Baltimore Aquarium

This past week I went to the Baltimore Aquarium over at Maryland's Inner Harbor and I wanted to share a glimpse of some of the photos I took there. If you're interested in going it's cheaper after 5pm on the weekdays ($12) and the parking garage had cost us over $20 (I believe there is cheaper parking available if you go to the Aquariums webpage). It was pretty busy when we went (the dolphin show got cancelled that day too) but you basically wait in line to purchase your ticket/s and then you have to wait in another line before they call your tickets group number outside the building.

Click to enlarge

I realize these thumbnails are on the small side, but if there's any image you'd like to see up-close just leave me a comment below describing which image/s you'd like to see and I'll add it onto this post.

Sweet Baked Swai - Recipe

I figured it was only a matter of time before I posted up a fish recipe on here (no I won't be cooking up my pet fish, sillies) and I happened to come across some frozen fillets of Swai (at Target of all places). Personally I had never heard of Swai before this week and I had no clue what it would even taste like, but it really didn't taste like anything as it's just a basic white meat type fish much like cod or catfish (fairly inexpensive), although not fishy and hence very mild in terms of flavor (You could probably season this any way you'd like. I think next time I'm going to try combining a little sriracha and sweet chili sauce together to make this, yum). The fish are from Vietnam and apparently Vietnamese prefer a similar fish called Basa (the two are almost commonly mistaken for one another), and Vietnam sends the least desired swai to be consumed in US (gee, middle class fish status eh??). Thus, swai will generally always be found frozen in the US and not fresh (which is a little disappointing since.. I actually liked it). I got this original recipe concept off of AllRecipes but I did make a few changes to my recipe here (since I can't eat citrus).

Swai served with a side of butternut squash.

4 Fillets - Swai
1/4 Cup - Honey
3 Tbsp - Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp - Olive Oil
2 Tbsp - Dijon Mustard
2 Pinches - Himalayan Pink Salt, fine ground (or Sea Salt)
2 Pinches - Chinese Ginger, ground
1 Pinch - Black Pepper, ground *Optional*

Preheat oven to 425F (220C). Mix all the ingredients together except for the swai in a bowl. Place each fillet on a separate sheet of aluminum foil. Use up half of the mixture in total to drizzle over each fillet. Gently wrap the foil around each coated fillet, crimping the foil together over the top to seal in the fillet. Bake fillets in the preheated oven until fish flakes easily with a fork, around 15 minutes. Remove fillet from the foil, place on a serving plate, and top fillets with the leftover mixture.

Believe it or not, Swai are part of the fish keeping community!

I also did this post so I could share with you the new blog I started this year on eating healthy, click Real Phat to check it out, thanks everyone!

Ranchu Weigh-In

It's been a little over a month since the ranchu's last weigh-in and I have basically halved their food intake, which will continue until March... call it winter fasting if you must. They both put on 4 grams of weight which is practically nothing compared to before so Oakki (black metallic) is still bigger than Bumblez (sakura). I'm hoping this winter fasting can increase their lifespan and help them to become more lean rather than super tubby.

Bumblez (left) at 42g, and Oakki (right) at 51g

As for other ranchu tank updates it took my new aquarium about a month to cycle after I set it up and it wasn't a fish-less cycle (nitrite overload, uck) so, I feel that may be why my ranchu have a few fin-splits currently. I'm hoping their fins will mend back together now that the water has cycled, and I'm currently dosing them with some Melafix as that's usually a quick remedy for fin splits I've dealt with in the past. I've also noticed that cycling an aquarium for goldfish is much more tedious and important than with small tropicals, and I suppose it's due to the bigger bio-load that goldfish have.

Fish World News

Lately I've seen lots of cool and interesting things in this big fish world of ours and decided to share it on here for those that may not know. If you have any cool 'fish world news' you'd like to share then drop me a comment below.

-New Batumi aquarium to be built in Georgia. I would love to go to the grand opening in 2015!

-Axolotls are living gremlins that are not only capable of regenerating body parts...

-Some amazingly large and old fish, I had no idea fish could live so long!

-What is harming starfish in this Starfish Horror Story video?

-Can you believe that a shrimp has the worlds fastest punch?

-Which is the stronger competitor.. a shark or an octopus? I got the answer.

-Although this wheeled prototype appears to stress-out fish I think it's an interesting concept.

Aquarium Water 'Top Off'

I have noticed a lot of people asking about 'topping off' aquarium water. This means that typically over a short period of time you may notice your aquariums water level going down from the water gradually evaporating into the air. Some people have the impression that you aren't suppose to replace that water in the aquarium, and that's actually not true. If you didn't replace that evaporated water than overtime your aquarium wouldn't have any or enough water in it to sustain its inhabitants. However, you do not want to consider topping off your aquarium water as a type of 'water change' because technically you wouldn't be changing any water.

So now you may be wondering what to do in this matter. Well, you can top off the aquarium water all you like to keep the aquarium from emptying out, but I'd suggest to do a partial water change at this time by emptying out some of the current aquarium water, and then replace that removed water and top off the aquarium in the process. If you happen to notice any of your water parameters (nitrite, ammonia, pH, etc.) aren't where you'd like them to be after testing the water then it may require more additional water changes. Be sure the new water you add into your aquarium is the same temperature or within 3-5°F of the current aquarium waters temperature (or you may risk getting your fish sick with things like ich).

A few ways you can try to reduce aquarium water from evaporating quickly is by keeping a lid on the aquarium, although you still want some openings on your lid so that the aquarium gets proper air and water exchange so that the tank can cycle naturally without causing toxic CO2 buildup. Another thing you can do is try to lower the aquariums water temperature if you do have an aquarium heater, or try adding in an air diffuser to reduce heat. Also insure you don't have any leaks in your aquarium or filtration, and that any air pump tubes used have working check valves on them. If you do run an air diffuser it may make water gradually splash/bubble out of the aquarium if you don't have an aquarium lid.

Happy Nisai

The 1st of January marked my ranchu turning into Nisai so, what better way to start the new year than with another ranchu weigh-in! Also, if you didn't catch it on my Twitter earlier they will be moving into a bigger tank very soon.

Bumblez (left) and Oakki (right)

The last ranchu weigh-in was 3 weeks ago and Bumblez is now 38g, with a 3g gain from the last weigh-in. Bumblez is actually showing his gain for once but unfortunately its not as huge a gain as Oakki. It's no joke, Oakki is almost 10g bigger than Bumblez now which is pretty crazy. Even Oakki's top-view shape seems to be changing more around the sides of his head. So now that Oakki is weighing 47g today, its a 7g gain since their last weigh-in.

I think my goal for Bumblez right now is to have him be at least 50g by the end March, as it will mark them turning 1 year (12 months) old. Do you think Bumblez can do it? I bet Oakki will be at least 60g by the end of March, what ya think?

What's Nisai? Any ranchu born the previous calendar year (making the next year there 2nd year, but not meaning they are 2 years/24 months of age) regardless of what time of month the ranchu was born during that year (yes, even December). Nisai in Japanese means "two year old", but don't let that confuse you!