Jayzilla» fish

To Be Like A Fish

jason — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:49:24 +0000

You know how on fish food containers it usually says “feed as much as your fish will eat in a few minutes”? It’s not to keep your fish fit, it’s to keep your water clean.

I just took a gander at Clay, my new betta (I named him after my old boss who decided to move to California and gave me his little tank as a memento). I fed him this morning and gave him extra since it’s Friday and he won’t get more until Monday. It’s been about 30 minutes, and I still see food floating on the top.

This post isn’t a warning not to feed your fish too much. It’s a musing on how I wish I could do that. The fish ate as much as he wanted, and when he was satisfied he stopped even though there was more. I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t leave food on a table, especially if it’s tasty. I don’t know how people can not eat more if food is delicious. I don’t think I really know what “satisfied” feels like, because I don’t give my body a chance to get that way. It’s one of the habits I need to change.

The other plus about being like a fish is that I could swim all day long. Talk about burning calories!

-j

My Greatest Fear

jason — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 02:38:37 +0000

Whenever I go away I get scared that my saltwater tank will back up and spill over or somehow stop working and when I come back I will find a dead tank. I never really worry about my freshwater tank. But when I got home today, that’s what broke.

I walked in and noticed the water was silent. I turned on a light and saw my large angel sunk and my big clown loach floating. The water was putrid, and there was rotten flesh floating around. Somehow, one of the angels made it. I set up a tank for him, and hopefully he’ll survive until I can get the old tank back up.

So I guess I’m looking for new fish again. I’ll probably get angels, but they’ll need tank mates. Any suggestions?

-j

The Time Has Finally Come

jason — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 15:41:32 +0000

Well, I finally got my reef set up last night. Here are the specs:

10 gallon tank
20lbs live sand
4.5 lbs live rock (For now. I plan on getting 10 more lbs after I pay some bills)
2 springs of calopra
2x48W daylight/actinic PC light with lunar light

Right now it’s running off the old Whisper filter and heater I have, but I’m getting a protein skimmer and titanium heater to replace them next week or so. I’m scared to death that the electrical system can’t handle it, or that the tank will collapse the countertop it’s on. I just need to pray for it constantly. Pics will be forthcoming.

-j

Photography Project

jason — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 15:31:28 +0000

I picked up a couple new Angels today and I decided I wanted to take some photos. I experimented with flash and zoom settings, and I found out things I did not know. First, flash photos produce crisper pictures, and it’s usually closer to what it really looks like than just using the tank light. Second, it’s *really* hard to take pictures of moving fish.

Here is a little breakdown of what I was able to come up with. Take a look at these photos and guess which was flash and which isn’t (click ‘em to see the big one).

The one on the left was taken with a flash, and the one on the right was without flash. These are the original photos. Initially, the flash one is much better.

After some Photoshopping, here is what was produced:

What’s kind of odd is in the doctored non-flash image, the lighting looks more natural and reflects what the tank looks like. However, the doctored flash image shows better what the fish looks like. I’m sure it has something to do with the wood he’s chillin’ under. At any rate, this was just my first experiment, and there will be more pictures and experiments and different cameras, so expect to see more posts like this.

And if you’re interested, the camera I used was an Olympus Stylus 400 digital camera with built-in flash. I also used a tripod.

The rest of my photos can be seen at my Aquarium Advice gallery.

-j

Finally

jason — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 01:07:17 +0000

I’m finally taking the plunge; I’m setting up a reef! Actually, just a 10 gallon nano reef, but a reef nonetheless. I’m checking out the lighting first, and I may get some rock and sand. I need to do some more research on when to add rock and stuff, but I found a great fish store near my office that I can buy mixed water from. I’m going to get my rock from LiveRocks.com I think. Not sure what I’m going to get livestock-wise, but I’ll figure it out. I’ll be posting pics and stuff. I’m pretty excited about it. Stay tuned!

-j

Jayzilla» fish

To Be Like A Fish

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My Greatest Fear

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The Time Has Finally Come

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