WetDreams Laboratory

25/07/2021

05/03/2021

Soon.

25/10/2018

Currently busy at the moment with health-related projects. Will be back soon. 🙃

07/09/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #15: DIY HYPODERMIC NEEDLE CO2 DIFFUSER

Well this is how I do it. If you get lucky, you can produce bubbles so tiny it will not float to the surface and just drift in the water column. Just tinker but if you can buy a ceramic diffuser... I will recommend the ceramic one. The good quality ceramic diffuser.

06/09/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK # 14 : FLUIDIZED SAND BED FILTER

The purpose of this kind of filter is to provide massive surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize. It is a biological filter, and a very good one if you get the planets to align properly. You can research some more on it and I will just orbit on the materials needed. Yep, let's localized it. I included in the video a very good housing for the filter: a glass flower vase that I bought in SM CDO (the plastic flowers section). A 20 mm clear plastic tubing I got from Pet City Cartimar, but here in CDO, you can find it in Petworld CDO Limketkai. 20 mm ao that you can use a 20 mm PVC elbow, couplings, etc. And some very fine sand, rinsed well, about five cups will do (depends on the size of your system but five cups will be more than enough for a 55G tank). That's it.

I have observed that it takes about a week for bacteria to colonize the sand bed in a population sufficient to clear water. First week will usually be cloudy, but no thunderstorms.

21/06/2017

Was and is still busy with fish. At the moment, struggling with plumbing for a filtration system. Will post when I am done with plumbing. :)

08/05/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #13: BRAND NEW WATER

Of course, every fish geek should learn about water. That is very basic (not pH basic! Fundamental!).

DO NOT rely on anti-chlorine or other fancy stuff too much. They're sometimes good but will not always work. Especially if chlorine is not the problem.

It's still best to cycle your water for a couple of days. Aerate the fresh-from-the-tap water or surface agitate it with water pumps. Or, the palm of your hand. Anything.

Some useful clues but do your own research of your own tank conditions. Some problems are a combination of many factors and not just one factor.

If your water comes from a well it might sometimes contain only Carbon Dioxide and no Oxygen. Aerate it.

If tap water, chlorine or chloramines might be present. Research on how to deal with them. Google it.

Sometimes it's not chlorine, it's supersaturated gas which can cause Gas Bubble Disease (GBD) which is like the bends of deep sea divers. If your tap water looks like Sprite with plenty of tiny bubbles that cling to the tank glass, beware, it will kill your fish.

Research more on Gas/Air Bubble Disease, because I might just add confusion.

Know your water very well.

08/05/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #12: DEALING WITH SHIPMENT MORTALITIES

My order for a Microworm (Paragellus redvivus) starter culture was delayed. After eight days, I finally went to the nearest branch of the freight company and found it there. I was glad it was still in good condition (the worms and not the smashed package, and I took a photo while still inside the courier's branch). Then, I thought of writing something along this topic.

Even with perfect pre-shipment preparations and handling, a lot of things can still happen that can adversely affect the fishes while in transit. Exposure to temperature extremes (very hot or very cold), punctured bags, delays, etc.

If there are mortalities, it is advisable to take photos of the dead fish while still inside the sealed bags, so that replacements or refunds can be given (after ruling out that you did not leave the bag under the sun to steam for an hour). Once opened and placed inside aquariums, it will be very difficult to pinpoint the cause. Aquarium conditions (water quality, resident pathogens, a-starved-Piranha-for-a-tankmate, etc.) are beyond the control of the supplier.

Of course, other prior agreements like the risk is all on the buyer or winner-take-all are up to both parties. Make agreements first before shipping, like choice of shipping mode, routes, or preferred forwarders. Expect prices to differ.

I will more or less lean on the International Magical Creatures Convention: Once the bags are opened, it's the buyer's ball. WHICH IS ACTUALLY AN INDUSTRY DEFAULT IN THE ABSCENCE OF PRIOR AGREEMENTS. Take photos of the dead and the dying while they're still inside the sealed bags. We will start there.

By the way, that's just Quaker Oats, the medium use to culture the microscopic nematodes. You do enjoy Quaker Oats, 'ayt?

28/04/2017

Another Neon Tetra Feeding Frenzy video from another tank.

28/04/2017

Hands are full at the moment. I will just leave some fishy videos here.

18/04/2017

Milestone: 1,000 Neon Tetras available for release.

12/04/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #11: LIVE FOOD MICROWORMS (Paragellus redvivus)

Okay, so I took a video of my Microworm culture hoping to win some film award. Not. Paragellus redvivus or microworms, they belong to the nematode group of creatures. A second cousin to another fish fry food, the Vinegar Eel (Turbatrix aceti). I will not mention it's a half-cousin to the Ascaris sp. which is also another nematode.

Not really my go to first infant fish food, but I keep several cultures going because they serve as my insurance in case the Brine Shrimp eggs don't hatch or I spilled the harvest (it happens).

WHY them? They are tiny measuring about 50 microns across and 1,000 microns long (babies are smaller). They can easily fit the mouths of baby fishes. Their wriggling movements also attract baby fish.

AND they are really convenient. You can culture and sub-culture them until you get past senior citizenship.

HOW do I culture them? They are really easy. First chore is to buy a starter culture (ahemm... yep I can sell some if you want). Then buy Quaker Oats or any instant oat products. A little bit of yeast (optional). Put about a quarter inch deep Oats to a plastic container and add some water just enough to make it a soggy mix. Add the starter culture and wait for two to three days and you have a new source of baby fish food.

There are many kungfu techniques out there on how to raise microworms, I will leave it up to you to research and choose which fighting style you prefer. I will always choose the path of least resistance, the Lazy-Bum-No-Sweat technique. Just wet oats and the little critters.

31/03/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #10: LIVE FOOD BRINE SHRIMP (Artemia salinas)

Ok, who wants shrimps?

31/03/2017

Apologies. Very busy lately. I will try to post something at least once a week. For fish orders please PM me and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Thanks!

31/03/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #10: LIVE FOOD BRINE SHRIMP (Artemia salinas)

It's shrimp. Sea food. No need to feel sick.

I know, I am not an expert on this one, but it's one live food that can be given to newly swim-up baby fishes. So, I have to hatch a batch of Brine Shrimp eggs almost daily for quite some time already.

TRIVIAL: Flamingos are really white, but they turn pink when they eat brine shrimp. Their beaks are actually designed to scoop Brine shrimp. If I have some extra, I'll try see if I can also turn pink.

The best stage is when the brine shrimp just got out of their egg shells. They still have their yolk, and this is really nutritious. The baby fishes can get this yolk when fed newly-hatched brine shrimp. Older brine shrimp are bigger and do not have this yolk anymore. You need to enrich the brine shrimp in order to make it a little more nutritious.

I think, fish geeks already know that.

An area where I can humbly add some information might be: egg storage. I keep some buffer stocks in case I can't go to the city to buy new eggs; and my buffer stocks are 10 years old with hatch rates somewhere around 80% (I just picked that number from pure air). Sometimes, better than the eggs that I buy.

Those are very expensive eggs, store your brine shrimp eggs in airtight containers and try to keep moisture away from them if you want to have eggs as old as mine (yeah, I'm old).

I also do my own decapsulation especially if the eggs I bought do not have good hatch rates. And, if I'm not lazy, I decapsulate eggs before hatching them so that I will not have to separate shells and newly-hatched brine shrimp (no more waiting for shells to float and brine shrimp to sink).

I'm lazy right now, and don't really care if eggshells are included in the harvest. I know, experts will say: Do not! Mmmm... I think that's just a myth, but then again, I'm no authority. The only downside, is that, I have thick floating rafts of brine shrimp shells in my fry tanks. Just follow expert advice for cleaner tanks. Again, research some more.

19/03/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #9: LIVE FOOD (Tubifex sp.)

I have not written anything for two weeks, and fb poked me. Are you a fish geek, fb?

We just call it Tubis which is actually a nickname derived from it's sciname. They are actually the aquatic cousins of earthworms. They eat decaying vegetable matter and are usually found in sewers where there are no industrial pollutants. For me they are also a good indicator of the environmental status of an area.

The last time I was in Cartimar in Pasay City, it was being sold at P150 per glass. Kinda an expensive drink if you're very thirsty. Here in our city, it is being sold somewhere near P500 per gallon bucket and the source is Iligan City. They used to be plentiful in Kauswagan Highway drain systems, but the proliferation of used car dealers there and the oil slicks that get dumped in the sewers, they have disappeared.

In other countries, there are lab grown starter cultures that are free from diseases. Yep, it is cultured in other countries (US, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.).

They are high in protein and very good at conditioning broodstock. However, they also have a bad reputation for carrying disease and heavy metals, especially the ones that are collected near industrial areas.

I won't recommend feeding them to P10,000 Discus; and why should you? You bought an expensive fish and become a scrooge on it's food. Feed it 5 Michelin Stars food.

If you do choose to feed it to your fishes, purge it for a few days so that any heavy metals or other pollutants in its guts will be flushed out.

And research some more if you decide to have them as part of your feed programming. There are many article in the internet about Tubifex.

By the way, for the squeamish, don't watch the vid. Maybe, I should have started with this warning in the beginning.

03/03/2017

What 500 Neon Tetras look like inside a 55G tank. Already sold all of the Neons in this video and the tank was restocked.

03/03/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #8: LIVE FOOD (CLADOCERANS)

Let's try to do Live Food one kind at a time.

Cladocerans or collectively called DAPHNIA or Water Fleas, these belong to the crustacean group of animals (shrimps, crabs, etc.). We do not have native Daphnia species but we have Moina sp. Daphnia thrive more in temperate zones.

Moina are what we collect in sewers, pools of water, temporary puddles on the road. Even water hazards of golf courses if you want to be classy and hate being seen feed-hunting in sewers. I don't care. I love my almost daily trips to depressed areas.

These are very good live food, I mean, to fish and their fry. Juvenile Moina are smaller than Baby Brine Shrimp.

After collection, hobbyists usually sift them according to size and feed the smaller Moina to the fish babies and the bigger Moina to the adults. You can either use a dipnet with small mesh or a screen like the one use to sift flour.

MY TIP: I usually let them graze in green water for about an hour before feeding them to the tigers. This fills their stomachs with micro-algae. Micro-algae are the best source of Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (HUFA). Think about Omega-3 and their hype in commerce. Fish oil, shark liver oil, etc. Fish need it. My cardio said I need it, I'll tell her I've been swimming in green water.

Recently, Daphnia magna was introduced by hobbyists into the country. They are easily cultured, but I find them too large for my fry. They're also expensive. Last time it was P500 per spoon. Baby guppies can swallow them, though.

Of course, scientists are trying to discover methods on how to culture Moina sp. on a commercial scale. It is cheaper than Baby Brine Shrimp. In the lab, they do separate clean cultures for micro-algae and Moina, it is quite complicated and space consuming if scaled up. I think there is an 'unidentified limiting factor'. I find them only in certain sections of a canal, and not in the entire length. For now, it's still FEED HUNTING.

23/02/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #7: FEEDING FISH FRY

Spawning or making the fish lay eggs, most of the time, is the easy part. The more difficult phase is how to raise the fry to a size where it will eat dry food.

One hint to feeding fry: The size of their food (live or processed) should be about the same as the size of their eyes.

First foods that I use in my fish room:

-Greenwater
-Paramecium or infusoria
-Rotifers
-Moina sp. (collectively called Daphnia)
-microworms
-Baby Brine Shrimp (Artemia salinas nauplii)
-powdered dry food

23/02/2017

Reposting. I will repost this often to guide fellow hobbyists, not just hobbyists who got fishes from me.

Quarantine Saves Fishes.

20/02/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #6: LIVE FISH TRANSPORT (SAME DAY TRIP)

Although this topic is limited to one-day transport only, some of the procedures are still the same for long-haul shipments.

I will just enumerate the steps chronologically and try to elaborate on each as much as my poor brain can.

SELECTION OF FISH. Sort the fish according to the order, e.g. species, s*x, size, color, etc. All sick fish or fish that do not meet the quality are culled in this step.

COUNT. Count the fish to fill an order. Sometimes a little overpack is good. The usual is 5% or 1 extra piece per 20 pieces. This is an insurance in case something bad happens.

PURGING. Or letting the fish empty their digestive tracts. This is to prevent the fish from excreting once they are inside sealed bags. Ammonia spikes will occur if fish defecate inside the transport bag. Ammonia burns or mortalities will occur. Purging is done by placing the pre-selected and pre-counted fish into tanks with clean aerated water.

It can be 24 hours or more depending on the species. If more than 24 hours is needed, a water change is done to remove the f***s on the bottom of the tanks because fish will eat their own p**p.

Why COUNT before PURGING? You can always reverse the order. It is a personal opinion that counting takes time and is more stressful to the fish than purging. Once purging is done, you can simply bagged the fish.

The first three steps will take at least one day.

In order to have ready inventory on hand in case of a rushed order, rotate some stocks on purge stage. For example, 100 pieces per week are on stand-by mode. If not sold, they go back to normal tanks and another batch is put on stand-by.

BAGGING. I prefer Polyethylene bags (PE) over Polypropylene bags (PP). They can easily be identified; PP bags are shiny and PE bags are usually the ones use to make iced water. I use PP bags in the laboratory because it can withstand autoclaving. And I like the light transmittal compared to opacity of aluminum foils.

The usual is 2/3 air and 1/3 water in the bag. Air volume should not be less than 1/2 of the bag.

If the shipment involves air travel or will pass through high elevations, leave some space for the air inside the bags to expand or the bags will burst.

OXYGEN. It is recommended that medical oxygen is used, but for very short trips, atmospheric air will sufficed. Fish load in the bags is also a factor. So, if you don't have medical oxygen around, put less fish inside per bag. Do some trials.

TEMPERATURE. Cooler transport conditions are best. Avoid placing the bagged fish in areas that are warm. Cooler temperatures will slow down the fish's metabolism and consumption of oxygen. I use airconditioned buses to transport fish to neighboring cities.

I usually also wrap the bags inside paper bags. This is to prevent the fish from being stressed while on the move by removing visual triggers.

PACKAGING. A styro box is best to protect the fish from temperature fluctuations and also prevent damage to the bags due to handling. But a simple box will do, just add more insulation materials.

SPEED. The less time the fish spends inside the bags, the better. So, plan the route or trip.

These are just some of the basic "tricks" in shipping fish and ensuring that they reach their destination healthy. There are other tricks that I use but let's explore on them later.

Anesthetics/sedatives, water additives, prophylactic chemicals, etc.

You can do trials that will suit your products best.

Personally, I have done successful five day trials simulating a shipment to Florida but I left the group before the actual shipment. It is a habit that I acquired since then that every shipment is treated like it will be sent to the moon.

18/02/2017

DIRTY FISH TANK TECH TALK #5: SCIENTIFIC NAMES

Besides the local name, I also include the scientific names of the fish. This is not to increase the prices of the fish or to insist on a superiority that does not even exist. No. I am just like everyone. I am just an ordinary person, still tempted to use the milkmoney for fish purchase.

There is a campaign encouraging the use of sci names; and some sites, groups, or pages are into this campaign. Let us bring the hobby one step higher. Let's join the campaign and play in the global game. I would like to share the advantages of using the scientific names of fishes.

Let's do this.

Local names may not apply in other regions or countries. What we call "goldfish" here is just baitfish in other countries. If you throw a question like, "Do you have a parrotfish?" You have in mind a freshwater fish belonging to the Cichlid family, but the other person is going hungry thinking of grilled saltwater/marine parrotfish.
It is also very useful in hybridization. Hybrids are easier within species, then within the genus, and then within the family. Some ornamental fish are intergeneric hybrids, this is usually done in the Cichlid family.

There are also stories in there. I might attempt to include the explanation of the specific sci names of the fish, soon. For example, the White Cloud Mountain Minnow or Tanichthys albonubes, it was discovered by a boy scout surnamed Tan. Then "ichthys" or latin for fish. So Tanichthys means Tan's fish. Then "alba" latin for white and "nubes" is latin for cloud. Albonubes is White Cloud, it is the name of the mountain where the fish was first discovered. The discoverer and the location in one name.

Who knows? Someday, we might discover something new and it will be named after us. I personally wish to discover something beautiful instead of something parasitic... Ascaris billygirlii. Yucks.

20/01/2017

FISH TALKS

Friends, I will be in CDO early next week to deliver some Neon Tetras. Stocks are still available for those interested with Neons. :)

26/12/2016

NO-TEK PLANTED TANK 2

Another video of the same tank but from the long side angle. Did the first video to demonstrate that a three foot depth of view is still really good. It was a point that was raised by an enthusiast last time when I was asked to design a very large tank. I did not push through with the design, not because of the aesthetics and depth issues, still looks good at three feet. It was for another reason: maintenance. You'd have to swim inside the tank just to rearrange or reset things.

26/12/2016

NO-TEK PLANTED TANK

Bored so I took this quick video this morning. It's a 55 gallon tank planted with Hairgrass (Eleocharis sp.). Started it about 5 months ago --- July. Not really sure anymore, I just neglected it after planting. The tiny bubbles, that's pearling or photosynthetic activity. No filtration, no aeration, no carbon dioxide injection, no liquid carbon, no fertilizers, no maintenance, no sweat. Substrate is just soil I got from the yard. I guess, the plants are just using carbon from the decomposition by-products of the soil. I'm no expert, just planted them and let them be. I did do a Dry Start Method (DSM) on this one. It helps to let your plants get established first before doing some aquarium gymnastics. Next season, I will try to describe what I'm doing wrong. For fish geeks who are near my location, you can visit my base and view my tanks (the other tanks are still up and still neglected). I'd really love to have a more higher tech approach, but technical limitations should not hinder anyone from enjoying a planted tank. The Neons, by the way, are fourth generation products, they're up for sale. :)

04/12/2016

Apologies. I have been busy with selecting breeders for the next season. I still have plenty of stocks but can't do meet ups at the moment. However, you can drop by my base and can choose fish from my tanks.

I will also resume fish-related posts soon. For now, I will leave this photo of the two Cardinal Tetra fry at three weeks old. Just starting to get the blue line. They're now four weeks old, and starting to look like tiny Cardinals.

13/11/2016

FISH TANK TECH TALK #4: FISH LICE CONTROL (Argulus sp.)

Still the same alibi, very buzy the past few weeks. Under cross-eyed examination, my excuse is consistent: BUZY. Lazy and busy at the same time.

I promised a take on Iodized Salt as water additive for ornamental fish therapeutic reasons, but I need a salt product that everyone, at least in my locality, is very familiar with and say it's really iodized: FIDEL Salt. Yup, everything he says you have to take a gram of iodized salt with it.

Since, I am very lazy, I still have to purchase the said contraband. I will have to swap the promised topic, for the meantime, with another disgusting topic: Fish Lice.

Of course, me scalp is already itching. There's something crawling over my crown... phantom creatures in my head.

Intro: "Your Zebras look nice! How much? I need them to control fish lice." No way, Wan Wei. That was a few days ago.

Come on, guys! And, girls! We're already adults and have been keeping fish most of our conscious lives. We're not kids with runny noses anymore squeezing poor tiny squishy fish in our tiny hands. FEEESH! Big hands squish something else. I know. I'm a pervert and a breeder, how else can I breed goldfish? I do hand-spawning for goldfish, squeeze out the milt then squeeze out the roe. True story.

Fish lice. Let's deal with it.

FISH LICE MYTH: Angelfish will control fish lice infestation on Koi or goldfish or whatever fish. Verdict, aaaaahhhh... I dunno.

Can we not propagate this myth anymore? I have no idea if Angelfish will really eat the "Kuto"; maybe they do, but the organism will still be in the system (eggs, lice hiding under gills, etc.) and will continue to harm your fish. If you have evidence compelling me to believe otherwise, please send me a photo or video of Angelfish dining on fish lice.

WHAT WILL NOT WORK: Not doing anything and leaving everything to fate. Fate is very busy with zumba.

WHAT ELSE WILL NOT WORK: Salt as prophylactic bath against fish lice is, in my experience, useless. It will only make the water, salty.

WHAT MIGHT WORK: Potassium permanganate might work, I've seen lice dislodge themselves from the host fish. But I never saw them dig their own graves, just running around like crazy and I hear them screaming in their tiny, high-pitched voice "Potassium permanganate in my eyes! Potassium permanganate in my eyes! WAAAHHH!"

The fish, they got very stressed from the Potassium permanganate bath. And, once your water turns from brilliant purple into dull brown, the potassium permanganate is already spent and not effective. So, I will only recommend it as a short bath to lessen the fish lice load before using other methods.

WHAT WORKS: Quarantine and more quarantine. Some of the fish lice that come with fish might still be "babies". And they will be very difficult to identify or detect using your unaided 20/20 eyes. So, wait for a month or so, and they will grow to a more noticeable size. If, they are there.

If you recently bought a fish, do not put it inside your pond or main aquarium, right away. If the fish is infested, you might end up also cleaning your whole system; because, lice eggs will be all over the place. Use a hospital tank or other temporary containers.

WHAT WORKS: If you notice one lice, you can remove it with tweezers; but always assume with extreme prejudice that there will be more that evaded detection. This is only feasible if you have very few of the parasitic organisms and not with massive infestation.

WHAT ELSE WORKS: Organophosphates and follow the instructions on the product label, carefully. In my experience, it usually works on the first treatment, but just to make sure, I do two more treatments spaced at one week intervals. Treat as needed. Because it cannot kill the eggs; it will kill the adults and newly hatched and everything in between, but not the eggs. We need to wait for the eggs to hatch, but you can try crack the eggshells one by one if you are in a hurry.

Is it readily available here in our city? YES. It is under the secret code name: ANTI. Nice name, huh? It will also work with anchor worms. Barato ra. Go to your favorite local fish shop and buy. Use 5 drops per gallon.

If you have a very large, lice-infested mud pond, like a 500 sq. meter pond that is one meter deep, let me giggle first, hihihi. I know, it will make you cry counting 5 drops per gallon. Use up a thousand bottles and still not reach the recommended dosage. Visit me and make a business deal with the fish devil. Hihihi. Or, can I do the evil laugh now? No? :P

I will not make this article into a very boring write-up on what are organophosphates, it is already long and dragging and starting to make me drowsy, how about you? How do they work, what is the LD or lethal dosage, safety, storage, and disposal, what is fish lice, life-cycles, etc., etc., etc. I will just leave it as an assignment: google it. Quiz on Lousy Monday.

REMEMBER: Fish lice are not only found on fish, they will deposit their eggs on the hard surfaces of your aquatic system. Everything needs to be treated.

And, do research some more.

"If they succeed, I taught them. If they fail, it's all their fault." - Me plagiarising there-must-be-someone-out-there-who-spoke-of-this-before-I-did and not some Chinese proverb

P.S. there is another product that is globally recognized, DIMILIN. It is available in a fish shop near Capitol University's Osmena gate.

25/10/2016

Say hello to an old friend.

Two week old Puntius tetrazona fry or lets-play-a-game-and-guess-its-common-name. It is the first species of fish that I sold by the thousands. That was some years ago. I hope I can do it again.

24/10/2016

Here's a much closer photo of the neglected Eleocharis.

24/10/2016

Gone feed hunting and been very busy with overhauling the fishroom. Have to remove two aquarium racks that were not painted and replace it with painted ones (and imagine also the aquariums on those racks and the volume of water that need to be displaced before I can even begin). Still no down-time with production.

Some self-affirmation while I'm mending a broke-back moment:

WOW! After four months of not doing anything to the tank presented here, I managed to multiply the rocks! Kinda crazy, huh? :D

Well, I did use it as a Daphnia (specifically Moina sp.) culture tank for a time. It's just a pure stand of Eleocharis parvula in there, no other plants except for the Lemna sp. Lemna sp. we used it for population something studies, but it's also quite a good protein source, for fish. I dunno about for human consumption, I will try, and see if I live to tell the tale to you. :)

Be back soonest when I am done with moving all these heavy metal stuff. For fish and inquiries, please PM me.

13/10/2016

CELESTIAL PEARL DANIOS

The first batch of fry to reach legal age, around two months old. They just began showing their colors today. Hopefully, it will intensify some more. They are really big, one half of an inch long from tip of snout to tip of caudal fin. And ready to start laying eggs; this batch will become part of the broodstock.

They only lay a few eggs every spawning session, so in order to increase the number of fry, I have to increase my "sow level". This batch is for the fish room. The next two batches, I am still deciding whether to release or add to the broodstock.

11/10/2016

Male and female White Cloud Mountain Minnows (Tanichthys albonubes) for tomorrow.

It's not very unusual for me to receive orders with fish being segregated according to gender. Most of the time I cannot accommodate the request because it is really difficult to determine the genders of some species of fish. If I can, like with this species, I will segregate them if requested.

11/10/2016

Angelfish fry after about three weeks. First photo was taken 18 September 2016. Second photo taken today, 11 October 2016.

11/10/2016

Quarantine Tank. Shark not included. :)

09/10/2016

FISH TANK TECH TALK #3: QUARANTINE

In many literatures or articles, it is recommended that you quarantine your fish for, at least, two weeks. In my fish room, I usually quarantine new fish for at least two months.

Some will say this is overkill. However, I am in the production aspect of the hobby, and I have no plans giving freebies along with my fish to clients. Freebies, like fresh anchor worms, healthy fish lice, etc. I hope to give just fish. You have to consider that there are parasites that do not appear right away. Some will be dormant for more than two weeks and then will become active when you have already introduced your fish to the community tank.

I cannot officially declare disease-free fish from my tanks because that will mean certifications, ELISA tests, or PCR for virus indexing, laboratory tests, etc. I do not have that capacity. I am poor and just make use of whatever is available.

What I can do is to breed generation after generation of fish under some sort of biosecurity measures. Try to distance it every generation from diseases. And part of the breeding program is to destroy or remove previous generations and start fresh with the current generation of fry. I do have a program, I don't just simply breed fish for stock inventory, there is a sequence of events like selection, culling, etc., that I follow. And this will go on and on. The grind does not stop.

Biosecurity begins with quarantining all incoming fish. Feriod.

How do you go about it? To start, you need a dedicated "hospital tank". It need not be an aquarium, it can be a bucket, a basin, or anything that can contain water and does not react with some of the chemicals that you will use later on or contain toxic materials that will leach out from it. It is best if you can see through the container so you can observe your fish.

Prepare this tank before buying the fish, or else you will end up using fresh tap water; not good, definitely not good. Clean water and no adornments or gravel. This is to make it easier to clean or disinfect the tank. And also enables you to observe the fish a lot more easier.

Also, if you can, give it a dipnet of its own. Sometimes, when I buy a fish, I also buy a dipnet from the store; and use it to catch the fish from their tanks. I feel more secure that the net used did not go swimming in other tanks. Also, my dipnets don't last long because of the regular sterilization using bleach, so I buy it together with fish. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of bleach for disinfection/sterilization of equipment. Hey, that's real. And, cigarette smoking is dangerous, it can cause fires.

To make the fish feel a little bit less nervous, I sometimes put black plastic bag material that was cut into strips, something the fish can use for cover when they want to hide. You can use other materials, like yarn, that will also cut the direct line-of-sight and help reduce nervousness or aggression.

When you have the fish, temperature acclimate by floating the bag in the tank, if necessary. Sometimes it is not necessary. Open bag or closed bag, it depends; but generally you can use either method because, most likely, it's just a local purchase. For large shipments or commercial establishments, I can give a technical discussion on this topic but then, I will have to bill you. Hehehe.

Once acclimated, put the fish in the tank. Just the fish, the transport water is discarded, properly.

And then observe the fish for any signs of parasites or disease. The usual parasites or diseases that I encounter here are: White spot, Anchor worms, and Fish lice.

Prophylactic additives in the water depends on the species of the fish and the targeted organism. Some fish cannot withstand certain chemicals while other fish can. I do not recommend the use of antibiotics. I usually use salt at approximately isotonic concentration, or around 5 grams per liter. This will be another topic that I hope to discuss a little more because there are many opinions to this subject. Iodized vs non-iodized and how iodine breaks into three (iodine, iodide, and iodate), how much to use, osmotic potentials, osmoregulatory functions, species specific toxicity, etc. Salt is kinda broad spectrum but it will not work with fish lice.

Of course, I am no expert and sometimes, I do it in a very unscientific way, throw in salt in the tank and just eyeball it. But, it's more fun to brag to friends and say, "Oh, I just used 285 grams of salt in my 15 gallon tank." And enjoy seeing the bewildered look on their faces at the amount of salt. Wait, I think I can put in 1 kilo of salt in my 55s. Yup, I just did.

Once your fish is in the hospital tank, observe it during the duration of your chosen quarantine period. You need not follow my length of observation period, although, I do recommend it, if you have the patience. Wow, I have that kind of patience? Not really, I forget about them, old-age territory, you know. And, then two months later, I will recall I bought a fish.

My most expensive fish purchase which I bought as a present for myself, and it's been more than two months, I seldom see them. I just harvest their fry, but don't really 'see' them. See as in admire or scrutinize or count their spots, etc.

Just remember, it is in quarantine. It is in isolation mode. So, anything that is related to the procedure: water, equipment, and other stuff that is related to the quarantine tank, must never reach the other tanks. Disinfect them first.

Yes, you can use the protocol to isolate individuals contaminated with zombie blood.