Tank Tales November 2017

November 2017 Volume 46, Issue 10

The official Publication of The Aqua oCf l uLbaon s atset r utn yc, . I n c . | r |iTuhm e AC q ulau r ibu m f Lcaa nc er C C oo un y , tI n

Table of Contents

Tank Tales™

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ON THE COVER:

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Gnatholebias zonatus Photo by Gary Haas \PUBLISHED BY: Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc. 590 Centerville Road #318 Lancaster, PA 17601

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editor@aclcpa.org

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WEB : www.aclcpa.org

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FACEBOOK GROUP: www.facebook.com/Aquarium-Club-ofLancaster-County-165146629317/ MANAGING EDITOR: Tim Brady

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ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kurt Johnston

22 Tank Tales™ is the official publication of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc. (ACLC). Ten issues of Tank Tales are published annually. Anyone using original material from any issue of Tank Tales must return two (2) copies of the publication in which the article is published to our exchange editor at exchange@aclcpa.org. The views expressed in any material appearing in Tank Tales are those of the authors, and do not necessarily express those of the ACLC.

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The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County is a Federally Registered 501c3 Non-profit public charity and a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Non-profit Corporation under the provisions of the Non-profit Corporation Law of 1988. “ACLC”, “Tank Tales”, Piscatorial Pearls” and the fishdrawn buggy logo are all Trademarks of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.

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President’s Message Hello ACLC!

Michael Buchma

As you might remember from last month’s issue, or if you were at last month’s meeting, you know that we are going to be holding our annual election at the November meeting. Please come out to this event so your voice can be heard.

We are also doing something out of the ordinary this month. We will be participating in the NEC bowl show league! (See page 7 for details) This is exciting because it gives you a chance to show your fish off to your fellow club mates without having to travel to a large convention far away. Everything will be supplied for you. Just bring your fish.

In December, we are welcoming all of our members to hold a mini-presentation of sorts, if they wish. You may talk about anything you want to the group, whether it is about how you bred a particular fish or how you set up your fish room. What you talk about is up to you, just as long as it relates to aquariums. If you are feeling really ambitious, you may even bring your DIY project to show us.

On November 18th at 1:00, we will meet at Bird-in-Hand Fire Company to welcome this month’s speaker, Larry Jinks from North Carolina. He will be speaking about Corydoras.

| 3 | The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.

Editor’s Notes ACLC Members, Great month for Tank Tales! We have 4 original articles in this issue and only one from one of our regulars! A Big thank you to Paul Tangredi for his 2 articles, Karen Hass for 1 and NEW member Dan Taylor for his article. We also had some great pictures submitted without articles from Gary Haas and Karen Haas. We are also trying some new pages. See some separate special note on Page 7 to highlight some items of importance and a Photo Gallery on Page 24-25. We have seen some members posting on Facebook about their adventures to other activities that I know our members would like to hear about so, if you went to the Aquascaping demo at Hidden Reef, Cichtoberfest, the Aquatic Experience or even another club meeting...Write About It! We are always interested in hearing what you are doing and what you think!

It’s Your Club, Your Tank Tales!

Thank you Tim & Kurt

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| 5 | The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.

Larry Jinks joined the North Jersey Aquarium Society and the organized hobby in 1994. He raised and bred tropical fish as a youth, but stopped for a track and field career in college. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology at Rutgers College and a master’s in biology from Montclair State, he embarked on a 37 year career as a high school biology teacher and track coach. After retiring, Larry and his wife, Joanne, followed their children and grandchildren south and built a new home (with a new fish room) in Wake Forest, NC. Larry has remained active in the BAP programs at North Jersey AS, Jersey Shore AS, Brooklyn AS, Raleigh AS, Atlanta Area AA, and the Charlotte Area AS and is currently an officer in the Raleigh Aquarium Society. He has received BAP credit for over 400 species of fish and has entered fish shows in eight different states, winning Best of Show in four states. Now a fulltime grandpa, Larry still enjoys attending fish conventions, working in his new fish room and trading fish with other hobbyists.

Corydoras Capers covers Larry's experiences with keeping, breeding, and raising the fry of Corydoras catfish ACLC Sponsor Advertisement ACLC Sponsor Advertisement

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ACLC Notes Don’t Forget!

Club Election Day!

This month we have an Open Class Bowl Show! Get your fish ready and bring them to the meeting!

The meeting this month is our annual election for President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer!

Check out the details on page 22!

Are you Running?

Keystone Clash

Planning for the 2018 Keystone Clash has begun and we could always use your help! If you have some ideas or just want to get involved contact Kurt at the next meeting or send him an email at : kurtj@keystoneclash.com Get Involved!

What do you want to hear about?

Do you have a topic you would like to hear presented at one of our meetings? Let us know!

We want to provide you with the knowledge you are interested in acquiring. Send us your ideas : coordinator@aclcpa.org | 7 | The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.

About the ACLC™

DATE:

AQUARIUM CLUB OF LANCASTER COUNTY – MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

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Officers, Directors & Chairpersons Officers

Members-at-Large Chairpersons

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Aquatic Life Education Fund

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Aquatic Life Education Fund November 2017 Report Great News! We have a school program that will be the recipient of the Aquatic Life Education Funds for the current year. That recipient is the Marine Science Program at North Penn High School in Lansdale PA. The Marine Science program at North Penn High School has been developing over the past 10 years. Today it serves both the students of North Penn High School as well as the citizens of the surrounding community by offering a variety of opportunities to experience and learn from any and all aquatic organisms that can be kept in a glass box. The program now includes a high school class curriculum, a work study course, an extracurricular club, and a series of community education classes. We look forward to working with the students at NPHS and their instructor, Mr. Shane Misuro.

If you have any questions, please contact me at ALEF@aclcpa.org.

Thank you Kurt Johnston ALEF Chair

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My Fish Room Story It all started on Christmas 1966 when my oldest brother gave me a 5 ½ gallon tank setup for Christmas. Do you remember the old metal framed fish tanks of that time? Well, that’s what I got, along with some guppies, swordtails, and a few tetras. I was hooked!

were the plain silver with black stripes, but I was smitten. Four nickel size angels came home with us that day and became the centerpiece of our fish room. At that time, I only bred livebearers, and had absolutely no clue how other species procreated.

By the summer of the following year, both of my parents were hooked as well, and we turned our basement “family room” into Fish Room # 1.

We raised guppies of all sorts, as well as swordtails, moons and mollies. Practically all the livebearers available at that time. Then, while visiting a local fish store that recently opened in our small town, I found angelfish!

Oh, my goodness, what a marvelous fish! They

A few years later, my parents sold our home, so we re- homed our fish and broke down all five tanks and stored them in a shed at our new home. About three months went by before I ran across the fish tanks in the shed, and within another month, Fish Room # 2 was born. My father built a rack that held ten tanks, and we were back keeping fish again.

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every kind of freshwater tropical fish and goldfish we could get our hands on. We also sold reptiles, birds and small animals, but the fish We kept a lot of different fish at that time without breeding them just to watch them swim. always drew me in. Within a few years, I got married and we sold out the fish store. I My father’s favorite fish was black moor couldn’t give up fish completely, so I set up a 29 goldfish, because they would eat from his fingers and mine was still angelfish. But by now gallon tank in my apartment with just we had silver angels and black angels, as well as community fish. a myriad of other fish. We kept happy in our Eight years go by. Sitting at the family table one Sunday my parents, my sister and I were talking little 10 tank fish room. of trying a small business, and the result was Fish Room #5, built in the unused 3rd floor apartment of my sister’s home. I soon built racks and set up tank after tank of quarter sized angelfish in every color we could find as well as some Brown and Blue Discus. Soon the angels grew, paired off and spawned. This time I was an “expert”. Armed with the acquired knowledge of fish breeding I learned from my books, I raised a few dozen, and then a few hundred and then a few thousand angels!

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We sold our angels to local pet shops for about a year and were doing well, but once again, we were out of room. So, you guessed it, along comes Fish Room #6, this time in the basement.

Four years and another move later, this time to We insulated the entire basement, built racks, a large farm, we built Fish Room #3. This time I and within a year we had over 180 tanks managed to get a group of silver angelfish to lay housing 25 pairs of all colors of angelfish. We were breeding them and raising the young. eggs. WOW! I was a real breeder now!

Thousands of angel fry were raised there, as well Unfortunately, all the other angels devoured as several spawns of Brown and Blue Discus. them because they found them to be an Holy Moly! When the Discus spawned, I almost irresistible snack. I soon bought every book I passed out from the excitement! could on raising and breeding angelfish, and hopefully, armed with all my new information, I would be ready for the next time. The next time, however, never came.

As time went on, the number of tanks grew to be about 30 or so, and many friends and neighbors would stop by to see the fish, and they even bought some of the extra livebearers that we bred It occurred to me that this could be a business in the making. So, with the help of my parents, I soon got a tax id#, with that, our hobby turned into a real business!

Within a year, we had forty tanks stuck in every nook and cranny of the farm house and we were out of space. We decided we needed a real store and not just a basement setup. So along came As luck would have it, my father became ill. His Fish Room #4, a real pet shop located in a care took so much time and attention away from storefront in our local town. the family fish business that we sold off the We grew from 40 tanks to about 70 containing entire fish room to 2 fellow breeders within a

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The summer break has ended, and it’s time for NAGWG to become more active again. Here’s what’s going on: 1. The European Goodeid Working Group (EGWG) held their annual fall meeting in Plock, Poland, at the Plock Zoo, in early October. Plock is a small city 120 km northeast of Warsaw. 25 people, all from Europe, attended. The zoo maintains about 100 tanks of livebearers, both domestic and wild-type, including Allodontichtys polylepis. The EGWG has two meetings per year, one in the fall with presentations on a variety of subjects, and the other in the spring on a specific topic in a workshop format. The spring 2018 meeting will likely be in May in Oslo, Norway, but the topic has not yet been finalized.

2. The EGWG fall 2018 meeting will be a joint gathering with NAGWG and Mexican goodeid scientists and enthusiasts in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November.

Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, is a great venue for a meeting, with wonderful architecture, food, and culture, and it is in the heart of the goodeid range. The meeting will have both presentations and field trips. Dates, location, and program TBD; stay tuned!

3. Dr. Omar Domínguez-Domínguez from the Aqualab in Morelia reports that the reintroductions of Zoogoneticus tequila and the minnow Notropis amecae into the Teuchitlán springs, west of Guadalajara, are doing well, with populations established in a small semi-isolated portion of the springs where non-native species abundances have been manually reduced. It’s still too early to declare the reintroduction a success, but this is very positive news. A visit to the Teuchitlán springs to view the reintroduction (and perhaps to swim among these fishes) will almost certainly be a feature of the 2018 GWG meeting in Guadalajara.

4. There will be a week-long study tour of Mexican fishes in early March 2018, focusing on the state of San Luis Potosí, northeast of Mexico City, the home of spectacular streams and rivers with rare goodeids, swordtails, minnows, and cichlids. Although not an official NAGWG activity, NAGWG members have first dibs on signing up. I mentioned the possibility of this trip at our meeting in St. Louis in May. Many details remain to be worked out, but the cost will likely be about $1,000 per person, including ground transportation in Mexico, rooms, and meals, but not including international airfare. Depending on where you’re coming from, airfare could range from $400-700. Space will be limited, so if you are interested (and even if you already expressed interest back in May), please get in touch with me soon. Expressing interest does not lock you into anything – a final commitment (and payment) won’t be due until early January – but please only sign

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up if you’re seriously considering participating. There will only be room for 12 or so participants, and the trip will likely be full.

5. NAGWG member Chris Neal recently had an enjoyable visit with EGWG Chair Michael Koeck in Vienna, Austria. On his return from this trip, Chris was able to legally import livebearers from Michael into the USA. While this legal importation involved a bunch of hoops to jump through, cost money for permits, and necessitated a fair amount of advance planning, Chris didn’t have any trouble getting his fish into the U.S. He has provided me with a detailed list of the steps he had to take. If anyone is interested in trying to bring back live fish from Europe or Mexico, let me know and I can pass along more details about what is required.

Finally, please let me know which Goodeid species and populations you’re keeping (and how they’re doing) so I can update the NAGWG database.

Cheers!

John

As always, I encourage all of our members to get involved and join both the American Livebearers Association (ALA) and the North American Goodeid Working Group (NAGWG).

If anyone is interested in anything that John has mentioned in this update, you can either contact me or contact John directly at jdlyons@wisc.edu ~Kurt Johnston

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Blasts from our Past Ever Try Spawning Egglayers?

This article was first published in the November 1982 Issue of Tank Tales™ Too hard you say, not so.

You can start by trying some Zebra Danios.

The

Zebra Danio is one of the most popular aquarium fishes, and understandably so. For it is colorful, active and breeds readily.

It eats almost anything and it hardy enough to withstand a temperature range of 60 to 100 degrees.

Before trying to spawn your fish, be sure you have a pair.

This isn’t too

difficult, if you have adult and well-conditioned fish the female is a deeper bodied fish while the male has a deeper blue coloration and is more streamline.

Take two active males and a female, and condition them on a diet of quality flake food, some brine shrimp, frozen or newly hatched and try some chopped earthworms m-m-m good. During this conditioning the sexes should be separated by using separate containers or a tank divider.

The breeding tank should be at least a three gallon size, preferably a five gallon tank.

Fill with about eight inches of freshly drawn tap water,

brought to the temperature of the conditioning tanks.

The bottom of the breeding tank should be covered with a couple of layers

of glass marbles or small pebbles.

Zebras like to eat eggs, in the spawning

process the eggs are sprayed in all directions, and hopefully most will fall between the marbles or pebbles.

Where the breeders will not be able to hunt

and eat the spawn.

Danios like to spawn in the early morning, so set up your breeding tank the night before, and place your breeders in prior to turning off your lights.

In the morning turn on your lights, after a while some active chasing and (Continued on page 17)

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butting should be observed prior to spawning.

If all has went well by noon

you should be able to see some eggs on the bottom or between the marbles, with the aid of a hand lens of course.

The eggs are about the size of a pin

head and are transparent. Now is the time to remove the breeders before they start their egg hunt.

The eggs should hatch in about forty-eight hours, and in another fortyeight hours should be free swimming.

Before the free swimming stage the fry

will be seen clinging to the marbles and the glass sides.

In the free

swimming stage the fry will need some food.

A liquid fry food or dust fine

powdered food will do as the first food.

Later feed baby brine shrimp,

frozen or newly hatched if possible, and small flake food as they grow.

Growth is fairly rapid so give them room as needed.

Note this set up will

work well for Pearly and Leopard Danios as well.

Now remember don’t overfeed and foul the tank, the fry will not stand this kind of treatment. Also running sand filter will help. A little later on you can use a regular corner filter.

Good Luck!

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THE SCALY THUMB

~ Special Editor’s Note In August of 2016, the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County lost its last remaining founding member when F. Wayne Calender passed away. Wayne’s son David got in contact with me this summer to let me know that there were some ACLC related items in the house that he thought we might appreciate having. After, bringing these boxes home, I have found a small treasure trove of interesting ACLC history including several articles written by Wayne, other ACLC members and even some exchange articles that were sent to Wayne. I am going to reprint these articles and I will include any information I have with the article. For those of you that did not have the pleasure of knowing Wayne, he was “The Scaly Thumb”!

Kurt Johnston Associate Editor

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Angelfish Antics

By Paul Tangredi Since the beginning of my tropical fish obsession, I have always wanted to breed those odd looking royal fish. I never really had the chance until my late 20's when I finally had the space to set up a 50 gallon tank and stock it with plants and some community fish. According to my readings, I knew it was best to start with a group of young angels and let them grow up and pair off naturally. So, I got 6 silver angelfish about quarter size and added them to the community tank. Six months later, lo and behold, 2 of the fish paired off and started cleaning an area of the glass to spawn. I was elated!

I was going to breed the angels! I set up a 20gallon bare bottomed tank and added a piece of slate. I was too late. The angels had already laid the eggs on the glass in the community tank. Of course, by the next morning they were gone. I transferred the pair to the 20 gallon tank and waited. Two weeks later they laid eggs on the glass, even though there was a perfectly good piece of slate. But, I had eggs I was happy.

Next morning, no eggs again. I had prepared myself that this could happen. I put the slate in hoping I could move the slate out and try to raise the babies without the parents. Two weeks later, another spawn of eggs, this time on the slate. I decided to give the parents one last chance to be good parents rather than cannibals. The eggs hatched I was excited. They were like a shivery mass of jelly, but I could tell they were babies. Next day, no fish again. The parents had eaten them. This went on for about 6 weeks. Either they ate the eggs or the fry. I did try to hatch the eggs without the parents once, but that went awry when the eggs quickly fungused. I finally concluded that with 3 toddlers running around the house, the fish were always too scared to raise the fry.

Fast forward about 25 years, I now have a home with plenty of room for a 55 gallon. No little ones to cause a disturbance, so I figured I'll try again. Same method started again with 6 babies and waited for them to pair off. Sure enough they paired off and I moved them to another 50 gallon set up with slate and bare bottomed. Well it was like deja vu. Eggs laid, eggs eaten, eggs laid, fry eaten, eggs laid, eggs eaten. No kids to blame this time. After about the 5th spawning and disappearance I decided to move the pair back to the community tank, let them rest and try again later. A week went by and I went to catch the fish and to move them back and behold! What did I see? About 200 free swimming fry. Success! Accidental maybe but, still success. The fish grew rapidly but what do you do with hundreds of fish. I gave them to all my friends that had aquariums, I sold to the 2 local pet stores that were allowed to buy from locals, unlike the big lot pet shops that couldn't. This was before I knew about the ACLC which would have had a steady stream of angels at their auctions. Although it was about 35 years in the doing I can say I finally bred my angelfish.

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ACLC Speaker Schedule 2017

2018

ACLC Sponsor Advertisement ACLC Sponsor Advertisement

Phone: (717) 471-6244

Mike Mull

Email: mike@thereliableplumber.com Website: http://www.TheReliable Plumber.com

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NEC Bowl Show League

This Month!

The Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies has initiated a new “Bowl Show League” and the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County’s Board of Directors has decided to join in at our November 2017 meeting. This is an OPEN Class, Peoples Choice Bowl Show and is open to any member of an NEC affiliate Club. All attendees will get a ballot and we will have a number of 3 gallon Kritter Keepers available to be used. If you need something larger, have questions or you know how many entries you will be brining to the show, please send me an email at vicepresident@aclcpa.org . Below you will find rules as provided by the NEC. Kurt Johnston Criteria and Rules: 1. Single Open Class 2. Exhibitors may enter as many as three exhibits per show. Entry forms will be available at meeting 3. We will have water and water treatment available for you to use or you can provide your own.

No airlines, filtration, lights or electronic hookup is available.

4. Participation in league show is open to members of all NEC clubs.

5. Winners are to be determined by peoples choice. (See procedure below) 6. Entries must be set up before our speaker completes their program. We encourage entrants to arrive early and have entries setup prior to the meeting to avoid interrupting the speakers presentation.

7. Voting will commence upon the completion of the speaker’s program and will conclude prior to the beginning of the raffle drawings (~20—30 minutes).

NEC Bowl Show voting and scoring procedure.

Each attendee is given a ballot in which they vote for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Each exhibit earns 3 points for each 1st place vote, 2 points for each 2nd place vote, and 1 point for each 3rd place vote.

Exhibitor Points for NEC Bowl Shows First entry in own club’s show - 2 points Each additional entry - 1 point First entry in sister club’s show - 5 points Each additional entry - 2 points 1st place - 25 points 2nd place - 20 points 3rd place - 15 points

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The International Fancy Guppy Association was founded in 1965. They were formed to promote the raising and breeding of show guppies. Their website, IFGA.org, is a vast wealth of information for both the beginner and the more advanced guppy enthusiast. They set the rules and judging standards of IFGA shows. I have been a guppy guy since the beginning. Who hasn't? It is usually the first fish (aside from the goldfish we won at a fair) we all started with. Guppies are easy to care for, breed without trying and are really a nice colorful fish. Most people move on to other more “serious” fish. Angels, cichlids, tetras etc., but most of us hold a special place in our hearts for the guppy. I've always dreamt of breeding a prize-winning guppy, tried a couple of times but, it is a lot harder than the common guppy. I came a across the IFGA website a few years back and it got the yearnings started again.

This year the IFGA annual show was held in New Jersey and hosted by the South Jersey Guppy Group. The annual convention was held in New Jersey. It was close enough that I would be able to visit. I have seen many pictures of prize winning guppies but have never been up close and personal with them. So, I got in the car and went. I just went for the auction hoping I could pick up some strong strains to start my pursuit of a winning show guppy. I picked up a nice ½ black blue trio, a platinum trio and a yellow pair. Hopefully I will have some success with one of these lines. I got to meet some of the top breeders in the country and saw some of the best guppies in the world.

Anybody that is interested in show guppies should definitely check out the IFGA website. Great information on feeding, breeding, culling and many other topics useful to the young and old guppy enthusiasts alike.

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This month we begin our journey in the Peach State with 2 articles in the August 2017 issue of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association’s Fish Talk. The first article is titled “Xiphophorus variatus-Mickey Mouse Platy” by Brianna and David Mercer. The give us a good description of their success with this livebearer favorite.

The second article is titled “Buying Eggs Online—Part 2” by David Ramsey that gives us some good ideas what to expect if you decide to try this ever popular way of populating your fishroom.

Lilyea that gives us an excellent description of Bruce’s success, after many tries, at breeding the Betta splendens. Next we have a story titled “Fecundity of an African Cichlid, Pseudotropheus zebra, could be increased as a result of increasing environmental salinity” by Kryssi Damico. Kryssi goes to a great degree of detail to describe the potential results in this first attempt to increase egg production.

Our next stop is in the Hawkeye State for 3 stories in the August 2017 edition of the Eastern Iowa Aquarium Association’s Fin Flap. The first story is a very detailed description of Lee Van Hyfte’s successful method of “Breeding the Brunei Beauty, Betta macrostoma” one of his dream fish. The second story, also by Lee Van Hyfte, is titled “Breeding Toba Betta, Betta rubra” is another excellent account of Lee’s experience with this beautiful mouthbrooding Betta from Borneo.

Lee also wrote the third story in this issue which tells us all about his success with “Breeding the Ruby Clown Cichlid, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus”.

Traveling back east we stop in the Garden State for an article in the August 2017 issue of the North Jersey Aquarium Society’s Reporter.

This article is titled “Community Tank Feeding”

by Chuck Davis and gives us some things to think about when we are feeding our fish.

Heading to the Sunshine State we stop for a couple of stories in the August 2017 edition of the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society’s The Filter.

The first story is titled “Breeding the Difficult Fish: My Adventures with Bettas” by Bruce Tank Tales™ | November 2017

Our next stop is in the Empire State for 9 articles in the September-October 2017 issue of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society’s Aquatica. The first article is titled “Setting Up an Aquarium”

by Steven Matassa. Steven breaks down his successes with setup and lists it in seven steps. Next is an article titled “3 Blind Cave Fish! Isn’t That Mice?” by Anthony Kroeger that gives us a good description of how to care for and spawn this great little Mexican tetra. The third article is titled “Tanganyikan Royalty” by Anthony Kroeger that gives us a great accounting of good methods for maintaining and raising Tropheus moori and Tropheus duboisi. The next article is a brief but informative look at “Green Shrimp” by Ryan Curtis of The Shrimp Farm.

This issue’s Practical Plant article by Izzy Zwerin is all about “Propagating Cryptocoryne balansea”, a cool looking tall member of the Crypt family. Sy Angelicus wrote the next article which tells us about all the habits and needs of Dianema urostriatum, “The Flagtail Porthole Cat”. The next article is another by Anthony Kroeger titled “Yahoo Uaru”. Anthony does give us a great deal of information regarding the Guyanan cichlid, Uaru amphicanthoides. Anthony also wrote the last

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2 articles in this issue. The first is titled “Help!

My Fish is Sick? What Should I Look For? ” in which Anthony give us some things to look for in the first of a 5-part series of articles on our fishes health. The final article is titled “Importing Killies” which gives us a breakdown of Anthony’s methods of importing both wildcaught and captive raised and the differences in each.

of the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society’s Northwest Aquaria. The first story is titled “Dean Gone Wild” which is a travelogue of Dean Tweedale’s Amazon expedition. The next story is titled “Panda Corys” by Gail Cucksey that gives a good description of Gail’s experience with this great looking catfish.

Our final stop this month will require a passport. We venture to the Canadian Province of Ontario for 3 articles in the September 2017 issue of the Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium We now go to the Hoosier State for a story in the Society’s Fins & Tales. The first article is titled September 2017 edition of the Circle City “Light It Up LED Light” by Barry Chaffe that is a Aquarium Club’s Fancy Fins. This story is story of a move but becomes a very good review titled “Swordtails” by Hedy Padgett and gives a of the Current USA Satellite+ Pro light fixture. brief description encouraging all of us to The next article is titled “My Favourite maintain this longtime favorite livebearer.

Fish...this week…” by Dr. Glenn Roberts is a Staying in the Midwest, we stop in the Buckeye good description of the habits Glenn likes about Auriglobus modestus, a freshwater puffer from State for 2 articles in the September /October SE Asia. Our final article this month is a great 2017 issue of the Greater Akron Aquarium Society’s Tank Topics. The first article is titled review of the “ACA Convention 2017” by Zenin Skomorowski that, combined with Zenin’s “My rescue fish, Brain” by Misty White. Misty always great photos, will make you want to tells us how she came to adopt this Oranda attend next years convention.

Goldfish and the situation leading up to the adoption. Dave Williamson wrote the second article titled “A Fish Named Moose…” which is See you on the 18th! another article about a rescued goldfish.

Our next stop is also in Ohio with 2 stories in the September-October 2017 edition of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society’s Fincinnati. The first story is a spawning report titled “Opthalmotilapia ventralis Mvuna Island” by Brandon Miner that gives a brief detailed description of Brandons successful experience with this Tanganyikan cichlid. Next is a very detailed story that describes the 16 months of Jerry Riegel’s experiences while “Spawning Lamprologus leleupi”.

Kurt Johnston – Exchange Editor exchange@aclcpa.org

Coming home to the Keystone State we stop for an article in the September 2017 issue of the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society’s Finformation. This article is titled “What I Feed my Plecostomus” by Eric Bodrock that gives just one of the reasons that Eric is so successful with breeding Plecos.

Our next destination is in the the Evergreen State for 2 stories in the September 2017 edition | 23 | T h e A q u a r i u m C l u b o f L a n c a s t e r C o u n t y , I n c .

We had a lot of photos submitted this month so we decided to start a Member’s Photo Gallery. Any month that we have more than one extra quality phot submitted, either with and article or on it’s own, we will have this gallery for all to enjoy. This month the photo on the top left of this page is of Hypsolebias ellneri by Gary Haas and the remaining photos on this page and page 27 are from Pets Plus 2 in Nanuet NY, taken by Karen Haas & Alan Rollings on their way to Cichtoberfest.

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Alan & Karen’s Excellent Adventure

BY Karen Haas

Part 3: Bones of the Fish Room

than you think you’ll need. It is easier to do so before installing the tanks rather than later. I also added a battery backup for the linear air pump that supplies air to the entire fish room. I expect it to keep the air pump going for electric outages that only last a couple of hours.

The part of the basement that was to become the new fish room needed to have some walls and doors installed so that we could separate it from the unheated areas. The “bones” also needed to be installed, which was running water, a drain, and MORE electrical outlets. I highly recommend having the major plumbing and electrical done by a licensed professional. Make sure that your electrical outlets are protected by using GFI receptacles.

After we had the room enclosed, an electrician installed 6 outlets in the ceiling which are on 3 breakers. There were a couple of outlets already in the room. Installing the outlets in the ceiling was partly a cost saving measure for our situation because the majority of the walls in our fish room were brick. A few other reasons we located them there was to make them easier to access and less chance of water getting into them. If you put the outlets on the walls, they can often times be difficult to get to because a tank will be in the way. Having them in the ceiling gives us more flexibility if we ever need to change the layout of the fish room. From each outlet, we run a multiple outlet strip to each rack mostly to run the lights. Try to avoid the fire hazard I’ve seen in some fish rooms we’ve visited: a bird’s nest of light weight extension cords and daisy chained power strips. Most of the tanks have air driven sponge filters, but a few do have power filters.

Even though we heat the room, we do use a couple of heaters for fish that need a higher temperature than 74° F. There was an electric baseboard heater previously installed when the building was converted to electric. I thought 6 new outlets would be enough, but 8 would have been better. Lesson learned: add more outlets Tank Tales™ | November 2017

Ceiling w/outlet, battery backup and air pump on shelf

The second thing we did was have running water installed and a way to drain it. There wasn’t any floor drain in the basement and installing one would have cost a fortune. The best solution for the drain was an above the floor sump box.

Water from the newly installed sink flows into this sealed box where a sump pump in located which then pumps the water up to the building’s sewer line. The only problem with this set up is when we do water changes on tanks located on or near the floor which is lower than the basin for the sink. We have used two methods to get

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around this issue. At first, we put a plastic storage container on the floor under the sink to drain the tank to. In the container we put an aquarium pump with a hose where the outflow went up and over the brim of the sink. We just had to remember to turn the pump on before we started siphoning water into the container.

After a few months, we bought an inline utility water pump at Harbour Freight. It drains the water much faster than a natural siphon can. It Sump pump & tub with aquarium pump under sink

has been a time saver for water changes.

Getting water to the fish room wasn’t difficult.

The water lines were already in the ceiling. The water heater was in the next room. We had a single basin laundry sink installed. If we had the room, a double basin would have been better. Install the biggest sink you can fit into your layout. You’ll regret it if you only have a little bathroom sink to use to clean filters or tanks. To a separate faucet we added a combination sediment/carbon whole house filter. The carbon removes the chlorine from the city water. We no longer need to add dechlorinator to the tanks during water

changes. Before the filter, we installed a mixing valve to control the temperature of the water.

No more guessing if the water is too hot or too cold for water changes.

We decided that we were going to heat the room instead of having individual heaters for each tank. Eliminating the heaters saves on electric costs. The added benefit of not worrying about coming home to cooked fish from a stuck-on heater is a plus. Plan on insulating the room before you move tanks into it. We used fiberglass insulation in the ceiling and new walls. Rigid foam boards were used over the bricks. We found 2 foot wide panels at Home Depot. This made it much easier to bring home in our car and easier to maneuver down into the basement. So far, the ceiling has been covered with thick plastic to help keep the humidity contained. A dehumidifier has been added which drains directly to the sink. A couple of small fans are always on to help circulate heat and air. We plan to add a small air conditioner next spring because the fish room exceeded 80° F this past summer which was unfortunate for most of the goodeids we had.

Water filter, mixing valve and hose hanger

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Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program Don Kinyon still has a sizable lead for the 2017 Mighty Fin Award but, since he had no submissions this month and there were submissions by 3 other authors and some photos by another, it will make the race a great deal tighter with only one month to go.

This is a great race to the finish and we will publish as many stories and photographs that you can give us in the December issue as long as we get them by the deadline ~ Kurt Johnston WAAP Chair

2017 Mighty Fin Standings

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Through November 1, 2017

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Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program

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Horticultural Award Program Monthly Report-October 2017 Propagator of the Year

Gardener of the Year

Species Propagated—October 2017 Wesley Bahrt 55 Total Points

Bressler Family 20 Total Points

Lifetime Achievement Awards

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little fish room. But the bug never left.

Last May my wife and I were contemplating few weeks and were officially out of the Biz, so to what we would do in retirement, which is only a speak. Several years later, my father had passed few years away, and the idea of a smaller fish on and my life went on without aquariums. hatchery was born. Our vision was a hobby and a small business wrapped into one. And, what do you think happened? I built fish room #8.

Eight fish rooms! People thought I was nuts! Am I nuts? All I can say is, possibly. But racks were rebuilt and as of now I am up to a 22 tank setup with 15 more empty tanks waiting in the wings. I am breeding three species of corys…Albino Aeneus, Paleatus, and Black Schultzei. I am also spawning Albino BN Plecos, Black Convicts, Electric Blue Jack Dempseys. I am raising up young Firemouths, Brown Longfin Plecos, German Super Red Plecos, High coverage Orange Koi Angels, Platinum Blue Angels and Double Dark Black Angels and waiting for them to pair off. I have hundreds upon hundreds of One day about 8 years ago, I bought another fry growing out. At this point in my life, who fish tank and had a community tank in our living knows where it room. Well the bug had bitten yet again! Within may lead. Heck, I haven’t even touched on a few months, I had built a small room in my basement and started a new Angelfish hatchery. breeding bettas, or gouramis, or even goldfish!

But one thing I have learned is, once raising and Yes, that’s right, Fish Room #7! I insulated the room, installed lights and heat, and built racks.. breeding tropical fish gets into your blood, there is no cure. And who would want there to be? and more racks….and more racks! I ended up with 100 tanks and approximately 20 pairs of So, for now, I’ll just sit back and contemplate angelfish. I sold to all the local fish stores, but I Fish Room #9. was also able to sell on the internet. After three years of this, I grew weary of working full time and also running a 100 tank operation. I was beat. So out it went. I sold everything to a breeder friend who also bred angels. All I had left were a few pictures, and memories of my

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Breeder Award Program Monthly Report BAP News as of October 29th, 2017 In October, one member submitted a spawning report. Danny Corman reported a spawn (or should it be litter?) from Poecilia Velifera, the Yucatan Molly. This is his 6th species of livebearer, completing the requirements for Specialist Breeder of Class 1 (Livebearers). Danny had previously achieved Specialist Breeder of Class 4 (Characins) – a somewhat unorthodox sequence, as Characins are generally viewed as more challenging than Livebearers. But the sequence is unimportant, and with two Specialist Classes completed, Danny is also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of ‘3 Star Breeder’. Well done, Danny.

With this spawn, Danny also joins the competition for 2017 Breeder of the Year (BoY), though well behind the current leaders, Karen Haas and Alan Rollings. The leaders in the BoY have not registered any spawns lately, so you all still have a chance! Double-check those outdoor barrels before you drain them! Better yet, stop raking those leaves and get down to the fishroom! Those breeders need encouragement! (And probably a water change or two). ~Gary Haas, BAP Chair

2017 Breeder of the Year Haas/Rollings

95 points

Clair Klinedinst

65 points

Gary Boyer

53 points

Bressler Family David Tangredi Gary Haas Danny Corman

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2017 Species Bred Haas/Rollings

7 species

Clair Klinedinst

5 species

Gary Boyer

4 species

40 points

David Tangredi

2 species

20 points 17 points 7 points

Bressler Family

2 species

Gary Haas

2 species

Danny Corman

1 species

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BAP Lifetime Achievement Awards Currently Active ACLC Members

2 Star Breeder

F. Wayne Calender Breeder Bressler Family Wayne Calender

Gary Haas* Clair Klinedinst* J/N Dickel

1950 pts 1593 pts

Grand Master Breeder Paul Bricknell David Stephon Pedro Sanchez

1 Star Breeder

2003 pts 1120 pts 1050 pts

Gene Regener Pat Kelly* Glenn Davies* Dave Frehafer David Tangredi Scott Shenk Tony Kline Robin Antkowiak Kurt Johnston

Expert Breeder Bob Kulesa*

812 pts

Advanced Breeder Joel Antkowiak* 1278 pts Haas/Rollings* 815 pts Gary Boyer *Expert Breeder 715 pts 812 pts Bob Kulesa*

245 pts 165 pts 140 pts 90 pts 87 pts 70 pts 60 pts 57 pts 56 pts

Other Participants

3 Star Breeder

Danny Corman*

534 pts 235 pts 178 pts

505 pts

*Breeder has enough points for next higher class award but needs to complete one or more classes to achieve the award.

Sam Jones Charles Vickery The Moyers Lonny Langione Julie Lovell Ashley Antkowiak Mackenzie Dalton

66 pts 39 pts 37 pts 35 pts 26 pts 21 pts 14 pts

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Specialist Breeder Awards Currently Active ACLC Members

Class 1—Livebearers

Class 2—Catfish

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Class 3—Barbs & Minnows

Class 4—Characins

Class 5—Killifish

Class 9—Rainbows & Blue-eyes

Class 11—Other Aquatic Animals

Class 12—U.S. Native Species

Class 6—Anabantoids

Class 7—New World Cichlids

Class 14—All Other FW Fish

Special Notes Class 8—Old World Cichlids

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Breeder Award Program Information

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