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Albuquerque here!

8K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  mybrotherdarrell 
#1 ·
I bought an Eclipse System 6 almost exactly 3 weeks ago (noon Wednesday Aug 9), planted it (100% anarchis, then later some other celery-leave-like plant), put in rocks (mostly jasper, petrified wood and some quartz crystal atop regular gravel), water (britta filtered, then a week later started adding Prime for my water changes). 48 hours later (1pm Friday) I added 4 Head & Tail Light Tetras . One died 60 hours later (actually it acted like it was dieing, so out it went...). Snails came on the plants. Ammonia down to zero by about the 19th, nitrite down to very low by the morning of 8/28, so I bought another H&T (can't argue with success... and they're cute). All seems to be going well. The last time I had fish was in the mid 1960s. I'm no expert (yet) but I'm having a bit of fun. Better to watch the fish than TV (since the Daily Show and Colbert Report are on vacation at this time ;)
 
#3 ·
Another Albuquerquian here as well. You guys ever interested in bringing in a shipment of Fish, Plants, or even Fish Food and sharing the shipping?

Also, I posted this in the other thread, but if you guys need anything I am always willing to help out a fellow aquarist, let me know. Have a good one!
 
#4 ·
That's a nice offer, IN! I'm probably optimum with my three small tanks (6 and 10 gallon, and a little starter about 1 gallon)... but I'm always telling myself I can use more plants :) I splurged at Dr. Foster 2-3 months ago and am well stocked with food (for fish and plants) and prime. My 6G has 5 H&Ts (who love me madly), and my 10G has 11 fish (3 pygmy cories, 4 Glowlights & 4 Black neons), thus my reason for thinking I'm at optimum for livestock. Plants come & go, though, and since I'm a frustrated gardener (tucking things here & there into my apartment complex's landscape -- and that's full up now that Fall is here), I'd like to play with more plants. I live Downtown, near 6th and Lead and travel on Suntran. We should start a club :) ("Duke City Fish Fanciers"?) Meet at The Aquarium maybe... or in Clark's back room (if they have one)...
 
#6 ·
I like the name!

Where did you get your fish? I have never seen any pygmy cories here in town, but would like to get some for my shrimp tank.

You sound like me with splurging at Dr Fosters and Smith! I just got my shipment last week because they were having their red tag sale.

Also, Bigalsonline.com has free shipping ever once in awhile. I got some 72" VHO Bulbs for my 135 with free shipping! Gotta love that. The tank was a reef tank before I bought it so the guy had a really awesome light setup. Too bad my fish eat all my plants now so I cannot get anything to grow that quickly!

Anyway, the offer still stands. Money is tight this time of year for me and the fam but I am always willing to chip in to help out a fellow enthusiast!

- Chris
 
#7 ·
I've gotten all my fish to date at the Clark's on Lomas. The Pygmys are usually in a tank in the set of tanks to the immediate west/right of the "easy beginner fish" wall (i.e., mostly tetras). I've had a total of five Pygmys from them (all bought early last fall), and three remain in apparent happy good health. Clark's do mark their tanks, but because the cories are tiny (my biggest being a touch over .5"), you may really have to look hard to see them on the bottom, blending in. You might call first to see if they are available. I can't recall exactly, but I believe they were $3 to $5 each.

edited to add that if you visit Aquaria Central, my avatar is a lucky shot of my three cories, and my name there is the same as it is here, DebbyS.

I splurged at DF&S before the red tag sale, drat... but I got things that Clark's doesn't have sometimes (Kent's freshwater plant fertilizer, though I did get my first bottle at Clark's), and now I have enough food/fertilizer/prime for the coming winter :)

I went looking/surfing for bulbs for my 20" Coralife aqualight and wound up buying some from an outfit in Florida, the name of which I have at home but not here at work. They were very helpful, especially after I misunderstood the real size of the bulbs (about 8"), not 20" (If I'd just looked, I would have had less problems...). I'll find the name and mention it here since they sell other things, too.

What plant-eating fish do you have? My fish (all tetras except the cories) I think are carnivores for the most part so don't bother the plants, though I swear one time I saw a tetra bump into a water sprite and it looked like he/she had take a little bite, maybe just out of curiosity.
 
#8 ·
I definitely need to go over to Clark's and check out their cories. They had a large Ancistrus sp. pleco over there that was awesome but they wanted way to much. That is my one problem with Clark's is that their prices are not great and their fish quality is fair to marginal. I have had really back luck with the one on Menaul because I do not "wait" and let the fish stay at Clark's for a week or two before I get them.

My only purchase was 15 Red/Blue Columbian Tetras (Hyphessobrycon columbianus) from the one on Lomas and ALL of these fish are alive and kicking almost 8 months later. Except for one that got crushed under a rock while I was trying to move them from quarantine. :(

In my 135 I have a large Green Severum (over 7 inches), two juvenile sp. "Rotkeil" Severums, 6 Geophagus sp. "Bahia Red" (about 4 inches each), the now 14 Columbian Tetras, 3 L200 Plecos and 3 L134 Plecos. Because this was my first planted tank I went nuts and purchase a huge "package" from Aquariumplants.com when I got the money and it was great. Then my fish started to pick at them. Now, out of 10 species of plants I have one Species of swords (4 of them), Jungle Vals, and Java fern. All of which stay pruned because the severums eat at them. Oh, and i do have two Gourami's in the tank that were residents of a 55 that we turned into a community tank. They are messing my "South American Biotope" so I will be moving them soon.

This tank has been setup for more than a year and has taken me that long to get all the fish I wanted into the tank. I am traveling this week on business and when I last left my fish had begun to "flash" and I hope that I am not having an Ich outbreak.

Anyway, sorry for the novel...sometimes get a little carried away.
 
#9 ·
Anyone interested in setting up an Albuquerque freshwater aquarium club?

Perhaps with an emphasis on planted aquariums? I moved from Seattle and really enjoyed the local club there, learned sooo much. We had speakers every month, traded fish and plants, had a plant auction once a year and an equipment/fish auction once a year.
 
#10 ·
Would love to setup a club here in town for nothing more than to swap information. Sometimes it is so much easier to say, "What is that and how do I fix it." I find that no matter what the experience level of the hobbyist, if they are truly wanting to learn, you will always benefit from one another.

PM me if you all need anything...don't have much but always willing to share.

- chris
 
#11 ·
I regret it's been a while since I checked out this part of the forum. I can only blame work being crazy and then, when I'm home, I'm on dial up and too lazy to wait :)

Clark's quality. I think they're nice and knowledgeable, but it's difficult for me to get anywhere else to compare, though I recently discovered that after a long bus ride, it's only a 3-4 block walk to the PetSmart way up on Eubank north of Central. I don't think I'd buy fish there, though they might be fine; it's way too far to transport a fish home on the bus. Ditto for the PetCo on North San Mateo -- too far.

I did discover several months ago that I had gotten a free fish from Clark's. I had gone in for plants, which they don't get often enough due to lack of space for even a small order, so it was suggested I might want some hornwort from one of the tanks with fish in it. I was looking to plant a home-made nano (as an indoor garden), and hornwort was better than nothing, so I asked for a good handfull which I'd split between 3 tanks (a 6G, a 10G and the nano).

I got the nano going with a (get this) GE Aquarium/Plant light. Strangely, +3 months later, the plants are doing just fine under that odd 18" light. But a day or two after putting the hornwort in with some anubias and java fern, I noticed a tiny speck moving around in the nano. How I saw it, I don't know, I was at least 4 feet away. The speck was a teeny/tiny fish, for whom I had to get a heater and a nano-sized filter (the things we do for specks of life!).

The speck is now +1/2" long and was transfered 10 days ago to the 10G, where he/she is having a blast with huge fish like glowlights and black neons to get chased by (but fortunately he/she is smarter than them). Someday I'll write an essay about Lucky Buddy Phrie (LBP).

Here's the complaint about the Clark's. I checked the tank the fish-lette came from and it was labeled "Giant Dwarf Gourami." The largest of the fish was about 2" long, and they were all a sparkly brassy... but otherwise kind of plain brown/tan. This is why for a while I thought LBP might be a Head & Tail Light (without the "lights" yet) since I had gotten water from those five fishes' 6G tank and maybe they had an egg or two that had survived being eaten and... But no, I think not. I've written Clark's about helping with a better ID, but a week later they have yet to answer. I just don't want LBP to turn out to be a behemouth; I'd have to take him/her back...

And I'd LOVE to be part of a Albuquerque freshwater club with the caveatte that meetings can't be in my small apartment downtown, and while I could probably get to a meeting okay, I'd have to leave early to catch a bus home.
 
#14 ·
Sorry I haven't checked out this part of the board for a while. The last few times I did, there was only my last post. Today -- more New Mexicans chatting!

Pat, my tiny fry, now known as Lucky Buddy Fry, turned out to be a male Australian Rainbow. He went from being no bigger than "o" (not including tail) and hard to see to easily 2", so I did something right and I'm proud of raising him to a strapping young teenager without actually being prepared for him. A fish his size costs $8.99 at Clark's "on sale".

I put him in my 10G tank when he was at 1/2" and he started enjoying himself immediately. He's turned into quite a little pig, eating anything that I drop onto the surface and recognizing me and the chance for more food when I approach. Sometimes I fear for the 4 black neons originally in the tank but they are getting enough food with no one appearing to starve.

Because I'd like to have more tetras and pygmy catfish, but think I'm at optimum stocking right now (one Australian Rainbow, 4 Black Neons, 2 pygmy catfish),
I'm thinking seriously that I need to find Lucky Buddy Fry a new home. Here he won't get anything bigger than the 10G, and though he has fun navigating through all the plants and he's healthy as a race horse and doesn't know any better, I think he'd thrive in a bigger environment.

I'd happily give him away to a good home (that home would have to be fully described), though his new parent(s) would need to come get him and bring a big net, too :) I'm not certain how I would catch him, but some preplanning (lowering the water level, cordoning off areas of the tank, etc.) will probably mean success, tricking him into a net or a jar perhaps, using against him his penchant for darting to the surface (but not out of the tank ever so far) to grab food.

If you or any reader knows of anyone with at least a 20G tank and in need of a 2" fish approxiately 10 months old and full of character, a person with transportation or who lives in the Downtown Albuquerque area, we should chat :)

Oh, and since I last wrote here, I set up a 2.5G tank just for plants, but it looked so nice that I found a homesteader for it at Walmart, a common red betta named Bob, who is as far as I can tell quite happy. Walmart beats Clark's at Bettas at least.
 
#15 ·
Moving to New Mexico

Hello all! I live in Denver right now - my fiance just got a job down in ABQ so we're making the move soon. (hopefully my the middle of January)

I have some plants that I am of course willing to share (java fern and moss, jungle val, two crypts (one is tall, narrow and green, the other is short wide and brown), hairgrass and sunset hygro) - but if you guys have anything specific you want me to poke around up here for, I'd be happy to bring it down - it's only a 6.5 hr ride - too much for fish I think, but fine for plants.

Also, I am very interested in joining or starting a planted tank club. I think that would be fun and very helpful.

I will be setting up a 50g+, 20g, and 10g down there. So, if anyone is restocking their tank or had some babies - let me know. I'll be needing a lot of fish, and from what you have written, it sounds like there isn't a heck of a lot of choice as far as stores go. (I've been so spoiled - three really great local store within 25 minutes of me here in Denver).
 
#16 ·
Hello all! I live in Denver right now - my fiance just got a job down in ABQ so we're making the move soon. (hopefully my the middle of January)

I have some plants that I am of course willing to share (java fern and moss, jungle val, two crypts (one is tall, narrow and green, the other is short wide and brown), hairgrass and sunset hygro) - but if you guys have anything specific you want me to poke around up here for, I'd be happy to bring it down - it's only a 6.5 hr ride - too much for fish I think, but fine for plants.

Also, I am very interested in joining or starting a planted tank club. I think that would be fun and very helpful.

I will be setting up a 50g+, 20g, and 10g down there. So, if anyone is restocking their tank or had some babies - let me know. I'll be needing a lot of fish, and from what you have written, it sounds like there isn't a heck of a lot of choice as far as stores go. (I've been so spoiled - three really great local store within 25 minutes of me here in Denver).
i read some where that some one made a move of over 2000 miles with their fish and they all made it.
 
#17 ·
Most of the fish I purchase online come in overnight with at least 24-30 hours of "bag time", I think they will be fine as long as they are warm.

I am always willing to share whatever kinds of plants I have...and I have some pretty huge swords if you would like some for your 50+ tanks. I also have so many Endler's live bearers that I do not know what to do with them all so you can have a whole bag of those too!

When you get into town post on the forum and we can all meet or something. Best of luck in the move!
 
#18 ·
heck thats another reason to make a trip to ABQ. on the 17th some free plants :D


oh and as to transporting the fish get a 5 gallon bucket a heater, and power inverter, place the bucket on the floor board in the back seat, place the water heater in plug it into the inverter, plug the inverter in. cover the bucket, might not be a bad idea to put and simple air stone in as well pump plugged in the inverter as well. if you plan in any over night stops bring an extension cord and a filter. :) happy travels.
 
#19 ·
Okay - so the fish could make it - I'm just saying it will be a pain - and I don't have a tank set up to put them in once I get to Albuquerque - which is a shame, I went to Clark's pet emporium today (we're visiting to pick out a house to rent - I'm going to be in the Tanoan community - it looks like a nice place, but I digress) - the fish are tremendously expensive here - $4 for a molly? $10 for a clump of java moss!? - hopefully some of you need to do some online ordering soon....

Looks like my 'move in' date will be the 20th - so I'll post back then!
 
#20 ·
I hope your move-in went well. Sorry about this sudden bout of cold weather (though it's at least 30 degrees colder in the area of Colorado Springs, according to a client who lives up there). But rest assured the weather will warm up again quickly and we'll be dry...

I also regret not checking back here sooner. I don't need any plants though. Lately (seems like every two weeks) I've been giving extra water sprite to Clark's (on Lomas) because that plant has been growing like mad. It's proper, though, to give it to Clark's since I bought the original plant from them.

If anyone needs a fish, Lucky Buddy (no longer Phrie) is now close to 3" long and while he seems to enjoy his planted 10-gallon tank, he doesn't know any better and I'm sure he would be happier in something no less than twice as big. If he goes to a better home, come spring I can get more appropriate fish to keep my four pygmy cories company in the same tank. I'd be happy to give away LB, an Australian Rainbow who is smart enough now to almost realize that seeing me may mean he gets fed. But I don't have a car nor a plan to catch him (a few ideas based on his darting up to grab food), so anyone who wanted me would have to visit me in downtown Albuquerque.

I also have a betta, Bob, who developed pop eye in one eye, argh. He gets a 1/3 to 1/2 water change in a 2.5G tank about every 3 days, so I don't think it was unsanitary conditions. But if it was, I've added coloidal silver and aloe vera juice to his water (just a bit of each) and even some garlic, all to kill problem infective agents or to sooth. He seemed to be able to see out of the affected eye until recently. I don't know what I'll do for him if the other eye starts popping. He is otherwise looking fine, eating, and swimming about... poor little guy... but a good buy at Walmart last year (Clark's bettas always look a little worn...).

Buying plants in town I've discovered the PetSmart on Eubank is pretty good. The long bus ride and 1/2 mile walk are good if the weather is nice. I would visit the one near CostCo on the north end of town from time to time (if I got a ride there) and was always disappointed -- until recently, when I found they had TopFin tube plants, including some nice looking anubias nanas! I bought one for about $4 (not the $6 rung up, I showed them the proper price) and it is doing well. Clark's plants are nice -- when they have them. They seem to get in a shipment and sell them immediately, most of the time. When they do have plents of plants... I don't need any. Again, this is the Lomas store. I've given up on the PetCo store on north San Mateo.

I have bought all my fish (or got Lucky Buddy by accident) from Clark's, mainly because they are the closest. The WalMart on San Mateo between Central and Zuni has a pet department with fish. The last time I visited they had some tempting plants but no clerks to help. I felt sorry for the fish, though, because taking any plants from their tanks would deprive them of a bit of variety in life.

I'd like to join a local fish club, too, if only to pass along extra water sprite and one big fish :)

--I just noted the board calls me an "Algae Grower". I'll strike back with advising the use of hydrogen peroxide. It kills the hairy stuff, particularly on Java Fern. It turns that algae a bizarre orange red color... :)
 
#21 ·
--I just noted the board calls me an "Algae Grower". I'll strike back with advising the use of hydrogen peroxide. It kills the hairy stuff, particularly on Java Fern. It turns that algae a bizarre orange red color... :)
The algae grower name is only because of the number of posts and other things. Personally, we ALL are algae growers.

So hydrogen peroxide works on BBA (Black Beard Algae)? Will wonders never cease. Why have I never read about that before? I have two Anubias barteri that are covered in the stuff because my cichlids eat the leaves. Anubias are always touted as "hearty" with cichlids. Guess my fish never read that part.

A couple of notes on PetCo and Petsmart plants. I have seen that they put fish into their plant tanks, which may be pleasing to the eye, but if the fish are diseased (which they always seem to be in my luck/experience) and you put your great new plants in and baam...your fish have Ich. Once again my one experience that has made me never go back.

Just my $.02
 
#22 ·
Spot treat an area with a shot of H2O2 (which can be bought about any where, usually in brown plastic bottles). I found that it spreads around a 2.5-Gallon tank quickly, though, and causes everything to bubble (which Bob didn't seem to notice; it didn't bother him, and I think extra oxygen wouldn't bother common freshwater fish). Within an hour or so, or as long as overnight , the BBA (short, dark, hairy looking stuff) begins to turn a sort of orangy red, rather pretty actually... and eventually it dies away. The treatment seems to last a long time, too. I also had BBA in some water sprite (in my 10G tank), in the center of the plant, so I poured H2O2 there (maybe a tablespoon full), and it worked fine.

The only ich I have dealt with was in September of 06, I believe, not long after I set up my 10 gallon. I had some cory cat fish and some black neons and I think that was all (I have it in a diary somewhere at home). The BNs developed the ich. I raised the temperature and added a little sea salt (which I use in the kitchen anyhow), then got on line and started reading everything I could. Someone developed a natural cure that I twisted with my own ideas: more sea salt (maybe totally 2-3 tablespoons over the course of the treatment), a tincture of chile powder (local roasted and ground red chile) to scare the ich, maybe a tablespoon or two; no doubt some bits of fresh garlic, also to scare the ich; a few sprigs of fresh mint (scary and gives fish fresh breath); and a few slurps of aloe vera juice to heal any ich scars. The ich disappeared pretty quickly, no fish were harmed at all, all the plants were fine, and I eased the temperture back down from 84 to ~78, but I waited a month to buy and add the glowlight tetras I had planned before the ich, since ich has a life cycle one has to take into account. Raising the temperature might have been enough... but I like to experiment with natural remedies if I'm sure it won't actually do any harm.

At the PetSmart on Eubank I think I have seen a fish or two in with their plants. More fish in with the plants at the PetCo. And a fish or two in with the plants at Clark's on Lomas. In all cases I thought maybe the fish got in there by accident (or via a customer). Lately I notice Clark's plants do have a lot of algae growth, so if I were to buy any from them, I'd probably give the plants a quick dip in H2O2. Not a long dip though: I did that to an anubias nana one time, letting it soak for 10 or 15 minutes in straight (3%) h2o2 to kill the algae, and the plant nearly died... but it has returned, so it wasn't a complete, expensive (~$8) loss, whew! From now on I'll only add h2o2 to water, or for a new plant maybe swish it in h2o2 quickly (15 or 20 seconds maybe).
 
#23 ·
Hello, everybody! The move went well, thank you. All of my plants lived! Hoorah! I only have one of each kind right now, so I'll have to wait a while for them to multiply before I can trade them or give them away (which may take a while in my super low tech tank).

I have read about fish getting ich from 'infested' plants before, but the article also said that you just have to quarantine your plants in a fish-free tank for a few days because the ich needs a fish to continue it's life cycle, and if there are only plants, it should die pretty quickly.

I'll be setting up my 40 soon (I still haven't checked if it sprang a leak on the trip down...). So, if anyone has an experimental substrate they want to try or wants to help, let me know. I'm game for just about anything as long as it's cheap. Maybe Lucky Buddy would enjoy calling it home. *shrug*

Let me know if you all do want to get together some time to talk fish, plants, 'fancy dirt', etc. I haven't actually met anybody with a planted tank yet (except for store employees), so I think it would be fun.
 
#24 ·
Welcome to Albuquerque. Have you gotten your tank set up yet? Would love to get together a group of aquarium plant lovers. There seem to be so few of us here :( and I am finding it really hard to find any supplies. Has anyone a good lead on a place? Talk to Clark's and they said they would order things and plants but haven't tried that yet.
Let us know how the setup went. :)
 
#25 ·
I have a *somewhat* related question.

How many left turns did Bugs Bunny miss while passing through (or under) Albequerque?

Every time I hear the name I think of him popping out of that hole. "Oops. Guess I should have taken that left turn at Albequerque" lol
 
#26 ·
Hi, all! I got one tank set up, but then found out I have to move to Iowa for 4 months - so I didn't set up any more...

So, I have a 29 tank with three blood fin tetras and one female betta. Would anyone be interested in babysitting them and some of my plants for a few months this summer? I am leaving April 16th, so I need them out of here by then. I can give you my whole set up to babysit or just the plants and fish! Any baby plants that you get while you are babysitting you can definitely keep. I have low-light, low maintenance plants - a couple crypts, anubias nana, a ton of java moss and fern, some jungle val and a pretty lotus. I am sure I can fit everything in the a 10g - so if you have room in a kid's room or something and want to borrow my fishes and plants from April 16th until August 23rd ish - let me know!

If anyone is interested in just babysitting one or the other, let me know too. I just want my babies going to a good home!

Thank you so much!

(I've had my set up running for two months without disease or problem - a small miracle considering I got them from petsmart and wally world)
 
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