tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109264682009-06-29T09:00:01.982-05:00Fish-keeping, aquatic plants, nano tanks, biotopes, paludariums, exotic freshwater species, and much more!Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-50840001270550530182009-06-29T08:58:00.002-05:002009-06-29T09:00:01.990-05:00

A quick little update about my systems over at www.thereeftank.com's blog. You can read about what I'm up to now on the blog right here.- Josh

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-74557049400254496082009-06-08T15:26:00.003-05:002009-06-08T15:30:50.508-05:00

My oldest fish, a bala shark I purchased sometime in the spring of 2004, has been critically injured for reasons unknown. This morning I found him stuck to an aquaclear filter intake. The area behind his head is lacerated in what appears to be damage from the sharp filter screen. A healthy fish does not get caught in a filter so I don't know what happened; there are no signs of bites or damage

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-39851260838958164722009-06-05T15:55:00.002-05:002009-06-05T16:04:12.574-05:00

That's right, I'm in dire need of some suction cups for my canister filter intakes, outtakes, as well as my heaters.Suction cups harden over time. They harden even faster in water. Hard plastic becomes cracked or more malleable, no longer clamping along the filter tubes. In saltwater this happens even faster.I refuse to pay up to $2 for a suction cup. And I refuse to pay even more for the

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-69418731818413768612009-06-03T10:15:00.008-05:002009-06-04T14:15:19.976-05:00

It's been a year and a half since corporate Food Network shitcanned their hallmark cooking show, Emeril Live.Come back in time with me to December, 2007.We'd moved from our little basement level apartment with terraced gardens and a cozy deck in Asheville, NC and it was our first winter as homeowners. My wife Leah was 7 months pregnant. Our television and living area was in what's now our dining

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-13767246380940135562009-05-20T21:16:00.002-05:002009-05-20T21:32:58.257-05:00

Quick report, completely off topic:I haven't seen John Carpenter's The Thing, starring Kurt Russell, in more than ten years.But I have been playing the new Resident Evil incarnate games and I'm blown away by the fact I can't seem to find someone online writing about how Resident Evil 4 totally, blatantly, obviously ripped off The Thing.The job is blatant. Hell, you even get them re-mining their

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-74699882891861716952009-04-21T12:36:00.003-05:002009-04-21T12:40:59.245-05:00

Lost the seahorse a week ago.Incredible how she survived for so long. I still do not understand.What remains in the tank are five reef hermits, two of which are a dazzling bright crimson, two snails, and a chocolate chip star. Currently I'm feeding food pellets into the clam shell where I fed the seahorse every two days as well as manually feeding flakes to the starfish.I paid $70 for the

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-9371468937660130522009-03-31T10:06:00.003-05:002009-03-31T10:15:00.233-05:00

Has it been so long since my last post?Ok, seahorse. Believe it or not, she's still alive. I don't know if I believe it. She is still clearly unable to snick -- shoot out the trigger in her snout to take food -- but clearly something is keeping her alive. I feed almost a whole cube of mysis carefully basted into the corner of the tank, into the cup of an empty clam shell. I also feed refrigerated

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-59481842880064201412009-02-13T09:54:00.003-05:002009-02-13T10:01:21.095-05:00

It's been a bad month.I woke up yesterday morning and was feeding my seahorse via turkey baster, as usual. How seahorses feed is by sucking up and snapping their prey -- they have an internal muscle inside their snout that acts like a pipette that triggers the prey. She was unable to activate the trigger, even though she tried desperately to eat. She was simply nodding her head at the mysis.It

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-64314565165843735832009-02-04T09:31:00.003-05:002009-02-08T10:51:55.869-05:00

I have a guest blog entry over at The Reef Tank everyone should check out.It's the ongoing story of my 180 gallon ammonia problems, with the newest updates.You definitely don't want to miss it.Click here to read my entry.You can also see how cloudy the tank became when introducing the new ammonia culture after a near 90% water change that involved running tap water over every beneficial bacterial

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-40335613511755507332009-01-14T14:16:00.002-05:002009-01-14T14:31:54.144-05:00

Here's another set of comments from my friend and fellow reef aquarist, Joe Jaworski.Josh,IMHO, the way I would approach this problem is by process of elimination. - When did the problem start? What changed in the aquarium (more/less fish, decor, new equipment, change in husbandry, etc.) say +/- 3 weeks around the date when you first noticed the problem?- For bioload, do you believe that if you

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-14514178891703913052009-01-14T14:01:00.002-05:002009-01-14T14:12:10.990-05:00

I apologize for the long inactvity.Short version, 180's still arsed, as they say in parts of England/Ireland.I lost the smaller blood parrot too.Big oscar, now 12 inches from tip of tail to mouth, is the terror of the tank. Going to have to do something about the bastard.Ammonia on the up and up, as always.I'd like to now share some wonderful advice from a couple commenters. In the first comment

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-12805504880658353292008-11-10T17:34:00.002-05:002008-11-10T18:07:58.756-05:00

I've got an embarrassing admission.I've got an ammonia problem.And it's a BIG ammonia problem.One that's been going on for... oh, at least two or three months now.Ammonia spikes are the bane of the fish newb, so often their first big problem with fish keeping. As we all know ammonia spikes are the initial phase in the nitrogen cycle.They happen in every new fish tank.However, they are NOT

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-50736769943107871372008-11-05T11:02:00.004-05:002008-11-05T12:15:25.052-05:00

Hell yeah.First thing's fist. I owe my wife some money. Our Obama signs were not stolen nor messed with.Obama's victory is a victory over ignorance, anti-intellectualism, racism, christofascism, and reagonomics -- a reverse robin hood economic theory that if it would continue would ultimately create two classes, destroying the middle class and pushing everyone who's not in the wealthy 1% into an

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-68032926653214376392008-10-23T11:50:00.004-05:002008-10-23T12:05:06.536-05:00

We donated $20 more to the Obama campaign and got four yard signs, as well as a really cool poster. We stuck one at the curb by the mailbox at noon today. We plan to take it down each night.I don't think it will last six hours.Obama signs are being defaced/stolen en masse in our area of NC. Some people are reportedly receiving vicious threats as well.Any thefts/vandalism/ threats will be posted

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-9833180638226383232008-10-13T21:25:00.005-05:002008-10-13T21:53:30.385-05:00

The kind of people who make the U.S. look like Nazi Germany. You can see more of them at Palin rallies, chanting for their demigod and praying that the top man on the ticket will die so she can take power.Share this picture with everyone. Images often speak louder than words, especially during times like these.(picture source: http://www.brettmarty.com)

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-77172859330567280272008-09-19T16:49:00.002-05:002008-09-19T17:10:00.342-05:00

"Then one day, I say, 'Fuck fish.'" Chris Cooper, AdaptationIf the borrowing and bailing out of these conglomerates keep continuing, we're all going to be saying fuck fish... forget this luxury we call the fish hobby, we'll be lucky to be eating fish if hyper inflation sets in and the entire U.S. infrastructure drops out under the cloud of speculation Wall Street's built for itself over the last

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-68160480316622317892008-09-04T17:35:00.007-05:002008-09-05T12:36:49.712-05:00

I've done it before... I broke ranks with the fish folks and blogged about such controversial topics as Rachel Ray, the Sopranos, and probably another few wild cards I'm forgetting.But I'll bet the bank here and say this will take the lot.Here's the deal: I have a typical republican mindset. I am an avid 2nd amendment supporter. I have guns, of all types, and I have a lot of them. I hate

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-88873730870964849902008-08-26T14:09:00.002-05:002008-08-26T14:35:27.832-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog, and I'm ashamed to admit I haven't been as attentive to some of my tanks either.And I and my fish have paid the price.This blog entry will detail the importance of a regular maintenance schedule, but more importantly, I'll also talk about how key simple observation is for long-term tank health.My ten gallon reef system is doing quite well. I'll dedicate a future

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-21625551007765416652008-06-25T13:17:00.002-05:002008-06-25T13:21:34.783-05:00

The oscar's hole in the head (actually just erosion of the lateral line) is improving, I'm happy to report.The first couple days I saw no benefit with the Vitamin C powder. In fact, the holes got bigger and a smaller one began to develop further down one line.I did an ammonia test and learned I had a reading of .25 ppm.This was caused by a massive water change with water not fully conditioned

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-83802498669688551162008-06-18T14:09:00.002-05:002008-06-18T14:15:01.574-05:00

Hole in the Head disease, or HLLE (head and lateral-line erosion) is a common disease that strikes many large cichlids. Cichlids are South American freshwater fish such as oscars, angelfish, discus, and severums. You'd know an oscar if you saw one.Here's mine below, a red Oscar afflicted with a moderate case of hole in the head:As you can see, hole in the head isn't pretty.Fortunately, hole in

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-30768299526372196802008-06-06T10:49:00.003-05:002008-06-06T10:53:54.009-05:00

I don't know how, but my firemouth is still hanging in there. I haven't seen him actively eat anything in months. Unlike the other fish, he hasn't grown at all since I introduced him. I'm guessing he has internal parasites but it's impossible to say for sure.The other fish are doing swimmingly, so to speak. The oscars occasionally exhibit mating behavior and have picked out a nest. The severums

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-69850705764266443702008-04-22T11:21:00.003-05:002008-04-22T11:22:48.149-05:00

My harlequin shrimp had withdrawn itself (along with as much of the starfish as it could carry) to the bank of the tank beneath some coral rubble. This went on for about two days... then yesterday, while I was watching, I actually saw him break through his skin. The exoskeleton was a perfect, translucent replica. If only I had filmed it in time...Anyway, the shrimp's back to slowly eating away on

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-67860023320969350912008-04-13T08:59:00.001-05:002008-04-13T09:00:56.597-05:00

A letter I sent to Hagen co. in regards to their Aquaclear filter line...Dear Hagen and everyone in the repair department:A week ago my Aquaclear 110, after a routine cleaning, took on a motor problem I couldn't fix. I shipped the unit back to your company and in less than a week (amazingly prompt) the filter was returned, fixed, with a shiny new motor.You're a great, professional company and I

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-71488191281291842552008-03-19T14:09:00.004-05:002008-03-20T13:49:58.174-05:00

The above mpeg is a little taste of my new instructional video on setting up a nano. It's only a 3 gallon but everything I'm doing also applies to tanks up to 29 gallons. I'm going to be packaging the video with my nano guide, so if you haven't bought the guide while it's cheap at $12, now's the time!Onto today's topic...I've been keeping fish since 2004. Freshwater, a brief foray into

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10926468.post-51821424055332143112008-03-18T15:16:00.002-05:002008-03-18T15:56:16.578-05:00

I've been up to a lot of things, once again.First and foremost, if you haven't snagged a copy of my detailed and engrossingly controversial book on starting your first nano tank, now's the time! I'm going to be affiliated with Clickbank soon and will be raising the price to 24 dollars. (I'm also making a DVD so you'll get video along with the book!)Grab a copy now while it's on the cheap -- $12!

Josh Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12558573851875174188noreply@blogger.com0