1994 —
August 2013 volume XX number 6
20th Anniversary — 2013
Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies Serving the Northeastern Portion of the United States
SUMMER AUCTION – 2013! SUNDAY August 11, 2013 OF FISH (All Species), AQUARIUM EQUIPMENT AND RELATED DRY GOODS, Location: THE CROWNE PLAZA 100 Berlin Road Cromwell, CT (860) 635-2000 Registration : Register at the auction, 50/50 split, 10 or more lots 60/40 split, 1 red dot per
vendor, add’l red dot/10 *lots, please label your bags (see auction rules) *Acceptable lots will be determined by the auction committee
Vendors Tables Food & Refreshments will be available AUCTION HOURS:
REGISTRATION.................................8:00 AM TO 11:00 AM VIEWING OF GOODS........................9:30 AM TO 10:45 AM AUCTION..................................................11:00 AM TO 5 PM RAFFLE..........................................................................50 / 50
NEC INVITES YOU TO ATTEND!!!
Series III ON THE COVER Our cover this month features Hemichromis Sp. “moanda,” one of a seemingly everincreasing number of “jewel cichlid” species available in the hobby. For more information on this relatively mild-mannered beauty, see Jules Birnbaum's “Breeding a Real Jewel,” on page 14. Photo by Jules Birnbaum
Vol. XX, No. 6 August, 2013
In This Issue From the Editor G.C.A.S. 2013 Program Schedule President’s Message
GREATER CITY AQUARIUM SOCIETY BOARD MEMBERS
President Dan Radebaugh Vice-President Edward Vukich Treasurer Jules Birnbaum Assistant Treasurer Ron Wiesenfeld Corresponding Secretary Sean Cunningham Recording Secretary Tommy Chang MEMBERS AT LARGE
Claudia Dickinson Al Grusell Emma Haus Leonard Ramroop
Pete D’Orio Ben Haus Jason Kerner
July's Caption Contest Winner Cartoon Caption Contest Pictures from our Last Meeting by Susan Priest
The LFS Report by Dan Puleo
The 2012 FAAS Publication Awards by Alexander A. Priest
Breeding A Real Jewel Hemichromis Sp. "moanda" by Jules Birnbaum
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COMMITTEE CHAIRS
A.C.A. Delegate Bowl Show Breeder Award Early Arrivals F.A.A.S. Delegate Membership N.E.C. Delegate Programs
Claudia Dickinson Leonard Ramroop Warren Feuer Mark Soberman Al Grusell Alexander A. Priest Marsha Radebaugh Claudia Dickinson Claudia Dickinson Mark Soberman Technology Coordinator Warren Feuer MODERN AQUARIUM
Editor in Chief Copy Editors Exchange Editors Advertising Mgr.
Dan Radebaugh Sharon Barnett Susan Priest Alexander A. Priest Stephen Sica Donna Sosna Sica Mark Soberman
Our Generous Sponsors & Advertisers On the Road: Owl’s Well that Ends Well by Dan Radebaugh
Rules for Tonight's Silent Auction Expect The Unexpected by Susan Priest
Adventures in DIY — River Tank by Ryan Barton
Member Classifieds G.C.A.S. Happenings The Undergravel Reporter Slime Is...Beautiful?!?
Fin Fun (Puzzle Page) Aquarium Hopping
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From the Editor by Dan Radebaugh
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irst of all, the Federation of American Aquarium Societies has announced the 2012 winners of its annual Publication Awards. When you read Al Priest’s summary of the winners, you’ll see that Modern Aquarium and its authors fared very well. Modern Aquarium is once again named the best publication of more than six issues per year, and Al himself tied for first place as Author of the Year. We had many winners in other categories as well, and I congratulate each and every one for the high level of their contributions. Be sure and offer congratulations to your fellow members who have achieved this recognition. Producing these articles, photos, drawings, and so forth is a labor of love, but a labor it is nonetheless. Your appreciation and good wishes are their only rewards, and mean a lot. I can think of quite a few other articles that I believe deserved recognition as well, so my thanks go out to all of our authors, whether they happened to win an award this time or not. You will notice that we have a new column in this issue! When Dan Puleo began circulating his “LFS Report” this year, it was something that we envisioned for the magazine, but with the “pricing specials” feature, we couldn’t figure out how to keep it timely enough to include it in the magazine, what with the production deadlines. Our solution, as you will see, is to just run the “spotlighted shop” portion in Modern Aquarium, so as to have an easy-to-find reference to the shops in our area, but leave the pricing specials out of the magazine version. This month’s featured shop is, appropriately, Greater City member Harsha Perrera’s Zoo-Rama. Much praise to Dan P. for his initiative on this project! Elsewhere in this issue, a regular contributor and now multiple FAAS award winner, Jules Birnbaum tells us about our cover subject, a more even-tempered jewel fish, Hemichromis Sp. “moanda.” See “Breeding a Real Jewel,” on page 14. Another oft-encountered name from the FAAS awards, Sue Priest, recounts her
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experience with one of my favorites, the kuhli loach, in “Expect the Unexpected,” and I recount a 2011 adventure in Arizona in “Owl’s Well that Ends Well.” For do-it-yourselfers, we’ve included a reprint from the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society’s Fins & Tales, “Adventures in DIY— River Tank,” by Ryan Barton. The Undergravel Reporter extols the virtues of snail therapy (“Slime is…Beautiful?!?), and our Fin Fun puzzle, “Aquarium Hopping” closes the issue. * * *
We need articles. We always need articles! Modern Aquarium is produced by and for the members of Greater City Aquarium Society. Our members are our authors, and with ten issues per year, we always, always need more articles. I know several of you are keeping and/or breeding fish (or plants) that I would like to know more about, and I’m certain other members would like to know as well. Share your experience with us. Write about it! If you’re a little unsure about the state of your writing technique, don’t worry – that’s why there are editors. If you have an article, photo, or drawing that you’d like to submit for inclusion in Modern Aquarium, it’s easy to do! You may fax it to me at (877) 299-0522, email it to gcas@earthlink. net, or just hand it to me at a meeting. However you get it to me, I’ll be delighted to receive it!
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GCAS Programs
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t is our great fortune to have another admirable cast of speakers who have so graciously accepted our invitation to join us throughout the coming season, bringing us their extensive knowledge and experiences. You certainly won’t wish to miss a moment of our prominent guests, not to mention the friends, fish, warmth, and camaraderie that accompanies each meeting. I know I can barely wait to see you here! Enjoy! Claudia March 6
Joe Ferdenzi 90 Years of GCAS!
April 3
Larry Johnson Lake Malawi
May 1
Sal Silvestri
Apistogrammas June 5
Leslie Dick Livebearers
July 3
Joe Ferdenzi Do-It-Yourself Aquarium Gadgets
August 7
Silent Auction
September 12
Mark Denaro Bettas/Labyrinth Fishes
October 2
TBA
November 6
TBA
December 4
Holiday Party!
Articles submitted for consideration in Modern Aquarium (ISSN 2150-0940) must be received no later than the 10th day of the month prior to the month of publication. Please fax to (877) 299-0522, or email to gcas@earthlink. net. Copyright 2013 by the Greater City Aquarium Society Inc., a not-for-profit New York State corporation. All rights reserved. Not-for-profit aquarium societies are hereby granted permission to reproduce articles and illustrations from this publication, unless the article indicates that the copyrights have been retained by the author, and provided reprints indicate source and two copies of the publication are sent to the Exchange Editor of this magazine. Any other reproduction or commercial use of the material in this publication is prohibited without express written prior permission. The Greater City Aquarium Society meets every month, except January and February. Members receive notice of meetings in the mail. For more information, contact: Dan Radebaugh (718) 458-8437. Find out more, or leave us a message, at our Internet Home Page at: http://www.greatercity.org or http://www.greatercity.com Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
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President’s Message by Dan Radebaugh
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ast month I spoke about some of the important things that our (or any) club needs for some of its members to individually step up and help with. As we move into the second half of this current season, we do need some members to volunteer to handle some of those tasks, and I hope that I can count on some of you stepping forward. We still need to find a replacement for Jules Birnbaum as Treasurer. This is not the only post we need to fill. The positions of Recording Secretary and Corresponding Secretary are currently available. We also need an NEC Delegate. This Delegate post, now that most of the meetings are online, is much easier to fulfill than it used to be, when it necessitated a regular day-trip to Connecticut. The current setup makes attending NEC meetings a much less odious task. We also need to find a replacement for Emma Haus, to handle making arrangements for the annual Holiday/Awards Banquet. Emma has handled this task with aplomb for many years, and she would now quite understandably like for someone else to take over this important annual assignment. I have been very gratified to see our membership steadily growing over the past few years. I hope that some of our newer members will add their talents and dedication to assuring that Greater City continues to be a dynamic and worthwhile organization. If you would like to help out—even if you aren’t certain how—please come up and talk to me; or to Marsha as you pick up your issue of Modern Aquarium, or to anyone else here who seems to “know the ropes.” Remember, for the club to serve you, we need you to help! Finally, please remember that our meeting next month will be on September 12, which is a Thursday!
Dan
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July's Caption Winner: Denver Lettman
No thanks — I'm the designated driver!
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Support Fish in the Classroom! If you have any 5 or 10 gallon tanks, or any filters, pumps, or plants that you could donate to NYC teacher Michael Paoli's classrooms, could you please bring them in or email Rich Levy (rlevy17@aol.com). If you'd like to donate larger tanks, be sure and email Rich so he can make sure Michael can accommodate it.
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The Modern Aquarium Cartoon Caption Contest Modern Aquarium has featured cartoons before. This time though, you, the members of Greater City get to choose the caption! Just think of a good caption, then mail, email, or phone the Editor with your caption (phone: 347-866-1107, fax: 877-299-0522, email: gcas@ earthlink.net. Your caption needs to reach the Editor by the third Wednesday of this month. We'll also hand out copies of this page at the meeting, which you can turn in to Marsha before leaving. Winning captions will earn ten points in our Author Awards program, qualifying you for participation in our special "Authors Only" raffle at our Holiday Party and Banquet. Put on your thinking caps!
Cartoon by Elliot Oshins
Your Caption:
Your Name:
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Pictures from our
Do these Guys really need an introduction?
Joe Ferdenzi’s “Box of Magic Tricks!”
These photos speak for themselves
Horst Gerber’s glass cutting demonstration
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last meeting
Photos by Susan Priest
Did someone tell Marsha that she gets paid for this job? Patriotic partners Donna & Steve Sica
The DeSantis family
Al Priest and Carlotti DeJager talking about anabantoids W ho just bought the glass frog?
Free magazines — irresistible!
Our own “Gypsy Mermaid” Sharon Barnett W hat’s so interesting?
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY) M odern A quarium - G reater C ity A .S. (N Y )
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Artie Friedman reading Latin 19
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A warm welcome to our new and returning members:
Juan Torres
Artie Mayer
Florence Gomes
Door Prize W inner, Peter Goldfien
Best W ishes to Jakleen. She’s moving to Las Vegas!
Last Month’s Bowl Show Winners
1st Place: Jerry O’Farrell
2nd Place: Mario Bengcion
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3rd Place: Rich W aizman August 2013
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The LFS Report by Dan Puleo
LFS in the spotlight: Zoo-RAMA PETS & Aquarium 475 Hempstead Tpke, Elmont, NY 11003 (Just east of Belmont Racetrack) and 2566 & 2574 East Tremont Ave, Bronx, NY 10461
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his month the LFS Spotlight falls on ZooRama Pets, a group of three stores in two boroughs in our Greater City. For this article I stopped at the Elmont location and had the pleasure of meeting with owner and GCAS member Harsha Perera. This location is the newest one for Harsha, and it is certainly a beautiful store. It’s well lit and impeccably clean. No dim, dank shop here, and you can tell that the same attention being paid to the customer’s environment is mirrored in the aquatic environments. You can easily tell that a true aquarist who loves the hobby is in charge here. All of the tanks are impeccably clean, and the fish in them are each beautiful examples of their species. For example, jumbo angels ($25) include standard and super-veil red spotted silvers with spectacular blue pectorals, and red spotted super-veil marbles that also showed signs of the blue gene; both strains showing the benefits of well-chosen wild out-crossing. I’ve never seen strains of this quality in an aquarium store, and the other strains in that tank were also very impressive. I learned that Harsha’s history with angels goes way back to 1980, when he owned and operated his first aquatic business, an angelfish hatchery in his native Sri Lanka. Back then he kept 70 breeding pairs at a time, producing thousands of angels a month. Let’s just say I was impressed hearing about this phase of his life. After coming to New York in 1989 he opened Zoo-Rama in the Bronx and a store some readers may remember on Bell Blvd. in Bayside. Other fish stand-outs for me were the praecox rainbows (3/$20) that look exactly the same as the original wild-caught specimens I saw in the 80s, and the Copeland tetras (4/$18), which you don’t see every day. Then there were the bettas. At $25 I know some may balk, but these aren’t anything Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
close to what you see in other shops. Here we have elephant ears, plakats, and dragons like the pictures I drool over on Aquabid. You definitely get what you pay for. I’ve held back on mentioning what really draws me personally to keep me coming back to Zoo-Rama; that is the plants. Everyone who's into planted tanks needs to come here at least once. This week there were huge Amazon swords ($16), large Java fern ‘windelov’ ($7), broad leafed ludwigia ($8)—all beautiful specimens. Plus, giant pots of Anubias barteri ($45) that were as big as my head if not bigger. There were also really nice A. barteri and A. hastifolia on Malaysian driftwood ($2225), and a whole lot more. Zoo-Rama also sells dogs, cats, and small birds, and does grooming. Harsha told me that at this location it’s mostly the dogs that carry the store, yet in the Bronx the aquarium trade is able to justify a separate store from where the other pets are sold. He pointed out several tanks where he has gorgeous black delta-tail guppies that originated from Jules Birnbaum’s line. “I sell these all the time in the Bronx store,” he said, “but here hardly anything.” All I can say is that I’m glad the dogs pay the rent. This way I get the benefit of Harsha’s passion for keeping fish without having to pay the bridge toll to the Bronx. So head on over to Zoo-Rama and check out Harsha’s tanks. You won’t be disappointed! And if he doesn’t immediately recognize you as a GCAS member, be sure to mention it. He likes to take good care of his fellow members with special pricing.
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The 2012 Federation of American Aquarium Societies Publication Awards by Alexander A Priest
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he Federation of American Aquarium Societies (FAAS) is a 40-year old service organization of and for aquarium societies of North, Central and South America. It was originally formed in 1973 to present unified opposition to draconian Federal legislation which would have serious negative impact on the aquarium hobby. Through the years, it evolved as much more than a lobbying group for aquarists. At one time, FAAS sanctioned fish shows, had its own Breeders Award Program, Horticulture Award Program, Photo Award Program, and Website Award Program. All of these have fallen by the wayside. One program, however, is still alive and kicking: the FAAS Publication Award Program. W hile I don’t know how many societies may have entered and won nothing, the 2003 Publication awards had winning articles from 15 societies. For entries and awards in the 2012 competition, that number is less than half — only seven different societies are represented here, and that’s a shame. I’m very happy to see that, for the first time in many years, the Brooklyn Aquarium Society has entered the FAAS Publication Awards competition. Their publication Aquatica has always been among the best of the club publications. Below is a list of every winner in the 2012 Publication Award program. Congratulations to all the winners. To save space, the titles of the articles are omitted. They are identified on the FAAS website (www.faas.info), where you can also read the text of some of the first place winners. Because of the point system FAAS uses, it is possible for more than one article to receive the identical award, and also for an article to win a second or third place award in a category where no first place awards were given. Best Editor/Publication - More Than Six Issues 1 Dan Radebaugh - GCAS 2 Jayne Glazier - KW AS 3 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC Best Editor/Publication - Six Issues or Less 1 John Todaro BAS 2 Jim Ellenberger - PCCA 3 Tim Pilat - MAS Best Changing Cover, Original Art 1 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC 2 John Todaro - BAS 3 Jayne Glazie - KW AS HM Dan Radebaugh - GCAS Best Changing Cover, Non-Original Art 1 Jack Kraft - SAS - The Tropical News Best FAAS-Related Article 1 Alexander A. Priest - GCAS Best Exchange Article 1 Stuart Hershkowitz - BAS 2 Kurt Johnston - ACLC 3 Austin Braganza - MAS Best Review Article 1 Susan Priest - GCAS 2 Kurt Johnston - ACLC 3 Dan Radebaugh - GCAS
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Best Spawning Article Under 500 W ords 1 Robin Antkowiak - ACLC 2 Richard Bressler - ACLC 3 Jeff Loney - KW AS HM - Ed Koerner - KW AS Best Spawning Article 500-1000 W ords 1 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC 2 Jayne Glazier - KW AS 3 Jules Birnbaum - GCAS HM Joe Graffagnino - BAS HM Rob McLure - MAS Best Spawning Article More than 1000 W ords 1 Alexander A. Priest - GCAS 2 Albert So - PCCA Best Article on a Genus of Fish 1 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC 2 Allen W ood - GCAS 3 Don Rhodes - KW AS HM Jeff Loney - KW AS Best Article on a Species of Fish 1 Alexander A. Priest - GCAS 2 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC 3 Alexander A. Priest - GCAS HM Joel Antkowiak - ACLC HM Jules Birnbaum - GCAS
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Best Marine Article - Fish 1 Stephen Sica - GCAS 2 Stephen Sica - GCAS 3 Stephen Sica - GCAS
Best Original Artwork 1 W allace Deng - GCAS
Best Article on Aquascaping/Design 2 Jules Birnbaum - GCAS Best Article on Plant Maintenance, Cultivation or Reproduction 1 Izzy Zwerin - BAS 2 Jeff Loney - KW AS 3 Brent Lemanski - KW AS Best How To/Do It Yourself Article 1 Brent Lemanski - KW AS 2 John Todaro - BAS 3 Lonny Langione - ACLC Best General Article on Society Mgt 1 Kurt Johnston - ACLC 2 Kurt Johnston - ACLC 3 Ed Koerner - KW AS Best Article on Health or Nutrition 1 Joseph Ferdenzi - GCAS 2 Jules Birnbaum - GCAS Best Traveling Aquarist Article 1 Zenin Skomorowski - KW AS 2 Stephen Sica - GCAS 3 Stephen Sica - GCAS HM Kurt Johnston - ACLC Best Humorous Article 1 The Undergravel Reporter - GCAS 2 The Undergravel Reporter - GCAS 3 Kurt Johnston - ACLC
Best Cartoon 1 Elliot Oshins - GCAS 2 Elliot Oshins - GCAS 3 Bob Kulesa - ACLC HM Bob Kulesa - ACLC HM Bob Kulesa - ACLC Best Conservation-related Article 1 Tommy Chang - GCAS 2 Tommy Chang - GCAS 3 The Undergravel Reporter - GCAS HM Stephen Sica - GCAS Best Continuing Column 1 Dr. Ron Coleman - PCCA 2 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC 3 Izzy Zwerin - BAS HM Kurt Johnston - ACLC Best Article, All Other Categories 1 Joseph Ferdenzi - GCAS 2 Steven Hinshaw - GCAS 3 Dan Hagan - BAS HM John Todaro - BAS HM Susan Priest - GCAS
Author of the Year
1 Joel Antkowiak - ACLC (tie) 1 Alexander A. Priest - GCAS 2 Kurt Johnston - ACLC
Legend ACLC: Aquarium Club of Lancaster County - Tank Tales BAS: Brooklyn Aquarium Society - Aquatica
GCAS: Greater City Aquarium Society - Modern Aquarium
KW AS: Kitchener-W aterloo Aquarium Society - Fins and Tales MAS: Milwaukee Aquarium Society - SPLASH PCCA: Pacific Coast Cichlid Association - Cichlidae Communique SAS: Sacramento Aquarium Society - The Tropical News
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Breeding a Real Jewel Hemichromis Sp. “moanda” by Jules Birnbaum
jewel is defined as a small natural or artificial gem; one that is treasured and esteemed. One look at the fish I’m writing about, in breeding colors, and you will see why it was appropriately named the “jewel fish.” Earlier in the year I saw one of Ted Judy’s wonderful YouTube videos showing a different jewel fish, which is smaller and less aggressive than other Hemichromis species. Ted also wrote a feature article about this fish in Tropical Fish Hobbyist (Jan. 2013). Also called the “moanda,” they are native to the Congo . I have never met a fish I did not like, but up until now I’ve Photo by Jules Birnbaum. stayed away from jewel fish. They are usually listed as having a very aggressive temperament, and requiring larger tanks. I have never understood why fish are classified as aggressive, as aggression depends upon a number of factors, some of which can be overcome. According to Ted Judy, moandas are smaller and much less aggressive than other jewel fish species. Ted had juveniles for sale on his website at a very reasonable price, so I ordered eight. He told me that I could raise them in one of my 20 gallon tanks, and that no special water requirements or diet were required to get them to color up and be ready for breeding. These fish are ready to pair off and breed before they are fully grown.
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The eight juveniles grew nicely in their heavily planted 20 gallon tank, which contained a large box filter and one of Ted Judy’s ceramic low oval caves, that has a hole at the top rather than the side. A female might also lay eggs on the backside of this flat type of cave, and use the cave as a home for the fry. It was placed in one corner of the tank to give a pair some privacy. In the absence of a cave, these fish might lay eggs on the hidden side of a rock. They will move gravel around to make a nest and to protect the eggs, but will generally not uproot plants. The water temperature was 76° Fahrenheit, with a pH of about 7.0. Their diet consisted of flakes, pellets, Repashy gel food, frozen bloodworms, and blackworms. Although the fish will likely breed on flake food alone, there is a more consistent chance of success with live and frozen food. Water changes of 60% were performed weekly, and I vacuumed the thin layer of substrate every other week. Within a few months two fish started hanging out together. The pair colored up red, with blue dots on their gill flaps (like jewels), and looked spectacular. They chased the other six siblings away, and after a while the other fish got the message. The pair did not pay much attention to the several cory catfish in the tank. I surmise they did not consider them a threat. As
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A female Hemichromis Sp. "moanda" in breeding color. Photo by Sam Borstein.
adults, these moandas never reached four inches in length—the female remaining slightly smaller than the male. Like most cichlids, they are wonderful parents, and when breeding will protect their territory. Although these fish will chase other community fish such as medium sized tetras, they will not kill them. A week or two later I observed the pair going in and out of the cave. Closer observation using a flashlight showed there were fry swimming around in the cave. As I stated earlier, the eggs could have been laid elsewhere and the cave used as a home for the fry. The hole in the top of the cave made observation easier. I also shot brine shrimp into the cave with a turkey baster. When I could see the fry swimming around in the cave and venturing near the opening, it was time to make my next move, which was to use a divider to separate the breeding cave with the parents and fry from the other moandas. Then after another week or two I had another decision to make. I could either leave the fry in there with their parents, or remove the fry to a grow-out tank. I decided to move the fry and the parents with their cave to their own tank. Joe Ferdenzi told us about this idea during his presentation at our July meeting; this allowed me to observe the pair’s parental behavior. The opportunity came when the parents both entered the cave to care for the fry. I covered the opening with my hand, and off they all went to their new home. The pair turned out to be great parents, and kept the fry in a group, even though there were no tankmates other than a few small Aspidoras. One of these was Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
killed when it got too close, whereupon I removed the other small catfish. One of Ruben Lugo’s red Ancistrus was also in the tank, but came to no harm. These plecos tend to stay out of the way, unlike the inquisitive Aspidoras. I fed the jewel fish fry brine shrimp once a day, and finely crushed flake food two other times a day. I also tried decapsulated brine shrimp, which they seemed to eat. Using my flashlight to see what the parents would do with their fry at night, I discovered the fry to be sleeping in an impression that the parents had dug in the substrate, with the female standing guard next to them. The family has been together about three weeks now, and the 16 or 17 fry are about half an inch long. When the parents want to breed again it will be time to find another tank for the fry. I will try to bring a few to one of our auctions. This fish has it all: color, a small size, interesting breeding habits, and no special water or dietary requirements. The Hemichromis Sp. “moanda” has become a favorite of mine in a very short time. I highly recommend it as a fish that could be housed with other medium-sized fish such as certain tetras and corys. Swordtails will also have no problem with this jewel fish. Its beauty should make a welcome addition to your fish tank!
Photo by Jules Birnbaum.
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On The Road: Owl's Well That Ends Well by Dan Radebaugh
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wls. It all started with the owls. A parking lot, and pulled in. By this time it couple of years ago my wife Marsha was probably after 3 PM, so we decided to and I were spending a week in go on in and at least see what kind of an Sedona, Arizona. One evening we attended operation it was. a lecture on local owls, which Privately owned and clearly included the attendance of a few not yet fully complete, the zoo owls that were brought along by was laid out in a people-friendly a local owl rescue/rehab group manner, with some interesting headquartered in or just outside of twists, such as a wallaby Phoenix. The next day, thinking Western burrowing owl compound where visitors could that it might be worthwhile to visit (Athene cunicularia) walk along the path among freePhoto from Wildatheartowls.org. the rehab center to get a better idea roaming wallabies. I seem to recall of what they were doing, and armed with the that motorized transport was available, but it center’s address, off we drove, south toward was late in the day and we were hurrying to Phoenix. get an overview, so we just walked, visiting To shorten the long story of our futile first the aviary and then the collection of wanderings in the desert, the outcome was animals, which was well arranged to keep that we could not find the address, because walking distances to a minimum. it was inside the compound of a penal This being a publication for aquarists, I institution. A couple of phone calls helped won’t linger too much on the terrestrial and us ascertain that a visit was not in the cards, avian collections, but will “cut to the chase.” and so we began the drive back to Sedona. We got to the aquarium portion of the However, as we drove back toward the establishment toward dusk. There were a highway, we spotted some signs advertising couple of buildings, and ongoing construction the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, so we was evident. As we entered, what we found decided to “follow the yellow brick road,” was a modestly sized aquarium, seemingly or at least the signs directing us to the zoo. designed by and for fish enthusiasts, that While following the signs was not was a delight to go through. I was especially difficult, the distance (and elapsed time of happy to find a really the journey) was somewhat greater than we w e l l - r e p r e s e n t e d had anticipated. As we continued along our f r e s h w a t e r way, we began to see some very capable- collection, with looking fighter planes in the sky above us, brief informational either taking off or landing, so we (correctly) placards posted by assumed we were now in the vicinity of a US most of the viewing Air Force base—Luke AFB, as it turned out. areas. In our visits The zoo was pretty close to the base as the to aquariums around crow (or F-35) flies. Both are in the Phoenix the country, my most suburb of Glendale. We finally spotted the frequent complaint The offical greeters. Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
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One of several aquaria in the Visitors Center Shop
American paddlefish.
has been the non-identification of too many of the species I’m looking at. In that respect I’d rate this aquarium as being as good as most and better than many. I also found it to be an aquarist-friendly collection. You get to see old favorites as well as some surprises, including reptiles and amphibians, as well as some w a t e r- d w e l l i n g mammals. When we finally emerged, darkness had fallen, and we began the long drive back to Sedona, very happy that we had “accidentally” come upon this little treasure
of an aquarium. I hope to go back in the future to see how the construction projects have developed, and to check out what new creatures are there to delight our eyes and our imaginations. If you should find yourselves in the Phoenix area, I highly recommend a visit. It’s a bit off the beaten path, but certainly no more of a trek than many of us are accustomed to in this area. For Modern Aquarium's readers, most of these photos don't require captions, but I've provided a few that I thought might be helpful.
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White-blotched river stingray, Potamotrygon leopoldi.
Slipper lobster.
A face familiar to Modern Aquarium readers.
Horseshoe crab.
Sunfish.
Arapaimas.
Photos by Marsha Radebaugh unless otherwise noted. Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
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by SUSAN PRIEST hen you surround yourself with nature, sightings kept increasing, but experience had you never know what might pop up. Just taught us never to say never when it came to our when you think you know the rules, kuhlis. Over these many years that we have had Mother Nature rolls the dice! them, the last few kuhlis had grown to be quite A perfect example of this is my garden. It is large, and we hadn’t added any new ones for a very a veritable cornucopia of surprises. There could be long time. (When is the last time you saw any a hyacinth bulb sprouting up somewhere that I kuhlis in an aquarium shop?) Then one day know I didn’t plant one, or a rhododendron something very unexpected caught my eye. Yes, blooming in November. Sometimes the surprise is you have already guessed that it was a kuhli loach, how slowly something is growing, and that the BUT not just ANY kuhli loach. It was much fertilizer required is a double dose of patience, smaller than any I had seen for very many years. (along with some fish water). I never know what, Also, its color pattern was quite different from when, or where I will find something new, and what I was already thinking of as its parents. The when I do, it is older and larger always a source of fishes had vertical great joy to me. stripes of varying SCIENTIFIC NAME: Acanthophthalmus kuhli or I’m sure you shades of brown, Pangio kuhli know what I am whereas this one is COMMON NAME: Kuhli Loach leading up to. white and black. HABITAT: Southeast Asia Even in the closed The littlest FEEDING: nocturnal, bottom feeding, carnivorous environment of an l o a c h h a s BREEDING: Rarely observed. They will lay bright aquarium which we consistently eluded green eggs which adhere to the stems and roots of plants. consider ourselves me in my numerous No sexual dimorphism. to have created, and attempts to WATER PARAMETERS: soft water, pH 6.0, that we think we photograph it, so I temperature 75E-86E F have control over, will use words to ADULT LENGTH: 4" nature rules! For paint a picture of it SPECIAL CHARACTERISTIC: They are sometimes example, when for you. It is about known as “prickly eye,” because of the thorn-like spines fishes breed, one one and one half between their eyes. fry might have a inches long, and is pointed dorsal fin slim enough to where all of the slither through a others have a rounded one, or one fry might have drinking straw. The background color of its body a red caudal fin where all of the others have a blue is white, and this is overlayed by a checkerboard one. Anomalies such as these are the result of pattern of pinhead-sized black dots. genetics, and are rooted in previous spawnings. This unexpected event raises more questions These occurrences are not completely unexpected. than it answers. Here are just a few of them. Has In fact, those of you who are serious fish breeders it been in some hidey-hole for a long time? Was it actually hope for mutations such as these to conceived in the tank, or did a fertilized egg arrive emerge. attached to the roots of a plant? Is there more than I seem to be digressing a bit, so let me focus one of them, and if so, what will the next your attention on an unexpected event which took generation look like? Only Mother Nature has the place in my 90 gallon community aquarium. answers, and she is not going to reveal her secrets. Whenever someone asks me “how are your fish?” In conclusion, I hope that you have learned my standard reply is “old.” In spite of the fact that the following three things from my story: they receive a minimum amount of attention, most 1) Expect your aquariums to surprise you. of my fishes “live long and prosper.” 2) Accept the fact that you are not in control. A specific case in point has been our kuhli 3) Take notes, and (maybe) a photo! loaches. We could wait many weeks, and even many months, between sightings. Just when we REFERENCE: Aquarium Atlas, Volume I, Baensch, Hans A. and Riehl, Dr. Rudiger. Tetra are wondering if the last of them has taken its final Press, 1991. swim, one will emerge from beneath a piece of driftwood. (Sometimes all we would see was a nose or a tail.) The span of time between these
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Adventures in DIY – River Tank Article by Ryan Barton, KWAS (rabar10@yahoo.com). Photos by the author.
sponge Þlter setup called the Hamburg-MattenÞlter. The Þlter's German origin is clear from the name, and evidently the Þlter style is very popular among European hobbyists and breeders. A sheet of foam is placed across the entire cross-section of the tank. By moving water from one side of this foam ÒmatÓ to the other (typically with an air-powered lift tube), the tank volume is slowly pumped through the foam sheet like a massive sponge Þlter. Other equipment like heaters and bulkheads can be hidden behind the foam Þlter sheet, and Þlter cleaning maintenance is greatly reduced due to the large Þlter area and volume.
Expanded from KWAS forum post “My 125 planted stream tank” in DIY section, Feb 2009:
As I sat there enjoying BBQ food and good company, it struck me: Why not combine the two designs? One could take http://www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=11510 advantage of the water movement of a river-manifold setup by I have always been led to the more DIY aspects of the aquarium placing a Hamburg-style foam sheet across the tank and in the path of the ßow. This Òsponge wallÓ could then be used to hobby, due to my love of tinkering and an educational separate one or more submersible pumps from the rest of the background in engineering. This is in contrast to my biologically-inclined wife, who was the original Þsh-keeper and tank as well as to hide any additional equipment. With PVC return tubes buried in the substrate, a couple of risers with hobbyist, having even worked in an aquarium store several spray bars can return the water ßow at the other end of the years ago. We originally hail from the States and spent several tank. This eliminates the need for additional canister or HOB years in Indianapolis as members of the Circle City Aquarium Club. For anyone who reads the CCAC's Fancy Fins newsletter, Þltration, allowing the big tank to sit much closer to the wall and take up less ßoor space. The master plan was coming the February 2010 issue mentioned a certain 'Fish wives' club', together in my head, and I quite literally sketched out the idea and I think I was probably the Þrst male inductee to that on the back of a napkin. organization! When Kelli was admitted into veterinary school in Guelph, we knew that we would take at least part of our aquarium hobby with us across the border. While we chose to divest ourselves of the rack of 8 tanks along one wall of our apartment, we agreed to bring our 125-gallon tank as well as some other smaller tanks and stands with us. We acquired the big 125 from a relative and had it set up as a planted tank in Indianapolis with a Magnum 350 canister Þlter and big Aquaclear HOB Þlter. Once I knew we would be tearing it down, my mind started racing with different possibilities on what to do with it once in Canada. I ran into some designs for stream or river tanks while perusing articles and forum posts on the Internet, and particularly www.loaches.com. These setups typically use long tanks and recirculate the water from one end of the tank to the other via powerheads and pipes or channels. This creates a constant current-like ßow of water through the tank, and when combined with additional oxygenation of the water, the resulting environment is well-suited to Þshes from cool, fastwater mountain streams. I was introduced to another novel aquarium concept during an informal gathering at a local hobbyist's home in Indianapolis. Stephan Tanner introduced me and several others to a DIY
At this point, all I could do was dream and wait. We weren't tearing the tank down until a few days before the move, and all the measurements and planning really needed an empty tank for reference. I casually looked at pumps and PVC Þttings, but these thoughts were quickly pushed out by more pressing matters related to moving ourselves and our pets to another country. So, we eventually packed our things, tore the tank down, and then moved everything to our new residence in Guelph. As an aside, I'd like to make a fairly obvious point here. Moving a 6-foot-long, 125-gallon aquarium constructed of 1/2” thick glass is a real pain! I would say pain in the backside, but the pain wasn't restricted there―everything hurt after my wife and I picked it up and carried it in one continuous step, out of the truck and up the slight hill in front of our place, up the few steps to the door, around a bend in the entryway, and Þnally onto the waiting stand in our living room. At one point I asked my wife if she wanted to stop for a few seconds to take a break and adjust our grips. She said something to the effect of 'no, if we stop now we may not get started again!' In the style of polite Canadians everywhere, I've removed some expletives that made their way into the original phrase.
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Once in place, the following days were taken up with unloading, unpacking, and settling in. Those days turned into weeks and then months, as the few Þsh that were brought with us found their way into the smaller, easier-to-set-up tanks. I did manage to mail-order some Poret open-cell foam from Stephan, but otherwise our Òbig screen aquariumÓ sat in the living room, empty and dejected. Who knew, tanks actually have feelings... Finally during the 2008 holiday break, I found time to really get the project off of the ground. The massive 4Ó thick foam sheet was actually quite easy to work with. A straightedge and sharp knife were all that was required to cut it to shape. Its rigidity meant that I could size the sheet to be slightly larger than the tank's internal dimensions, and it would hold itself in place quite securely. This was the Þrst and easiest step to complete. I would caution against using foam sheets or pieces that arenÕt speciÞcally made or marked for use in an aquarium―foam designed for air Þltration may be impregnated with mold inhibiting chemicals that can wipe out aquarium Þsh. Next came the PVC manifold design. I decided that 3/4Ó PVC would make a nice balance between size, ease of burying under substrate, and availability of parts at the local hardware store. After picking up a few T-junctions and elbows for measuring purposes, I decided that I could Þt 4 pipes down the length of the tank. The vertical connections to the pumps and risers at each end could be made between the Þrst and second, and then third and fourth pipes. Eight T-junctions, 4 elbows, and about 25 feet of PVC pipe later, I had my manifold base dry-Þtted into the tank bottom. I cut slots for the manifold pipes into my sponge sheet so that it Þt tightly down to the bottom tank glass.
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water at all through the tank itself. I looked for some backßowpreventing check valves in 3/4Ó PVC, but could not Þnd any that were small enough and had a low enough forward pressure drop to work in this situation. This constraint led me to settle on using manual ball valves so that I could isolate either pump from the manifold at will. Fortuitously, this also led to another signiÞcant design improvement of the powered manifold system―active tank draining. If I could keep a pump from supplying the recirculating manifold, then I could redirect its ßow up and out of the tank and make water changes a heckuva-lot faster and easier. I settled for a 3-valve setup. I placed one ball valve between each of the 2 pump outlets and its manifold entry, and then a third valve formed a new vertical riser between the outlet of the pump closest to the front of the tank and a threaded PVC Þtting with screw-on end-cap, whose top remains below the tank surface. I brießy considered putting this riser at the back of the tank, but in the end, ease-of-use outweighed aesthetics in my mind. Besides, I'm an engineer, I want to show off my work! I built a separate PVC drain adapter which, after the end-cap is unscrewed, screws into this riser and uses a faucet-style valve with garden hose Þtting at the top to carry water out of the tank. Now on to the pumps. I focused on units that were compatible with PVC Þttings, and was looking for something with a fairly high ßow rate without breaking the bank. I Þnally settled on two Danner Supreme Mag-Drive 7 pumps, rated at 700GPH each. I Þgured that in reality, I would probably get 600 gallons per hour from each pump after losses in the plumbing. The pumps had 1/2Ó male PVC Þtting threads, so I used a threaded adapter and a short piece of 1/2Ó PVC to reach a 3/4Ó PVC adapter which connects to the rest of the plumbing.
I decided to go with two pumps and two return spray-bars in the design. Technically the manifold could have been created in two halves, with each pump powering its own spray bar via two PVC pipes across the bottom of the tank. In the end I decided to plumb them together, for the sake of structural integrity and ease of Þnal placement and assembly more than anything else. But this design had one signiÞcant drawback―if for whatever reason one of the pumps was not working properly, the second pump would simply push most of its water backwards through the failing pump, rapidly I removed the stock foam pre-Þlters from the pump inlets. I recirculating water behind the sponge but not pushing much wanted to save them the embarrassment of sitting, near useless,
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next to the Great Wall of Foam in the tank. Yes, as it turns out, foam pre-Þlters have feelings too! I did, however, keep the plastic pump inlet guards in place, just in case some unlucky Þsh manages to jump the foam sheet and get to this side of the tank.
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to be shorter than the other, the bottom spray bar leans in a bit to pass in front of the riser for the upper bar.
Now let's make one thing clear―I can play around with some tank Þltration stuff, but when it comes to the inhabitants and overall tank style, my wife still dictated the terms. Yes, dear, it My geeky math skills tell me that these pumps should turn over will still be a planted tank! We reused our old CO2-injection equipment, which consisted of a small CO2 tank, Milwaukee the tank's 125 gallon water volume roughly 10 times per hour. regulator, and pH monitoring system with cutoff solenoid Taking the tank cross-sectional area into account, if the ßow valve. Previously, the intake to our Magnum 350 canister Þlter moves evenly through the foam Þlter sheet, it would travel made for a convenient CO2 reactor to dissolve and disperse the through it at just under 1/4Ó per second. It's amusing to think CO2 into the tank water. For this new setup, I fed the CO2 into about how much more water movement is in this tank one of the pump intakes. The pump's impeller and the 6 feet of compared to most other freshwater tanks, but at the same time PVC manifold pipe make for a good reactor as well. Once air is how it's one or two orders of magnitude less than a river or a purged from the system, only occasional tiny bubbles are visible shallow, fast-moving stream-bed. Nature may often be coming out of the spray bars. I also fed the CO2 into the pump imitated, but it is never really duplicated. aligned with the lower spray bar, so the majority of the CO2 is For the Þnal assembly steps, I cemented the base PVC manifold injected into the base of the tank and not close to the surface. pieces together after the dry Þt. Thank goodness it still Þt into the tank after this step! Then I added the riser pieces for the spray bars and pump inlets at either end. After playing around a bit, I Þnalized the pump layout to minimize space behind the sponge but also keep the pump intakes as low as possible. The pump housings were placed down onto spare pieces of foam in an attempt to limit vibration coupling and noise. As a sidebeneÞt to this, I now have room to press down on the pump body to separate the pump from its manifold at the short, noncemented 1/2Ó PVC joining piece. This would be useful for pump servicing or replacement if needed.
To Þnish off the remaining tank ÒhardwareÓ, I Þlled the gaps between the PVC manifold tubes with Eco-Complete substrate and then placed a few mounted driftwood pieces on top. After these slate pieces were covered with a Þnal layer of substrate, its surface ended up about 3Ó above the tank base. Tank lighting comes from two 36Ó dual-96-watt power-compact Þxtures from the States.
For the outlet spray bars, I placed end-caps on two 3/4Ó PVC pipe sections and then drilled twelve ¼Ó holes along the length of each. The two spray bar risers are at different heights, so one spray bar end up being 6Ó from the gravel and the other is about 6Ó from the top of the tank. The spray bars themselves aren't cemented in place, so they can be twisted around, or removed to be cleaned or replaced if needed. Since the risers aren't at the very corners of the tank and I didn't want one bar
Once the tank was Þlled up, we started Þlling the tank in with some plants from Big Al's as well as a nice plant kit from Ed Òsucker4plecosÓ Koerner. After a few weeks of cycling, some Bristlenose plecos moved in, and then a colony of 50 cardinal tetra took up residence a couple of weeks later. As far as initial impressions go, the Þrst thing that strikes me is that those Mag-Drive units are loud! They are mainly designed for ponds, and while they aren't overly loud by themselves, it really doesn't help that they are coupled via rigid PVC pipe to the manifold and then the bottom glass of the tank. They are also somewhat inefÞcient, consuming about 70 watts each 24
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hours per day. Once I Þtted some Coroplast lids to the tank top, the tank temperature started rising fast! I now have to keep one lid propped up to allow for airßow and evaporation, which cools the tank back down to about 78 degrees in winter and 81 degrees in summer without any additional heating. Because of the higher water temperature, the tank isn't perfectly suited to species from cool-water mountain streams after all. In terms of plants, we have found that the tank space near the spray bars is well-suited to shorter plants like smaller Cryptocoryne species and Anubias plants. The long, ßowing Valisneria work well along the tank's back wall, where there is actually some counter-ßow back towards the spray bars. I think this is because of the lower spray bar leaning out towards the front glass a bit. We also found quickly that the glass and plumbing behind the big sponge quickly grew over with algae. Floating plants are now used on that side of the tank to reduce the light penetrating into the water and keep the algae levels down. I just scoop out some excess ßoaters any time that I do a water change on the tank. Speaking of water changes, they have become dirt-simple with the vertical riser and garden-hose adapter. I turn a couple of valves, unplug one of the pumps (to prevent a waterfall effect inside the tank when the level drops), and it only takes 10 minutes or so to drop the tank volume by half. I do these 50% water changes every 3 to 4 weeks now, which is much better than when we were in Indianapolis and it took siphons to drain the tank. Some mulm and detritus collects on and around the pumps in the area behind the sponge, so I use a spare PVC tube to stir it up while the tank is being pumped out. This is really the only mechanical Þltration or ÒÞlter cleaningÓ that I have ever done on the tank. So how has the Great Wall of Foam fared? The sponge became 'dirty' pretty quickly after the plants and Þsh took up residence, but after over a year, it has not yet collected enough crud to impede water ßow. There might be a 1-millimeter difference in water level between the two sides of the tank now. Ammonia and nitrite levels in the tank remain undetectable even after changes in the Þsh load.
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There is one down-side to the current setup. The large porosity of the 4Ó Poret foam that I chose combined with the fairly fast water ßow means that Þne particulate Þltration isnÕt the best. A couple of weeks after a water change, small particles are visible suspended in the moving tank water. The issue is more evident after a water change, where the water itself looks noticeably clearer. I'm sure that slowing the tank ßow would help with this, as would using a Þner porosity sponge or some additional mechanical Þltration of some sort. But for now I can't be bothered to change anything. Now that I've Þnished this project and lived with it for over a year, if I were to repeat it there are a few things that I would do differently: ¥ Use plastic or rubber tubing to couple the pumps to the PVC manifold. I think this would go a long way to reducing noise by preventing pump vibrations from coupling to the tank. ¥ Move the CO2 inlet past the pump impeller to reduce bubble noise. A piece of rigid air tubing could be placed into the manifold after the pump output and directed with the water ßow so that it creates a venturi effect and sucks CO2 into the manifold. I think the water movement in the manifold itself would do a great job of dissolving CO2 into water before being sprayed out into tank. ¥ Find more efÞcient pumps, so that heat isn't as much of an issue. A newer stream tank design found online uses a large recirculating channel at the back of the tank, fed by an efÞcient propellor-based powerhead designed for moving water around in marine tanks. ¥ To really cater to species native to mountain streams such as those in the Hillstream Loach family, reduce the plant load and lighting and substitute the CO2 injection system with an air pump to increase dissolved oxygen content in the water. Overall, I have greatly enjoyed designing, building, and viewing the results of my DIY river tank system. It was a fun learning experience, and I hope that others might take away a few DIY ideas to roll into projects of their own. - Ryan
Speaking of Þsh load, the tank's current occupants now include a colony of 9 clown loaches, a couple of angelÞsh, Cardinal and other tetra species, one large common pleco, several bristlenose plecos, and various Corydoras. Frankly, I'm surprised at how much time the angelÞsh will spend close to the spray bar outlets―I was worried that they wouldn't care for the fastmoving water, but quite frankly they don't seem to mind at all. Other plants that we have kept in the tank include Limnophila sessilßora, Sagitaria and Ludwigia species, sunset Hygro, Bacopa monnieri, a dwarf water lily, and lots of Java ferns. While some string algae may appear on the stem plants occasionally, the only other algae with signiÞcant presence would be the blackbeard stuff―it loves the spray bar outlet holes and the Anubias leaves and roots near the high water ßow.
This article is reprinted from the October, 2010 issue of Fins & Tales, published by the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society.
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Member Classifieds WANTED: For Restoration Project: Does anyone have some pieces of bubble-edge glass? Perhaps from a broken or old tank? Need three pieces -- Will pay! Please contact Steve: shhinshaw@gmail.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE: Need 6 1 2 3 1
to part with 10 fully set up tanks: Ten-gallon tanks 20-gallon-long 0-gallon tanks 125 gallon tank with wood stand and canopy
Call Gerry: 347-837-5794 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOR SALE: Fish Hobbyist’s Dream Home: $169,000! Fishroom: 15 X 26 – Almost 400 square feet. 10 Picture-window tanks, with builtin wall shelving underneath for storage. Room for more tanks, with pressurized air system throughout the room. Full sink (hot/cold) with work space; ceramic tile floor. Pond Room: 12 X 16 – Almost 200 square feet. 300 gallon indoor pond for tropical fish. Mag pump, ceramic tile floor, large cathedral windows, lots of light for growing plants. Gorgeous views. Great place to read the Sunday papers. Rest of House: 2 BR, 2 BA, HUGE kitchen with 49 cabinets and drawers. All rooms huge, LR/desk area. Almost 2,000 square feet. Central A/C. Climate: 340 sunny days last year. Mild winters with absolutely NO snow shoveling. Location: Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. Great name, huh? Was formerly called Hot Springs (and yes, we’ve got ‘em). Very friendly community. Cars actually stop for you to cross the street. Rarely hear a car horn. Two blocks from town. 26
August 2013
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
House Location: On historic site for Geronimo and his braves, where they ground holes in huge boulders (on the southern edge of the property) for cooking maize. Evidence still there (placard next to property). Just 20 feet below us stands a fish pond stocked with trout, and another hundred feet down is the Rio Grande River, for rafting, tubing, and fishing. For even greater bass fishing, we’re only five miles from Elephant Butte Lake, the largest lake in New Mexico, which also features water sports such as boating, swimming, fishing, jet skiing, etc. There are two marinas. View: Tremendous! From the front porch (completely tiled) you have the best view of Turtleback Mountain rising majestically above the park and river in front of you. Breakfast on the porch is breathtaking! Lunch too! Taxes: Only $600 per year. Summing Up: We’ve lived here for 19 years, and I both the fish pond and the fishroom built for my hobby, but I’m now 83, and it’s time to retire from the hobby. We watched our grandchildren grow up as they spent all their summers here. Irreplaceable memories. You could have them too. Charlie Kuhne: (575) 894-2957 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOR SALE: African Cichlids -- Fry to Adult size; plus filters heaters, etc. Call Derek: 917-854-4405 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR SALE: 75 Gallon Tank, custom wood stand, lighting, 2 filters.
Call Paul or Debbie: 718-908-8127 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEEDS HOME: Beautiful young orange & white tabby. Neutered male with chip. Smart, loving. Needs to be your one and only kitty. Call Dan or Marsha: 718-458-8437 Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
August 2013
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GCAS Happenings
August
Last Month’s Bowl Show Winners: 1 Jerry O'Farrell 2 Mario Bengcion 3 Richard Waizman
Blue Angelfish Dragon Blood Peacock Short Fin Blue & Gold Betta
Unofficial 2013 Bowl Show totals to date: Richard Waizman 14 Jerry O'Farrell Carlotti DeJager 5
A warm Gomes!
welcome back to renewing
11
GCAS
Mario Bengcion
members
9 Ruben Lugo
6
Akinwunme Durojaiye, Artie Mayer,
and
Florence
A special welcome to new GCAS member Juan Torres!
Here are meeting times and locations of some aquarium societies in the Metropolitan New York area: GREATER CITY AQUARIUM SOCIETY
EAST COAST GUPPY ASSOCIATION
Next Meeting: September 12, 2013 Speaker: Mark Denaro Event: Bettas/Labyrinth Fishes Meets: Meets the first Wednesday of the month (except January & February) at 7:30pm: Queens Botanical Garden 43-50 Main Street - Flushing, NY Contact: Dan Radebaugh (718) 458-8437 Email: gcas@earthlink.net Website: http://www.greatercity.org
Meets: 2nd Tuesday of each month at at 8:00 pm. Alley Pond Environmental Ctr.: 228-06 Northern Blvd. Contact: Gene Baudier (631) 345-6399
BIG APPLE GUPPY CLUB Meets: Last Tuesday each month (except Jan, Feb, July, and August) at 7:30-10:00pm. Alley Pond Environmental Ctr.: 228-06 Northern Blvd. Contact: Donald Curtin (718) 631-0538
BROOKLYN AQUARIUM SOCIETY Next Meeting: September 13, 2013 Speaker: Joe Graffagnino Event: Knowledge of Useless Stuff I Acquired... Meets: 2nd Friday of the month (except July and August) at 7:30pm: NY Aquarium - Education Hall, Brooklyn, NY Call: BAS Events Hotline: (718) 837-4455 Website: http://www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org
LONG ISLAND AQUARIUM SOCIETY Next Meeting: September 20, 2013 Speaker: TBA Topic: TBD Meets: 3rd Fridays (except July and August) 8:00pm. Room 120 in Endeavor Hall on theState University at Stony Brook Campus, Stony Brook, NY Email: Margaret Peterson - president@liasonline.org Website: http://liasonline.org/
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NASSAU COUNTY AQUARIUM SOCIETY Next Meeting: September 9, 2013 Speaker: TBA Topic: TBD Meets: 2nd Tuesday of the month (except July and August) at 7:30 PM Molloy College - Kellenberg Hall ~1000 Hempstead Ave Rockville Centre, NY Contact: Mike Foran (516) 798-6766 Website: http://www.ncasweb.org
NORTH JERSEY AQUARIUM SOCIETY Next Meeting: September 19, 2013 Speaker: TBA Topic: TBD Meets at: The Lyndhurst Elks Club, 251 Park Avenue, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 Contact: NJAS Hotline at (732) 332-1392 Email: tcoletti@obius.jnj.com Website: http://www.njas.net/
NORWALK AQUARIUM SOCIETY Next Meeting: August 15, 2013 Speaker: TBA Topic: TBD Meets: 8:00 P.M. - 3rd Thursday of each month except for July & December at: Earthplace - the Nature Discovery Center - Westport, CT Contact: John Chapkovich (203) 734-7833 Call our toll free number (866) 219-4NAS Email: jchapkovich@snet.net Website: http://norwalkas.org/
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There's the recently released DreamWorks Animation’s movie, Turbo, about a garden snail who dreams of racing in the Indy 500. And, there is news that a Tokyo spa is providing a snail facial by having snails crawl across their patrons' faces. The client’s face is washed and snails are gently placed on the cheeks and forehead to wander about A series by “The Undergravel Reporter” and leave their slimy mucus trails behind. “The snails’ secretions reportedly contain In spite of popular demand to the proteins, antioxidants and hyaluronic acid – all contrary, this humor and information ingredients that beauty product mavens will column continues. As usual, it does recognizes as components of some of the most NOT necessarily represent the expensive moisturizers on the market. These opinions of the Editor, or of the natural chemicals can purportedly help skin retain Greater City Aquarium Society. moisture, reduce inflammation, remove dead skin, and help alleviate skin conditions like burns and 1 HATE SNAILS! I’ve sat through any number of rashes.” In a Showtime® series* hosted by magicians presentations by skilled aquarists who commented on how snails are an important Penn and Teller (*the name of this series can’t be used in a family publication, but it’s another name factor in a so-called “balanced” aquarium. Nonetheless, unless I’m raising them as a source of for bovine detritus), a supposedly phony alternative skin care live fish food (I know t r e a tme nt u s i n g clown loaches eat them, snails was used to and I have been demonstrate what is informed by Greater known as the City’s resident “placebo effect.”2 It anabantoid expert that seems that Penn & paradisefish do, as Teller were a bit well), I don’t want them ahead of their time in my tanks. (and perhaps a bit Some aquarists put too judgmental). them in fry grow-out I wonder if I tanks to eat left-over could make some food. Sounds like a money out of this? good idea until one A Frenchman named considers what happens Louis-Marie Guedon to the food after it get’s was able to get eaten. In brief, it is subsidies from his converted into snail government and the http://newsfixnow.com/2013/07/17/hold-the-botox-therespoop, which I just can’t European Union a-new-anti-aging-treatment/ believe is any less totaling 130,000 euro polluting than the food. ($170,200) to extract snail mucus. He already has Personally, I think that those who stress the three contracts with local cosmetics labs and with importance of snails in the home aquarium just can’t 3 a Paris company that mixes cosmetics. get rid of them and don’t want to admit it. Ever So, anyone want to invest my aquatic snail hear an aquarist telling you the wonderful slime project? Being from “aquatic” snails may advantages of having duckweed? even mean their slime is more moisturizing! Anyway, apparently snails, or at least the
Slime is... Beautiful?!?
I
terrestrial varieties, are hot commodities nowadays.
References 1 http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/07/17/snail-slime-facial-coats-skin-in-mollusk-mucus/ 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mALsYDaKEE0 3 http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/19/french-farmer-developed-industrial-snail-slime-harvesting-pr ocess-to-feed-cosmetic-industrys-appetite-for-goo/
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)
August 2013
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Fin Fun Summer vacation season is upon us and for most folks that means some traveling. For aquarium hobbyists, that often means checking out local fish stores and public aquariums in other states (or even your own). So, this month, see if you can correctly match up the public aquariums in the right column with the location (City, State) in the left column where these aquariums reside. Answers next month.
City, State
Public Aquarium
San Francisco, CA
Shedd Aquarium
Sarasota, Fl
Maria Mitchell Aquarium
Chicago, IL
SciQuarium
Dubuque, IA
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
New Orleans, LA
Aquarium of the Americas
Nantucket, MA
Mote Marine Laboratory
Riverhead, NY
Seaside Aquarium
Greensboro, NC
Steinhart Aquarium
Seaside, OR Burlington, VT
ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center Atlantis Marine World Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aquaria_in_the_United_States
Solution to last month’s puzzle Common Name Headstander Four-eyes Thick-lipped gourami Bearded catfish Green Throat Mouthbrooder Elephantnose fish Firemouth cichlid Pseudotropheus yellow chin Toothed carp Brain Coral
30 24
Scientific Name Abramites hypselonotus Anableps anableps Trichogaster labiosa Scleromystax barbatus Betta chloropharynx Gnathonemus petersii Thorichthys meeki Maylandia xanstomachus Epiplatys chaperi Trachyphyllia geoffroyi
August 2013 August 2013
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY) Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY)