What did you do with your tank(s) today?

[DMD123]

My buyer I had lined up for my trimac fell through. Something came up and he couldnt do it... He already had big tanks with big fish and he said he needed to set up an 80 for the fish. Im thinking adding another tank at the moment just wasnt in the works.

So I put this one up for sale here and on Craigslist. Im tempted to swap tanks this weekend and give the new little oscar his permanent home of the 90 and put the fish up for sale in a 65B. But who knows maybe I will get a quick response and sell it off quickly.

So my goal is still to move the Oscar into the 90 with some sort of tankmate, a catfish or pleco. Then the 65B is still planned out for a red wolf fish. So if this trimac sells soon I will likely order some fish in from Wet Spot.

 

[DMD123]

Decided to do water changes on the garage tanks tonight instead of tomorrow morning like I usually do. Did a little more Rift salt buffer for the shellies and a slightly bigger water change around 5 gallons this time. Decreased their light down by 3 hours to see if that in combination with the the reduced light intensity will help reduce algae. kept blue light time the same. Hopefully it will help keep it cleaner. I need to figure out a better way to do a slower refill of their tank. Im currently doing the replacement water treatment in a 5 gallon pail and then using air line tube to siphon it into the tank. No shock to the fish but a bit slow for the filling.

 

[sir_keith]

Decided to do water changes on the garage tanks tonight instead of tomorrow morning like I usually do. Did a little more Rift salt buffer for the shellies and a slightly bigger water change around 5 gallons this time. Decreased their light down by 3 hours to see if that in combination with the the reduced light intensity will help reduce algae. kept blue light time the same. Hopefully it will help keep it cleaner. I need to figure out a better way to do a slower refill of their tank. Im currently doing the replacement water treatment in a 5 gallon pail and then using air line tube to siphon it into the tank. No shock to the fish but a bit slow for the filling.

It's great that you're being so careful, but once you have the water in the tank the same as the water you will be adding (i. e. both 1x of whatever salt/buffer you're using), this will get a whole lot easier.

 

[John58Ford]

I need to figure out a better way to do a slower refill of their tank.

Just do what us planted tank weirdos do: use a chunk of hose hooked to a 500-600 gph pump out of your bucket and aim it at a floating dinner plate. We use cheap plastic plates from one of the kids play sets, it's easier if it floats than if you have to hold it, and leaves a hand free to flip the switch. It will defuse the water enough at 500 gph it shouldn't toss any sand but you you could always dial it down or kink it a bit.

 

[fishguy1978]

Decided to do water changes on the garage tanks tonight instead of tomorrow morning like I usually do. Did a little more Rift salt buffer for the shellies and a slightly bigger water change around 5 gallons this time. Decreased their light down by 3 hours to see if that in combination with the the reduced light intensity will help reduce algae. kept blue light time the same. Hopefully it will help keep it cleaner. I need to figure out a better way to do a slower refill of their tank. Im currently doing the replacement water treatment in a 5 gallon pail and then using air line tube to siphon it into the tank. No shock to the fish but a bit slow for the filling.

I float a bucket lid under my tank filler. I have a cup that I add the buffer salts to slosh it with some water and dump it in while filling.

 

[fishguy1978]

Maintenance account day. The green severums in the 55g are large enough to sex and through random selection at the fish store they are a pair.

 

[lloyd378]

Lost my 7” female RTM today…. Looks like my 9” male descaled her and then thrashed her…..

this is shocking as they have spawned like clockwork every 6 weeks for the last year. This is also not that shocking as he killed his larger brother about 2 years ago, and 3 other females. I guess he’s going to be a solo wet pet until I decide to either get some additional females or sell him.

 

[sir_keith]

Lost my 7” female RTM today…. Looks like my 9” male descaled her and then thrashed her…..

this is shocking as they have spawned like clockwork every 6 weeks for the last year. This is also not that shocking as he killed his larger brother about 2 years ago, and 3 other females. I guess he’s going to be a solo wet pet until I decide to either get some additional females or sell him.

This is why I don't keep Neotropicals: I just couldn't deal with all the violence that occurs in captivity.

 

[lloyd378]

This is why I don't keep Neotropicals: I just couldn't deal with all the violence that occurs in captivity.

Yes, it difficult to avoid, surprising when it happens, and expected over the course of keeping them.

especially when keeping some of the apex predators like red tiger motaguense , dovii, or any of their “cousins”

 

[Madness]

Started late today, began building an awning over the entry to the fish room. Needed to that way i can be out in the fish room and still keep the doors open on the rainy days

 

[DMD123]

Lost my 7” female RTM today…. Looks like my 9” male descaled her and then thrashed her…..

this is shocking as they have spawned like clockwork every 6 weeks for the last year. This is also not that shocking as he killed his larger brother about 2 years ago, and 3 other females. I guess he’s going to be a solo wet pet until I decide to either get some additional females or sell him.

That’s terrible news. Im so sorry to hear that. She was a looker!

 

[DMD123]

Went by Olympia Pet Works and saw a tank with ‘big eye oscar’ on it but no fish, but noticed the price right away. I know these guys get their stock from The Wet Spot supplier (Cichlid Exchange) but the mark ups are pretty high. Do they pay list price, or not get any discounts or do they pay a lot in shipping? The Oscar was the same one I just picked up at The Wet Spot for $49 and they were selling for $79. A while back when I was getting the hairy puffer I paid $99 and they were selling at $149. Many of the other fish are pretty reasonable but just a few priced higher than expected.

 

[fishguy1978]

Went by Olympia Pet Works and saw a tank with ‘big eye oscar’ on it but no fish, but noticed the price right away. I know these guys get their stock from The Wet Spot supplier (Cichlid Exchange) but the mark ups are pretty high. Do they pay list price, or not get any discounts or do they pay a lot in shipping? The Oscar was the same one I just picked up at The Wet Spot for $49 and they were selling for $79. A while back when I was getting the hairy puffer I paid $99 and they were selling at $149. Many of the other fish are pretty reasonable but just a few priced higher than expected.

Yes, they would be paying less but then there is all the overhead of running the business.

 

[Madness]

Went by Olympia Pet Works and saw a tank with ‘big eye oscar’ on it but no fish, but noticed the price right away. I know these guys get their stock from The Wet Spot supplier (Cichlid Exchange) but the mark ups are pretty high. Do they pay list price, or not get any discounts or do they pay a lot in shipping? The Oscar was the same one I just picked up at The Wet Spot for $49 and they were selling for $79. A while baack when I was getting the hairy puffer I paid $99 and they were selling at $149. Many of the other fish are pretty reasonable but just a few priced higher than expected.

I noticed this on a few plecos as well. The goldy i have was 70 at the wet spot but 120 there. It would be OK paying up to $30 more because of the shipping. But it all depends on what I'm getting and how many

 

[DMD123]

Yes, they would be paying less but then there is all the overhead of running the business.

I know there are tons of expenses related to that but to me the mark up is just high on live fish. Then other things they carry are the opposite. An example is the “Jumbo” ZooMed Mopani Ive bought from them a few times at $39.99, every other place this is at least $79.99 or more.

 

[DMD123]

I guess my thoughts about price would be if I owned a business that sold live fish, this is where I want a high turn over. Ive seen a few ‘odd balls’ they have brought in the store and eventually sold but with the high mark up and the amount of time they sat in a tank, the better money would have been to sell at a bit more reasonable price and free up the tank for new stock.

 

[lloyd378]

I think a 50% mark up is probably pretty close to normal for most local fish stores and id guess big chain stores are 100% mark up since they buy their fish in bulk and get them for pennies on the dollar

 

[sir_keith]

I think a 50% mark up is probably pretty close to normal for most local fish stores and id guess big chain stores are 100% mark up since they buy their fish in bulk and get them for pennies on the dollar

When I was selling juvenile Tropheus to a number of stores in the Seattle area some time back I was generally getting 50-60% of what they sold those fishes for retail. For my Nanochromis transvestitus juveniles, it was closer to 70%. You can get more if you're willing to settle for store credit, but I was dealing in cash only, minimum order $100. When you have desirable fishes and are the only show in town, you're in a good position to negotiate terms.

 

[John58Ford]

When I was selling juvenile Tropheus to a number of stores in the Seattle area some time back I was generally getting 50-60% of what they sold those fishes for retail. For my Nanochromis transvestitus juveniles, it was closer to 70%. You can get more if you're willing to settle for store credit, but I was dealing in cash only, minimum order $100. When you have desirable fishes and are the only show in town, you're in a good position to negotiate terms.

I don't sell anything as cool as Tropheus but I do supply endler/guppy hybrids to 2 locations, I get about $2/4.50 at one store in cash, so about %43 retail/110% retail mark up, and the other does $4/7.50 but only in credit, they also stock and sell significantly less fish. Neither location cares which variety I bring in or the trueness that I have achieved between males of a generation so I'm not really sure why the retail and "wholesale" price listings are so different. When they have brought in outside stock they both seem to get similair quality of the basic "rainbow" endler and "chili" endler. The less expensive store also has someone bringing in some awesome looking "fire reds" but I haven't figured out who it is yet. From me they are currently getting gen2/3 chili/sunsets and gen2/4 double sword rainbows, honestly I would only grade mine at 75%. Retail mark up is a strange bird.

 

[DMD123]

Been trying to settle back into my fish routine but a bit of transition still. A little fall clean up with the yard at this point. Today after work I just did a drain and fill in the 300 but I really need to gravel vac, lol at least I did a little something. The one thing I like about winter is that I get to spend more time on tanks.