Re: NANFA-- Pet Stores in General

Ty Hall (tyhall_at_mia.net)
Fri, 11 Jul 2003 09:26:30 -0500

Around here (SE WIS) The independents provide better advice, higher quality
equipment and much healthier animals. The big boxers have discount prices, rotten
advice, larger selections.

Ty

Brian wrote:

> I missed the first message and I'm not really sure of the exact reason
> that this topic came up. When I express how much pet stores REALLY
> REALLY suck on some of the reptile forums that I frequent other reptile
> keepers jump to the defense. It seems that either other parts of the
> country (I'm in Massacghusetts) have much better pet stores or I have
> impossibly high standards.
>
> What do you guys think?
>
> Brian Bastarache
>
> ----- Original Message Follows -----
> > On the indoor tank In have very bright lights and a lot of plants.
> > Instead of changing the filter I just pull out plants. It's stocked
> > way below limit levels you'd find in modern books but I feed the fish
> > a lot. I overfeed by many standards.
> >
> > On the outdoor tank I just have a big tank (45 gallons) for some
> > elders livebearers perhaps two dozen now (a lot like a guppy) There's
> > some plants but not so many and it gets rainwater replenishment and
> > sometimes I just stick the garden hose in it and let it overflow some.
> > It's not a lot like perhaps 10% per week but I guess it's enough. Bt
> > the time the fish get bigger and breed more the plants should be
> > hauling out a sizable percentage of the waste if not all. The sun is
> > a pretty powerful light and they are fast growing plants (najas,
> > salvia and others). The little bit of plant material that's in that
> > pearls, that is gives of gaseous O2 in the presence of light.
> > There's no algae but the water has a kind of green water haze right
> > now but I have always associated that with heat. If it bothers me
> > enough I'll just stick the garden hose in there more often. The fish
> > are fine. They grow fast, breed and look great.
> >
> > I really believe that filtration and aeration has lead people into
> > keeping fish at levels way above what I consider OK. For a lot of
> > people if the power goes out even a few hours they are in trouble.
> > Plus there's the noise. I hate pump noise.
> >
> > I built my whole methodology around minimum maintenance. Low stock
> > levels, live plants and snails.
> >
> > Adam
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-nanfa_at_aquaria.net On
> > Behalf Of Kevin
> > Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 10:40 AM
> > To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> > Subject: Re: NANFA-- Petco Sucks
> >
> > How do you keep the ammonia levels under control?
> >
> >
> > On 7/9/03 2:31 PM, "Adam N." <adam_at_xhaos.org> wrote:
> >
> > > I sort of collect old aquarium books. It's really incredible then
> > > lengths that people went to in order to keep fish. Really old books
> > > , like turn of the century, don't even mention filtration and with
> > > gas lighting there wasn't the kind of super plant tank we've got
> > > now. I feel like there's an awful lot of surface area in the tank
> > > and with good water movement filtration isn't required. I haven't
> > > ever had a proper filter in my tanks in 5 years. If fish loads are
> > kept low enough, and you change water and or
> > > have a lot of plants you can have a very low maintenance system.
> > > With my heavily planted high tech plant tank I have gone months
> > > without detectable nitrate build up.
> > >
> > > You can learn a lot reading the old books. It's a very different
> > > way of looking at aquarium keeping and pretty valid I think.
> > >
> > > I currently have a lot of guppies on the porch in just a tank. No
> > > filtration pumps or anything, a few plants but that's it. These
> > > plants aren't contributing to the water quality IMHO. They've been
> > > there a couple weeks and getting on fine, I've done this before.
> > >
> > > Adam
> > --
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> > Native Fishes / Association"
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> > Native Fishes / Association"
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> /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
> / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
> / Association"
> / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
> / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
> / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
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/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
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/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org