[Venus]

I’m glad to hear you the new fish are spawning, but it makes one wonder why the fantails didn’t join in. Do you think your fish are prejudice?

Not sure what is going on with the forum. I responded to this post this morning, but when I noticed it didn’t show up in the recent posts, I checked and it wasn’t there. I created a new post, and when I looked to make sure it posted, the post I created this morning showed up too. Crazy

If you see another post that says the same thing as above, it’s this morning’s post showing up again

[Venus]

That’s awesome. You’ve got spawning fish and how. Isn’t it beautiful? Venus used to leap out of the water, flipping his giant tail, making a huge splash. I wish I’d gotten a video, but the pics are pretty awesome

Ah….they’re lovers. That was how it was with Venus and the comet I had. They were the first goldfish I had, and when they met it was love at first site

[Venus]

I love the concept. Not sure where you want to take this, but I know there’s a market; no, not for people to watch your fish, but for other goldfish. Most people want to watch their own fish, unless of course they have no fish. I’ve heard of some tv stations where you can watch a fire burning in a fireplace, so why not a goldfish tank. Of course, there’s a good chance it’s already been done. If it hasn’t; go for it

We’ve had several members tell us their fish watched tv. My fish are in a stock tank, so their view is limited, but if they were in an aquarium, and I was going to leave the tv on for them, I would want a close up shot of the fish, and maybe switch from one tank to another. It’s also possible they would enjoy seeing worms dancing through the water or bugs on the surface of a pond. I’m quite certain they would be hypnotized by small fry darting to and fro LOL

Yes, you may have something there

[Venus]

I was scared of the first fish I got. There was a lot of shreeks and sqeals going on

[Venus]

Lol did the fish oogle u?

[Venus]

I’m still learning these life lessons. Lost the algae on the wall of my tank cause I was too tired to remove the gravel which chewed it off as we rolled it. When my computer gets set up, I’ll post the event

[Venus]

Awesome tank, except I would lose the top completely. Oxygen is absorbed into the water from the surface. If you’re attached to it, consider setting up a fan pointed at the surface

Your fish don’t seem to be in distress, so I think that 6. reading for pH isn’t right. Do you see them at the surface gasping, or looking as if they’re begging for food? A reading of 6 won’t support life. Our comfort zone is 7.4 to 8.4 ppm so you can see we need to work on your readings right away

pH is a combined reading of KH (carbonate mineral) and oxygen levels

When raising pH, we start by bringing KH up. Our comfort zone is 120 ppm. You say your KH is one drop, meaning it’s at 17.8 ppm, so we have a ways to go

We use bicarbonate of soda to raise KH. Pull a gallon of tank water, mix 1 teaspoon of soda in it. Pour the gallon of tank water back in the tank slowly and all around, mixing with your hand as you do so. Wait for a half hour after mixing the soda in the tank water, and test KH again. Add more soda using the same method after comparing the new reading with the old. Use your judgement on how high the reading jumped as to how much soda to add. It’s better to go slow and work your way up then to go over the recommended amount. Most testers read about 20 ppm lower than the actual reading, but don’t exceed 140 ppm

After you get your KH buffered, test pH. If KH is at the recommended goal of 120 ppm, pH should be close to 8. ppm. If it’s still low, we know the oxygen levels are low

In most cases of low oxygen levels, carbon dioxide is taking up space in the body of water, keeping oxygen from entering at the surface. This is a gas created from the waste your fish produce. Have you read the 10 steps yet?

Once we get KH and pH where they belong, we’ll work on GH as well

[Venus]

Good deal about the cycle

Yippee! two tanks. I’ve had multiple tanks in the past, and yes, it’s a lot of work; hence the giant stock tank, but whatever it takes. Two tanks at the stocking level is much better than one tank heavily overstocked, but…you may see that nitrates rise quite a bit within a week’s time, making for a long and tedious water change, and hard on the fish as well

I had a thought; maybe you could allow one tank to go crazy with algae if it’s not in the limelight, and keep the algae scraper in the one on display. After putting a second light on my tank, the algae layer has doubled in thickness, and my water changes are getting smaller again

Algae is the key to fewer water changes, or should I say smaller water changes. The fish appreciate consistent nitrate levels. The only way to accomplish this is smaller and more frequent water changes or lots of algae

😉

[Venus]

I wonder if that .5 is due to having .25 in your tap at both houses. Put them together and that makes .5? Okay maybe not, but I’m glad to see you, the fish and the pups made it through. I know you’re exhausted, but relieved it’s over

I think you just wanted to make sure you needed this vacation coming up, and you do 😉

I was notified of the comment; good to know, and yes, you were very funny

[Venus]

Her’s tired. =|

[Venus]

As long as the lids are on tight, all is well. Another option is to prepare a freshwater bucket with a small pump moving the water. This would keep bad bugs from forming. You could use a pitcher with instructions on how many pitchers a day, according to the pitcher size

Yes, good idea with the garlic; keep their immune system boosted while all the water and waste is being stirred up

I’m glad you’re looking forward to Florida. I’ve been to Miami airport to switch planes; does that count?

[Venus]

Nerve wracking I know, but look at it this way, now you’re our resident expert at moving goldfish. lol

I think you’ve got the move down, but as for the vacation…. just make certain your instructions for the caretaker are as simple as possible, with little room for error. I might be tempted to bottle (one gallons jugs) of treated water that is premixed with water treatment, and the right amount so all the person does is poor it in slowly and all around. I would add one gallons daily that’s been treated with a double dose. That would cover you easy enough in case of a small spike or rising nitrates

This same instructions hold for your husband; keep it simple, and the next time he won’t mind doing it. Thing is, if something goes wrong on his watch, this will be the last of fish sitting days lol

Feed light feedings and when you get home; feed same amount building back up gradually to avoid a spike

I might be tempted to prepackage individual meals. This is where the trouble comes from; too much or not enough food and or too much or not enough water treatment

This way, you’ll enjoy the trip more having less to worry about

[Venus]

Yippe for the pH coming down, and yipped for the amazing list of smiley faces. All of the icons are too small, but it’s start

[Venus]

Sounds like a dream. Maybe you could have a Japanese theme with a pagoda or something like that

I’ve come to realize that KH testers read a little higher than the real story; about 20 ppm, so I wouldn’t lower with vinegar. You would see signs of discomfort if the readings were too high; clamped fins, sitting quietly or even a little flashing

Easy on the oil with the gel food or you’ll end up with glop. When feeding gelatin daily, you really won’t need much if any. I use psllium, and if you use pumpkin as a base, you’re good to go. They love the flavor, and it’s really high in roughage and loaded with nutrients. I’ll send you my not so secrete recipe. lol

[Venus]

hi hows every one bine this site is s till a bit confuseing

[Venus]

Feel free to put a link leading to your TOG facebook page in your signature. Another feature the new site has; if we post (a real post, but not a forum post) here on this site, it’s supposed to go the 911 facebook page. If we create a post on the TOG site, it will go to the TOG facebook page; pretty cool

I feel at home now that you’re here. Uh oh…where’s our happy faces? and yet another to do. Too bad I broke the role stuff by fooling around with it. Yes, when Kris isn’t here to ask questions, I go to places that I shouldn’t and do things I couldn’t. lol

[Venus]

I would mix up a batch of gel food and add the oil to it. Feed it once a day, and you’ll never have to oil him again. It’s been several months since I’ve oiled Spike. He’s swimming like a champ. It’s no picnic to administer the oil

Glad to hear the algae scrubber is doing it’s job. We need an article or at least a photo. This would be very appealing to a lot of aquarium people

Loved your description of the light hitting the water. I felt like I was there

[Venus]

Okay…you’ve already outsmarted me in the forum. I had a devil of a time attaching my first photos, and then…I finally got it. It’s frustrating, because I know there’s a lot of good stuff I could do, if I just knew how. lol Kris has blocked me from a lot of places, so I’m unable to fix the details we were talking about until he turns up. He thinks I break stuff…who me? lol

[Venus]

Good question

There are a few reasons we rinse our sponges. One is to keep the motor running smoothly; two is to keep the water free of debris; three is to make sure that no beneficial bacteria build up in the sponge. If you waited a few months before rinsing your sponge, it’s possible a small spike could occur. Beneficial bacteria require complete darkness for breeding, and also prefer heavily oxygenated water, so the biggest part of the colony will be found deep inside of the pump, but a few slackers may find the sponge a comfortable nesting place.

Rinse your sponge with every routine water change, and you won’t have to worry about any of the three items listed above

[Venus]

They don’t look worried now. In fact, they look fantastic; happy fish

[Author]

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