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Actually I don't have the skimmer in operation yet (tank is new and cycling, seems like skimming would just prolong the cycling). I just read about it in a book by Martin A. Moe, who is pretty sharp on the sciences behind marine aquatics. He recommended this "charging" of the skimmer only as a...

I can imagine. I wish we could get idiot places to quit selling iguanas--- better yet, make them illegal (you'll have better luck in Canada, as us Americans tend to stand firm on our "rights" even if it means killing 999 out of 1000 iguanas). Then again, most shops that I know of buy their...

I've read some info about various products and stuff that you can *occasionally* add to your reef to improve the temporary skimming ability. Martin Moe suggests something like adding albumin or "fish slime coat" products once every week or to and the skimmer will yak it all out and take out a...

WOW! Sailfins in Alberta!!!!!!!???? I'm amazed they can stand the winters!! In the US I've been told it's a rare find to catch a sailfin any further north than Virginia. The two killies are warmwater fish, and do very well with hardwater tropicals. In fact, they like the water *warmer* than...

You'd be amazed to know how many cities add ammonia to the water. It's not a concentration high enough to harm humans, supposedly. The reason is that, it has been discovered that straight chlorine in the water (the old standby used for decades) tends to produce trihalomethanes (whatever the heck...

Actually, cdawson, the only molly that is supposed to be around here is P. latipinna. The other mollies are Mexican and Central American. I can't tell by looking at the ones I collected that there is any degree of hybridization, they have a perfect P. latipinna coloring, but the males just have...

Thanks for the opinions, bacteria was the problem. I don't like using antibiotics b/c they can ruin any good bacteria, so I tried Melafix for the first time. I'd always suspected Melafix as some goofy new-age snake oil, but the stuff actually works!!! I wound up having to tear the tank down and...

My city uses that wonderful stuff, chloramine, to my delight as I watch my fish twitch and flit at the surface. I just moved to this particular place, and didn't know they added ammonia to the water to make chloramine. I did add some ammo-lock to detox the ammonia (was .25 mg/l), so my fish are...

OK, I'm having an epidemic in one of my tanks. I just found the source of the problem (chloramine/ammonia), but can't diagnose the secondary infection that results. I've had well water (good well water) for all my life, and I moved across the state to an apartment in a more suburb area, with...

I finally found a tidal creek near my home in the lowcountry of SC, that is full of wild sailfin mollies (Poecilia latipinna). I came home with about 20 of them, and the males that I had are about 1.5 inches long, but have little female-looking dorsals. Have they not had time to develop, or do...

a mudscobygipper?

I saw a pet shop once that made a multi-stage all-in-one filter out of big 30 gallon Rubbermaid boxes, stacked on a wooden frame (top level was five feet or more up!), with many finger-sized holes drilled in the bottom. Top level was a heck of a mechanical filter, next 2 levels were trickle...

Naw, I din't take those photos, they're hotlinked. I did finally find SC native sailfin mollies. Ours (well, at least, these) are pearly-white with orange blush in the dorsal and caudal fin. I can describe them with one word: hungry. They are constantly nibbling on algae---it must be...

I think the container in the tank is being used to cycle the DE powder through the filter (removing it from the container water completely and jamming it into the micron pleats), and then the tubes are transferred directly to the aquarium water (ie, no air ever gets into the tubes to get into...

Howdy all, I'm a Southeastern US native fish keeper/collector (hobby only, not commercial). Anyone else here collect and keep fish (regardless of what part of the world you are from)? Tell us what you find, how, where, etc.... Right now I'm keeping bluespotted sunfish, mummichog (a killie)...

Howdy all, this is Mako from Aquariacentral if anyone reconizes me. I have a 55g planted tank (SC native fish/plants) that tends to build up a lot of debris, not to mention that some of the fish are messy and stir the bottom when excited. My HOT Magnum and AC 300 do what they can, but I get...