Repashy Soilent Green Aufwuchs Gel Premix (Review)

I love otocinclus catfish but I'll be damned they are challenging to keep alive! They tend to only eat soft brown algae and once that's gone, they waste away and usually die from starvation or some other stress related disease. :(

I bought 6 last summer and now only 2 remain. All the ones that died died from starvation. They were all super active at first but when their food source became depleted, they wasted away.

That's why I wanted to try Repashy Gel Mix. I asked the guys at Aquariums West (Local fish store) what they fed their otocinclus and they said - Zucchini and Repashy.

So I did just that. I had some frozen zucchini (courgette) chunks in the freezer. I popped them in the microwave for about 2.5 minutes and then threw it in the tank. My kuhli loaches loved it. So did the otos...when they had a chance to even touch it. My siamese algae eater ate it too.

Then I tried the gel mix.

Mix 1 part dry mix to 3 parts boiling water. Stir and let it cool down. As the pungent green liquid cools, it becomes gel. It's basically like making jello mix...but the ingredients are fish food. Stinky. Bleh. But once made, you can keep in in the fridge for 2 weeks and a few months in the freezer.

I bought a large tin of it (the only size I could find) and I haven't even made a dent in it yet.

So the good news: otos liked it!

Bad news: so did all the other fish and shrimp!

I had mixed the gel mix in a small plastic container and sealed it. When I wanted to feed the fish, I cut out a small cube and toss it in the tank. When mixed CORRECTLY, the gel cube maintains its integrity for 24 hours and doesn't dissolve and pollute the water. Apparently this is to simulate "grazing behavior" and encourage fish to eat a bit, swim and play and come back to eat more...

Yeah, doesn't look that appetizing...

Well...

Not my greedy piggies.

They just all kept pecking at the gel chunk until it was all gone.

Must be really yummy.



Cheers,
Chesmok

Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer 25-Foot (Review)

Tired of practically breaking your back carrying buckets of water back and forth from your aquarium to the sink?

Sick of mopping up dirty, spilled water after every water change?

Exhausted from spending 35-40 minutes changing out a measly 20 gallons of water from your 75 gallon tank?

(You get my drift...)

If you own a fish tank bigger than 20 gallons, there is no reason why you should not be spending a good $50 CAD and buying yourself an Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer. And if you own a tank larger than 45 gallons, and you haven't already gotten this device, you must be crazy.

Here's the Amazon.ca link:

http://www.amazon.ca/Aqueon-6089-Aquarium-Changer-25-Foot/dp/B000YAJKL6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1423693614&sr=1-1&keywords=aqueon+water+changer

I was skeptical at first too. I'd heard about these hose-like aquarium water changers for a long time, but it seemed expensive and not that useful in my mind. It was finally my fiance who convinced me to buy this. (Thank you!) I was grudgy about spending even more money on yet another water-changing device. After all, I'd already purchased 3 different gravel vacuums and a bunch of buckets.

But after a gruelling day of doing a 60% water change (I was tearing down the cichlid setup and doing a freshwater aquascape) on my 50 gallon and practically flooding my living room floor, I decided to go on Amazon and buy the damned thing. 

It arrived in about a week (Thanks Amazon!) and the shipping was free (Thanks Amazon!) 

My immediate grievance: the packaging in the ad looked like a simple plastic bag. What I actually received was THE TOUGHEST hard plastic blister packaging I have ever encountered in my life. It was as if they were trying their very best to prevent customers from EVER opening the packaging. 

Toughest packaging I have ever encountered in my life

It literally took me 1.5 hours just to open the f***ing thing. I had to use: heavy duty scissors, a can opener, and a butcher knife as well as my bare hands. The cut open shards of plastic would scratch my arms...

When I finally opened it, I took everything out. Very sturdy tubing. Good adaptors. Everything looked well made and good quality. I removed the faucet adaptor and tried to hook it up to my kitchen sink faucet (the only one that's closest to my fish tanks). No luck for 35 minutes. 

I watched a Youtube video about it. Still no luck. Frustrated and nearly in tears, I tucked away the stupid piece of $hit and decided I was going to return it. Never again, I vowed. Never again.

(To be fair, the packaging comes with 3 or 4 different sized adaptors so it fits most sinks. Mine was just...unique...I suspect)

But I got carried away and never got around returning the thing and it just sat in my closet gathering dust for almost 3 weeks. By then I figured, I could try and buy another adaptor and if that failed, I could resell the water changer.

So I visited my local home hardware store (Canadian Tire as it were) and lo and behold, they carried a "Faucet to Hose Standard Adaptor for all N.American faucets". I bought it for $8. It was stainless steel.

I tried for 15 minutes to put this new adaptor on my faucet until I realized there was an aerator covering the top. That had to come off. (If you don't know what an aerator is, it's a covering for the faucet that looks like a small screen) Once that came off, I finally figured out that I had to match the threads and screw in the adaptor COUNTER CLOCKWISE. That's the key. COUNTER CLOCKWISE or it won't go in people!

After I fit in the stainless steel adaptor, I hooked up the Aqueon plastic adaptor to it and the water flow assembly (the long bit with an open end and the blue switch) followed. I pushed one end of the tubing into the water flow assembly and twisted it tight. (See photo 1) Then I attached the other end of the tube to the gravel vacuum end (near the other blue switch). The plastic was very rigid so I had to blast it under hot water to soften it up a bit first. 

Next, I submerged the gravel vacuum end into my aquarium. 

Step 3 here is important. Flip the blue switch attached to the faucet UP (this opens up the water flow assembly so tap water and aquarium water can come out of the base) and flip the blue switch on the gravel vacuum bit to the RIGHT (optional at this point). 

Step 4. Turn on the faucet. Water should be gushing out of the bottom of the water flow assembly. Next, with the other end of the water changer fully submerged inside the aquarium, flip the blue switch on the side UP (if you closed it earlier). It should be parallel to the suction tube. You should see water slowly rising and going into the tube, into the hose and out through the sink. 

Note: if it's a small water change (5-10%) keep the faucet on. However, if you want to save water, especially if it's a bigger water change (10% or more), once the suction is fully started (you see dirty aquarium water exiting through the faucet adaptor) you can turn off the faucet. Water will continue to leave your aquarium due to sheer physics. 

If you don't understand how to use regular gravel vacuums, see my previous post about How to Use a Gravel Vacuum. 

Gently, just barely touching the gravel or substrate of your tank, suck up bits of rotting plants, leftover food and debris. DO NOT shove it deep into the substrate as this will release harmful nasties that were never meant to resurface. 

Remember to cover areas under rocks and driftwood (where debris tends to build up unseen)

Step 5. Once you have finished vacuuming and changed enough water, leave the suction end inside the tank while you go to the sink and flip the blue switch on the water flow assembly to the RIGHT. This closes the bottom of the assembly. 

NOTE: If you turned off the faucet to save water earlier, you must turn the water back on, check the temperature of the tap water FIRST before you flip the switch on the water flow assembly. This is to make sure that the tap water you refill the tank with is not too hot or cold.

NOTE: If you didn't turn off the faucet, you still need to check the tap water temperature before flipping the switch.

Once you flip the blue switch on the water flow assembly attached to the sink, tap water will flow through the plastic tubing, OUT through the gravel vacuum and into your tank. Make sure at this point that the gravel vacuum end's blue switch is OPEN (UP)

As you refill your aquarium, measure out enough water conditioner for the amount you changed out. (I.e. if you changed out 20 gallons of water, measure out enough to condition 20 gallons of tap water) Some advise you add enough conditioner to condition THE WHOLE TANK VOLUME but I find that wasteful and unnecessary. Take the amount of conditioner you measured out and pour a little in every corner of the tank to spread it out.

When you are done filling up the tank, go to the sink and turn the blue switch attached to the water assembly (this starts up the sucking again). Remove the gravel vacuum portion of of your tank and take it, along with the tubing, back to the sink. Hold up the gravel vacuum until all the leftover water is sucked out of the tubing. Detach the water flow assembly from the faucet.

All done!

Sounds like a nightmarish, complicated process but it's actually SUPER EASY and once you do it once, you'll never have to think twice about it again. Changing 20-25% water from my 50 gallon tank used to take 40-45 min and it was super messy. Now it takes about 10 minutes and I don't even need to do much. No more back pain. No more spills. 

Partial water changes are critical to maintaining a happy, healthy aquarium!

If you have questions, comments, let me know!

Thanks for reading

Chesmok

PS: If you just want to do a simple water change and NOT vacuum the substrate, just tuck the gravel vacuum under the hood/cover/light of your aquarium and it will just change the water. Careful, sometimes small fish get sucked up by this powerful vacuum if you're not careful!

Swordtails Sex Change

I've noticed this for a while now but just thought about sharing this topic with you all today.

Swordtails' Mysterious, Magical Sex Change

Many many months ago, I bought what I thought was 1 male and 3 female Pineapple Swordtails (Xiphophorus Helleri) from my local fish stores. The lone male was small but had a really long "sword" and was incredibly aggressive towards the others. After about a month, his aggression was resulting in severely stressed out tankmates so I couldn't bear to continue housing them all together. I took out the aggressive male (after half an hour of netting struggles) and put him in my 50 gallon.

All was well. All the fish started acting less stressed out and were generally happy after the mean bully was relocated.

Female Pineapple Swordtail (notice the triangle shaped anal fin and huge belly)

Until 2 months after the relocation...

After one of the youngest females gave birth, I noticed that the 2 other "females'" tails were getting pointier. And their anal fins were changing from a "triangle" to a "stick" shape. Wtf?

Usually you can sex platies and swordtails by looking at their anal fin. Females have a triangle shaped anal fin and have rounder bellies whereas males are longer and thinner and have a gonopodium (sexual organ).

Male Pineapple Swordtail with Gonopodium

Well, imagine my surprise when a few weeks after I noticed the females' pointier tails, the tails grew out almost overnight and BADABOOM - They turned into males.

Well, some of you may say they were probably males to begin with and just were too young to develop their "swords". Wellllll....mayyybe. But highly unlikely. These "shemales" were fully grown - almost 3.5 inches when I bought them. They were huge! How could they possibly be that big and not have developed even a small tail yet? Also, these "shemales" had very round bellies. And they had a triangle anal fin.

I am still puzzled to this day. I thought maybe it was just some weird freaky accident. But I recently purchased a DEFINITE female pineapple sword. Mature. 4 inches. Triangle anal fin. The experienced shop owner even said she was the "old mother". Said she had lots of babies. 

I brought her home maybe 2? weeks ago. She has already started developing a "Sword" and her triangle changed into a gonopodium!! Freaky!!

I brought this up when I saw the owner of my local fish store and she said sometimes when there's a dominant male, it will try to fight (and maim) other males in order to try and mate with the female(s). Male-male aggression is especially bad when there's only 1 female (as was my case). So as a defence mechanism, sometimes males will "hide" their "swords" during development and pretend to be a female in order to avoid harassment. Perhaps that's the answer...except male swordtails harass females too....Just to a lesser extent. I guess male-male harassment is more lethal because they are trying to show off their dominance whereas male-female harassment only involves endless chasing and wooing. 

What a conundrum. If any of you out there knows what's going on or have speculations, please, I'd love to hear about them!

On another note, I purchased 3 gorgeous "Red Neon Painted Platies" this afternoon at Aquariums West. They are all males and have adapted perfectly to my tank. I would just fall right off my chair if these 3 males turned into females for some reason. 

I keep my swordtails and platies in my 36 gallon (76-78F, 7.5-7.8 pH)

That's all for now folks.

Chesmok

Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED Plus

Well, isn't that name just a mouthful.

I bought this LED light bar during a Boxing Day sale at King Ed's. After much back and forth and internal debate, I decided to buy the 24-36" model for my 36 gallon bowfront. Cost about $140 after taxes. It would've cost $200.

This is the link for this beauty:

http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-led-fixtures/satellite-freshwater-led-plus/

Dimensions: 22.8"x3.5"x0.44" (very long but thin and not very wide)

If you read my previous post on getting ripped off on eBay with cheap knockoff LEDs, you'll be happy to know I learned my lesson.

Without further ado, let's make a PROS & CONS list:

PROS

• Current Satellite LED fixtures are brand name and include warranty. (Unlike the cheap knockoffs off eBay I bought) 
• Very easy to remove packaging and assembles in about 5 minutes. Plus another 5 min if you want to set the time and timer.
• Runs on a preset timer if you want it to (slowly gets brighter to simulate sunrise and dimmer for sunset)
• Very affordable in my opinion compared to other brands; great quality at a great price
• Cheaper to run in the long term. To replace each fluorescent bulb on my 36 gallon would cost about $25 each every 8-12 months or so. I was running 3 x 24" fluorescent bulbs on my 36 gallon and it still wasn't bright enough. If I kept replacing the energy hogging fluorescents, it would cost me $75/ 8-12 months. So this LED light will pay for itself in less than 2 years. 
• Very slim - 0.44" that's 1.1cm thick!! (My bulky fluorescent light fixture was about 10cm thick)
• Very light - about a pound
• Adjustable legs allow this light to be used on an aquarium as long as 36"! That means 40-50 gallon aquariums!
• 
  
  
• RGB leds - these are what make this unit worth more. RGB lights are essential for plant growth because they supply the right light spectrum for photosynthesis. And this unit has 24 RGB as well as 48 White LEDS. My plants have flourished under this light!
• Only runs 18watts vs. 45 watt fluorescents
• Wide angle LEDs mean that though this unit seems very small, it packs a lot of light emitting power and scatters bright light to all corners of my 36 gallon tank, easily.

• Color customization and "weather" settings via remote control: You can choose the levels of red, green, blue and white light in the tank or select one of the preset options: sunset, sunrise, thunderstorm, cloudy, sunny, sunny with clouds, moonlight...Fun to play with and show off to my friends 

CONS

• Relies a lot on the remote control to function which means if you lose the remote or break it...could be pricey to replace

• The top of the light gets a little hot if it's been running for a few hours 

I have nothing but good things to say about this light. In addition to the cheap ebay knockoffs, I also have Marineland LED light units and while they are cheaper, they are only blue and white and not useful for plant growth. I find that most blue & white only led fixtures make the tank and inhabitants look very "cold" and drab. A full spectrum light allows fish and plants to look a lot "warmer" and natural. 

So yup. My 2 cents.

Chesmok

Vancouver, BC Fish Stores - A Review

I wouldn't be able to call myself a "Fish Fanatic" if I hadn't visited all the fish stores in my hometown, right?

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia. That's in CANADA, if you didn't know that for some reason. And there are plenty of good fish stores in this city. I know, I know, if you're a Vancouverite aquarist, you've probably read all the Yelp reviews already. But I'd like to make my opinions known anyway. Because this is my blog. And I get to "opinionize" all I want, all day long. Yay me!

Rated in order of personal preference:

1. Aquariums West (www.aquariumswest.com)

796 Beatty St. Vancouver BC 604-669-9249

My favourite store to visit, hands down. It's located downtown, right beside BC Place. 

PROS

• Staff are talented, knowledgeable, approachable and very friendly!! I feel like they're all my friends there. They will talk about the hobby because they're passionate about it, not just because they want to make a buck. 
• Family run business
• Great selection of fish, aquarium supplies, decorations (wood, rock) and DO AQUA tanks. 
• Has high end equipment for serious aquarists, including ADA
• Many aquascaped showcase tanks makes a visit this store feel like a public aquarium trip
• Tanks are clean and well maintained
• Healthy reasonably cheap fish; great selection of popular freshwater species
• Best selection of dwarf freshwater shrimp (but super expensive)
• Amazing selection of plants. 3 bunches for $15 is the best deal but they also have quality TROPICA plants
• Easy to access - close to Stadium Skytrain Station
• Family owned business that's been around for a few decades
• Also has other pets for sale like hamsters, rats, reptiles, amphibians

CONS

• Located down 3 flights of stairs making it not very accessible by wheelchair/stroller or if you're not great with walking
• Very expensive fish tanks, equipment, fish food and supplies, compared to other stores.

2. King Ed Pet Centre (http://www.kingedpet.com/en/)

7377 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC, V3N 3B8  604-525-4955

PROS

• Absolutely huge store! It looks drab on the outside, like some sort of giant cargo container but it actually has 2 floors and takes a while to explore! Has supplies for all sorts of pets, not just fish. 
• Has the hugest selection of equipment, supplies etc I've ever seen, at very competitive prices- everything you'll ever need to keep fish
• Family run business
• Accessible by bus or 15 min walk from Edmonds Skytrain
• Good selection of freshwater and saltwater fish

CONS

• The owners are friendly but the helping staff are unhelpful and do not know much. They never really smile and I have a hard time understand them all because they are Koreans with thick accents. 
• Fish tanks look OK. Fish prices are a bit expensive but there is quite a lot of selection.
• Only 2 freshwater display tanks and they don't look great (fake plants!)
• A bit messy and chaotic downstairs with equipment and stuff piled everywhere

3. Fantasy Aquatic (http://www.fantasyaquatics.ca/)

2495 Kingsway, Vancouver BC

PROS

• Has lots of exotic fish I don't see selling anywhere else such as chili rasboras, fancy plecos and many species of killifish
• Family run business
• Cheap fish prices, amazingly healthy fish
• Staff are knowledgeable and mostly friendly 
• Accessible by bus, 12 min walk from 29th Ave Skytrain Station

CONS

• Very cramped store, hard to navigate between the narrow aisles
• Fish tanks are dirty and have lots of algae; not visually appealing
• Super small selection of supplies - mainly just a fish retailer

4. North America Pet Store

2255 Kingsway, Vancouver BC

PROS

• Only store I've seen that carries Atman brand aquariums and products (Atman is popular in Asia) 
• Family run business
• Reasonable prices for filter media, clip on lights, fish food etc.
• Cheap plants and competitively priced fish
• Accessible by bus and 12 min walk from Nanaimo Skytrain Station

CONS

• Owner is a middle aged Chinese woman who is not very social or talkative. Nice but not engaging and doesn't seem to know a lot about advanced fish keeping
• Fish tanks are barren (no decorations) and sometimes fish are sick/dead. Fish often appear stressed out and/or dying
• Plants I've bought there never do well within 1-2 weeks they all die
• Only 1 person, the owner, runs the whole store so sometimes you have to wait a while for service

5. Mr. Pet's (Grandview Location)

1710 Commercial Drive Vancouver, BC V5N 4A3

Phone number(604) 872-0115

PROS

• Knowledgeable and friendly staff
• Decent selection of beginner fish and supplies upstairs 
• Also sells other pet supplies
• Large, well organized store. Easy to navigate
• Accessible by bus

CONS

• Prices are reasonable but medium ranged, not cheap but not expensive
• No exotic species; fish selection is limited to popular species and not that many tanks
• Nothing fancy in terms of equipment either. Good store for beginner aquarists only
• Very similar to Petsmart and other big box stores

6. J&L Aquatics (http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/mainpage.php)

205A- 3430 Brighton Ave, Burnaby BC/ 604-441-1161

PROS

• Really, really cheap fish keeping supplies, especially water treatment chemicals, test kits, food and medicine
• Accessible by bus, 1 minute walk from Production Way University Skytrain Station
• Really extensive and easy to navigate online store

CONS

• Exclusively saltwater species, no freshwater species :(
• Staff don't seem to know too much and aren't very friendly
• (Really far from my house)

7. Island Pets Aquarium & Services

5335 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC  V6X 2C7, Phone: (604) 244-0700

PROS

• They have a gigantic aquarium with a reef white tip shark and a moray eel. Badass!
• Very large selection of fish supplies, aquariums, freshwater and saltwater fish
• Staff seem nice but don't go above and beyond basic service
• Accessible by bus and 2 minute walk from Lansdowne Skytrain Station

CONS

• Fish and plants are moderately priced but don't seem very healthy
• The back room where the fish and plants are kept is pitch dark
• Equipment is very expensive/ some cheap USED aquariums

8. Noah's Pet Ark (http://www.noahspetark.ca)

2886 W. Broadway, Vancouver 

PROS

• Good selection of popular fish and brand name equipment
• Accessible by bus
• Staff are friendly and very knowledgeable/family run business
• Sells other pet supplies too; not limited to fish

CONS

• Very cramped store, hard to navigate between aisles
• Cluttered storefront piled with products from wall to wall; disorganized
• Very expensive equipment
• Fish tanks are not very visually appealing and sometimes very dirty and full of algae

9. Petsmart (www.petsmart.ca)(Renfrew Location)

2860 Bentall Street Vancouver, BC V5M 4H4, 

• 
  Phone number(604) 434-1522

PROS

• Excellent return policy. No hassle at all. Bring the receipt, original packaging and get your money back or exchange for store credit. Also applies to fish within 2 weeks.
• Good selection of brand name aquarium products priced the normal amount
• Depending on the location, sometimes the fish tanks are well maintained and carry competitively priced fish
• Friendly staff who try their best to help you
• Stores are organized well and neatly
• Accessible via public and private transit. Easy parking access

CONS

• Fish tanks are more often than not overcrowded, disease filled and overgrown with algae
• Staff never seem to know too much about fish keeping and might give you wrong information
• Sometimes there's no staff in the fish section if the store is busy

10. Pet Habitat (Metrotown Location)

PROS

• Good selection of beginner's fish and supplies
• Other pet supplies available
• Some of the tanks look quite nice
• Convenient location right inside Metrotown mall

CONS

• Fish always seem to be gasping at the surface (overcrowding)
• Staff don't seem to know anything about fish (can't even identify them) and are not particularly friendly or helpful
• Equipment is expensive

11. Fraser Aquarium

4364 Fraser Street
Vancouver, BC V5V 4G3

Phone number(604) 879-1112

PROS

• Good selection of cheap, used aquariums
• Reasonable selection of supplies, not cheap or expensive
• Accessible by bus

CONS

• Staff are not knowledgeable or friendly. Seem rude.
• Extremely dirty fish tanks with dead & sick fish in every tank and cloudy water
• Messy storefront, cluttered (to be fair, I visited when they were about to move locations)

12. April's Aquarium

4097 Hastings Street Burnaby, BC V5C 2J1

Phone number(604) 336-3474

PROS

• Accessible by bus
• Stocks some beginner's fish that appear healthy

CONS

• Not even a real fish store. It's a tiny little flower shop with about 15 small aquariums filled with guppies, angelfish and other beginner fish. 
• Not cheap or expensive
• Not really worth visiting in itself as it is more of a florist shop than a fish store
• A bit cluttered and no real equipment for sale

So these are my quite extensive reviews on all my local fish stores. Nobody paid me to spend 3 hours writing these (Ha, I wish). I hope someone in Vancouver reads this and finds it helpful. At least then I'll know all my work wasn't in vain. If you find this useful, please leave a comment!

Thanks

Chesmok