Fishroom Fysics

"Physics" might have been a difficult subject in high school or college. Why do we need this in the fish-keeping? This is using the natural laws of physics to work for you. Yes, work for you - do some tasks for you. Since fishes live in water, these physics-related tips would revolve around water - specifically, water change. Here are four 'concepts' that I find most useful:
1. Gravity. Things from up have to go down.
2. Balanced level. Water balances out to one level. Higher "levels" of water will flow to lower "levels" of water until both sides have the same level.
3. Sealed systems. In a sealed system, water will continuously flow as it becomes one mass.
4. Density. It is easier to suck up air (light things) than water (heavy things). If air gets in your system, it is no longer sealed and flowing stops.
All of them are connected so it is beneficial to see how they work together. The first three concepts are essential in making water flow. The last one is important as a fail-safe. For example, if you forget you were draining a tank, not all of the water will be sucked away and your fish will survive. The following images are simple designs that uses these concepts.

My contraption of hoses, switches and Y-joints. These help create a long sealed system and allow water to travel from one end of the fishroom to the other.

The high end draining water from aquarium. Gravity dictates that things from higher places goes down.

The low end flushing water to a pond. The water level (at the end of the hose) will never reach a balanced level with the water where it's draining from. Thus, water continuously flows.

Overflow with net so fish don't escape.

A smaller example. Water drains from a fry tank to a bucket using an air hose.

The draining end uses an airstone to prevent sucking in fry. The airstone has holes all around. The higher holes will suck air and thus un-seal the system and not all the water will be drained.

The draining end.

The filling end. Gravity, Balanced Level and Sealed Systems.

Rubber strips are useful for wrapping and sealing leaks.

I hope you get some ideas about using physics in your fishroom. There are other applications that I have not explored or discovered yet because what you might need may be different from what I need. Apply your ideas to what you find most useful.

Happy Fish Keeping!
EESDA

Tubifex Experiments (Day 13)

Here's the previous one: Day 3.

Well, I've been away on a family vacation. (By the way, if you want some tips about holidays and fishes, here's a post about it) I left my fishes with a relative.

What I forgot to tell you is that I bought a starter culture for my tubifex. I dumped it in the tubs containing gravel from my planted tanks. I never had the chance to take a photo (even now because the camera broke during the trip).

I want home today. I noticed that there are tubifex cocoons. This means that my tubifex are breeding and growing. I've seen a lot of them. But they still don't have the distinct red color (hence the nickname "bloodworms"). They're still a very light brown.

I continue the drip programme and refilling the 100gal tank every morning.

Tubifex Experiments (Day 3)

Here's from Day 2

This day is pretty much nothing.I refilled my 100gal tanks. I will cycle the tubs for at least a week. I also intend to adjust and get used to refilling the tanks everyday.

Sorry, no pictures for today.


Substrate
I am thinking for substrate. I'll use my coarse gravel found in my planted tanks as a base. That is the easiest solution. It is gravel straight from a cycled tank.

So, just wait until I update again!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 2)

Here's a link to Day 1

The pictures here are taken roughly 16 hours after I started my drip test. The big hose is too strong. It drained the tank to my minimum water level even before the 16-hour mark. The small hose is still dripping and I'll wait for the 24-hour mark. But, I think there is a chance that will also be able to drain the water to minimum level. So far, I plan on utilizing the small hose and if needed, adding a clamp to restrict water flow.

Here are some pictures:

The tubs have been filled and overflowing through the handle holes.

tub of small hose

tub of big hose

The effects of draining the 100gal tanks

effect of small hose

effect of big hose

One thing is for certain. The water change for the tub is more than 1; I am guessing around 7-8 times. This is due to the relatively strong drip and the small size of the tubs. I think this will work.

Thanks!
Keep checking!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 1)

I'm testing out how I could culture tubifex worms on my own. I asked around what I need to keep them alive:
1. Oxygen (aeration)
2. Running water (water change)
3. Substrate
4. Food

So, I came up with a no-work (I hope) system to solve #1 and #2. This is using a drip system design. I take water from my tanks to my tubifex. The movement of water solves the aeration problem. The water change is pretty much obvious. The excess water from the tubifex tubs will just overflow to the soil.

Here are some pictures of what I set up

"Sipping" from the big tanks

"Pouring" to the tubs
They've just been set up so the water is still really shallow

I chose two sizes of hoses: smaller (first picture) and bigger (second pictures). I did this for comparing which hose size would be more effective for tubifex.

Fingers crossed. I hope one (and hope more that both) would work. This could help my fish be stronger, healthier and happier.

So, I hope you keep in touch and watch for updates!

Daphnia Culturing (With Pictures)

I wanna share with you breeders out there how to culture your daphnia for you baby fish!

Let's start first with the base

The Fish that poop for me
Some fish can't be left alone without aeration. They need to have filters. So instead of throwing away the waste, why not use them?

The Filter Is Black Magic
Of course, poop has to go somewhere and away from your fish. So we check the filter.

Scalares without Aeration

This is how I keep, breed and raise my Angelfish

Community

Pairs

Juvies

Tropical and 'Cold Water' Fishes Together?

It has been always told to keep tropical with tropical and to keep cold water with cold water. This is true and correct. However, there are some ways to go around this rule. One can keep tropical and cold water fish together in such a peaceful way. With this type of approach, the hobbyist have better variety on the contents of his fish tanks. Cold water fish like goldfish have been placed in planted tanks with no ill effect. Then, why not go a step further and put the goldfish in a tropical planted tank?

Assuming the hobbyist is already aware of the considerations in size, food and behavior; what else should he consider in order to keep these two different classifications of fish?

It is best to have fish that are both born and raised in the same country. Why? It is because both fish have adapted to the same climate and same waters which make it easier for them to go together. Similar parameters mean they can share the same aquarium.

If the optimal consideration above is not met, the fish hobbyist can opt to slowly acclimatize both to a common parameter then slowly adjust to a warmer temperature. It is better to keep fish in warmer temperature for them to be less likely prone to infections. Also, the cold water fish will be more active than in the usual cold water environment they used to be. However, since the fish are more active, the filter needs to level up and clean the additional waste created.

Here is a rough guide on slowly acclimatizing the fish:
1. Start of with using water from the same source (not only the same tap but also the same aging tub) during water changes.
2. Place the aquariums beside each other. This is unnecessary if the tanks share the same room.
3. Exchange the two tanks' waters. 2gal (less if the one or both tanks are less than 5gallons) every 15minutes and do this thrice every 2 days.
4. After 2-3 weeks, you can try joining the fish together. Add 1 fish first and observe. If the fish is doing well, then transfer the rest.

Raising Mixed Spawns

Having many fry and few tanks is a problem especially if the fry are not yet at the point where one can choose the best and cull the rest nor is it at the point where they can be sold or given away. Or maybe one just wants to make space for other fish and fry. One may resort to raising mixed spawns. It can be one of four cases:
Case 1. Same species, same strain just the different birth dates and/or parents
Case 2. Same species, different strains
Case 3. Different species
Case 4. Combinations of the other three cases.


Here are some tips and considerations:
Case 1. There is little to no chance of differentiating. Size is a clue but not always because there can be runts and shooters in the spawns thus obscuring any size differentiation. However, for genetics sake, keeping fry of the same parents together is recommended.

Bad Luck From The Survivors

A while back, I had difficulty raising my spawns. Thus, I end up with only one or two fry only. It is fairly recent (during the summer when it was not rainy yet) that I was able to increase the size of spawns.

Why "Bad Luck From The Survivors"? In bad conditions, there will only be less than a handful of fish or fry left. There is little chance that you can find a suitable pair especially with obviously one or two survivors. Also, the spawn could be huge but with a strike of bad luck, they are all males or all females. Although, this second incredibly unlucky scenario has a small chance of occurring but it still happens. Then, the continuation of the line is now a problem for the breeder.

Going on Holiday

Sometimes we can't avoid going out of town and of course, we can not bring any of our fishes, so here are

MY TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR VACATION

1) Get someone to feed your fish if (a) you'll be gone for more than a week and/or (b) you have eggs/fry.

2) Instruct that person face-to-face and provide a demonstration on feeding.


3) Label the tanks accordingly with what, how much and when to feed.

4) Give instruction on the preparation of these foods (e.g. hatching Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS), harvesting microworms (MW), catching mosquito larvae, etc.)

5) Pre-pack food to make it easier for the caretaker!

6) Make a manual. This will summarize everything you have taught about feeding, food preparation and everything else.

7) Do a water change (WC) a day or two before leaving.

8) Do not leave any aggressive fish pair together.

9) If parents are with eggs, leave them together. Don't if the parents won't show any parental care. If parents with fry, remove the parents. Fry have less likely to die than eggs to have fungus.

10) Provide a simple solution (fool-proof) to any problem that might arise while you are away. For example, WC in goldfish tank in case fish show difficulty breathing.

How Low Can You Go?

At one point in our fish-keeping hobby, we aimed for high-tech and almost completely automated tank while at the same time, housing so many colorful fish of many different species. Maybe, some are still dreaming of it to this point. It is easy to get these ideas of technology and fish-keeping in planted tanks. There is a lighting system, a filtration system, a CO2 diffusion system and of course, fish and plants. There are also some fancy sounding items like rain bar unit, gravel jet, undergravel filter, etc. It is so easy to plan this high end tank with all its high end components. But, it is also easy to go beyond a reasonable budget.

So, let us start trimming down the tank system. How low[-tech] can you go? Remove the rain bar unit, gravel jets, CO2 diffuser and every other fancy apparatus. What's left? All that remains is the lighting system, the filter (or maybe an aerator), gravel (and maybe some decor) the tank, water and the inhabitants. This is considered as the "basic" system. But, how low can you go? Remove the lighting system and also the filtration (or aeration). Using natural light is fine for most hobbyists. However, some would say that taking out the filter might be too much already.

The "below basic" system would include the tank, the water and the fish. The plants and gravel are other components that can be explored. The "Below Basic Tank" (BBT) is maintained like any other more equipped tank. Feed everyday. Water change weekly or on any other schedule the hobbyist desires. Remove algae. Everything is the same. However, there are some adjustments the aquarist must make for a BBT.