One Hobby At A Time

Fishkeeping: The Conclusion, Part 2

2011-09-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

(Continued from Part 1) I had stated in the beginning of the month that I started early and that my Goals would be tainted to some degree. With that said, I still feel that I set that good goals that I could keep up with at the end of the month.

Setup a tropical freshwater aquarium
I think its easy to say that this was done.

Purchase at least 10 fish
Technically I did not complete this goal. I do however have 10 fish in the tank including the 2 rainbowfish that my neighbors had given me.

Not let any of the fish die barring any unforeseen complications like disease

Poor sweet Bender Bending Rodriguez. Just a few days before the end of the month, Bender succumbed too an ailment that took his life. The rest of the fish seem healthy though. I do believe that whatever happened to Bender, it was not related to water quality.

Aqua-scape the aquarium in a tropical theme

I think the setup was rather "topical," don't you agree?

Clean the tank at least twice

I definetly cleaned the tank twice. Most of my cleaning in the form of water changes which I performed almost every day for a month. It was very exhausting and demoralizing, but now that the tank is cycled, I should be done all of that.

Document costs and inventory everything needed to run my aquarium
I definetly did this. In the last post I actually included a full inventory and cost. I also created an Amazon Wish List that can be viewed by everyone.

I pretty much set myself up for failure with not wanting a fish to die. There was just too much I didn't know, and doing fish-in cycling can be very difficult for less hardy fish like tetra's. Other than that I think I did pretty well, and stuck to the plan.

Stay tuned for the third and final part...

Fantasy Football: Day 6

2011-09-06T13:13:00.002-04:00

As per usual, It is a little difficult for me to keep up with the blog on weekends, especially holiday weekends spent with the in-laws. I was able however to get setup on Fantasy Football prior to my leagues draft.

By the way, I am aware that I am jumping the gun as per usuall with my hobbies. The problem is that the football season has already started and I had few oportunities to actually join a league with people I know.

I joined a Fantasy Football league on Yahoo! which I like considering the easy to use interface, easy access to scores and reports and decent mobile access. Now I just need to figure out how to play Fantasy Football and I should be all set.

I pulled together all of my cunning to come up with the creative yet topical team name of "The Flying Pigskins."

Like most hobbies, Fantasy Football cannot be truely completed in a month and therefore I will do my best to cram in as much Fantasy Football as humanly possible.

(PHOTO'S)

Flying Pigskin's Roster

Fishkeeping: The Conclusion, Part 1

2011-09-06T12:20:00.003-04:00

I was truly surprised by this hobby. Not only did it test my preconceived notions about the hobby, it tested the knowledge I gained from research. I feel I was able to really engross myself in this hobby, much more so than previous ones.

I not only setup the tank, I put in starter fish, cycled the tank, dealt with a sick and dying fish, and even maintenance of the fish tank. I tried out different tools available to the hobby, and was able to speak with people who have been Fishkeeping their whole lives.

Time Consumption: 7/10
The time consumption of this hobby really ebbs and flows. The first several weeks of the hobby consist of constant water changes that burn up a lot of time and a lot of nerves. Not to mention the actual setup of the tank which requires hours of preparation and setup.

However, once your tank is setup and cycled you really only need about 1 minute a day to drop food in the tank, and about 15 minutes a week to do a water change.

The type of tank you manage also greatly influences the amount of time consumption. For example, if you have live plants, you will most likely be fighting back algae blooms and have to clean the tank more consistently. If you have a saltwater tank, there is a lot more equipment to purchase as well as more tank levels to maintain.

Costs: 8/10

I was not surprised to find out that fishkeeping was an expensive hobby to set up, but even with having a large majority of it donated, it was still costly.

So far here is all the equipment. I received a lot of it @ a discounted price due to a moving sale so:

20g Tank: $0.00
Tank Stand: $0.00
Aquarium Salt: $0.00
Tap Water Conditioner: $0.00
Stress Coat: $0.00
Freshwater Tropical Fish Flakes: $0.00
5 Black Molly's and 3 Pearl Danio's: $15.00
pH 7.0: $10.00
Decorations (Sunken Ship, Drift Wood, and fake plants): $35.00
API Freshwater Test Kit: $23.00
Python Gravel Cleaner: $27.00
Marineland 280 Bio-Filter: $30.00
Gravel: $7.00
Hood: $32.00
Air Bubbler: $10.00
3g Bucket: $8.00

This makes a grand total of: $197.00.

The free tank and stand saved me probably $60 - $100 and had I gone with a saltwater tank, or expensive rare fish, the cost would have quickly raised well above that. A lot of these are "start-up" costs, and I would only need to buy chemicals and food from here on out unless equipment broke.

Overall Enjoyment: 8/10

I rated this hobbies overall enjoyment as pretty high for several reasons. The first being the fish. Watching the fish eat and play (or fight) around in the tank was a constant source of enjoyment. In the morning when I came into the living room and turned on the light and see the fish immediately start swimming around, it put a smile on my face.

The second would be the satisfaction of doing something well. Keeping all those fish alive (almost all of them) and happy for the month was extremely satisfying considering my past attempts at fishkeeping yielded many sad toilet flushes.

The third would be the aquascaping. Being able to shape the environment that the fish live in was very satisfying. I could make the aquarium look like the beach by my parents summer home so that everytime I look at it, I think of all the fun I had there as a child.

Fourth and finally would have to be how much my children have enjoyed the tank. Watching my son stick his finger in the tank and have the fish try and nibble on his finger was a constant source of entertainment for everyone. My son loved to help me feed the fish, and loved watching them peck away at the flakes. Whenever my 3 month old daughter was inconsolable, I would plop her in a chair in front of the tank and she would immediatly be mesmorized by all the movement.

Technical Skill Required: 7/10

The "Technical Skill" required for fishkeeping is more about research and preparation. Knowing about the nitrogen cycle and aquarium environments is crucial when mainting an aquarium. You can quickly kill every fish in your tank by not treating your tap water before putting it in your tank.

You also need to know about the fish your putting in your tank. Certain fish are very agressive and need to be kept in schools. Most fish can only be in either fresh water or marine (salt water) environments.

Overall, the juice was worth the squeeze and I had a great time with the hobby.

Stick around for part 2 of the conclusion.

A many of distractions

2011-09-06T07:37:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to poke my head in and say sorry or the lack of posts lately. After a long Labor Day weekend, I think I am ready to get everything back up and running.

Stay tuned for the conclusion on Fishkeeping, and How my Fantasy Football draft went....

Rest In Peace

2011-09-02T05:00:00.000-04:00

"Thank you everyone for joining us today as we celebrate the passing of our good friend, and neighbor, Bender Bending Rodriguez.

It was well over 20 days ago when we first met the deceased, joined by friends Captain Turanga Leela, and Phillip J. Fry. He was delivered upon our doorstep in a bucket with nothing more than his hopes and dreams to carry him along.

After almost 20 days of knowing Bender, I can tell you how strong he was. Being able to swim from one end of the tank to another on a daily basis, he was truly an inspiration for the rest of us.

It was when I noticed him not joining his friends at mealtime that I knew that he himself had given up hope. Even the help of the apartments greatest doctors and scientists, we were unable to diagnose what ailed him.

Before we cast our friend off to the great porcelain goddess in the sky, I would like to let it be known that when he passed, he did so with great personal character and respect for his friends and neighbors.

Thank you for showing your support, and may your God be with you"

Bender Bending Rodriguez

? - 08/29/2011

Rest In Peace

New Fantasy Football Theme!

2011-09-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

Finally got the new theme up and running!

Soak it in...

Fishkeeping: Day 31

2011-09-01T19:28:00.002-04:00

Today marks the last day of Augusts hobby, Fishkeeping. The last 30 days have been a scramble.

I finally got my bio-wheel filter in and all setup. It's twice as big, and twice as loud, but it takes up 0% of the tank room that the corner filter took. I got the bio-wheel spinning and put the floss filter media from the old filter and put it in the new one. The idea is that the filter has a lot of beneficial bacteria on it and will help stage the bio-wheel.

My favorite part of the new filter besides the room for the fish is that I can finally fill the tank all the way up. No more unsightly water line and now there is even more room for the fish. I just wish Bender was around to enjoy it.

I checked the tank levels like normal, and almost everything checked out normal, except for the Nitrates. For the last 30 days, the Nitrates have been at Zero, but today it actually red above that. Then I noticed that the Ammonia levels were only at 1.0, when they are normally at 2.0. After 30 days, is my tank finally cycling?

Well the big question is whether or not I keep the tank after this month. On one side I have already had 1 fish die, and it has been a complete pain in the butt doing full water changes every day. On the other side, there is the enjoyment I get from feeding them, and DC putting his finger in the tank and laughing as they nibble on his finger.

I think I will wait for the conclusion to unveil my plans for fishkeeping...

(PHOTO'S)

The New Bio-Filter

Bio-Filter in action

The fish have a lot more room and no more water line!

Welcome to the family: Part Deux

2011-08-31T15:16:00.000-04:00

Since I was unable to name them in an amount of time sufficient to my family, my loving wife has thanklessly named the remaining fish in the tank.

She has named the Pearl Danios Diamond, Pearl, and Ruby. The Black Mollies are Silvie, Blackie, Midnight, Shadow, and Eclipse (I named the last one).

Now if I can just remember which one is which...

Fishkeeping: Day 30

2011-08-31T07:34:00.002-04:00

Well after a month it looks like everything has finally caught up to me. Yesterday, Benders long fight ended when I found him lifeless at the bottom of the tank.

I actually tried poking him to see if he was just to weak to swim. I also brought him to the surface in the net and checked to see if hiss gills were moving, but it was too late. I quickly took him out of the tank and brought him to the porcelain goddess to meet his final resting place.

Murphy's Law intervened in the form of a 2 year old taking a bath asking me "what are you doing dad?", to which I responded, "throwing away some trash". I didn't even have the heart to tell him what had happened. Of course, Bender was his favorite fish, which probably had something to do with being the most fun to say.

The following 2 hours consisted of a large water change and a lot of contemplation. I really wanted to give up the hobby right then and there, but my wife intervened and noted how much enjoyment the kids have gotten out of the fish.

It would figure that at the end of the month something like this would happen.

With another trip scheduled for this weekend, I fear that the. Rest of the fish may share the same fate.

I am not exactly sure what happened to Bender, whether it was constipation or a swimming bladder problem, but I a almost positive that he died from not eating anything in 3 days. I attempted to segregate him this morning to eat with no success. It may have been too late...

Fishkeeping: Day 28

2011-08-29T11:33:00.001-04:00

Once again, no nitrites and Nitrites.

I ordered a Bio-Wheel power filter to replace my old corner filter which should help.

Bender appears to be a bit more mobile, but he still isn't eating.

My wife has named the rest of the fish, but I haven't had a time to do profiles and post them.

Last but not least, with 3 days left in the month, my time to make the decision about keeping the tank is approaching very quickly.

Triage for Bender

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

Before

After

I'm still not exactly sure whats going on with Bender, but I snapped a picture of him and you can see that his stomach is definitely enlarged. I'm going to keep watching him, but from everything I have read online, he probably has constipation that will go away in a couple days.

With 10 other fish competing for food, i'm not sure how to get him to eat if he won't even go to the top of the tank.

Shock Trauma

2011-08-27T20:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it appears that something is wrong with Bender. His stomach is engorged and he is barely mobile. After hitting some threads online, the problem could be as simple as constipation.

I will try and get him to pose for the camera and post it.

20 Gallon tank wish list

2011-08-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

I decided to do everyone a favor and put together a Amazon.com wish list that would have everything (or as much as possible) of everything that you would need to setup your own 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. The list includes everything except decorations and the actual fish.

You can view the wish list here. Let me know what you all think.

Fishkeeping: Day 25

2011-08-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

The days are starting to run together with the frequent water changes. I'm almost out of proper pH 7.0, and with the impending hurricane this weekend, I need to go out and grab some soon.

Todays amazing aquarium comes from the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Holding over 261,000 gallons of water, it is one of the largest aquariums in the world. Not bad for one of the largest hotels in the world either.

Source: Wikipedia

Fishkeeping: Day 24

2011-08-25T09:02:00.001-04:00

Another day, another large water change. Yet again I was skunked by 0.0 Nitrite and Nitrate levels so I really had no other option. It seems like the ammonia levels rise about 1 - 1.5 mg/l per day with 11 fish in a 20 gallon tank.

It is getting way to late in the month to change my strategy, but if I continue with the tank, I will probably pick up a bottle of Seachem Prime.

Other than that, today's sweet lookin' aquarium comes from an interior decorating website. Living in an apartment, Its always hard to find a good spot to put an aquarium, especially a large one such as this. Functionally, I bet its a pain doing water changes and cleaning, not to mention constantly freaking out the fish anytime someone puts something on the table, or kicks the side whilst playing canasta, but aesthetically it is off the chain.

Source: InteriorArcade

Fishkeeping: Day 23

2011-08-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

For the last several days I have gotten into the routine of getting home from work, checking tank levels (Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates) and then doing a large water change.

Each day I come home hoping that I start seeing Nitrites and Nitrates starting to rise above 0.0 mg/l, but am quickly disappointed. At least the fish are happy. They are eating well and seem very invigorated and social in the tank.

My family is really pulling for me to keep the tank, but knowing that I would be the sole caretaker of the tank (for good reasons) makes me a little hesitant. I'm not sure if I can keep up with another hobby, and this site.

I have also decided that their really isn't a overwhelming reason to keep posting pictures of the tank unless something changes, so I have decided to post pictures of Fish Tanks from around the interweb. Today's tank comes from Fish Tank Warehouse.com where they have a lovely toilet fish tank. I'm not exactly sure how sanitary this would be (for the fish), but it is definitely a cool concept.

Fishkeeping: Day 21

2011-08-23T08:00:00.002-04:00

The family was out in Delaware most of the day. Once we got back I tested the water and once again the Ammonia was high and the Nitrites and Nitrates did not change so I did a water change.

I'm starting to get rather tired of all the water changes, not to mention I have almost blown through a $9 bottle of pH 7.0 in a week.

Fishkeeping: Day 20

2011-08-22T15:00:00.001-04:00

I bought the Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies book from Amazon for a penny (plus $5 shipping) last week, and I finally got it in the mail. It is by the same author as the other Aquarium book I got from the library, but it is a good bit newer in edition.

The tank is pretty much the same as it was yesterday, high ammonia that requires a partial water change. It seems that my neighbors gravel that they gave me did not help cycle the tank at all....

Fishkeeping: Day 19

2011-08-22T11:31:00.000-04:00

I have been looking for the Nitrites and Ammonia to go up which indicates that the tank is starting to cycle. I haven't checked the pH in a couple days. Here are the days numbers:

Ammonia: 2.0 mg/l
Nitrite: 0.0 mg/l
Nitrate: 0.0 mg/l

I started doing a larger partial water change. Instead of doing 50% of the water, I'm doing as much as possible without asphyxiating the fish. It takes more of the ammonia out so I don't have to do water changes as often.

Next Months Hobby Revealed! Fantasy Football

2011-08-20T13:32:00.018-04:00

Lets get ready to rumble Football fans because next months hobby will be fantasy football! Nerd rage will meet steroid rage when I take my virtual dream team of athletes and put them up against those of seasoned fantasy football veterans.

Will I make it past the draft? or will I make it as far as the play-offs? Could it be that I am lucky enough to make it to the super-bowl? How about the Pro-Bowl in good ol' Hawaii? Probably not, because I have no idea how to play and with only a month I have the feeling I will only skim the surface of this beer drinking, Hot wing devouring fantasy, stat crunching hobby.

Stay tuned as the preparations are already underway.

Fishkeeping: Day 18 (Video)

2011-08-19T17:00:00.001-04:00

Ammonia was very high again last night so I did 2 water changes to get it back down to normal levels. Other than that I observed the fish a little bit. I noticed that with the exception of the molly's the Danio's, Rainbowfish's, and Tetra seem to be picking on the smallest Danio.

I took this video of the Danio being chased:

Good Golly, Ms. Procreating Molly

2011-08-19T13:30:00.000-04:00

After talking for a while with my brother who spent a good bit of his childhood with fish tanks, I mentioned that I bought several Black Molly's. He immediately started laughing and basically told me that he hopes I planned on having more kids because the Black Molly's do not know how to NOT procreate.

I only have a week and a half left before the end of the hobby, but it is possible that I could be up to my eyeballs with little Black Molly babies.

Fishkeeping: Day 17

2011-08-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

My morning started out with a 50% PWC and a feed. Once again the Mollies looked like they never had a chance to get any food, so I came back about 10 minutes later and put another pinch of food in the tank.

The Ammonia was high in the afternoon, so I did 2 more water changes before I went to bed. I am getting rather tired of all the water changes, but I only have myself to for putting so many fish in a tank that isn't cycled.

Before I went to bed, I noticed some of the fish resting on the bottom of the tank. I have no idea if this is normal behavior, so I will have to keep checking to make sure they are OK.

I also put some more Ammo-Lock in the tank, but after some reading, I'm finding out that it can inhibit the food source for the beneficial bacteria and cause it to take longer to cycle.

(PHOTO'S)

Are they resting?

More Resting

Phillip J. Fry looks a bit blue

Think Tank

2011-08-18T14:00:00.001-04:00

When I went to the National Aquarium the other day, I came upon a tank with an Assateague Island theme. I took this tank to heart because I go to my parents summer house in Chincoteague Island Virginia every summer which is butted up against Assateague Island Virginia.

It got me thinking about how my next tank, assuming there was one, would be a Chincoteague Island themed tank. Then I started thinking about how amazing it would be to have a piece of Chincoteague living at home with me. Then I realized that is probably what every Fishkeeper/Aquarist wants in their tank, and it is a wholly unique experience that only this hobby can bring.

The ability to have a environment that you not just create, but you sculpt out of life itself. I can't even begin imagine the pride and love for such a thing. You can have the coolest dog or cat (or in my case, fancy rats) in the world, but I doubt when you look at them, you think of the bushel of Maryland Blue crabs that you caught off the pier, or that summer when you caught that 32" flounder and got your picture taken at the bait shop.

Top that Skateboarding Dog.

PWC Grand Prix

2011-08-18T12:00:00.048-04:00

I decided to have a little fun with my second water change last night and time it. I didn't go as fast As I could because the kids were asleep, but I definitely pushed it to the limit.

Step 1: Siphon out 9 gallons of water.

Bucket 1 - 2:49.05 minutes
Bucket 2 - 3:00.00 minutes
Bucket 3 - 3:20.04 minutes

Total: 9:09.09 minutes.

Step 2: Put 9 gallons of pre-treated water into tank. Total: 2:38.80 minutes.

Step 3: Refill 10 gallon cooler with 9 gallons of tap water.

Bucket 1 - 1:35.90 minutes
Bucket 2 - 1:06.90 minutes
Bucket 3 - 1:03.00 minutes

Total: 3:45.80 minutes

Step 4: Treat tap water with water conditioner, aquarium salt, and pH 7.0. Total: 00:56.60 minutes.

This makes the grand total for a 50% water change: 16:31.90 minutes.

Siphoning the water out of the fish tank took longer the less water there was in the tank, which I'm sure there is a scientific answer for.