KillieNutz Online

Early Morning Thoughts

Sep 192022

The title says it all. I am sitting here doing nothing except considering what I want to accomplish today. Which means I am not ready to do anything except sip coffee.

I need to get back to working on one of my novels. I have two at the stage of rewriting, fixing, and generally frustrating myself. I wanted them both available for Christmas, but that is not likely now, probably sometime this winter. I am also working on my next killifish book … Killifish Encyclopedia: African Annuals.

The biggest hold-up other than my health has been a lack of pictures of most Nothos. Feel free to donate any pics you have. It’s hard to put out a book without pictures of the majority of species. I have made a tentative offer to an excellent artist to do renderings of most, if not all species and supplement them with what photos I can take or obtain. Setting up a new fish room two times in the last year hasn’t helped either. Now that I am more or less settled, I can return a larger part of my focus to writing. I guess I will be hitting Aquabid etc. for some fish. I still need to set up a photo tank and buy a decent 150mm macro lens. Oh well, that will happen.

At least I have a few fish now … I nabbed some nice young black angelfish at the auction as well as some midnight blue guppies and Split-Tail Goodeids. I also added to my plant collection. I still have a lot of work to do in the fish room including building some racks to hold my 20- and 30-gallon tanks. Hopefully, I will get to that this week. Which reminds me I need to buy some lighting fixtures too. The moving company essentially destroyed my workshop fluorescent ones and even some of my tank lighting tops. I need to clean a couple more Rubbermaid bins and put them outside for plants too. I did add feeder-type guppies to the ones I have set up already and hopefully, they will keep any mosquito or other bugs at bay.

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Enjoyed Tampa Club Meeting!

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Sep 182022

Attended the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society over the weekend and had a great time. I had a couple of long-time friends who are members, Bill Shields and Brian Skidmore who made it easier to meet others. I was really impressed with one member, 90-year-old Velma, who was a very active participant ranging from greeting people to being an auction runner. She breeds Angelfish and has done so for over 30 years. A very impressive and lovely lady.

I was able to do a little auctioning at the meeting and they were glad to add me as an auctioneer for October’s Annual Auction where they expect a large crowd and several hundred bags of fish-only. Any other items are placed in a separate area and only sold via a silent auction. Pretty great way to shorten the overall auction.

The speaker was Joe Gargas and the presentation was on DIY Carbon Systems for large Aquariums. His talk showed how to build and system for large tanks using products he bought from Amazon and the tank he used (video) for the demonstration was impressive. He said his plants grew at incredible rates, and I need to do the same.

Getting Ready

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Sep 142022

I spent a few hours filling a few tanks as I prepared for the Saturday Tampa Bay Aquarium Society meeting. I filled five 5-gallon tanks and eight 10-gallon. I don’t plan to bring home 18 pairs of fish, it was just a good time to fill anything extra. Basically, I am getting the first rack completed and ready to play with my fish. I expect to set up aeration and filters over the next couple of days in the tanks that I filled. Fortunately, I have a nice air compressor that will handle upwards of 40 small tanks and that will give me time to install the PVC tubing to handle on 1/8hp compressor. It is all one step at a time (in my case one-half step).

As for the website, I have begun building the tables for the sub-genus level groups and adding some species. I still have a lot of work to do on the species, so do not expect much yet. I added the Nothobranchius Adiniops sub-genus with a listing of all members of this group.

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What an auction!

Fish Clubs No Responses »

Sep 112022

I attended the Aquatic Club of Pasco County meeting yesterday and I have never seen anything like the auction they had except at some group’s annual public auctions. There were 400+ items in the auction, a fair number of plants and guppies, but still … The attendance had to be 75-100 members.

The club was welcoming and I had one good friend, Bill Shields, at the meeting, so I can say he made it easier to meet a few others. I was a little amazed at a couple of things … first – young kids were welcome at the meeting and there were several anywhere from 4 or 5 years to 12-13 years. Pasco got them fully involved in the auction by using them as the runners and people gave to a tip jar which was used to ‘pay’ the kids. They all wanted to participate and did a wonderful job. I think other clubs should consider this option.

The speaker, Alex Williamson, gave an interesting presentation about historical moments in the aquarium hobby from the very first captive fishes to the first recorded glass aquarium to the expansion of the hobby from the very rich to what we know today. I applaud him.

The meeting was held at the VFW in Spring Hill, FL and the folks there provided food at the bar and most attendees grabbed something which helped make money for the VFW.

I am looking forward to their next meeting which I believe is going to be a swap meet. I better fill my piggy bank and make certain I have enough tanks up and running.

Killies Amaze Me

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Sep 062022

Killifish absolutely amaze me sometimes. In July I bought several pairs of killies at the convention in Kentucky with the intention of tanking them in pet pals when I got home. Due to many stupid circumstances, I never tanked them until yesterday, over a month from when I returned from the Triple Crown.

Everything survived and all are now tanked. While they were a bit thin, they still were in good shape. Now I will start feeding them and am going to run around to the local fish shops and see if there is any live foods … even if only brine shrimp. I am going to need starter cultures of white worms at the minimum and will be looking to purchase grindal worms and micro worms. I intend to start some BBS today. Maybe there will be starter cultures in one of the Aquarium Tampa and Pasco) clubs I plan to attend the next two weekends. I am going to have to do the worms in a refrigerator which will be new to me. Up north, I never had that issue.

So once again I go into the fray … trust me, the garage ain’t done with boxes of stuff from the move.

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UPDATE: SEPT 2, 2022

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Sep 022022

I am slowly getting the fish room up and going. I have a few 10-gal tanks on shelving and filled just in case I can’t refuse a few fish. My counter work table is in place as are a few rolling carts. I have installed a couple of 6-foot tall cabinets on either side of the counter for easy access to some of the things I will need. I plan to add a shelf across the top of the two cabinets for additional storage, probably of a few smaller styros.

The next major step will be to clear the center of the room to begin to build a double-wide stand primarily for 20-high and 30-gallon tanks … I can place 18 tanks on this planned design and allow me to work with some alternative species of fish I decide I want. I am certain I will breed some angels at the very least. Following that I expect to add a stand for 5- and 10-gallon tanks. I am not certain how many tanks and/ or levels I will have. Most likely the tanks will be set in sideways which means I can have about 20 5-gallon tanks and maybe 8 to 16 ten-gallon tanks. So the max size will be 36 tanks added to the 18 larger tanks, plus the 20 tanks already set up will give me 56 tanks as a starter design. This does not count an undetermined number of 2-1/2 – gallon tanks.

I have a 1/8th hp blower to set up. I am considering a 2-inch PVC above the top level of tanks and then creating an H-style connection with 1-inch PVC for each row of tanks. Obviously, plastic airline tubing would go from the one-inch PVC to the filters. I am going to need an electrician to come in to install some 4-plug boxes for my lights.

I am also going to put a few 30-gallon Rubbermaid bins in my backyard and add plants to them. Hopefully, I will get good growth of things like java moss and some floating plants. Later I may add some fish to those bins also.

Obviously, I have a lot of work planned.

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UPDATE: Aug. 16, 2022

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Aug 272022

Work is continuing on the website. Not all of it is visible.

Visitors can now see the beginning of the database which I am creating. Every fish will have its own page with (hopefully) detailed information for hobbyists as well as scientific information. As some can see by the forums, I have decided to keep fish other than killies and each group[ has its own discussion areas. I intend to add a library function to the website which will contain all of the articles that are provided to me or I write.

I am finally getting down to the serious work in the garage … setting up my tanks and storing all of the things I have collected over the years in the hobby. And I have a lot! I am arranging to have a deep sink installed in one form or another. I find myself contemplating a number of thoughts. The temperature of the water here in Florida is warm enough that I do not need hot water in the fish room, so maybe I can hook up just a single line. Of course, I have to find an easy way to drain the water. I am actually considering using an outdoor hose with my python attachment … the water would simply water my backyard gardens.

Who knows what will happen next?

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WELCOME BACK

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Aug 252022

KillieNutz Online is back and active after a considerable time.

The plan at this time is to begin rebuilding the database of killifish and add some other aquarium fish as an expanded part of my hobby – goodeids and perhaps a few natives.

All of this is also contingent on rebuilding my fish room for the third time in a year. I work early in the day on the website and then go to the garage as I try to figure out the best way to design what I hope will be the best possible fish area. I will add some pictures of the process as I get into the project and try to explain my concept and reasoning.