6,300,000 gallon (23.848.090 liters). It well worth a trip to exclusively visit it.
More About: Aquarium , Georgia

New video of the Betta Splendens
2007-07-09 06:09:00
This fish is very shy, so was difficult to record it today. What we got for now is just this 10 seconds video. We will try to get something better in the future.
More About: Video , Lend

New fish and plant
2007-07-08 11:55:00
Today we put in the big tank the new Betta and the three Otocinclus we got last week.The 55 gallon tank is plenty of Platy fry and the plants are growing very well. I am removing all Mondo Grass from the aquariums as it is not a real underwater plant. It doesn’t grow well there. The 10 Gallon tank is empty now, so we will left it for fry or hospital. Today we made the profile for the Betta Splendens and a new plant we got; Baby Tears. Tomorrow we will post some original pictures of the aquarium with its new inhabitants.
More About: Fish , Plant

Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides)
2007-07-08 11:46:00
 Source Fishprofiles.com Water: 66-82 °F (18-28 °C), pH 5-8, 1-18 dCH  Size: 4-12 inch (10-30 cm) Height, 2-12 inch (5-10 cm) Width. Light: Moderate to Strong Light Characteristics: This is a nice stem plant from Central America. It is fast growing and requires therefore relatively high light and a nutrient rich substrate. It is also a valuable plant in terrariums where it forms a beautiful carpet at the land water border. The plant is easily reproduced by cutting off the apex which is replanted in the substrate
More About: Baby , Ears , Cran

Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens)
2007-07-08 11:26:00
Family: Fighting fish, Osphoronemidae Characteristic: 2.4 in (6 cm), male more colorful and longer-finned. Tank and water: 12 Gal (45 Lt), pH 5.5-9.5, 76-83 F (24-28 C) Care: Keep in pairs in densely planted tank furnished with floating plants. Males, especially cultivated forms, very aggresive toward each other. Keeping males singly in glasses, as was once custom, is animal cruelty! Habits: Surface fish found in weed-filled waters in Thailand, where probably eats chiefty insects larvae. Compatibility: With small barbs and bottom fish. Personal note: This fish should be peaceful along other community fish, like guppies and platies.
More About: Fish , Ames , Lend

Where fish eats
2007-07-02 22:49:00
The position of the mouth in the fish, tells us where it eats and lives. Fish like guppies have the mouth aiming up, so they will eat from the surface. Platies have the mouth aiming forward, so we can tell they will live in the middle of the aquarium. And other fish like otocinclus and corydoras eats from the bottom, as their mouth are aiming down. It is important to feed this last ones with algae wafers so they have the chance to eat well also. This video explains this very well.
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Corydora with cotton fungus (Saprolegnia)
2007-06-24 06:55:00
Today, in the 20 gallon tank, we found this Emerald Catfish (Brochis splendens) infected with some kind of fungus. Looks like cotton but is coming from inside the fins. Tomorrow we will get a small tank and separate it to treat with salt.
More About: Cotton , Dora

Angelfish laying eggs (Pterophillum scalare)
2007-06-18 17:17:00
This is the scene we found today. We got just one pair of angelfish months ago and we got the luck to see that they are a couple. Sadly this time we can't grow those eggs as we don't have the space and the time. But for the future it's good to know we have a couple of pretty angelfish. In the other tanks we found some Platy fry, even in the small tank that it is very crowed. In the big tank they will have more chance as there are a lot of places to hide. Mommy don't eat me please!!!
More About: Eggs

55 Gal update after two weeks
2007-06-11 08:05:00
It has been two weeks since we put fish in the new 55 gallon tank. The second day a otocinclus died. May be the potassium permanganate we used to clean the plants from snails before putting them in the tank. Otocinclus goes sucking everything, and a plant not well rinsed could have been poisonous. The Seachem pH tester definitely is not working. I surrounded with the pH issue. The tap water here has a very high pH and using buffers to low it will stress the fish more as result of changes when we change water than let it high. Two big pieces of driftwood should low the pH naturally. About one week ago I though to put Tetra FloraPride. Was not a good idea as I spent a lot of the product and still I am changing water often. At the second day the water was all green. Fearing of a algae bloom I decided to change 50% water three days after. Now can be seen little light green dots in the tips of the mosses. That means that it gives a boost to the plants. Here are some pictures of the aqua...
More About: Update , Weeks

Aquarium Imports store in Birmingham, Al
2007-06-09 04:09:00
Today we had to go to Birmingham for monkey business, so we got the opportunity to visit a independent store there. Aqua rium Imports is a big store that offers a lot of salt water fish and live coral. They had many freshwater plant and fish too, and call our attention that most of the fish where big (adults). The prices are normal and is possible to find some rare specimens. Here is a video showing some of the salt water fish. Aquarium Imports location: 1941 Hoover Ct # HBirmingham, AL 35226(205) 979-0840 Aquarium Imports store
More About: Store , Ming

Collecting Otocinclus affinis in their natural habitat
2007-06-04 09:32:00
Amazing video that show how Otocinclus Affinis are collected in their natural habitat. This was recorded in Venezuela and they claim to had collect about 2,000 specimens.
More About: Natural , Natur , Coll , Natura , Ural

Injured Platy
2007-06-02 09:10:00
This platy was attacked by an angelfish. It was moved to the 10 gallon tank and now it is bother by a guppy. We put two salt spoons in the water to help recovering.
More About: Injured

Seachem and API pH testers
2007-05-31 22:29:00
I am confused now. The Saechem constant reader indicates that the pH is very low, and an API tester indicates that it is very high. One Otocinclus was dead yesterday in the morning, maybe by tannic acid from the wood, so I changed 50% of the water and tomorrow on friday I will do it again. Everything looks normal now, except for the pH reading. We may have to get a new tester.
More About: Este , Chem

Driftwood lowers pH in the aquarium
2007-05-30 10:45:00
We put two pieces of driftwood that lowered the water pH a lot. The tap water here has a very high pH, over our pH tester range. Days ago I put a piece of wood in a bucket for 24 hours and I tested the pH, it was again over the scale, but this time in the low range. So I thought that it would stabilize the pH in the aquarium tank. We use a Seachem constant pH tester and last night it was at 6.5 and this morning it was marking the lowest. I believe the pH is even lowest out of the tester scale. Tannic acid contained in the wood lowers the pH and softens the water and, even with the proper preparation, it could take months before the driftwood releases most of its tannins. We put four platies there and 6 otocinclus. This evening at 3:00pm I saw a platy scratching against the java fern leaves. Sadly we had to leave for work, so I made an ultra fast googling and I found that it would be normal for platies to scratch, but no more than one time in a minute. This was doing it a lo...
More About: Aquarium , Aqua , The A , Lowe , Drift

New aquarium ready and aquarium plant profiles added.
2007-05-29 05:17:00
Last night we stayed up until late adding plants to the new 55 gallon aquarium. Today we moved the platies out of the danger zone and away from the angelfish in the 20 gallon aquarium.Two platies found a new home in our 10 gallon aquarium. They had been nipped at and suffered some damage from the angelfish and need to heal without the stress of entering into the not completely cycled 55 gallon aquarium. We added four platies and six otocinclus to the 55 gallon aquarium.  We put a new section on our blog showing plant profiles with pictures of all our aquarium plants.
More About: Aquarium , Profiles , Aqua , Plant , Ready

Aquarium Plants Profiles
2007-05-29 05:01:00
This is the list of all the species we have or we have owned in the past. To see the actual list of plants in each of our aquariums visit Our Aqua rium Tanks menu. Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri) Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) Micro Sword Narrow Leaf (Lilaeoposis mauritius) Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) Green Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon japonicus var) * Crinkled Aponogeton (Aponogeton crispus) Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) Carolina fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray) Vallisneria Americana (Vallisneria Americana var. biwaensis) Taiwan Moss (Taxiphyllum alternans) Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana) Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides) * Not underwater plant.
More About: Plants , Profiles , Plant

Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides)
2007-05-29 04:57:00
Family: Pteridaceae Water : 68-82 °F (20-28 °C), pH 5-9, dCH: all ranges Mature plant size: 6-12 inch (15-30 cm) tall. Planting density: 6 inch (15 cm) apart. Characteristics: Very easy to grow floating or planted. In open aquariums it can grow out of the water.
More About: Sprit , Teri , Sprite

Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
2007-05-29 04:57:00
Other names: E. paniculatus, E. pangeri Family: Alismataceae Water: 68-86 °F (20-30 °C), pH 5.5-9, dCH: soft-hard Mature plant size: 8-20 inch (20-50 cm) tall. Planting density: 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart for hedge border. Characteristics: This plant is very alike to Echinodorus Amazon icus and shares the same common name. The only difference is that the leaves are broader and can be straight. This plant can grow very big, so it is recommended to keep it separated from others. This plant is easy to grow and produces a lot of oxygen. It is possible to see the little bubbles underneath its leaves.
More About: Sword