OVAS Garage sale
Posted by Anja on September 25, 2010 at 19:12 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:07It was great, as always.
I sold some small tanks and fishbowls and some mountain minnows and picked up some guppies, a tank light and hob filter, some wood and some fishfood. As always, I spent about as much as I earned. But then, making money is not really the point of a flea market sale. Cleaning out space is.
Anyway, Since the guppies needed a new home STAT, it was a good thing I had that empty 10g sitting around (thanks, Errol). Only thing I had to pick up new was the gravel; for the plants I raided my other tanks:
So far the guppies (2 at right hand back corner and 1 right under the surface) seem okay. I wonder how many I’ll have at the end of the winter.
Tags: loot, OVAS, Poecilia reticulata | Categories: 10G Tropical | Comments Off on OVAS Garage sale | PermalinkNew Club Executive
Posted by Anja on September 13, 2010 at 23:32 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:02Exec meeting with the newly elected guys brought some positive energy back into the bunch. Looking forward the new season with a little more optimism than I thought I’d have.
Tags: OVAS | Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off on New Club Executive | PermalinkOur Water Hyacinths are blooming
Posted by Anja on September 3, 2010 at 12:26 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:01
And the pond is generally quite hard to find under the mass of plants that covers it. We do occasionally get a glimpse of fish, though. And of course the frogs are everywhere. ;o)
Tags: Eichhornia crassipes, garden, pond | Categories: Pond | Comments Off on Our Water Hyacinths are blooming | PermalinkExciting news
Posted by Anja on August 22, 2010 at 16:25 | Last modified: August 22, 2010 16:25The tiger was cleaning out the skimmer net of the pond today when he noticed a very small fish that was neither orange (our goldfish), nor pink (our minnows). We turned the waterfall off and then stood and stared at the pond for at least half an hour. (The gnats were quite interested in us.)
We counted three wee fish between 1 and 2 cm, very dark brown or black, that look suspiciously like goldfish babies. Their coloring makes them extremely hard to spot, and as soon as they move, they vanish again as if they were wearing an invisibility cloak. I hope they’ll grow and prosper, and I wonder if there are more of the little guys. We didn’t even try to catch them on camera, so I’ll give you an impression of the waterfall instead.
New fish
Posted by Anja on June 29, 2010 at 23:19 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:23Went to the LFS, where I just wanted to look at fish and saw this nice tight school of small Ember Tetras. I’d been reading an article about them this past winter and was thinking how much I liked them and how unfortunately one never saw them in the fish stores. Needless to say, these guys came home with me. They should be fine in my community tank which is well established and has only tetras, cories and Rory, the Ranger Pleco. *keeping fingers crossed*
Tags: Hyphessobrycon amandae, Pterygoplichthys weberi | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on New fish | PermalinkThe pump story continues
Posted by Anja on June 4, 2010 at 21:02 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:44I invested a couple of hours into the pump issue this morning, took it completely apart (as far as the factory seal allows, that is), put it back together, nudged the impeller (the motor works ok), had it start, only to have it die again as soon as I sat it back in the filter.
On recommendation I ran it in a bucket of clear water for a few minutes to blow out any detritus that might have been stuck in the impeller, and that worked. After that I finally got it to work again in place. I kept checking back, suspicious of my victory, but it still ran after an hour. It still ran after two hours. And then it died again.
Something like six hours wasted between the two of us (not to mention his mosquito bites and my sunburn) didn’t make any difference in the end. It looks like the impeller is impeded in some way and overheats the motor which then shuts off and, since the impeller is impeded, never manages to come on again on it’s own. But we can’t open it up to check without breaking the seal and thus rendering the pump useless. Catch 22.
We did have a bit of good luck though, in that a pump roughly the same size is on sale for 50% off this week (which is about half of my netbook). So I ordered that. Meanwhile we put the bubble stone back in the pond and hope the pump arrives before the end of the week.
Tags: pump | Categories: Pond | Comments Off on The pump story continues | PermalinkPond
Posted by Anja on June 3, 2010 at 23:43 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:43After a blip of a blackout this morning – not even enough to wipe all the clocks – our pond pump stopped and didn’t come back on. The tiger tried everything in the book after work tonight, but nothing. This is not promising. We’re looking into pumps. When I was on the brink of ordering a netbook. *biiiig pout*
Tags: pump | Categories: Pond | Comments Off on Pond | PermalinkCleaning out the tanks
Posted by Anja on May 21, 2010 at 23:43 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 19:57Rory was giving me a hand, err fin:
(He’s usually rather camera shy, so I quickly grabbed the opportunity.)
Tags: Pterygoplichthys weberi, Rory | Categories: 25G South American | Comments Off on Cleaning out the tanks | PermalinkWe got our pond plants
Posted by Anja on May 15, 2010 at 22:48 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:42I planted a cute little hardy Calla right by the waterfall and something purple-blooming with grasslike leaves whose name I already forgot on the side (took out a truckload of Daylilies; they just grow like crazy there).
Also found some swamp plants for a bog pot on the patio:
8°C – rain
Posted by Anja on May 8, 2010 at 17:39 | Last modified: July 9, 2012 16:36We got soaked this morning on our way to the aquarium club breakfast. and it’s friggin’ cold outside. We had fun anyway, though (and a yummy breakfast). I gave away my adult White Clouds, cause I have so many babies swimming in the tank downstairs that I don’t know what to do with them anymore. As soon as they grow a bit, I’ll have to start selling those too.
Tags: Tanichthys albonubes | Categories: 10G River | Comments Off on 8°C – rain | Permalink