HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria

In alt.aquaria, erno@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Erno Pena) writes:

    1. Has anyone built their own aquarium lighting systems from scratch? 
         ...
    I'll wrap a piece of electrical tape around the ends to be a little more  
    sure. The ballasts are available for $25 for one that lights 2 - 40 watt  
    bulbs, which is about $15-20 cheaper than those in the magazines.  

Don't use electrical tape.  The bulbs are fairly warm at the ends and the 
heat will make a gummy mess after a short time.  If this is freshwater, 
don't worry about splashing - just be careful.

    2. On a similar subject, if the ballast says it can light 2 - 40 watt 
       bulbs,  can I assume it would be safe to hook up 4 - 20 watt bulbs?

Better read up on fluorescent lights if you plan on building the hood from
scratch and you don't want your house to catch fire.  Your assumption is
false.  Ballasts are designed to supply a certain current to the bulb.  They
are not necessarily designed for a specific wattage (althought there is a 
high degree of correlation).  Other EE's on the net can help out quite a
bit more. 

----------
George
From: tse@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Anthony Tse)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: New Aquarium Thoughts ....
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:11:13 GMT
Organization: Naval Research Labratory, Washington, DC

In article <2530155@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM> booth@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (George Booth) writes:
>In alt.aquaria, erno@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Erno Pena) writes:
>
>    1. Has anyone built their own aquarium lighting systems from scratch? 
>         ...
>    I'll wrap a piece of electrical tape around the ends to be a little more  
>    sure. The ballasts are available for $25 for one that lights 2 - 40 watt  
>    bulbs, which is about $15-20 cheaper than those in the magazines.  
>
>Don't use electrical tape.  The bulbs are fairly warm at the ends and the 
>heat will make a gummy mess after a short time.  If this is freshwater, 
>don't worry about splashing - just be careful.
	Try using balloons.  Cut the end of the balloon and slip the wires
through, then slip the skinny end of the balloon onto the fl tube, tide
the hole you cut with some plastic tides.  For wiring, get some hollow
copper tubes from hobby shops that has id = od of the pins on the fl
tube, solder the wires on one end, crimp the other end with a pair
of needle nose and you should have a nice friction fit.  I have not
used the method mentioned above, but that's what how I am building my
new hood.

-Anthony
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: laurence@cco.caltech.edu (Dustin Lee Laurence)
Subject: Re: (M)Spawning of Trachyphyllia Geoffroyi
Keywords: reef breeding stony corals marine
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 22:39:08 GMT

scotts@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Schaeffer) writes:

[...]

>>   Jamie Oliver				Managing Australia's Great Barrier Reef

>I think I'm speaking for most of the reef keepers on the net that
>your information is invaluable. We greatly appreciate your help
>and insight. 

>		Scott Schaeffer

Amen.  I don't know of another way to get this kind of perspective
and insight.  My thanks as well, Jamie.

-- 
Dustin

laurence@alice.wonderland.caltech.edu
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (D Keith Higgs)
Subject: Re: Oscars feeding
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 09:53:55 GMT

A guy I worked for when I was paying my own way through school kept Oscars.  He
also kept several varieties of small critters ranging from feeder goldfish and 
crickets to small lab mice to feed them.  At parties he would hold something 
about a foot above the tank (usually a fish or a mouse) and his Oscars would 
come leaping from the tank and take it from his fingers!  Only once did I ever
see him get one of those "stomachs with teeth" caught on a finger!

Keith
-- 
D. Keith Higgs     The Ohio State University    Rm. 040-N Main Library
DATA+@osu.edu      University Libraries         1858 Neil Avenue
dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu                Columbus, Ohio  43210
--------------------------------------------------phone--(614)292-6314--
From: ghart@ems.cdc.com (Geoffrey Hart)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: New Aquarium Thoughts ....
Date: 15 Apr 92 14:20:42 GMT
Reply-To: ghart@ems.cdc.com
Organization: Empros Systems International, a division of CDC

In article <2036@ra.nrl.navy.mil>, tse@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Anthony Tse) writes:
|> In article <2530155@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM> booth@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (George Booth) writes:
|> >In alt.aquaria, erno@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Erno Pena) writes:
|> >
|> >    1. Has anyone built their own aquarium lighting systems from scratch? 
|> >         ...
|> >    I'll wrap a piece of electrical tape around the ends to be a little more  
|> >    sure. The ballasts are available for $25 for one that lights 2 - 40 watt  
|> >    bulbs, which is about $15-20 cheaper than those in the magazines.  
|> >
|> >Don't use electrical tape.  The bulbs are fairly warm at the ends and the 
|> >heat will make a gummy mess after a short time.  If this is freshwater, 
|> >don't worry about splashing - just be careful.
|> 	Try using balloons.  Cut the end of the balloon and slip the wires
|> through, then slip the skinny end of the balloon onto the fl tube, tide
|> the hole you cut with some plastic tides.  For wiring, get some hollow
|> copper tubes from hobby shops that has id = od of the pins on the fl
|> tube, solder the wires on one end, crimp the other end with a pair
|> of needle nose and you should have a nice friction fit.  I have not
|> used the method mentioned above, but that's what how I am building my
|> new hood.
|> 
|> -Anthony

Well, just to add my 1/50 of $1, I just bought a shoplight (which has a
ballast, cord, and 2 sets of fl bulb mounts, and metal case) for $7.50, some
"grow light" fl tubes (also $7.50 each, 40w) and attached the ballast and
bulb mounts to a 1x12 (particle board with fake wood grain).  I'd say in my
setup electrical tape would be fine for a water barrier (the bulbs don't
get very hot).  I have a plexi tank top which covers the whole tank, on
which this contraption sits so I have no water problems (also little
evaporation).

I even made on end of the 1x12 into a "power strip" (actually two seperate
outlet pairs, one pair switched with the lights, the other always on).  I
plug all my tank heaters, pumps in to it, and plug it into the wall (so I
have a permanent "drip-loop").

Since I built this, someone posted an idea for putting the ballast
under the aquarium, to double as a base heater.  I will be trying this on
my next tank :-)
-- 
    geoff hart ghart@ems news@ems library@ems   x4273   s/ems/ems.cdc.com/
From: cowan@aqua.pc.ocunix.on.ca (Darin Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Humor (part 1 of 4)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 13:33:22 GMT
Organization: The Aquarium, Ottawa, Ontario

(69)    Wed 15 Apr 92 20:12

By: Doc Logger

To: Bob Cardinali

Re: alas poor Gaston, I knew him well

St:

------------------------------------------------------------

@EID:3c61 188fa190

How Much Would It Have Cost To Outfit a Budgie in Scuba

Gear?





Day 1: Our new pet  was supposed to be either a budgie, or

another hamster to replace the one that my wife swore wasn't

released in the backyard on purpose... but in any event the

pet store beckoned and our whole family trooped off. The

gods were smiling upon us when the children quickly decided

that a goldfish would be an appropriate pet. The pet store

clerk loaded us up with a small glass bowl, a lifetime

supply of goldfish food and a tiny air pump which seemed to

make horrible buzzing noises. The kids named the goldfish

"Gaston".



Day 2: Waiting patiently at the front door for the fish

store to open the next day, I hoped that the kids would

continue to believe that Gaston was merely "resting". In the

process of buying Gaston-2 the clerk allowed that the fish

would probably be much happier in a larger aquarium.



The kids missed the quick exchange of Gaston-1 for Gaston-2

in their excitement at participating in setting up the new

tank. This new tank had a heater, a power filter, and enough

Day-glo tasteless sculptures to outfit an entire Elvis

museum. Gaston-2 appreciated his new surroundings and half a

container of fish food later, the kids were still amused by

how much one goldfish could consume.



Day 4: The trip to the pet store to purchase Gaston-3 met

with even more success when I became aware that the original

Gastons had probably expired from loneliness. When the clerk

explained that my twenty gallon tank could easily support

one inch of fish per gallon I quickly stocked up on an

additional 16 inches of fish.



The Tiger Barbs seemed to enjoy the Angel Fish a great

deal... so much so, that after just one afternoon's nipping

and fin biting I was down to 14 inches of fish with an

additional 4 inches of fishes giving every appearance that

they would not be long on this earth. I was most alarmed by

the pair of Dwarf Gouramis, the male of which appeared to be

in extremis... spending all of it's time frothing bubbles at

the top of the tank.




--
cowan@aqua.pc.ocunix.on.ca             
Darin "Squid" Cowan                  | The Aquarium
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada              | (613) 523-0077  V32bis
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:2978 rec.aquaria:3742
From: jamesb (James Bahn)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: [Books] You & Your Aquarium: Book Report
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 17:20:02 GMT
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.


In article <92091.13404134ML2OB@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> 34ML2OB@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU writes:
>I stumbled across an Excellent book the other day, that I think
>others would enjoy as much as I have.
>
>Title: You & Your Aquarium
>Author: Dick Mills
>Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York (1991)
>Copyright: 1986
>Price: $13.00
>Pages: 288

YES!  It's the BEST intro book I've seen.  It has everything
a beginner needs, and it's not too expensive.
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: mattk@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (matthew.kaufman)
Subject: Re: "Red Empress" Cichlid
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:04:29 GMT
Summary: Haplochromis cf. similis

In article <1992Apr16.210709.8451@news2.cis.umn.edu> gevingca@cda.mrs.umn.edu (Corey A. Geving  1498520) writes:
>I recently aquired a 2" cichlid which the pet shop called a "Red
>Empress."  It was (and still is) about 2" long, with a prominent black
>horizontal stripe and some vertical barring on a silvery body.  The
>proprietor said the fish was immature and would eventually become a
>bright red color.  Since buying it, I have noticed that it is beginning
>to develop an iridescent blue pattern on the lower half of the gill
>cover, and am uncertain whether this fish is what I was told it was.
>
>Also, I've been feeding it earthworms along with flakes, water is a bit
>hard.  Do cichlids in general do well in hard water, or would peat water
>be better?  Email responses are fine...

I asked around the North Jersey Aquarium Society meeting last night. The
Red Empress is 'Haplochromis cf. similis,' a lake Victoria haplochromis.
The consensus was that they're nasty, aggressive, will breed with whatever
they think is a likely partner, are prolific and hardy in moderately hard,
alkaline water. There was a bag of fry in the auction, but apparently the
cichlidiots in the club didn't want them because they went for like $1.
The club was drowning in them a few years back, now no one wants them.

As for the latter question, I wouldn't be buying cichlids if I had questions
like that - go look it up! Get some books - there're plenty (Loiselle's
Cichlid Aquarium and his tetra books are fine.) Don't be like the guy I talked
out of buying a 5" Texas Cichlid the other day because he wanted to put
it in his 20 gallon tank with his tetras - know what your getting into before
spending the $$. Granted for many cichlids there isn't such great husbandry
info out (like apistos and the west african cichlids) but 'in general' the
stuff Loiselle writes up is gospel.
>
>Corey Geving (gevingca@cda.mrs.umn.edu)
>
>Disclaimer, Disclaimer, etc., etc...


-- 
Ahh... but can you not	| Copyright 1992 mattk@usl.com. Permission for
also make bridges	| reproduction in printed media or by pay-for-read
out of stone?	 	| services explicitly disallowed. Permission granted
			| for reproduction by USENET and like free facilities.
From: cowan@aqua.pc.ocunix.on.ca (Darin Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Humour (part 4 of 4)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 13:35:55 GMT
Organization: The Aquarium, Ottawa, Ontario

Month 8: My wife swears that "it followed her home" but the

300 gallon tank which bars entry into our dining room is

magnificently appointed. The wet/dry filter system, complete

with protein skimmer, Ozonator, Oxygenator and beer bottle

opener has impressed more than one visitor to our humble

abode. Unfortunately, the entire tank is dominated by one

rather largish Oscar who has been singularly responsible for

the consumption of Gastons 7 through 4,135. We would

consider giving up the Oscar for a more varied collection

were it not for the fact that the other 14 tanks spread

throughout the apartment house a vast collection of fish and

small children's toys. We've had a few set-backs,

particularly the Weather Loach which was purchased with the

pet store assurance that "loaches eat algae". Weather

Loaches certainly eat algae... but they do it several levels

up on the food chain. One Weather Loach was able to consume

an entire tankful of juvenile Bettas which had been born in

the tank.



The Rope Fish hasn't made an escape in months ever since my

wife cunningly glued gravel, plastic plants, and the little

plastic Elvis whose head flips open every minute or so to

the glass cover of the aquarium. The Rope Fish spends his

nights swimming hopefully against the bottom.



The Plecostamus seems happiest when he rests on the back of

the Masters Of Doom plastic figurine which someone "fell"

into the tank. The Zebra Danios actually found that the

waving purple hair of a My Little Pony figurine was a

suitable egg-depositing medium. The Ghost Knifes live in a

Lego castle which sank beneath the waves after a proud three

year old completed construction. The Florida Gar hangs out

in the sunken relic of a Star Wars X-wing fighter.



We created several "natural environment" type tanks and the

one we set up to replicate Lake Erie actually has the

authentic collection of syringes and non-biodegradable

plastic diapers floating on the surface.



The hydro company loves me dearly since the combined

lighting, heating and filtration of the tanks consumes

enough power to put my monthly bill into the triple

digits... and the pet store offers to send a car and driver

for my shopping convenience.



I'm not suggesting that we've become obsessed with the hobby

or anything, despite the fact that the TV is known as the

"tank where nitrite killed the fish" by the children, but

there is a certain rare pleasure in turning off all but the

aquarium lights and watching all the fish for hours at a

time.



---

 * Origin: Int'l Order of Commando Turtles & Literary Penguins (Opus 
1:163/110)

SEEN-BY: 12/12 163/99 106 110 150 262 401



@PATH: 163/110 262 99


--
cowan@aqua.pc.ocunix.on.ca             
Darin "Squid" Cowan                  | The Aquarium
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada              | (613) 523-0077  V32bis
From: CCPHIL@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Phil Leith)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Softening water with Pete...er, peat!
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:54:27 GMT

Ok, those of you who have or know how to soften water using peat....
How much, and how long?  That is, how much peat to how much water, and
how long (ballpark figure) do you let it sit?  Do you have to stir?
Keep the water circulating?  I don't mind tea-colored water.  I think
it looks more natural.  Course, I'll need brighter lights.  But I digress.

!~~~~~~~~o~~~~~/~~~~~~~ Phil Leith, Meteorologist & Tropical Fish Hobbyist~~~~!
!        o    / \                                                             !
!         o /    \   /                                                        !
!          <  )   =-{         Bitnet     : CCPHIL@UMCVMB.BITNET               !
!           \    /   \        Internet   : CCPHIL@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU         !
!             \ /                                                             !
!______________\______________________________________________________________!
From: oleg@Veritas.COM (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Those noisy Schego M2K3
Date: 16 Apr 92 16:34:01 GMT
Reply-To: oleg@veritas.com (Oleg Kiselev)
Organization: Palo Alto Killifish Loft
X-Disclaimer: I speak for myself only unless explicitly indicated otherwise

tech@cs.ucf.edu (Tony Travaglini) writes:
>The Shego is LOUD 

Yes, it is.  This is why I replaced the 2 Schegos I had running my tanks 
with a Supra 4.  It's a much quieter pump though not as powerful as 2 
Schegos.

-- 
"... i heard the droning / in the shrine
	     of the sea-monkey / palace of the brine ..." -- Pixies.
Oleg Kiselev                                             oleg@veritas.com
VERITAS Software                           ...!{apple|uunet}!veritas!oleg
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
From: paxton@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: SWAMP EEL DIET
Date: 12 Apr 92 14:57:07 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

Anyone know about the diet of swamp eels Symbranchidae?
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:3109 rec.aquaria:3938 sci.aquaria:821
From: frazier@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Greg Frazier)
Subject: Re: Softening water with Pete...er, peat!
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 16:26:58 GMT

CCPHIL@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Phil Leith) writes:

>Ok, those of you who have or know how to soften water using peat....
>How much, and how long?  That is, how much peat to how much water, and
>how long (ballpark figure) do you let it sit?  Do you have to stir?
>Keep the water circulating?  I don't mind tea-colored water.  I think

I have used 4 different methods for peat-softening water.
(a) take garden peat (w/out fertilizers added, of course),
boil, then use the resulting water to dilute tapwater.
A couple handfuls of peat per gallon.  Boiling supposedly
breaks down good hormones present in the peat (i.e., it may
be bad to do).  (b) Dump 3 or 4 cups of garden peat in a 6g+
bucket.  Fill with water, let sit a week.  You may want to
boil the peat first, or at least soak it in hot water,
to convince it to sink.  This ends up being very peaty
water - you can use it to cut tap water.  (c) Set up
your tank with a UG filter.  On the UG plate, under the
gravel, put Hagen peat plates.  We have two tanks like this.
Of course, we use RO water in the tanks, so the peat isn't
softening the water at all, but they are great tanks.  (d) Put
fibrous peat in a box filter.  I've been doing this for about
a week now in a 5g tank, so I can't say that it is terribly
successful or not, but the fish (Fundulopanchax deltaense) are
much friskier now than they were before (I'm also cutting the
water with RO and adding some salt, so there are a lot of
variables being changed).  The water is not darkening
noticeably, but that may take some time with the low flow
over the peat.
-- 


Greg Frazier	frazier@CS.UCLA.EDU	!{ucbvax,rutgers}!ucla-cs!frazier
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:3118 rec.aquaria:3959
From: cichlid@pine.circa.ufl.edu (KUTTY)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: (Apistos!)  Gee.....why am I killing so many fry?
Date: 16 Apr 92 19:52:59 GMT
Reply-To: cichlid@pine.circa.ufl.edu
Followup-To: alt.aquaria
Organization: University of Florida  (ufl.edu)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

In article <1992Apr13.192404.16388@uwm.edu>, bowden@convex.csd.uwm.edu (John W. Bowden) writes...
..
[Lamenting prose deleted]
..


>What temperature regimen did you use?
Upper 70's to mid 80s (F). 

>What hardness water?
Soft to very soft. I've had good luck with 50:50 tap & RO water. I've
also tried 25:75 tap & RO with same amount of success. Although I think
agassizi and nijsenni may need softer/more acidic waters.

>What pH water?
6.0 - 7.5. Again, A. resticulosa and steindachneri and cacatuoides can
do their thing in hard alkaline waters but many of the species you
are keeping may not. Most Apistos should be able to breed in pH
6.0 - 6.5. The problem is that filtration (biological) becomes very
inefficient with such pH and I've had to rely on floating plants and
water changes to remove the ammonia in the past. I really think you
have bad water in your fry tanks.

>What was your egg/fry survival rate?
~50% but then again, producing enormous quantities of little fish
for sale isnt my cup of tea. If my fish happen to spawn, I dont go
out of the way to "rescue" the eggs. The parents know how to raise 
their brood better than we do and I almost always let them do it.
I think every female Apisto has a "right" to eat/raise/hatch her eggs.
The behavior is a lot more interesting that way. As far as decreased
fertility, it may be due to inexperienced males. They eventually learn
to fertilize the eggs right and the females eventually learn that 
it is not hi-protein self serve caviar that they're swimming on top of.
It may take them half a dozen tries to get it right. Patience.

>What techniques did you use to artificially hatch/raise eggs?
None, but if you must, you can always try the methylene blue 
tretment. Make sure you have some water movement in the tank.

>Any and all net.advice will be greatly appreciated.  I really hope
>that I can get on-track because I'm afraid that my gibbiceps
>and rottpunkts do not have an unlimited number of spawns left in
>them (they are quite old pairs.)

Hmmm. Old pairs eh? Well..in that case your water must be screwed up
somehow. Wrong pH? Too much nitrates? If they are eating their eggs, it
must be due to an uncomfortable/sterile/unfriendly environment. If you are
keeping them in small bare tanks with no gravel, you cant expect much from 
them. Keep them in a big tank with lots of plants, a few dither fish
and dont forget floating plants. 



                                          Vinny Kutty


Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:3110 rec.aquaria:3939 sci.aquaria:822
From: oleg@llustig.palo-alto.ca.us (Oleg Kiselev)
Subject: Re: poison zuccini?
Organization: Palo Alto Killifish Loft
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 92 10:12:34 GMT

In article <92100.153010ERSHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> Eric Schweitzer <ERSHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
>Yesterday I gave my pleco a piece of zuccini (something I do regularly).
>Since then (within 24 hours) 4 fish have died, 2 cardinal, a young female
>betta, and an older male swordtail. 

But not the pleco, which ate that zuccini?  Don't you find this strange?

>though the female betta was pritty hard to identify.

Meaning what?  Was she chewed up or fungused or what?

>Since the tank has been running and happy for a while, 

How long is "a while"?  I do not consider any new tank stable until 3-6
months after it was set up.

>I assume the zuccini was poisoned (DDT in this
>country (USA)! I'll never buy non organic again!).

If there was enough "poison" on that zuccini to kill all those fish just by
being in the same water, don't you think it would be just a bit deadly for
human consumption?  If theer was some sort of pesticide residue, a simple
rinse in tap water should have been enough to wash off most of it.

>Is my assumption of bad zuccini unreasonable? 

It sounds ratehr bizarre and the fact that your pleco is still alive
suggests that it's simply a coincidence.

-- 
Oleg Kiselev, at home			....use the header to find the path
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria