Recently I got to talk with the wonderfully kind Cynthia from East Coast Ranchu online about getting my first ever ranchu goldfish! I have been wanting a ranchu for like 13423534 years now (okay, that was a slight exaggeration) and I have done much research over the years on them (you should never get a new pet without having done some research BTW).
Cynthia was kind enough to make me a video of some fish she thought I'd be interested in per what I was looking for in a ranchu... now the only problem I faced was picking just 1 of these cute side-view sakura ranchu (so hard to choose when they're all super adorable). Can you guess which one I ended up picking?
One ranchu cost me $53.40 (included 2-day shipping to my location, etc), whoever thought freshwater fish were cheap was sadly mistaken. Mean while I have already been working on getting my ranchu aquarium setup, Cynthia also sent me a list of my fishes needs/requirements/etc so that definitely gave me a bit more helpful incite. Having had a few comets many years ago also helped remind me of what a goldfish's needs are and the things I know now which can better prepare me for my ranchu. I will also be doing a fairly elaborate post of my ranchu aquarium setup very soon.
I am sure their are many different methods and techniques for cleaning aquarium nets however, I have found this way to be the quickest, easiest and safest bet for myself.I am sure some may have tried things like bleach, and I would advise against using it since bleach is very hard to rinse off, is very toxic, and it can weaken fabric aquarium netting. So, for my following how-to tutorial you'll only be needing a few things to clean your aquarium nets...
How to...
If by some chance your aquarium net happens to be covered in filth (for whatever reason) than you may want to try washing the net first with an unscented antibacterial foaming soap before attempting the below method, otherwise skip this step.
Start by liberally spraying your entire aquarium net (handle and all) with hydrogen peroxide. Let the peroxide work its cleansing magic for around 15-30 minutes (you may see the peroxide turn white on the net as it kills off any bacteria). Rinse off the entire aquarium net by carefully pouring on the boiling water. Shake off excess water from the aquarium net. Allow the net to air-dry overnight.
If your net is looking dry or you have numerous aquariums you're dealing with then you'll want to use a Net Soak solution as to avoid cross contamination between tanks and/or to keep your net conditioned so that the netting doesn't scratch/harm the fish. Net Soak will also clean your net, the one I use does not require rinsing and claims to not harm fish.
I recently received my mollies from my aquarium friend and I actually found these ones to be much prettier than I was originally expecting.
Male (left) and Female (right)
At first I was not really enjoying having these two pairs of mollies, the smallest female actually died within a few days (due to stress I believe). I had a molly jump out of my quarantine bucket I had setup several times upon being spooked. That being said I made some modifications to my aquarium lid to cover over any open areas.
Male Molly
The next issue I'm having is that these fish are much bigger than I was expecting, the biggest one is around 4 inches in length and I'm already feeling like these 3 fish need a bigger environment than my 10gal tank since I read that they can get up to 6.5 inches in length. Having only 3 of these fish they seem a bit stressed, perhaps because they are community fish and need to be kept with more mollies than this.
The behavior of these fish when I first got them I would compare to adult gold barbs. When these fish see me they dart off and hide, very shy, they'd push themselves down against the gravel even. Their is a good amount of plant area for them to hide, but I am doubtful their behavior is going to change much in these conditions. If these fish are too stressed I am worried that they may not even breed or may decide to abort which defeats the purpose of me even having them.
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Now that I've had these mollies for several weeks they have gotten a little less frightened of me, mainly because I've been trying to associate me being around them means getting fed, this method has actually been working a bit although they are still a bit timid. I have been trying to feed them twice a day, these fish love to eat although they aren't fans of cucumber it seems but they are enjoying the Petco Color Enhancing Tropical Flakes, they'll even eat some TetraVeggie Algae Wafers.
I have been traveling all around South Korea for the past two weeks and the only aquarium I found here through the internet was the Coex Aquarium. If you're interested in going it's $10 to park in the parking garage (although you can probably take a bus here for less money) and $25 for an adult ticket (the prices showing online weren't accurate) into the aquarium. I however didn't feel like spending $25 for the 40 minute tour around this aquarium, and you can see a little bit of the aquarium for free on the outside of it. So, here are a few quick photo's of the entrance to the Coex Aquarium, and in case you're wondering the inside of this aquarium is setup in rain-forest theme (my camera battery died before I could snap any photo's of it).
I have done a post on aquarium photography before, but now that I have a better camera (the Canon Rebel T3i, DSLR) I wanted to share my own personal aquarium photography experience with everyone. The photo's you're about to see (you can click on the images to enlarge them) were taken at San Diego's Living Coast Discovery Center. For the most part I just used an AF setting and flash (with the exception of the jellyfish image).
Clownfish
Defeating outside lighting glare.
When at an indoor aquarium with natural daylight or indoor lighting reflecting off the tanks you're going to do the last thing that probably comes to mind... use a flash. Using a flash seems to alter the outside glare by changing the light glare to where the glare vanishes in most cases, which then leads me to answer a more popular question...
Jellyfish
How to get rid of flash glare while using a flash.
The point of using a flash is to eliminate outer light glare however, this creates a flash glare instead. The point now is to not photograph the flash glare in the process. First you're going to want to avoid taking photos straight on, instead tilt your camera at a slight angle (just don't tilt your camera too much as to avoid distorting your photo). Doing this redirects the flash glare and helps keep it out of photos.
Steelhead Trout
Can I use a flash diffuser?
If you try to use something to diffuse the flash glare you may find that yourself and the aquarium will both end up in the image.
What if there is no outside glare but the aquarium is lighted inside?
This is usually when you can turn off the flash on your camera.
Eel
Other helpful advice.
Always ask the front desk what their photo policy is at an aquarium (Is flash photography allowed? Is there anything you can't photograph? Can you use a tripod? etc.). I can't stress this enough because the last thing you want to do is harm or stress a living creature or get in trouble for photographing something you don't have legal rights to (this was allowed at the Living Coast Discovery Center from what the front desk told me).
Bass
Helpful items you may want to bring when photographing at an aquarium.
Towels/rags, comes in handy if you need to wipe off the aquarium for a clear photograph, or in case water accidentally gets on your camera.
A flashlight or other portable light source, this may come in handy for tanks you can't visibly see into that well.
A protective lens filter/cover in case you decide to put your camera lens right against the glass to try and take pictures.
Upon finding a different local Walmart in my general area I stumbled across a new fish I have never seen them carry before. For $6.24 you can now own what Walmart refers to as a "Dragon Fish". Dragon Fish (not to be mistake with an arowana) are also known by other names such as Violet Goby (which I believe is its true name), Dragon Goby, Eel Goby, or Peruvian Goby. Often people mistake the violet goby for a bichir, eel, rope fish, or even a cigar fish.
Dragon Fish at Walmart
These fish are docile and their tiny eyes make them nearly blind. They aren't overly active fish although they tend to be more active at night which is usually when they'll eat, and although they do have tiny teeth these teeth are used mainly to scrape off algae and scavenge for other possible tid bits of food as they're detritivores. If fed well these fish won't bother smaller fish such as guppies, but goby's should be kept with friendly fish due to their poor eyesight as it could put them at risk for being bullied by aggressive fish, and if kept with another goby they can become territorial tank mates.
Violet gobies use their large mouths to shovel through substrate in search of food and spit out anything inedible, and although they have big mouths they have small throats. A diet for them consists of foods like algae, baby brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, vegetable flakes, meaty foods, and frozen tubifex worms... just be sure they get a varied diet (I've noticed a lot of people will feed them Hikari Carnivore when they're smaller and Hikari Massivore Delight when they're bigger). They are also prone to escaping their tanks so be sure to keep a lid on your aquarium. These fish can grow up to 24 inches in length and it's typically recommended to have them live on a soft substrate like sand as they're naturally accustom to a muddy substrate, but they can also do fine on gravel although aragonite is probably the most ideal for these fish and you can mix it with gravel to reduce glare. The fish are from North and South America and generally live in brackish swamp waters or streams, in captivity they'll usually only grow up to 15 inches in length. These fish like to have hiding places as they're typically temid. The water requires a salinity of 1.004 - 1.008sg, a water temp of 76F - 78F, hard water with an alkalinity of 10 - 20 dKh, and a pH of 6.5 - 8.5. These fish will possibly be more active and 'confident' in a tank that is 50 - 55 gallons, over small aquariums that are 29 gallons, and these fish seem to find things through water movement.
Walmart's info and price on Dragon Fish
These violet gobies are susceptible to illnesses like columnaris and fin rot, so be sure the fish are not in an overcrowded tank, the water has plenty of oxygen, and try to keep the bio-load to a minimum. A healthy violet goby has a blue/violet shade to it and often gold patches of coloring (unfortunately Walmarts gobies didn't have that blue/violet coloring to them, nor does the info mention how they're brackish water fish) and the fish can survive in freshwater for a short amount of time but for overall health it's not recommended to keep it in those conditions.
