Moina – A Love Hate Relationship

Moina
Photo by Dennis Ball

Over the summer, my son’s Red Eared Slider has been helping to generate loads of green water for the fish room.  With this in mind, I though it would be a good time to venture back into culturing some Moina.

If you are not familiar with Moina, they are small freshwater crustaceans, commonly called “water fleas”, belonging the Daphnia family.  I like them because newly hatched Moina average 430 µm and are just slightly larger than the smallest strain of newly hatched brine shrimp.  Also, adult Moina are about half the size of common Daphnia with a higher protein content.  They are simply fantastic live food for small fish.   Continue reading Moina – A Love Hate Relationship

Ordered some fish from Aquariumfish.net

Fire Ring Danio (Danio kyathit)
Photo by Pete Mang

I’ve been looking hi & low to find some nice Fire Ring Danios, (Danio kyathit).  My good friend BillT over at Eugene Research Aquatics sent me some very nice males, but I needed some females to go with them.

I knew that Tom & Nevin over at Aquariumfish.net had them listed, but it seemed like they were always sold out.  By the way, Tom has become a superb photographer of fish.  His photos of fish for sale are nothing short of stunning.  Another reason I didn’t hesitate to order from them, it was obvious that I would be getting true Fire Ring Danios.

Fire Ring Danios are the spotted form of the species Danio kyathit.  The Orange Finned Danio is the striped form.  I first spawned the striped form in January of 2011, but have yet to spawn this spotted form. Continue reading Ordered some fish from Aquariumfish.net

CPD Photo causing a stir

Photo by Johnny Jensen

Back in the April issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, a photo was displayed claiming to be that of Danio margaritatus, the Celestial Pearl Danio.

Having raised literally hundreds of these fish it struck me that this was not actually a photo of Danio margaritatus.  I even went so far as to post on the TFH forum about my concerns.

Well it seems as this photo has made it’s way to our European fish keeping friends and a lively discussion has taken off on the Seriously Fish forum.

My hat is off to Johnny Jensen for realizing that this fish is not Danio margaritatus and now having 2 different pages of photos.  The true Celestial Pearl Danio photos are at this page, and the new fish now has it’s own page here.

Central Air problems

Central Air BlowerA couple of weeks ago at sometime in the night, my fish room blower toasted a bearing.  Not a big deal.  Air pumps being mechanical are going to break down at some point.

I set-up my spare pump and ordered repair parts.  Quick service from a supplier on the west coast and I was due for a Monday delivery.  Life was good…..  for about 2 hours.  My spare pump goes down.

Now don’t you just love it, when you think you’ve covered all the bases and Murphy’s Law comes up and bites you on the butt!  Well at any rate since it was going to be several days before my parts for the blower came in I needed a new plan.   Continue reading Central Air problems