NANFA-- Pet Stores in General

Brian (bast_at_gis.net)
Thu, 10 Jul 2003 12:31:23 -0400

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
> --
> /"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 / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the
> command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
> / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
> http://www.nanfa.org
> -------- /"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 / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest
> version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net
> instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
> http://www.nanfa.org
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"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
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org