a fish tank for a museum
- Thread starter chefjamesscott
- Start date
Honestly melody others may think I am nuts for what I think about fish, but I talk to mine all the time and people may :lol: at me, yet, I believe there is this symbiosis that goes on between the fish and its keeper.
This quote says it best:
"Fish keeping isn't a hobby, it's a way of life!
2 different types of life forms unite, to have one incredible explosion of creativity and love.
Because one can't live without the other"-Edwin G. Auhar(my paper is smudged i dont know if the name is right if anyone knows please pm me)
I got that from someones signature
When I first got to the museum jennifer did not move at all and I was totally shocked to see that anything was living in the water as the tests came back. So as I have been working to get this back to liveable standards I have been talkin to jennifer, not so much that she understands my words but she most definitely understands my emotions and intent. My wife calls me Dr. Domuch (not Dolittle cause I am to busy to do little) because of the rapour I seem to have with our animals.
Back to jennifer, I took a chance that she would snap at me a few weeks ago and put my hand in the water when I was doing a water change, and she actually came up to my hand and let me pet her. Ever since then she always comes to the surface to make eye contact with me.
What is really sad is that the person whom I took over from is the supposed top notch employee of one of the local fish stores in town, a fish store that is a shade of it's former glory from when the owners dad ran it. So they just trusted that the person would do a good job.
From what I make of it the did a pop viewing of his fish room and decided right then and there that it was time for a breath of fresh air at which time they having heard of my restaurant approached me. And the rest is shown from the start of this thread.
On the defense of the previous dude though there have been some major family issues happen, but he really should have just walked away bad fish keeper bad :silly:
that will be an awesome tank when it is set and done. good to see the ship is being righted in a new direction.
how has the gar respnded to the water changing you have done? i mean, if a fish has been in such bad water for so long, they sometimes get accustomed to the water being that way. now that you have made major changes to the quality of the water, how has the gar responded? any stress at all?
by the way, what sort of filtration is being used in the main tank?
how has the gar respnded to the water changing you have done? i mean, if a fish has been in such bad water for so long, they sometimes get accustomed to the water being that way. now that you have made major changes to the quality of the water, how has the gar responded? any stress at all?
by the way, what sort of filtration is being used in the main tank?
That was one of my great worries when I took this job over which is also why there was such a long period of time between updates, it was also the main governing reason why I chose not to rehome jennifer to one of my tanks here at the restaurant. A 10 year old fish who has been forced to acclimate to horrid conditions would most probably die if moved to a different water chemistry.
THE STRESS OF THE CHANGES TO COME IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I TALKED SO MUCH TO THIS FISH TO ASSURE IT THAT I WAS VERY SICKENED TO SEE ITS HOME IN SUCH STATE AND TO GIVE IS REASSURANCE THAT I HAD COME TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER. sound silly to some I know but that's and integral part of how I keep not only fish but all my animals I want them to know that they are valued and loved.
Though I could have had fish in the tank in about a week I am sure I would have wiped out jennifer in the process. I took a few days to study the task at hand and went this route.
1-treated the water with waste removal treatment and topped up the evap water and treated to remove the chlorine etc...
2-repeated the above with waste removal and did a partial 20% wc roughly a week later.
3-cut the waste treatement to half and did another 30% wc roughly 5 days after that, also took along my personal choice of treatment and gave it a 50% recommended doseage of prime(Hoping all the while that the introduction of a new water treatment would not kill this great fish)
4-came back a week later and found that jennifer was very very active and alert, it was at this time that she began to exhibit the behaviour of watching me with great intent. I also by this time had gotten rid of the cesspool feeder system in the fish room and had started to try to switch her over to what I consider healthier feeders that had been given some time to cull themselves off and only feed her the healthier ones. So I figured may as well hit her with the big water change and did a full 60% pull with a pre pull prime treatment and a post fill prime treatment thereby double dosing the tank, because I was figuring still at this time that I was going to rehome her here and totally repopulate the tank with fresh stock.
5. came back 4 days later to do another 50% wc with the double dose of prime again as I wanted to totally wipe out all the dangerous levels, got totally freaked when I rounded the corner cause jennifer was not moving I could not see any gill movement and I thought she was dead made me really really sad as that has been one of the outcomes discussed with the museum. I went around the back and got ready to net the corpse out when my daughter said very excitedly from the front dad shes moving DAD SHE'S ALIVE AND COMING TO SEE YOU!!!! Blooop up pops jennifer for her hello how ya doing. It was at this time that I decided the only way to go with this tank was to make sure the new fish I put in this tank would be big enough for jennifer to not see as food but friends. Finished the water change and told her I would see her in fourdays and added about 15 feeders.
6. came back the following monday to do another water change at the 40% range because the refill water comes straight from a pipe and I have done tweaking to make sure that I only pull from the tank what I can put back in until the water chills very much and that runs about 40%. So the plan has been set to do friday / mon or tues water changes.
7.Up until last nights waterchange there has only been feeders in the tank with jennifer and I have spent much time studying how wide her avenue of attack is when she hits them and came to the conclusion that I can put fish 8 inches and above in with her and they will not be seen as food, to this conclusion last night I put in my arow and my spotless clownknife as earlier that day I dropped in 25 feeders. When I got there last night too put in the new fish there were like 15 left so I was pretty sure that hunger would not get the best of her and make her go ape on the two new people. Yet, she did the strangest thing that I am trying to figure out the meaning of. She grabbed a feeder gave it a couple of chomps so as to disable it but leave it alive and then released it and went for a look at the arow. I thought either she is giving the mafia horse head sign to the new fish or she thinks she needs to make it easier for them to catch this one. I was apprehensive when I went in there today to put some feeders in the fish room tanks to speed the cycle and made my way to the tank to see if my arow had become dessert but everyone was still there. So I added 25 feeders and will be going there tonight to decide if I should add a couple of more fish mainly the ripsaw cats as I want to make sure that there is substrate cleaners(not that that will be all they get to eat)
I was going to drop a rena 4 on the tank from my 300g here but I think I will take either 1 or 2 rena 3's, I would really love to run a fx5 but there is not the clearance.
At present there is a huge carbon pool filter directly piped where the water runs from the bottom of the tank via 2 drilled holes and through the filter then back up and out the white pipe in the top corner. I have some ideas for the refill, that I can actually plumb that so it also runs through the carbon before it enters the tank. I will take some close up pics for you tonight when I go to decide if I add the other cats.
I did not immediately want to add extra filtration to the tank cause I did not want the water chemistry to do a massive change and I have decided not to add a existing filter from one of my tanks as I don't want to change the chemistry on my 300g that much and decided the better route is to simply add a new filter to this tank and let it begin to set up its own cycle, I will though be doing daily checking on this tank as I plan to stop by the museum at least 5 times a week to make sure my fish room gets fed regularly and to make sure that the main tank is ship shape.
Since I have the permission to use this site as a testimonial of what my fish company can do it is of the utmost importance that this go off top notch, as there are more than a few interested parties wishing to see what I make of this and there is such a wide open business niche here in regina and in saskatchewan regarding aquaria and supply of fish.
THE STRESS OF THE CHANGES TO COME IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I TALKED SO MUCH TO THIS FISH TO ASSURE IT THAT I WAS VERY SICKENED TO SEE ITS HOME IN SUCH STATE AND TO GIVE IS REASSURANCE THAT I HAD COME TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER. sound silly to some I know but that's and integral part of how I keep not only fish but all my animals I want them to know that they are valued and loved.
Though I could have had fish in the tank in about a week I am sure I would have wiped out jennifer in the process. I took a few days to study the task at hand and went this route.
1-treated the water with waste removal treatment and topped up the evap water and treated to remove the chlorine etc...
2-repeated the above with waste removal and did a partial 20% wc roughly a week later.
3-cut the waste treatement to half and did another 30% wc roughly 5 days after that, also took along my personal choice of treatment and gave it a 50% recommended doseage of prime(Hoping all the while that the introduction of a new water treatment would not kill this great fish)
4-came back a week later and found that jennifer was very very active and alert, it was at this time that she began to exhibit the behaviour of watching me with great intent. I also by this time had gotten rid of the cesspool feeder system in the fish room and had started to try to switch her over to what I consider healthier feeders that had been given some time to cull themselves off and only feed her the healthier ones. So I figured may as well hit her with the big water change and did a full 60% pull with a pre pull prime treatment and a post fill prime treatment thereby double dosing the tank, because I was figuring still at this time that I was going to rehome her here and totally repopulate the tank with fresh stock.
5. came back 4 days later to do another 50% wc with the double dose of prime again as I wanted to totally wipe out all the dangerous levels, got totally freaked when I rounded the corner cause jennifer was not moving I could not see any gill movement and I thought she was dead made me really really sad as that has been one of the outcomes discussed with the museum. I went around the back and got ready to net the corpse out when my daughter said very excitedly from the front dad shes moving DAD SHE'S ALIVE AND COMING TO SEE YOU!!!! Blooop up pops jennifer for her hello how ya doing. It was at this time that I decided the only way to go with this tank was to make sure the new fish I put in this tank would be big enough for jennifer to not see as food but friends. Finished the water change and told her I would see her in fourdays and added about 15 feeders.
6. came back the following monday to do another water change at the 40% range because the refill water comes straight from a pipe and I have done tweaking to make sure that I only pull from the tank what I can put back in until the water chills very much and that runs about 40%. So the plan has been set to do friday / mon or tues water changes.
7.Up until last nights waterchange there has only been feeders in the tank with jennifer and I have spent much time studying how wide her avenue of attack is when she hits them and came to the conclusion that I can put fish 8 inches and above in with her and they will not be seen as food, to this conclusion last night I put in my arow and my spotless clownknife as earlier that day I dropped in 25 feeders. When I got there last night too put in the new fish there were like 15 left so I was pretty sure that hunger would not get the best of her and make her go ape on the two new people. Yet, she did the strangest thing that I am trying to figure out the meaning of. She grabbed a feeder gave it a couple of chomps so as to disable it but leave it alive and then released it and went for a look at the arow. I thought either she is giving the mafia horse head sign to the new fish or she thinks she needs to make it easier for them to catch this one. I was apprehensive when I went in there today to put some feeders in the fish room tanks to speed the cycle and made my way to the tank to see if my arow had become dessert but everyone was still there. So I added 25 feeders and will be going there tonight to decide if I should add a couple of more fish mainly the ripsaw cats as I want to make sure that there is substrate cleaners(not that that will be all they get to eat)
I was going to drop a rena 4 on the tank from my 300g here but I think I will take either 1 or 2 rena 3's, I would really love to run a fx5 but there is not the clearance.
At present there is a huge carbon pool filter directly piped where the water runs from the bottom of the tank via 2 drilled holes and through the filter then back up and out the white pipe in the top corner. I have some ideas for the refill, that I can actually plumb that so it also runs through the carbon before it enters the tank. I will take some close up pics for you tonight when I go to decide if I add the other cats.
I did not immediately want to add extra filtration to the tank cause I did not want the water chemistry to do a massive change and I have decided not to add a existing filter from one of my tanks as I don't want to change the chemistry on my 300g that much and decided the better route is to simply add a new filter to this tank and let it begin to set up its own cycle, I will though be doing daily checking on this tank as I plan to stop by the museum at least 5 times a week to make sure my fish room gets fed regularly and to make sure that the main tank is ship shape.
Since I have the permission to use this site as a testimonial of what my fish company can do it is of the utmost importance that this go off top notch, as there are more than a few interested parties wishing to see what I make of this and there is such a wide open business niche here in regina and in saskatchewan regarding aquaria and supply of fish.
Read the whole thread. Well done man a lot of love in the tank I can appreciate that I personally do my best to give my fish good vibes and intent.
ok since it has been a full month since I started on this tank and jennifer did not die from the water change I decided to do the full on plunge and add a few more tank mates. There was also the need to get them out of the tanks at the restaurant here since bringing them here was only a temporary measure.
I took a few shots of the filter water system that is on the tank and have a few ideas, here are the pics
the white is the drain pipe and the valve is where the sump pump evacs the water through
the rena 3 I just installed and the carbon pool filter, as I have been looking at this system I am thinking of plumbing the return water to go through the pool filter as well and also am thinking that I could also bring my 3 canister filter from home and substitute out the pool filter for it and have this tank to be killer filtered. Doing waterchange here is a snap I open the valve and the water goes straight down the pipe and out it goes as the pump kicks in and to fill I simply open a valve and put water back in its sweet.
So here are the new tank mates, to cover any ammon or nitrate spikes the rena 3 is loaded totally with amon remover and water polishing pad I will add some bioballs in days to come.
some tank shots, though my camera is not the best
now for the most rewarding thing I have come across with doing this tank. The other day as I was doing some mid day checking I could hear this little voice from the front of the tank. I went around talked to them and this is what I was able to get a picture of.
now to give the soundtrack for this picture, the little boy is totally enthralled with the largest knife fish and is excitely screaming MOMMY LOOK AT THE BIG FISH, MOMMY BIG FISH MOMMY, the little girl is like talking to me in 1 year old talking to me now thats a language that I understand for sure and she is excited to be in the picture and the mom's well they are just laughing that this little dude is so pumped about the tank. I told the museum that I would give them a tank that will rock the world of the little ones who come in and this tank is about 75% done, (the hard part is going to be getting plants into this tank it is a very deep tank any suggestions)
For me this picture is the pinnacle of what I am all about with fishkeeping! Seeing it as a passion that unites children and parents and bring joy to the faces of people.
For the plants I am planning on moss balls, some other stuff I can attach to the driftwood and for bottom plants I am thinking fertilizer loaded clay trapped in plant pots which are then siliconed to a piece of slate with silicone stripped on the pot and then rolled in gravel to cover the pot.
And then for msjinks there will be snails and some shrimp cause you know in the fossil record that is one thing they find tonnes of
I have to really think about the bichir, but they have a whiles to grow here before I can put them in anyways.
The tanks in the fish room will be ready to populate by weekend as the super cycle method I use fast tracks the cycle, I have to go do a wc on them tonight.
I took a few shots of the filter water system that is on the tank and have a few ideas, here are the pics
the white is the drain pipe and the valve is where the sump pump evacs the water through
the rena 3 I just installed and the carbon pool filter, as I have been looking at this system I am thinking of plumbing the return water to go through the pool filter as well and also am thinking that I could also bring my 3 canister filter from home and substitute out the pool filter for it and have this tank to be killer filtered. Doing waterchange here is a snap I open the valve and the water goes straight down the pipe and out it goes as the pump kicks in and to fill I simply open a valve and put water back in its sweet.
So here are the new tank mates, to cover any ammon or nitrate spikes the rena 3 is loaded totally with amon remover and water polishing pad I will add some bioballs in days to come.
some tank shots, though my camera is not the best
now for the most rewarding thing I have come across with doing this tank. The other day as I was doing some mid day checking I could hear this little voice from the front of the tank. I went around talked to them and this is what I was able to get a picture of.
now to give the soundtrack for this picture, the little boy is totally enthralled with the largest knife fish and is excitely screaming MOMMY LOOK AT THE BIG FISH, MOMMY BIG FISH MOMMY, the little girl is like talking to me in 1 year old talking to me now thats a language that I understand for sure and she is excited to be in the picture and the mom's well they are just laughing that this little dude is so pumped about the tank. I told the museum that I would give them a tank that will rock the world of the little ones who come in and this tank is about 75% done, (the hard part is going to be getting plants into this tank it is a very deep tank any suggestions)
For me this picture is the pinnacle of what I am all about with fishkeeping! Seeing it as a passion that unites children and parents and bring joy to the faces of people.
For the plants I am planning on moss balls, some other stuff I can attach to the driftwood and for bottom plants I am thinking fertilizer loaded clay trapped in plant pots which are then siliconed to a piece of slate with silicone stripped on the pot and then rolled in gravel to cover the pot.
And then for msjinks there will be snails and some shrimp cause you know in the fossil record that is one thing they find tonnes of
I have to really think about the bichir, but they have a whiles to grow here before I can put them in anyways.
The tanks in the fish room will be ready to populate by weekend as the super cycle method I use fast tracks the cycle, I have to go do a wc on them tonight.
