GC-Shop: Share & Learn Sessions

[Blue Whale]

Oh Felix, I gave a bit to another fellow bro on Sat. Then I spilt again to main tank and nursery. Both doing well.

There is a free Android Apps called Aquarium Plants.
It's free but not many plants and not many information but it is a start.

Scientific Name: Salvinia Natans
Common Name: Salvinie
Difficulty: Medium
Light: High
PH: 5.5 to 8.5
GH: 3dh to 12dh
Temperature: 12C to 30C
Growth: Medium

[fisherw]

Ronnie

Are these the 'ong lai ku' you mentioned?

http://shamaclubsingapore.lefora.com...eapple-beetle/

Also mentioned here:

http://www.blattodea.net/showthread.php?p=3155

[RonWill]

Nope. Almost certain mine are not Blaptica dubia and definitely not Carpophilus humeralis.

The closest species I've come across is Pycnoscelus surinamensis or Surinam Roaches but the males in my bin have small dysfunctional wings. They scale vertical Toyogo bins with ease and thankfully, not gifted with flight. The search continues...

and no... I don't think it's psychologically possible to handle Lobster Roaches without feeling my skin crawl...

[David Moses Heng]

for the 7th April workshop, can i bring my students?

[RonWill]

Huh?? Students?? You mean GC uncle's Live Culture Session? Hope the young ones aren't squirmish about worms and bugs! Don't expect something too technical since the session is targeted towards newbies and those curious about how and why hobbyists do what they do.

Perhaps you should drop Roland a SMS or call, on expected number of participants, to arrange for the necessary logistics... chairs and stuff, etc. Alternatively, those interested can also sign up on Facebook.

[Shi Xuan]

Nope. Almost certain mine are not Blaptica dubia and definitely not Carpophilus humeralis.

The closest species I've come across is Pycnoscelus surinamensis or Surinam Roaches but the males in my bin have small dysfunctional wings. They scale vertical Toyogo bins with ease and thankfully, not gifted with flight. The search continues...

and no... I don't think it's psychologically possible to handle Lobster Roaches without feeling my skin crawl...

Nice...but for critters as pets, Madagascar hissing roaches will be nice.

[fisherw]

Nope. Almost certain mine are not Blaptica dubia and definitely not Carpophilus humeralis.

The closest species I've come across is Pycnoscelus surinamensis or Surinam Roaches but the males in my bin have small dysfunctional wings. They scale vertical Toyogo bins with ease and thankfully, not gifted with flight. The search continues...

and no... I don't think it's psychologically possible to handle Lobster Roaches without feeling my skin crawl...

I can handle most creepy crawlies but cockroaches creep me out. Furthest I would go is to squirt them with insecticide.

In any case, I will probably culture worms not your 'ong lai ku' as the ku's are probably for aros and monster fishes which I don't keep.

Looking forward to your worm session.

[stormhawk]

Ron, I'm not sure if putting a line of sticky plastic tape will work. Like this:

http://hope.edu/academic/engineering...lasticTape.jpg

The tape prevents crickets from scaling the walls in plastic tubs, not sure if they're good for other crawlers.

[Blue Whale]

Uncle Ron, here is the Hai Feng Bao Zeng Hong I am talking about. Product ID is T675AA.

Attachment 29742

Min Crude Protein 43%
Min Crude Fat 4%
Max Crude Fiber 4%
Max Moisure 9%
Max Ash 15%
Max Ash insoluble in HCI 2%

Ingredients:
White Fish Meal, Soybean Meal, Wheat Flour, Dried Yeast, Krill, Barley, Shrimp Paste, Fish Protein, Protease, Minerals, Vitamins and Natural Color.

Contains Color enhancing elements such as astaxanthin, Krill, Vit. C, E prevent fish grow healthy, build up the resistance and less disease.
(I don't about the english part on E prevent fish grow healthy means, but the chinese translation should be balance diet, normalise growth, increase resistance and prevents diseases)

Normal sold for $4.5 - $5. Maximum $6.

[Blue Whale]

Yo yo...Live Culture up next
Chef moustachio preparing food =D！

[Blue Whale]

A re-cap on the last lesson last Saturday. 31/03/2012

Uncle Ron teaching everyone on how to make pancake...oops..
This is a small container containing the fish eggs. Inorder to harvest the eggs, first the container must be dried out. The use of tissue paper (toilet paper) as buns, to remove excessive water from the container.



Flip over the container.



Repeat the steps until it drys out most of the moisture from the soil. Assuming you use the same sized containers, each of these buns can be left to dry under the sun and can be re-used again. Light tamping is to dry out the moisture. Always label your eggs (harvest date), the genre of the fish. Put in a reminder date on when to check on the eggs, e.g. 3 months from now.



You can see the concentration of water vapor just by looking at the bottom.
The fish eggs (if any), remains cushioned by the soil hence there is no worry that the eggs will be broken.

[Blue Whale]

Once moisture is confirmed to be of minimum, time to remove the bun



Spread your newspaper and flip gently, a gentle tap, and out comes the bun.



No tools is being used. You have to use your hand spread out the soil.



This is the final part where you need strong light, a pair of good eyes for eye power to pick the eggs out.



Should there be no eggs, the soil is recapture back into the Egg collecting Container and hopefully the Killies couple would have lay their eggs the next round.

The above documents part of the sharing session. Apologies if the picture quality might not be tip top as it was captured using my Samsung Galaxy SII. Enjoy.

[Trichopsis]

Thanks Uncle Ron for sharing all your invaluable wisdom on raising various sorts of live foods for fishes!

From the common Tubifex and 'superworms' (Zophoba morio) commonly available at most LFS, to Moina water fleas, composting worms, lotus beetles, vinegar eels, and walter worms which might require starter cultures from fellow fishkeepers or folks who are more into horticulture or songbirds, the attendees learned some simple tips on how to culture all kinds of live foods in a simple and inexpensive manner, reducing the mess and fuss, and preventing infestation by pests such as fruit flies and mites. The grindalworms made an appearance as well, but too bad the cultures had crashed and we didn't get to see a truly thriving culture seething with worms. While other live foods such as crickets and cockroaches (not the household pests, but a different sort) present some challenges, they too can be very nutritious components in your fishes' diet. Some of us might be squeamish at the thought of handling insects, but if raised properly, most of these cultures don't give off any foul odours, and one does get used to handling beetle larvae and even cockroaches. (I'm one of those who can catch cockroaches by hand) As Uncle Ron said, "Your fishes will thank you for it."

Other live foods not covered included banana worms, rotifers, copepods like Cyclops, seed shrimps, fruit flies, mosquito larvae, and bloodworms. If there's anyone who's been raising these at home, do share your techniques! (Besides the mosquitoes, of course, wouldn't want NEA to come knocking on your door)

Some of us who lingered for a while after the session also got a chance to look at fairy shrimp, which might become a viable alternative to brine shrimp, as they can live and reproduce in freshwater. Hopefully someone will hit upon an effective way to culture them in the long term in a manner that isn't too labour-intensive.

Like I said, thanks Uncle Ron for having this session to learn, and I hope others will share their stories on how to best raise live foods.

[fisherw]

Ronnie

Thank you very much for a most informative and interesting session. Enjoyed it immensely.

[Blue Whale]

Today's yummy lesson conducted by Chef Ron, with the Italian touch. Ma-ma-mia!

Okay, not in particular order.
Now Chef Ron intro us to these roaches.
Feared by the audience, Male got wings but cannot fly, always escape and no where to be found. You be glad if the females ones are pregnant.
I wasn't afraid of them but they are just too fast for me to catch them. :P Provided I am 15 years younger, then I will consider them.
Heh Heh...enemies of Stormhawk...ha ha ha ha....



For big fishes, they certainly make an excellent food source.



And Chef Ron said we are not paying attention to his lesson.

[Blue Whale]

What worms is larger other than King Worms? Another name for it is Super Worms.



Using empty Egg crates, Condominium is created for these little fellas.



Now notice that the top layer is not cut through so that there is not much light going through. But inorder for it to "wiggle up" the next floor, the layers below have holes in between for leisure travelling. There is no income opportunity here. Hee Hee.



The last layer is where the male and female party and you know...have their "offspring".



Looking like oakmeal worms or bread worms, these fellas do eat gardenia bread. Anyone got some spare there?
They turn into bugs. Now Super worms isn't worm actually, it is a larval form of Zophobas beetle, one of the 19,000 species of darkling beetle. When it's time for darkling beetles to mate, the male will transfer enough sperm into the female to fertilize all the eggs she will have from that point on. The male's sperm will remain inside her body within a special organ, and will be released as needed just before the female's maturing eggs are released. The journey from egg to adult beetle is a remarkable process called "complete metamorphosis;" each stage is considerably different from the previous.

In this session, Chef Ron wets a piece of bread and the entire colony comes to the party. ^^Y

[Blue Whale]

It wasn't that I am not paying attention but it is just that I still do not know what this is...ha ha...Sorry Chef. Good teacher, bad student.
Generally the offspring of this fella goes in as fish food as depicted by the 3rd picture. They are pretty small, hence my SGSII could actually get a good picture on them.

[Blue Whale]

Of course there are other worms and cultures being introduced, but I didn't take much pictures of everything.

The STAR of the food should be the fairy shrimp!!!!
I like this one, they look so beautiful. Worst picture first, follow by the better ones.



Chef Ron just got one small little container of them. Almost as big as the tetra fish you have at home (if any).



Here is a better picture of how they look, courtesy of Uncle Google.




Fairy Shrimp Information:
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Anostraca
Family Chirocephalidae
Genus Chirocephalus (1)
Size Body length: 25 mm (2)

Introduction
The fairy shrimp is a beautiful, appear as 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch translucent crustacean, which lacks a carapace, and is considered to be rather primitive as it has a relatively large number of segments and the legs are not specialised. The body is elongated, and bears 11 pairs of legs fringed with bristles; the head curves downwards, and in males the second pair of antennae are modified 'claspers' for grabbing females during mating. Fairy shrimps swim around on their backs, propelled by the constantly moving legs.

Male shrimp possess an enlarged second antenna used to clasp the female during mating. Female fairy shrimp often have a brood sack on their abdomen. Female fairy shrimp usually outnumber males. They are capable of three states of mobility. Resting at the bottom of the pools, darting rapidly and drifting slowly. The shrimp propel themselves with a wave-like anterior-posterior beating motion of their legs. This action is complemented by the propeller motion of the outermost part of the legs (the "exopodites". By changing the angle of these exopodites the speed of motion can be changed.

Habitat
This species inhabits temporary pools, ranging from ponds to muddy ruts, and shows a preference for sites that are subject to regular disturbance by vehicles, livestock, or ploughing (livestock also enrich the site with their dung). The fairy shrimp cannot co-exist with fish and has a broad tolerance of varying levels of temperature, oxygen levels and water chemistry.

Biology
The fairy shrimp has been found throughout the year, and has even been found in ice-covered water. It feeds on microscopic animals and organic particles, which are either taken from the water with the legs or scraped from the bottom of the pond. It has an extremely fast life-cycle, and fairy shrimp eggs are able to survive when the temporary pond habitat dries out; when they become wet once more they hatch, but some eggs remain dormant so that if conditions quickly deteriorate again, some eggs will survive. Various animals, including ponies, deer and cattle disperse the eggs from pool to pool.

LIFE CYCLE:
Fairy shrimp reproduction is initiated when the male clasps the female with its second, clasping antennae. Though the male and females swim clasped together for several days, the process of copulation takes minutes. Hours after copulation the male fairy shrimp dies. The female carries both fertilized and parthenogenetic eggs externally in its brood sack for several days before being released to fall to the bottom of the pool, or the eggs may remain attached until the female dies. The number of eggs a female produces in a clutch varies from 10 to 150. Several clutches can often be produced during the life of a female.

Females can produce two types of eggs, thin shelled "summer" eggs and thick shelled "winter" eggs. The type of egg produced is determined by the number of males in the community; summer eggs will be produced if there is a shortage of males in the population. Summer eggs hatch rapidly; the young form while still inside the brood sac. The young from these eggs will populate the pool during the same season they are laid. The winter eggs remain in the mud at the base of the pool and dry out with the pool. The eggs will hatch in the spring when the pools refills. Though the resting period usually varies between 6 to 10 months, eggs have been hatched in a laboratory after 15 years. Eggs have been subjected to temperatures of as high as 99C and as low as -190 C and remained viable. Winter eggs usually hatch 30 hours after being exposed to water.

Typically, one generation inhabits each wet period of the pool. Fairy shrimp usually hatch as nauplius. The young will develop in a series of instars. Each instar involves molting the exoskeleton to grow more segments until they reach the 20 segments of adults. Development is often rapid in the spring, but can be slowed by unusually low temperatures. The speed of development usually reflects the amount of time water will remain in the pool, or the arrival of predators in the pool. Young which have hatched from winter eggs develop more slowly than those that have hatched from summer eggs. Fairy shrimp can complete their life cycle in 16 days. This allows for rapid reproduction.

Winter eggs can be carried from pools to pool by traveling animals, or, in the case of pools that dry out completely, picked up in the wind and be blown to other pools. For reasons currently unknown to scientists, there is an uneven level of population in a pool from year to year. In a single pool, fairy shrimp may be abundant for several consecutive years and absent the next.

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^o^/ That's it, hope you all enjoy the pictures and know what you are missing! Ha!

[stormhawk]

The "unknown" beetle is called the Lotus Seed Beetle or Lotus Seed Worm. Species name unsure.

Some people think they are Lesser Mealworms, Alphitobius diaperinus or they could be Confused Flour Beetles, Tribolium confusum. Only way to know is to look at the adult beetle.

It is possible that these beetles could be the adult form of Tenebrio obscurus aka Mini Mealworms.

[Blue Whale]

#77 also lotus？ Hee, I was thinking the tub with lotus seed is the one..ha ha！

Fairy Shrimp looks beautiful. My favorite before lesson ^^Y