What's on TV

In between my research and current tank maintenance I like to take some time out to watch some TV for inspiration and also watch some video clips on you tube for more information on what other people are doing, how they do upgrades things like that. I thought I'd share some of my favourite fish related shows and Youtube channels.

Lets start with the TV shows: more for entertainment than learning something.

Tanked on Discovery Animal Plant, this might just be where I started saying to the family I want a marine aquarium. The tanks that Bret and Wade produce are stunning a bit like Orange county choppers where they do a lot of themed tanks. Their large installs can be seen in some amazing public places but they have made some as well as private installs.

Fish Tank Kings NAT GEO Wild, another great show amazing looking tanks they also do large public and private installations this team has a resident Marine Biologist Francis who is also a spokes person for Fluval.


River monsters Jeremy Wade this show has me hooked in many ways. Jeremy Wade follows up stories how fish are involved with the deaths of people on the river he thens fish's to find these river monsters. It's really gripping TV and the range of fish he catch's is amazing and terrifying.

Youtube Channels.

Please do not use these as your only source of information and my journey is really to give those about to take the step them selfs an idea of what to look for and hopefully encourage you to take the plunge. Use multiple sources, talk to your LFS and if you are lucky enough to have a local marine aquarium group talk to them you never know they may even help get you started. Also see my post of what I'm reading for books.

Mr Saltwater Tank TV a very helpful channel Mark share a wealth of knowledge tips and Product reiews. He also shares videos of his clients builds including a 6500 gallon outdoor saltwater pond and his own own home install. The Friday tips are worth a watch also.

Bulk Reef Supply.com  Another great channel much like Mr Saltwater Tank covering DIY projects, how tons and product reviews.

I subscribe to both of the above channels and find the advice pretty much is the same.

Getting the space ready early

This week has been a productive one, I have moved a very large movie collection from the spot where y new aquarium is to go. I have built 3 shelving units to house the collection and painted the area is preparation for for the big day. This is still a while away, I'm half way to my budget so far but there's a few things I didn't take into account which I will now need to look into.

So the first issue is the floor, the house sits on a slope and when they built the house the floor isn't completely level. This is a pretty minor issue I can shim the stand to level it not a problem I just need to add this to the check list when I start setting it up.

The second issue is a bit more pressing its the amount of electrical output sockets in the room. I can run an extension lead from a near by but I want to keep the area tidy with as few cables as possible. so the plan will been to get an electrician to install a new socket (preferably one with a waterproof cover) this will have its own fuse on the breaker box. This will leave the aquarium on its own circuit in the event something else in the house trips the sockets out.

Parrot fish (Pretty sure you can't teach these to speak)

So it's time for another fish profile again, this is a fish I won't be adding to my tank this beautiful fish gets a bit too big for my tank and they also are know to eat hard corals.

Type:

Fish

Diet:

Omnivore

Average life span in the wild:

Up to 7 years

Size:

1 to 4 ft (30 to 120 cm)

Group name:

School

Did you know?

Some male parrot fish maintain harems of females. If the dominant male dies, one of the females will change gender and color and become the dominant male a process called sequential hermaphroditism.

Size relative to a tea cup:

Its diet which consists primarily of algae extracted from chunks of coral ripped from a reef. The coral is pulverized with grinding teeth in the fishes’ throats in order to get to the algae-filled polyps inside. 

The parrot fish can’t metabolise this coral so it ‘throws it overboard’ in the form of grains.  The existence of this species of fish is essential to the survival of the coral as it acts as a ‘natural cleaner’ of parasites, etc. that grow on it, so without the help of the parrot fish the coral would die. If you find yourself near one of these fish you will find them munching and making crunching sounds with every bite.

Another reason is that they need to do this constantly in order to keep their beaks clean and that they (the beaks) don’t grow too much.  We’re talking about an insatiable fish that spends the whole day eating and ‘discharging’ without a break and that’s why just one parrot fish can produce 100 kg of white sand every year!!  Thinking about this then, to those of us who adore paradisiacal beaches, it’s obviously important that there is an abundance of the parrot fish.

So next time time your laying on a white sand beach just think that sand came from a fish's bum haha only kidding only a small amount is produced this way.

Do fish have personalities

This is debated subject, I mean how can something that spends it time swimming around have a personality? Cat's, Dog's Parrots do that makes sense right? well I use to sit in this camp until I got my first fish. My change in though was very slow, this little bug eyed orange thing I brought home from the fair grew on me and showed fish don't just swim around.

It all started just over a year a go, won a fish at the fun fair and brought this little character home and put him in a fish bowl by the tv. At first i just dumped food in the bowl changed the water took not much notice of what my fish was up too. But that soon changed one evening, I was sat next to the tank and I noticed Rasputin spent more time the tv side of the bowel when the cricket was on. I thought this was very odd not something had even noticed before. I changed channels found something else and he swam off, Did my fish just swim off because I stopped watching the cricket? Its quite possible, I know he doesn't under stand what he is watching but like to think he became a bit of a telly addict in the months he bowl was close to the tv. What else does he like to watch? not just the cricket, He loves Tanked and DR who.

I later saw that his TV viewing wasn't the only little quirk he had, after a few weeks of living in the bowl I upgraded his home to a 30litre tank. This meant his new home was big enough for a new ornament so I treated the tank to a Cyberman head. Now Rasputin wasn't to happy about the new addition for two weeks he sat at the back of the tank never swimming in front the the face of the Cyberman head, I had to feed the grumpy so and so at the back of the tank. after a few weeks he got use to the Cyberman head and took to sleeping inside.

So why do I see my fish having personalities? It's not just the tv' watching the sulking at the back of the tank its the little things. The way they great me and no one else with a little excited swim dance when I get home, it's the moving the gravel from from one end of the tank to the other to make a pile in one corner no matter how many time's I level it out.

I know this could just be behaviour brought on by the fact I'm the primary feeder but I like to think these little fish have their own little personalities and I hope my move from fresh water to marine brings me a new set of characters traits.

The missing post

So I had planned to make this a weekly post on a Friday however the last couple of weeks have got away from, Work and family commitments have made finding time for the blog a little difficult but I didn't want to leave my readers with out a post for too long.

Although I haven't made a post here I have still been working on my ultimate goal to have a marine fish tank. The more I research the more I get doubts on some of my idea's of the set up I'm looking for. Should I slow down the cycle process by using dry rock to avoid pests? Which live sand do I go for? These are a few dilemmas I have encountered but as I reach the point of resolving these I will share with you my conclusions.

My next step is to put down the books and step away from the web for a few days let the information sink in. Chances are my idea's are correct, the pro's out way the con's and I'm just over thinking things.

In the mean time I'll focus on my fresh water tank's there is a lot of little jobs I need to do on these before I set up the marine tank.  Next week I'll give an over view of my current maintenance program and once the marine tank is set up the new process.

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