New Fish at Walmart

Of course I am merely browsing through the fish at Walmart where aquariums are mis-marked and inaccurate fish information is provided.. when I come across a tank that states it has 'Silver Dollars' in it (and no the tank isn't filled with large silver coins). Myself having a rough idea of what the typical Silver Dollar fish looks like glanced into the tank not seeing any of these. I did however notice an interesting freckled specimen that I don't recall ever seeing before, so having little information about what fish are actually in this tank I did my best to research Silver Dollars. As luck would have it, it turns out it is not the typical Silver Dollar but what I believe to be fairly lackluster looking 'Spotted Silver Dollars' (apparently there are even 'Striped Silver Dollars' and a few other varieties you may came across in the Silver Dollar world).

Spotted Silver Dollars

The Spotted Silver Dollar is a fish native to the Brazilian Amazon and rivers in the French Guiana, and it can reach up to 13cm in length, but I have read some people claiming to have typical Silver Dollars which can apparently reach around 9in in length. I did find it peculiar that these fish almost mimic the ever-so popular Piranha or even the Pacu which are all Amazonian fish, and as it turns out they are actually closely related although these fish are mainly vegetarian with the exception of eating a few insects and possibly tiny fish that can fit in there mouths. Silver Dollars can apparently live up to 10 years, are a schooling species that's semi-aggressive, live in weedy dimly lit rivers, prefer a pH level of 5-7, like a water hardness level of 8-15dgh, and temperatures around 75-82°F (although 80°F seems ideal for both fry and adults).

Giant Silver Dollars

As luck would have it I did unknowingly photograph some Giant Silver Dollars while in the Amazon area at the Baltimore Aquarium!

Ranchu Birthday Weigh-In

Looks like its been around 2 months since the ranchu's last weigh-in and this time they have officially turned 1 year old. Last time Oakki weighed in at 51g and he now weighs 64g, a gain of 13g. Bumblez was 42g last time and now weighs 59g, a gain of 17g (Way to go Bumblez!). Although Bumblez put on the most weight he is still 5g behind Oakki.

Oakki (left), and Bumblez (right)

Do you remember my new years resolution for them?

"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?"

Guess what... it happened!!

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.