HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: egertonk@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: [F] HELP Buoyant goldfish
Date: 22 Jan 93 13:07:14 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620



I'd be very grateful if anyone could help me with my goldfish
problems.   My three previous goldfish all died horribly over
the course of several months.  I cleaned out the tank and
started again with two new fish, (tank details to follow, at the
end) but now after only two weeks, one of them has begun to
display a symptom that the departed fish used to have.

Sometimes, an hour or so after eating, this fish becomes
uncontrollably buoyant.  He has to struggle to keep himself
from floating to the top.  It looks very uncomfortable and
continues for several (sometimes 8 or more) hours.

I used to think this was due to overfeeding, but with my
previous fish it reached a point when ANY food was too much
food, and it happened after even a light snack.  I also
thought that perhaps dried flakes were bloating inside the
fish, causing discomfort, but the type of food does not seem
to affect the condition.  It has happened after dried flakes,
pre-soaked flakes, live bloodworms, and frozen bloodworms.

In the case of my deceased fish, they ended up not even
digesting the food they were given.  What came out of the
back end was clearly recognisable as what had gone in
the front end the day before -- virtually unchanged.
They ended up looking as though I had been starving them,
and they never grew very much.

I am completely baffled as to the
nature of this problem --- is it the water quality, a
bacterial infection, a parasite of some kind...?
The staff of the fish shop don't seem to know either.

Aquarium details;
A small tank, only about 2 gallons (maybe 2 & 1/2 U.S. gallons)
undergravel filter
4 plants
a light.
I do put a de-chlorinating additive in the water, as well
as some salt.
The inhabitants are 2 small goldfish and they receive 2 meals
per day, normally 1 meal of flake and the other is frozen bloodworm.

I hope I have supplied all the relevant details.  Comments will
be MOST welcome, especially by email.
Thank you.
Kari  (egertonk@ox.vax.ac.uk)
 
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
From: mhatz@nyx.cs.du.edu (Macs Suck!)
Subject: [M] Cowfish, live rock and beginners...
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 15:54:09 GMT


My reader goofed up my first post and I wanted to repost my questions; thanks
for the patience.
*********************************
After reading the story about the poor cowfish and the response that live rock
may cause a "parasitic siege" of sorts, my questions are?

1)  What should you visually look for on live rock before you add it to 
reduce the chances of "bad things" being added to the tank?

2)  How dangerous is it to add live rock to existing tanks whether they are     
reefs already or non-reefs?

3)  What can be done to minimize the chance of parasitic attack when new rock
is added?

I am a newbie and will be setting up my first marine tank this weekend.  I live
in Colorado and the water has some serious copper problems.  I would like to
add live rock and go with inverts.  The exisiting tank is a friends 55 gallon,
It is a "sterile" environment ie nothing but fish and dead coral decorations.
It is populated by 1 damsel (I wanna trade it away) and a clown I will keep.

4)  How can I get the copper out of the water and decorations/gravel that is
already in the tank?  Would it just be easier to trade away the 2 fish and
toss all the tank contents to start over with "virgin" materials?

5)  One last question..I would like recommendations for a 55 gallon reef
population.  I would like all the fish to get along and hopefully be half
way sociable too.  I would like to add a shrimp or two, anemones and
corals.  Any suggestions would be very welcome.  I have 20 years of fresh
water experience and am on the edge of making the "big switch".

Thanks!

Mike

PS any Colorado Springs or Denver or Pueblo marine types please drop e-mail 
so I can bug you directly! :-)

Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6726 rec.aquaria:10346 sci.aquaria:1912
From: weekley@helios.phy.ohiou.edu (Don Weekley)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria
Subject: Thin Mollies
Date: 24 Jan 93 03:58:59 GMT
Organization: Ohio University ASCGL, Athens


 Hello folks,

	I seem to have a bit of a problem. I have a set of 3
Black Lyretail Mollies that are extremely thin. I have been
treating them and their tankmates using Tetramin Medicated 
food and Aquarium Products Quick Cure for a week now. I started
using the medicated food because they were thin and I suspected 
an internal parasite of some sort, and then the next day two of
the Mollies showed ICK (argh!).

	They are still looking thin and not really showing their
fins very much. Though they will be active from time to time and
display their fins they still spend a lot of time hanging near
the bottom or the top with fins down and not moving much, just
rocking in place. 

	Since I am near the end of the medication period I was
wondering if someone could give me some advice on how to get them
to put some weight on and/or get them healthy again. The rest of
their tankmates (4 glolite tetras, 4 Pristella tetras, 2 aspidora
cats, 4 sunset wag platys, 2 red wag platys, an oto and a dwarf
frog in a 20 gal.) all seem EXTREMELY healthy. I know these
hybrid mollies are disease prone, but how can I get them
healthier. The H2O chemistry is fine even after the week of
treating the tank, no ammonia OR nitrites, slight nitrates. 
Plenty of plants!

	My wife is ready to give up on them and replace them if
they don't get healthy soon. So thanks in advance!


					Don


-- 
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.....
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6679 rec.aquaria:10257
From: 01mbmccabe@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: (All)  New African set-up.
Date: 21 Jan 93 16:30:54 GMT
Organization: Ball State University, Muncie, In - Univ. Computing Svc's

I have a 30 gallon (standard) tank which is as yet (mostly) unpopulated, and I
am thinking on making an African Cichlid tank out of it.  I am wondering if
anyone has some suggestions on how to best set up a new tank for this?

I.e.	how to set up caves for an electric-blue haplochromis-sized fish.
	the best type of filtration for this sort of set-up.
	best rocks/gravel to use
	et cetera

BTW, I've already got it running with a UGF on two Penguin 550 powerheads and a
Whisper 2 with a nice VisiTherm heater.

			-Matt
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6804 rec.aquaria:10440
From: wells@cs.swarthmore.edu (Daniel Wells)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Fish intelligence
Date: 28 Jan 93 04:59:51 GMT
Organization: Swarthmore College

As for the intelligence of R. acealaetus(spelling?), the only fish I have 
ever seen that really showed learned behavior was one of these. I had one
for three years in a 30 gallon tank (often alone, sometimes with a few
damsels or a tang). The trigger learned to recognize me, and would always
rise to the surface whenever I walked into the room, seemingly expecting a
handout. The same fish also learned to recognize my father(who often helped 
with water changes , tank reorganizations and other things that scare fish),
and would duck under a coral when my father so much as looked into the tank
(well before he actually stuck a hand in). The fish was seemingly indifferent
to other people.


							-Dan
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
From: sdebol@tsp.med.umn.edu (Steven Debol (Nelson))
Subject: Re: Fish intelligence
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 17:23:29 GMT

In article <1k6crjINN61g@uwm.edu> drallen@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Derek R Allen) writes:
>A recent discussion at work re the ethics of animal research led one of my
>colleagues to recount a story in a PETA (some 'radical' animal protection
>society) publication that for over a year, a fish in a pet store was
>noted to assist a disabled tankmate to the surface at feeding time. Hmmm.
>That there may be altruistic fish out there, but I'm not convinced.  It was,
>I believe, a marine piscevorous fish that was observed assisting its 
>"friend."
>
>And, while the R. aculeatus (trigger) in my 55g marine tank has displayed
>some seemingly intelligent behaviors (well, learned behaviors) I'm not at
>all convinced my fish are capable of the types of thought processes
>attributed to the helpful fish discussed in the PETA publication.
>
>My question:  How many of you have observed seemingly intelligent or
>otherwise noteworthy behaviors among your fish?
>-- 
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>|   Derek R. Allen, Ph.D                        drallen@convex.scd.uwm.edu     
>|   Consultant, S.S. Research Facility          drallen@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
>|   University Wisconsin - Milwaukee           


I can't really comment on fish intelligence, although I'm sure`
there are plenty of examples of learned behavior--gathering
at the surface of the water when you approach the tank at
feeding time (and any other time for that matter...) is 
one example.

However, I would like to comment that I rank any publication
by PETA about 50 notches below any supermarket tabloid.  My wife
made the mistake of donating some cash to them once, now we
receive their propaganda on a regular basis.  That crap is
the biggest bunch of unsubstantiated, sensationalistic "facts"
I've ever seen.

As far as the fish intelligence article goes, maybe it was
legit--I didn't see it.  But I'm sure by the end of the article
they pointed out that we are all going to hell for keeping
these intelligent creatures in captivity for our own pleasure...


------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Debol                       "The fear is all in your head,
Dept. of Microbiology              soldier, but don't get the idea
University of Minnesota            it's psychological." 
sdebol@lenti.med.umn.edu                        --Frank Burns
------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
From: maierj@edmund.cs.andrews.edu (Joey Maier)
Subject: Re: Fish intelligence
Organization: Andrews University
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 23:55:01 GMT

>The trigger learned to recognize me, and would always
>rise to the surface whenever I walked into the room, seemingly expecting a
>handout. The same fish also learned to recognize my father(who often helped 
>with water changes , tank reorganizations and other things that scare fish),
>and would duck under a coral when my father so much as looked into the tank
>(well before he actually stuck a hand in). The fish was seemingly indifferent
>to other people.


The same thing happened with my mother's oscar.  It shies away from me
and my father because we clean the tank, and it likes her, because she
feeds it.

Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: ig30@vaxb.acs.unt.edu
Subject: Re: (F) Pseudotropheus Lombardoi
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 00:49:12 GMT

In article <1993Jan23.163601.63090@cc.usu.edu>, sl387@cc.usu.edu writes:
> Hello...I was wondering where I could find some information
> on a African cichlid called Pseudotropheus Lombardoi.
> 
> I need to know what sort of conditions they like...what needs to be done to
> get them to breed etc.
> 
> thanks...
> 
> Bob Tibesar------------------------>sl387@cc.usu.edu


> 
Being a lake Malawi cichlid P.lombardoi will feel best at home in hard
alkaline water with a ph of around 7.5 - 8.5. Juvaniles of this species
have blue vertical stripes on a whitish background. When adult, males 
change color into  a drab yellow while the females remain the same
color as juvaniles. Best to aquire 6 to 8 juvaniles and raise them to 
maturity. In a breeding situation one male to several females does best.
Once the eggs are laid and fertilized they are carried in the females mouth
for a few weeks.(mouthbrooder). This is an interesting and attractive 
cichlid.


Ruvan

ig30@vawb.acs.unt.edu

Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: bhaskar@brtph181.bnr.ca (Shaji Bhaskar)
Subject: Re: [F] [M] killifish, 10 gallon salt tanks (bad idea?)
Organization: BNR Inc. RTP, NC
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 00:28:45 GMT


Michael A. Lucas (lucas@spot.Colorado.EDU) wrote:
>: I have this very old (10 years) book on killifish.
>: 1.  Any good mail order places to get the fi or their eggs?

The only ad that I saw for Killifish eggs was in the Jan. '93 issue of
Tropical Fish Hobbyist.  It included some quotes for unspecified
Nothobranchius and Fundulopanchax species, as well as plugs for 
brine shrimp eggs, Daphnia, and Aponogeton bulbs, of all things!

I have sent an SASE for a price list.  The address is Orbis Scientific,
P.O. Box 3890, Milton, FL 32572.  I have no idea if these people
are any good.

>: 2.  Why are they so rare in the pet stores?

Many are aggressive, some are plain, many are shy, many don't live
longer than a year, and so on.

>: 3.  Do they ever really get to look as good as they did in these pictures
>:     or was that just some freak mutated fish that the snapped a photo of?

Yes.  There are many fabulous-looking killies.

>: 4.  The book talked about some killifish association or something like that,
>:     is it still around?  Address?

The American Killifish Association advertises regularly in FAMA.  Dues
are $19.50.  Write to Ronald Coleman, 903 Merrifield Place, Mishawaka,
IN 46544 if you are interested.

-Shaji.


-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shaji Bhaskar     BNR, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709     (bhaskar@bnr.ca)
From: estrauss@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Eric A Strauss)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: Little White Worms.
Date: 27 Jan 93 07:17:06 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

bmaroldo@kilowatt (Brian Maroldo) writes:

>	I've got a 10 gallon freshwater, with two small black convicts that
>recently became parents. I have about 15 fry that are seeem quite healthy.
>I've been sucessfully hatching brine shrimp and feeding the babies.

>PROBLEM: This morning, while taking a close look at the fry, I noticed a
>couple of hundred little white worms crawling on the glass. They are only
>about 1/32 of an inch long, and dont seem to be hanging on the fish.

>	Any idea of what they are? Will they hurt the fish? How do I rid
>my tank of these creatures? Any hints before I hose the thing out in the
>back yard?

D
I have also had little white worm creatures arise in my aquarium. My 
aquarium is 38 gal and contains one 5yr old tiger oscar and a jack dempsey
of the same age.  I took a sample to the lab where I work (grad student in 
aquatic ecology) and identified it as some species of tubifex worm.  I'm 
not saying your critters are the same thing but just an idea.  I figured they 
were not hurting anything so I let them be.  And after two years my fish dont   seem to mind them either.

						Eric Strauss
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6697 rec.aquaria:10295
From: 01mbmccabe@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: (All)  New African set-up.
Date: 25 Jan 93 18:48:28 GMT
Organization: Ball State University, Muncie, In - Univ. Computing Svc's

> : One way or another, I think I'll probably
> : build the rock formation right on the egg-crate, at least before the first time
> : I tear the tank down.
> 
> Definitely do this.  Gluing is nice, but it puts the pressure on r.e.
> getting the interior decorating done right the first try.  If you don't
> glue, you *must* slope your stack of rocks - do not pile the rocks in any
> way that you might knock them over when vacuuming the gravel.  Lava rock
> looks bad, but it is light, which is a definite plus; the choice is yours.

I don't think lava rock looks all _that_ bad!  :)  Okay..  I think I'll be
doing some piling of rocks and building lots of ledges with slate.

				-Matt
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: ljkong@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Lennard J. Kong)
Subject: Re: Strange pleco. story
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 05:47:28 GMT

In article <1jvg5aINNopr@shelley.u.washington.edu> stick@carson.u.washington.edu (suzanne cherniack) writes:
>I had a strange experience (as did my pleco.) and was wondering if any
>My question is how the pleco. could've survived for four or so hours
>out of the water.  Are they used to tidal ebbs and flows, or what?
>I'm quite amazed at this and thought I'd post it.  Any replies would
>be appreciated.  
  I think fishes which have hard scaly skin as opposed to soft skin tend to
not dry out as easily as others so arent damaged because of lack of water as
fast as others, also I believe most catfishes can survive under poor oxygen
conditions better than other breeds. Plecos do in fact sometimes live in very
muddy dirty water in the wild.

Lennard

Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6795 rec.aquaria:10430
From: drallen@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Derek R Allen)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Fish intelligence
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:22:11 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.30
Originator: drallen@convex.csd.uwm.edu

A recent discussion at work re the ethics of animal research led one of my
colleagues to recount a story in a PETA (some 'radical' animal protection
society) publication that for over a year, a fish in a pet store was
noted to assist a disabled tankmate to the surface at feeding time. Hmmm.
That there may be altruistic fish out there, but I'm not convinced.  It was,
I believe, a marine piscevorous fish that was observed assisting its 
"friend."

And, while the R. aculeatus (trigger) in my 55g marine tank has displayed
some seemingly intelligent behaviors (well, learned behaviors) I'm not at
all convinced my fish are capable of the types of thought processes
attributed to the helpful fish discussed in the PETA publication.

My question:  How many of you have observed seemingly intelligent or
otherwise noteworthy behaviors among your fish?

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   Derek R. Allen, Ph.D                        drallen@convex.scd.uwm.edu     
|   Consultant, S.S. Research Facility          drallen@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
|   University Wisconsin - Milwaukee
From: bbs.maddox@gilligan.tsoft.net (Otto Maddox)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Well..
Date: 22 Jan 93 18:00:50 GMT
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238

Mine did get a little agressive once they got to "full" size.  You have 
to remember that a Severum will get pretty big and even a little 
agressiveness from a fish that size in a community tank with smaller fish 
might be enough to stress them out and kill them all.

Otto Maddox 
[ bbs.maddox@tsoft.net ] [ maddox@west.darkside.com ]
Xref: sparky alt.aquaria:6794 rec.aquaria:10429
From: bbs.mirage@gilligan.tsoft.net (Jerry Lee)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: What light can fish see/not see?
Date: 27 Jan 93 07:38:23 GMT
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238

jps@bio4.acpub.duke.edu (John P. Sullivan) writes:

> 
> 	Which part of our visible spectrum freshwater fishes are least 
> sensitive to is a question that interests me as well.  I would like to do
> night-time observations of nocturnal South American knife fishes without
> disturbing them.  
> 
> 	They do react to even dim red light. I have heard that blue light
> works better than red, and I plan to try this.  Does anyone have experience
> with blue vs. red light?

        I read somewhere that using the wrong colored light will have 
adverse affects on eggs an fertility.   I can't remember which color it 
was but I believe it was the blues that harm eggs... Anyone want to 
correct me?

              .------------------------------------------.
              : Internet: jele@eis.calstate.edu          :
              :           bbs.mirage@tsoft.sf-bay.org    :
              :           bbs.mirage@gilligan.tsoft.net  :
              : UUCP    : ...apple!tsoft!bbs.mirage      :
              `------------------------------------------`
 
                   Computer and Video Imaging Major
                    Cogswell Polytechnical College
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
From: dbs@hprnd.rose.hp.com (Dave Sheehy)
Subject: Re: (All)  New African set-up.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 18:20:27 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.3 PL7]

01mbmccabe@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu wrote:
: Would dolomite keep the water quite as hard?  I would like to have a black
: substrate, so dolomite, it think, would be better for me.  If dolomite is no
: good, is it possible to get black crushed coral?

I have no experience with dolomite but I suspect that any substrate that's 
used in marine aquaria (for its supposed buffering effect) would do.

: Where would I go to find this egg-crate stuff?  I've seen it and know what it
: is, but hav never seen a 'sheet' of it for sale.  

You can get it at home improvement stores. I got mine at Home Depot. It's 
very inexpensive. If I remember correctly a sheet approximately 3'x4' cost
$3.

: Also, I have about 25lbs of
: plain gravel in my 30gal right now and am planning on adding another 25lbs. 
: Would gathering as much plain gravel as possible out, layingdown the egg-crate
: (if I could find it) as close to the UGF plate as possible, then replaceing all
: the normal gravel and adding 25lbs of crushed coral be a good idea?

Sure, you could do that if you want. Crushed coral is white and natural gravel
is rather dark so mixing them is going to give you a salt and pepper effect
but that's entirely an aesthetic issue that only you can address.

: So just go for 'normalish' looking rocks?  Did you gather yours from
: a river, or buy them?  Where?

I 'inherited' them from other aquariusts but they originated from the 
Sacramento River.

: Did you use aquarium sealant to glue your rocks together as I heard suggested
: to keep tyhe rocks from falling down when the fish sart undermining in the
: gravel?  Would you recommend this?  

No, I did not glue them in place. There will be times when you need to tear
the rock pile down. I use big rocks at the base and seat them directly on the
UGF (or eggcrate) and build upwards from there. With all those rocks in there
it's very difficult to clean the substrate which is a must with UGFs. I
occasionally take all the rocks out and give the substrate an extensive 
cleaning. Then I pile all the rocks back in into a new pattern. This also
serves to stir up the established territories a bit so that the dominant fish
have to reclaim their territory. I have a male Chipoke who can be a complete
a**hole at times who would claim the entire tank if he could and this is just
one of the tricks I use to keep him in line.

: 				-Matt

Dave Sheehy

Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
From: RFEWSTER@SUVM.SYR.EDU
Subject: Looking for info on leaf fish
Organization: Syracuse University
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 23:23:28 EST

What can people tell me about their experiences with Africa  Leaf Fish?
I just found some of these is a store, and couldn't pass them up!
I would like to breed them when they are mature.
                                           Bob Fewster
                                           RFEWSTER@SUVM.SYR.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria