My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post pictures of your beloved catfish aquaria here. Also good for pictures of your (cat)fish rooms or equipment discussions. If you are posting pictures of identified catfish, please do so in the appropriate husbandry and reproduction forum above.
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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

We currently house 3 rescued adult Marbled Pim catfish aka Leiarius marmoratus and two of them are featured in the following video. A lot is known about them so I'll try to only mention anything noteworthy about ours.

The male (from Ft. Myers, FL) is thinner and is about 24" and is by far, like 1000x more active than the two females (I only go by their girth to sex them, having not tried anything else). He is first in the video.

Second at the end of the short footage is an ~28" female that we got about 4 years ago. She is an example that... well... things happen. I got her from a prior owner (in Sarasota, FL) out of a 4'x4'x2' rubber liner pond where it grew to ~2' along side a bunch of clown loaches and other small fish. She looked good though.

She's done well in our ponds too for a couple of years and for a year she's been fine in one of our 4500 gal. Then one day I noticed she's losing one eye, probably having got poked in it. Well, unfortunate but it is fathomable. Then some months later she broke her snout and not just at the end but the bone plate broke right about in between her eyes. I've no idea how or why it happened. She healed up apparently ok but the snout now... well, you can see for yourself, it's like a snow plow.

You try your best but sometimes things completely unpredictable happen. I still am clueless as to what happened. During that period of several months she was relatively active or might be even restless. She's been sedentary, calm before and after that period.

A third one is also ~30" (also from Ft. Myers), is sedentary, and came from a tank that was fed feeder fish sometimes, so I didn't risk placing it in the "peaceful" community. It went into the other 4500 gal with all the "street toughs" where it's been faring ok. In general, these catfish are utterly non-predatory, preferring very strongly pellets to thawed fish. Mine lived for many years along side 3" koi and other easy would-be snacks but never touched them.

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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Two Siamese giant carp, ~12", ~2 years old, in 4500 gal. I obtained them from Raymond Chan of Amazing Fish in the Summer-Fall of 2015 at ~5"-6". This is my second try. The first try was with two 4"-ers from Wes Wong several months earlier. They have done well but I transferred them too soon into the 4500 gal and in several days they got stuck head first in the drain screen that's a pipe with 1" drilled holes. That was devastating and I was so happy when I saw them again on Ray's list.

Ray's fish have done well so far adapting to the tank, tank mates, and my ways of feeding. They still try to get most food from the water column by incessant and stubborn filter feeding but now have learned to go down to the bottom too to get the pellets off the bottom. I try to feed as often as I can.

One of them has a sort of double tail, if you look closely, you will see there is a small remnant of another tail sticking out of the upper portion of the caudal peduncle :)

Their fins are often tattered a bit, especially the caudal tips and I used to think it was my two banded leporinus or Catla catla or maybe other barbs or silver dollars but recently saw one of the 16" VATF go after the upper caudal lobe tip. Still, they appear to be happy, outgoing fish:

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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Smaller pima. Shot same day as its first video. Just another example of Master beggar extraordinare: What are you looking at? Can't you see I am hungry and wanting?

(As a side note, I am starting to think this one is a male and the 2x bigger one in the other 4500 gal is a female based on their growth and behavior.)

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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Slightly better short video of Tor progenious, ~2', in 4500 gal, filmed as the above video of the same fish on Dec 2016:

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Blue mahseer, aka Neolissochilus stracheyi, ~15" in 4500 gal. Got it from Ivan @Aw3s0m3 on MFK now it seems like a year ago but this was filmed in Dec 2016. Like all mahseer, it is an incessant eating and prowling machine. Loves current, harassing new tank mates initially, and thawed fish, in the absence of which it is happy to try and get all the pellets it possibly can... and even some that it can't...

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Two Indo-Pacific tarpon, ~15", ~3 years old, in 4500 gal. I got 5 of them at 2"-3" from John at Aquarium and Reef Center in Cape Coral, FL. When they were small, they displayed a kind of flexibility that I think I have never seen in any other fish. It was as if they had no backbone, extremely agile and flexible and graceful they were in a 1500 gal pond for the first year of their life with me.

Two of them failed to convert to the non-live foods I was offering, despite having tried about 20 different kinds literally. One, by far the biggest, was rehomed into a 4500 gal very early on but then I had problems in there and miscalculated a medication dose. Thus, I am left with just two.

They grow slowly. At this rate, I'll have to live to over 100 years old to see them hit 3' :) Amazingly they prefer my cheap catfish farm pellets (and other pellets that are offered less frequently like NLS and Hikari) to any kind of thawed fish, etc. In the 3 years I've had them, it was only this week that I saw one briefly chase the other. Until then I only saw them in total harmony with each other and their tank mates.

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Some photos from one of the 240 gal:
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Jaguar cats new pair 1.JPG
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

...
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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

... Luciobarbus brachycephalus aka Aral barbel or Caspian barbel:
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Luciobarbus 1.JPG
Last edited by Viktor Jarikov on 07 Mar 2017, 23:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

...
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

...
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Toyin of Rehoboth Aquatics transferred this umbee cichlid to us ~1.5 years ago. It was about 7" and grew to about 9" in a few of our 240 gal tanks. It was a bit challenging to find compatible tank mates for it in 240 gal. Either it would harass them, even some as aggressive as purple Labeo, or they would as was the case with Asian red tail catfish.

It's done much better in a 4500 gal, where it has been for about 8-10 months now and reached ~14". It became ~completely relaxed. Every now and then it may get into a tiny argument with a ~14" flowerhorn. It appears to prefer high quality pellets to cheaper pellets, which it still takes, and to thawed fish.

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

True Brachyplatystoma vaillantii catfish, ~12", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016. Great many thanks to Wesley Wong for bringing it in from Suriname. Got it Summer 2016 at ~7"-8". After it had added on a couple more inches in 240 gal, it went into a 4500 gal. In every tank it was, it was always intact and lacked even any slight damage to its fins, while other Brachyplatystoma, such as capapretum, platynemum, rosseauxii, in the same 240 gal with it bore some damage to the fins. I tentatively blame the vaillantii. In 4500 gal it appears to have relaxed a lot. It is still damage-free and still has two nice extensions on both caudal lobes, despite having a bunch of nipping tank mates. It really likes its cheap catfish farm pellets and was ~12" in Dec 2016. Now, in Mar 2017 it looks to have added another ~2".

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Two vittatus African tigerfish, ~16", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016.

These two are from an original quintet I got from Wesley Wong at ~3" in Summer of 2015, which were my first ever ATFs. I gave them a bare 240 gal of their own. They were skittish throughout most of their time in that 240 gal and I remember being very afraid to spook them, walking by as far as I could from the tank, making sure no light was turned on near them, approaching the tank like a sloth when I had to feed them, etc... Wes scared me that they may slam into a wall and kill themselves.

Little by little they took to cut thawed fish as a staple. Then they started taking Hikari floating sticks too.

At about 6"-7" they went into a 4500 gal, which was ~1 year and a few months ago. They relaxed greatly in there. Despite having left a nightlight on, there were only 4 the next morning. The smallest one was eaten by a tank mate in their first night in 4500 gal. In several months after that, one evening I haven't turned the tank light on in time after it got dark and the tank was in darkness for ~30-60 min, and sure enough, as I feared there were only 3 now. Another one was eaten. Albeit I still don't know by which tank mate.

After that, the three survivors did very well for a long while, reaching ~12". They never schooled anymore and there was a clear pecking order - alpha, beta, and gamma. I relaxed and stopped watching them closely, only to find out several months later that somehow there were only 2 left. I've no clue what happened to the gamma VATF but I suppose the other two might have been too harsh on it for too long. Their chasing is lightning fast but not prolonged, not relentless; it is rather occasional, so I thought the beta and gamma were relatively safe.

Anyhow, this is how I ended up with just these two.

Aug-Sept 2016, I bought two more VATF from Wes, which have been growing in a 240 gal community. The $$ was tight. I really needed to buy 6 or more. They came in at ~3" and are ~6" now, eating the same diet of catfish farm pellet and thawed fish. They weren't nearly as skittish as the first 5, perhaps because there were plenty of calm tank mates in with them producing dither effect.

IDK how or when I might be able to try and place these two with the original two, if ever. I too got six ~3"-4" GATF from Wes a couple of weeks ago. It'd be ideal if I could house all ATF together at some point. But IDK how or when it'd be doable.

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Here is a video of the surviving Vieja melanura cichlid, ~14", in 4500 gal, filmed in Dec 2016, playing hide and seek with me. It pales up when I turn on a bunch of light for filming. Usually it is more colorful, as here https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... ie.677065/ ... but alive...

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Wels catfish, ~14"-16", in 4500 gal, filmed Dec 2016.

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Tank 22, 4500 gal, update filmed Apr 20, 2017:

10 RTC, 3 TSN, 7 pacu, 4 paroon shark catfish, 2 jau catfish, barramundi perch, arapaima, Distichodus sexfasciatum, 2 TSNxRTC hybrid catfish, Marbled Pim catfish, TSNxMarbled Pim hybrid catfish, Wallago leerii

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Viktor Jarikov
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

A 40-minute long in-tank video update of tank 21, 4500 gal, "relatively peaceful" community. Complete catfish list is below. Others include silver aros, cichlids, wolves, bowfin, yellowcheek, bala sharks, tinfoil barbs, Phoenix barbs, mahseer, pima, VATF, Catla catla, Siamese giant carp, red hook SDs, tarpon, giant gourami, gar, and pbass.

Niger catfish 5x (30"-36"; only one male/skinny; vacuum cleaners)

Marbled pim 3x (skinnier male and 2 fuller-bodied females 2’ each)

Marbled sailfin pim 3x (2’ each, indecisive, can never figure out the pecking order)

Iridescent shark catfish 4x (all ~2')

Black ear shark (~1'; calmed down a LOT with age and size)

Sun catfish 8x (7”-10”; gluttons lacking any self control)

Giraffe catfish 6x (two ~1'+ occidentalis cf Bouche; ~1' tanganicanus or tchadiensis or else (sold as from Volta river); ~1' one from Niger river,;~1' one sold as from Congo river, probably wittei; ~15" wittei named Happy from @Beetlebug515 )

Bolt catfish (~10"; character)

Albino Hemibagrus nemurus (~10”)

Pterodoras granulosus 3x (15”, 10”, 10”; gluttons)

Irwini catfish (~18”)

Vulture catfish 6x (~14"-20"; characters)

Aluminum catfish, Chrysichthys ornatus, 2x (~1’)

Tig catfish (~15”, 2 year old)

Asian RTC (~16”, from @rmkblades finicky even after many months in 240 gal but blossomed into an all out eating machine and model citizen so far in 4500 gal)

Brachyplatystoma vaillantii (~15" from Wes)

Piraiba (~22" from Wes; Suriname)

Sperata aor Indian shovelnose catfish 3x (~12"-15" from Raymond Chan)

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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

I got 5 little yellowcheeks aka Elopichthys bambusa from Wesley Wong of Rare Fish in California back in Aug 2015 at ~1"-1.5". Tiniest wigglers.

Because they have a simple, straight gut and similar to perch and bass their metabolism is very quick, they require frequent feedings when small, which lessens with age but remains a factor to keep in mind. They have been easy to feed for me from the start. I give them catfish farm pellet (Zeigler Bros) and thawed marine baitfish. When they are relaxed, their appetite is superb but they stress way too easy.

Although they ate well and grew well, I still lost 3 over many months to unknown reasons, eating one day, dead the next. Perhaps I am guessing I lost them to too soft water or unstable pH (my water was largely RO water with a little hardness picked up here and there, KH and GH of a couple degrees). Fixed my water since then.

The two survivors did well in 240 gal and I tried three (!) times to introduce them into 4500 gal.

The first try in 4500 gal was about Nov-Dec 2016, when they were ~16"-17" and they lasted a week in there. They've not eaten while in there and apparently have been harassed around. Eventually I think my two ~14"-16" VATF started biting them badly and I fished them out half-alive with ~all fins damaged, lots of scales missing, and a few deep fleshy wounds near the tail. So I placed them back into their 240 gal. They are shy fish that never answer back, only try to swim away. They stress way too easy. They are exceedingly timid with other fish. They have no teeth, their jaws are aggressively shaped but very smooth.

They healed up well and thickened up a lot in a 240 gal for a few months and added on a few inches, reaching 18"-20", so I gave them a second try in 4500 gal this Feb 2017. The first day my smaller ~1'-1.5' mahseer were giving them hard time (they do it to all new comers by biting their fins, not that they can bite them off, so I am not sure what they are trying to accomplish) joined by a 10" dorado, so I stuck a large fish net in the tank overnight. They all respect the net (or are afraid of the newness it introduces) and stop their aggressive behavior, giving new fish a chance to adjust at the expense of the old population being a tiny bit stressed.

Still for 4-5 days the yellowcheeks have not eaten. The bodily damage was a lot less than the first time, actually tolerable except the tails were getting more tattered bit by bit. Even saw my lonely koi lunge at them. What??

240 Gal was a bit too tight for them already. When they beg for food they do it exceedingly energetically, often hitting the glass lids and splashing water out even with weights on the lids. They are great swimmers and need space. Regrettably, I've got nothing between 240 and 4500 gal for now.

I kept hoping that maybe once they get accustomed and comfortable in 4500 gal, or when they get bigger, they would turn. There still was no big damage to the pair, just the tails were getting more tattered. Then one started feeding and rather well! The other got a good size bite on its flank, and kept showing zero interest in feed. In a few days, despite having at least a 50% success, more or less, I removed both into their 240 gal.

The third attempt has been ongoing for the last couple of weeks, that's May 2017, when they both reached roughly 2' in 240 gal. The scenario has been playing out about the same as the second try - slightly bigger and thicker one was doing much better than the other. In the first week, I missed the point of no return when the weaker one's been harassed too much. Removed it to 240 gal tank but about half a day too late. In one day it died.

Thus, down to my last cheek, which is still swimming in the 4500 gal, coping with aggression ok, eating well. It's a challenge to feed though because it darts from all other more aggressively feeding and snappy tank mates - pima, aros, and pbass.

[USER=121902]@sunnysjourney[/USER] reported about the same observations, with which I concur ~ entirely. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... st-7680476 I was surprised that Sunnys' did well with the GATF for a tank mate. I did note the tail tips of his cheek have been always (?) bitten off. I suppose it's the GATF. My VATF do it to many fish. But if so, it didn't bother Sunnys' yellowcheek enough that it stopped feeding.

Be that as it may, some photos of my cheeks and the post mortum too:
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Yellowcheek 2.JPG
Yellowcheek 1.JPG
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

...
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Unfortunately a post mortum report.

~17" Murray cod, 2 years old, from Wes. I think killed by Malachite Green treatment I've conducted against some stubborn external parasites in both of my 4500 gal tanks. Used the usual ~3-5 ppm dose. Too much of a coincidence - had two cods eating exceptionally well and growing and both perished within a few weeks after MG treatment. This was the first time all the fish in both 4500's had ever seen Malachite Green. I try to turn to medications as a last resort only, especially as harsh as MG is. I've been told Methylene Blue is far milder and its killing spectrum is wider.

The other cod is ~18". The tail is damaged post mortum, likely by our 6 vulture catfishes.

Interesting fish. Don't like each other at all of course. Swim very little, just sit on the bottom in one spot a long time then move to another in 4500 gal. They preferred catfish farm pellets but did take some thawed fish too. Didn't seem to care if they were in 4500 gal or 240 gal (one per tank in the latter case, of course).

Haven't noted much tank mate interaction, even with other perch and bass-looking fish in 4500 gal.
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

The other Murray cod:
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

17 video compilations made of snipets from the 40 min update.

































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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Martin S »

That's one hell of a collection Viktor! Sorry to hear about the Murray Cod losses, especially as you were only trying to eradicate the chance of disease! Is the 'project' seeing a good footfall? How much work still to do, or is it one of those that are truly never ending?
Thanks
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Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Hey Martin, thanks. We surely have been making progress, slow but steady. I am finishing the acrylic koi pond window 45'x3.5', got the EDPM rubber liner, next step is to glue the liner to the window and line the pond. I'd say we are 95% complete here. Need one final good push. Will film an update of the koi pond soon, if God is willing.

Once the koi pond is complete with a wet/dry filter containing 7,000 pot scrubbies and pumps and plumbing enabling 40,000-50,000 GPH, I need to:

-- finish the koi pond pavilion, namely walls, doors, and flooring,
-- drill holes and plumb overflows in my ten 240 gal glass tanks in the main pavilion (just one bottom drain proved problematic at times),
-- make the main 12 exhibits child-proof (they bang on the tanks scaring fish no matter signs, no matter parent supervision, etc.!),
-- pave and set up the parking lot and walkways,
-- concrete steps in the main pavilion to make them wheelchair accessible,
-- install a gate and signage on the road,
-- pass my final inspection by Florida Wildlife Commission,
-- get permits to exhibit certain restricted and prohibited species,
-- get my business license and certificate of occupancy, and
-- cut the ribbon.

Right now I have been out of commission with a blown lower back for a week. I need to cut grass on 10 acres - that's two days on my tractor mower. Two roofs in two of our houses on the property started leaking in the rain. An RO booster pump is leaking badly in the pump house. Etc. You know, the usual joys of house owners and business builders, who can't throw money at problems and tasks... they all keep delaying and delaying my project progress.

I've learned to accept it all. When I try to do more, I hurt myself, most usually my lower back. When it gets pretty bad, I could be bed ridden for a week and not being able to work for a whole 3 weeks. Bad disks. What I am having right now is mild. I can walk and serve myself. So this should take a week to start getting back to construction. Don't think I could do anything more or different.

I started building in Feb 2012. So here we are 5+ years later... but don't cry for me, Argentina :)
Thebiggerthebetter
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Viktor Jarikov
Posts: 5264
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Spotted: 4
Location 1: Naples, FL
Location 2: USA

Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Comparison of SJCAM 5000X Elite, $130, shipped direct from China versus GoPro Hero 5 Black, $400 from local Walmart.

Filmed side by side under water.

Tank 21, June 6, 2017.



Thebiggerthebetter
fish-story.com
crkinney
Posts: 328
Joined: 06 Jun 2010, 21:28
My cats species list: 9 (i:0, k:0)
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Location 2: Orange city fl. USA
Interests: Hunt ,fish ,watch fish and P.O. the wife
nick name MULE

Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by crkinney »

Your set up looks great ,keep up the good work.
mule
User avatar
Shovelnose
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Location 1: Mumbai
Location 2: India

Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Shovelnose »

Viktor Jarikov wrote: 31 May 2017, 17:06I started building in Feb 2012. So here we are 5+ years later... but don't cry for me, Argentina :)

That is a colossal effort there Viktor! Hats off for persevering, reading through the amount of work completed and remaining has made my legs quite rubbery!!
Balaji

Vicar: It's about this letter you sent me regarding my insurance claim.
Devious: Oh, yeah, well, you see, it's just that we're not, as yet, totally satisfied with the grounds of your claim.
Vicar: But it says something about filling my mouth in with cement.
Devious: Oh well, that's just insurance jargon, you know.
Viktor Jarikov
Posts: 5264
Joined: 26 Jan 2010, 20:11
My images: 11
My cats species list: 25 (i:0, k:0)
Spotted: 4
Location 1: Naples, FL
Location 2: USA

Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Haha, thanks guys! I appreciate your support and humor.

Now that I am trying to reflect and absorb it all, I would guess that I've been only able to devote half of those 5+ years to actual building due to the aforementioned reasons.

Anyhow, the show marches on. An update on ten 240 gal tanks and all the growouts, what not. June 14, 2017.

I've decided to switch to GoPro camera and sell my SJCAM. So all these are shot by GoPro Hero Black 5. I hope you will notice better clarity and colors.

14 videos.









Thebiggerthebetter
fish-story.com
Viktor Jarikov
Posts: 5264
Joined: 26 Jan 2010, 20:11
My images: 11
My cats species list: 25 (i:0, k:0)
Spotted: 4
Location 1: Naples, FL
Location 2: USA

Re: My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

...









Thebiggerthebetter
fish-story.com
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