PlanetCatfish.com

wow..too cool.

really fun to see all the tanks and occupants and plants and how you have the tanks with what caves and such inside.

really nice, thanks for doing that.

what was the last food that you feed those cool looking fish at the end of the second video? sounded like tetra furan...i couldn't quite catch it, even with rewlnding.

and you have a wicked cool accent!

Now thats one wicked fish room, must take so much of your time keeping all that up and running, thanks for the interesting viewing.

A video of kit and process, now that would be another interesting viewing, look forward to seeing that.

Andy

Actually, it takes 30-45 minutes a day and around 1 or 2 hours at the weekend. It frequently gets left alone for a few days at a time.

Jools

Jools wrote: There are a lot of your fish that don't get mentions but they were just not out when I was walking around. I might do a "special" on them later, but I think the next one will be a kit and process video.

I really enjoyed these videos, although my housemates gave me some funny looks.

Looking forward to more.

Question about the L204s - they are in a pH 8.0 tank. Is this to simulate a dry season, as I'm sure the natural habitat will get further towards 6.0 in the rainy season?

I kept them at about 6.5 and they seemed quite adaptable, as most whitewater fish are, I believe. They must be pretty mature by now. Ready to breed I would expect?

racoll wrote:Question about the L204s - they are in a pH 8.0 tank. Is this to simulate a dry season, as I'm sure the natural habitat will get further towards 6.0 in the rainy season?

It appears they're in a higher pH all year round according to my chat with Ingo about it. I don't think it's that important probably and it's closers to about 7.6/7.8 or so. The point being if I don't buffer it, it'll be pH 5.5 or lower in 6 months. They are ready to breed, but I am having trouble providing them with a decent tank as I am having to disturb them about twice a week to clean the filter. Time for a different approach.

Jools

Hi Jools, great videos and a fantastic fishroom, i thought the pseudohemiodon were superb, i've got a 30" tank which i'm now thinking could be perfect for these, do you know if they'd be better in a group or a pair?
Just got to find some now, MH@oxford are saying on tropicalfishfinder that they have some Apithanos in stock so if thats true it may be worth a long trip down there!
Col.

andywoolloo wrote:what was the last food that you feed those cool looking fish at the end of the second video? sounded like tetra furan...i couldn't quite catch it, even with rewlnding.

Tetra prima, also sold as Tetra colorbits.

Jools

evesonevo wrote:i thought the pseudohemiodon were superb, i've got a 30" tank which i'm now thinking could be perfect for these, do you know if they'd be better in a group or a pair?
Just got to find some now, MH@oxford are saying on tropicalfishfinder that they have some Apithanos in stock so if thats true it may be worth a long trip down there!

The species I have appear to be the smallest of the genus. I have crammed a pair and two spare females into a 36x15 tank - I wouldn't try to keep a pair in anything smaller to be honest. I would keep in a group as at least two of the females spawn with the male.

Jools

The ones at MA@Oxford (Wheately) are offspring of Jools' fish, by the way. They were owned by Rupert Collins before he moved to New Zealand.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:The ones at MA@Oxford (Wheately) are offspring of Jools' fish, by the way. They were owned by Rupert Collins before he moved to New Zealand.

Well, that means they're not then. How much are they going for at what size?

Jools

Jools wrote:

MatsP wrote:The ones at MA@Oxford (Wheately) are offspring of Jools' fish, by the way. They were owned by Rupert Collins before he moved to New Zealand.

Well, that means they're not

Pseudohemiodon apithanos

then. How much are they going for at what size?

Jools

Ah, yes. They may or may not be then!

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Mats

Those neosilurus and madtoms are too cool! And I was under the impression that madtoms just hide under a rock all day.

The ones at MA@Oxford (Wheately) are offspring of Jools' fish, by the way. They were owned by Rupert Collins before he moved to New Zealand.

That was about a year ago now, when I took them to the shop, so they may or may not be the same fish.

Alternatively, they may have got a new wild shipment of either the real P. apithanos or the misidentified P. sp. "marbled".

It's very nice to be able to revisit the fishroom while sitting in my own living . Great videos!

zenyfish wrote:Those neosilurus and madtoms are too cool! And I was under the impression that madtoms just hide under a rock all day.

Only if keep don't stuff the tank with plants like their natural habitat. Add plant cover end they're happy.

Jools

Jools wrote:

MatsP wrote:The ones at MA@Oxford (Wheately) are offspring of Jools' fish, by the way. They were owned by Rupert Collins before he moved to New Zealand.

How much are they going for at what size?

Jools

If i remember correctly they were £11.50 , quite small, 3-4 "TL

Thats a lot cheaper than i'd thought they'd be, seriously tempted now just the 400 mile round trip putting me off.
Anyone from round that way popping up north by any chance?
Col.

if they still have them, & you want some, i might meet you somewhere in the middle - ish, perhaps...

Richard B wrote:if they still have them, & you want some, i might meet you somewhere in the middle - ish, perhaps...

That would be great thanks Richard, i'll give them a ring tommorow to see if they've still got them in stock.
Col

What kind of goldfishes are Bill & Ted? They are cool. Are they commons or comets?

Cool.

Matt

what size are most of those tanks in the fish room, like the one the goldfish are in, they mostly seem that size, also what substrate are you mainly using? Like in the barb tank with the suspicious granulosas and the goldfish tank.

oh and p.s. what type are they , they are beauiful.

I heard you say they are 18 " front to back.

Wow, just catching up on this post - those videos are superb!

1) Thank for letting my hear my Great GrandDad's accent again, a very natural story-telling accent

2) That's blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) in your antique tank Really feel silly advising you but if it's still there, vacuum and then increase the flow, mini power head across the sand - poof gone.

3) N. ater, still my all time wish list fish - they are bee-oo-tiful! Absolutely no catfish compares. Graceful, whiskery and svelte.

4) Really good idea with the pond liner flaps.

5) Hoplo tank, what's on the surface, it's looks like it's duckweed? I tried duckweed in mine but they kept eating it all.

6) Just being nosey but what's the posters near the back wall? Looks like maybe a fish species poster? Maybe PC could get some of our more artsy types to each draw a fish, produce something similar and the profits go back to the site? I'd buy one or three if it was all catfish.

Thanks for taking the time Jools, nice tour!

andywoolloo wrote:What kind of goldfishes are Bill & Ted? They are cool. Are they commons or comets?

They're about half way between both. If they were dogs they'd be mongrels - one has a hair lip.

Jools

andywoolloo wrote:what size are most of those tanks in the fish room, like the one the goldfish are in, they mostly seem that size, also what substrate are you mainly using? Like in the barb tank with the suspicious granulosas and the goldfish tank.

oh and p.s. what type are they , they are beauiful.

http://thepieraquatics.blogspot.com/200 ... barbs.html

Tank sizes are mostly in "My Aquaria".

L number Banana wrote:Wow, just catching up on this post - those videos are superb!

1) Thank for letting my hear my Great GrandDad's accent again, a very natural story-telling accent
2) That's blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) in your antique tank Really feel silly advising you but if it's still there, vacuum and then increase the flow, mini power head across the sand - poof gone.
3) N. ater, still my all time wish list fish - they are bee-oo-tiful! Absolutely no catfish compares. Graceful, whiskery and svelte.
4) Really good idea with the pond liner flaps.
5) Hoplo tank, what's on the surface, it's looks like it's duckweed? I tried duckweed in mine but they kept eating it all.
6) Just being nosey but what's the posters near the back wall? Looks like maybe a fish species poster? Maybe PC could get some of our more artsy types to each draw a fish, produce something similar and the profits go back to the site? I'd buy one or three if it was all catfish.

Thanks for taking the time Jools, nice tour!

1) Glad you liked it - I'm not very good at any other accent!
2) I know, it's just lazyness on my part, it's been eradicated now by putting the (strong) light on for less time/day.
3) Yeah - that's why I've built a tank around them.
4) Ta, not my idea originally (Colin Dunlop suggested it to me), just added on the design. I've recently seen this done with black polystyrene and duck tape too.
5) Yup, that's duckweed. If I stop feeding them, they eat it eventually.
6) There are some l-number posters and two great fishes of Southern Africa posters that Shane gave to me.

Jools

So, looking now at replacing the various air pumps in the room with one big pump. Anyone got recommendations and pics of their implementations?

Cheers,

Jools

I have an Atman 12000 HP (or something like that - I saw that Neil had one or a similar in March). Only drawback is that it's a noisy thing... Besides the tanks themselves, I have 6" airstones in my RO water storage, and all three sump systems, so a total of 14 airstones, and it's still so much that I have to release some air with a piece of air hose with nothing connected to avoid too much air into the tanks. It does something like 110 liter per minute (as opposed to the bigger small airpumps that do 50-400 liter per HOUR).

My air distribution is just regular 6mm airline routed all over the place. However, if I redid it now, I'd use plastic pipe and drill 4mm holes that I stuff a "airline male-to-male connector" into the hole, and run airline only a as far as is needed - mostly because it makes it possible to run new airlines wherever/whenever, rather than having to either find a suitable line to branch, or to route one all the way from the airpump to wherever it needs to go. But the pump I got has a 12-outlet manifold to connect 6mm air-hose.

Edit: I'd probably use standard overflow pipe for the distribution of air if I did it over again.

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Mats

Great job Jools, wonderful to see how this has developed over almost 2 years, I look forward to more pictures & videos in the future

I was curious as to why you decided to go for lots of smaller / medium size tanks rather than a smaller number of big tanks? An issue with space / layout, or just that you like to keep lots of different fish and therefore need the large number of tanks with different setups?

Jools wrote:So, looking now at replacing the various air pumps in the room with one big pump. Anyone got recommendations and pics of their implementations?

Cheers,

Jools

I'm not sure if they ship to the UK, but I got my air system supplies from www.jehmco.com. I use the 80 liter per minute linear air pump and it supplies plenty if air for 1000 gallons with about 40 outlets. It's rated for up to 80 outlets so I have room to expand. I just put the fishroom to bed but I'll try for some pics tomorrow. I use a system like Mats mentioned with PVC pipe running around the room and air valves drilled and tapped into it. It's a PITA to drill and tap the holes and then Teflon tape the valves, but worth it in the long run. The best part of the linear air pump is that it is very quiet - probably equivalent to a standard 2-outlet air pump.