Keeping records

[KillieOrCory]

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you keep written records of your fish/feeding/breeding/species/numbers etc.?

I am now upto 13 species/localities/mutations of killies and they are all breeding! So I find keeping records is a must!

I keep records of:

*where I sourced the fish, how many, how much
*breeding notes
*notes on the tank set up, water changing records etc.
*# of males, females, unsexed young (over 1.5cm), fry (just yes or no) and eggs (just yes and no)
*general notes
*any culls
*any disease, and outcome
*records of where and whom I sent fish & eggs

I find the more records I keep, more enjoyable the whole process becomes. As well as having a notebook journal, I set-up and excel database which is quite fun to fiddle around with and very very basic and simple. Each species/loacation/mutation has its own page and all is linked to a master page that gives you a summary.

At a glance I can see that currently I have:

32 males, 37 females from 13 species
37 unsexed juveniles
can see which species I got eggs and fry for
and most clearly see which species I need to double my breeding effort

And how do I find time to set-up such a database? Well I've been on holidays for 5 days already

If you keep records, how do you do it?

Cheers,

Serkan

[Scott_sg]

Hi,
I keep records using excel also, it has become a useful tool. But personally it takes up time and is a hassle but worth it. I normally record info such as hatchings, if I bought fish/eggs from whom etc And also any disasters I might of had.
I have not got it down to how many of each fish I have, unless it is just a couple, although when I can get that information I will update my lists.
But it is good in that I can see who are good to buy from for example, or which methods have given me the best hatch rates for eggs. And just to keep track of how many species I have - confidential
But I can see things at a glance like who are consistently good to buy eggs from and who to steer clear of. I also keep track of what I pay for them, I think more mean Scottish blood so I can see if I paid too much or not on aquabid I also keep track of any purchases I make with my fish, tanks gear etc to stop myself from going over board and buying too much.
I also use lots of white labels and markers and most of my tanks and containers have quite a lot of scribble and writing on them, so my excel is a secondary more complete record. But all my fish I normally know exactly how old they are and where they come from - and most importantly the species and location details.

Scott.

[timebomb]

I used to keep records of my fish-keeping hobby too until one day when I was asked to fill out an insurance application form for one of my daughters. I felt terribly guilty then that I never bother to keep a record of her medical history. The only way to assuage my guilt, I figured, was not to keep a record of anything

So, do you know the details of your son's last visit to the doctor, Scott?

Loh K L

[Scott_sg]

Hmm Friday 23rd December 5.45pm intermittent fever 37.8C But seriously you do bring up a good point and I can't say I keep organised records as such, only the ones that I am a bit concerned by - fevers or anything unusual.
Sudden fevers always concern me after I saw a kid die very fast from what appeared to be nothing, so I do keep note of them for safety purposes. One big problem Doctors always have is getting accurate background information, so I try and keep that in mind.
But other things general flu etc only memory, so your point is perfectly correct. Otherwise it is just the government immunization booklet.

But still I think there is always room for keeping good records, I am sure my finances would be much better if I did.

Scott.

[wHeEzO]

I definitely keep a record of my fish list! =P

I also tried different pH and temps for my S. Liberiense to see the male to female ratio outcome. I did this because my normal setup reared up 20-1 females. That is one lucky male.

Anyway, I plan to keep a records of how many eggs are laid on certain number of days. I sometimes find that I can collect more in 3-4 days than I do in one week. Others, I can collect more in 1 day than I do in 3 days. Some won't give me any eggs unless I wait at least 3 days from the previous collection. I've been trying to keep track of that. I am working on an Excel worksheet for that.

This way, I will know when to collect the most eggs for each species. =P

I don't really keep track of anything else other than maybe water changes. I am also sometimes lazy on that too. I just need to remember that date so I don't let the tank go on too long without a water change.

I sent eggs to many people through aquabid and fishes through craigslist. When I sold fishes, I would email them in 3-4 weeks and they would just tell me that the fishes died or some of them died. It's hard to keep track but I've kept all my auction emails so I can find them if I need to. Now that I think of it, I did keep a list of my sales to figure out my profit on aquabid. That didn't last too long, I was spending as much as I made on fish foods, fishes, tanks, and other equipments.

[TyroneGenade]

Hi

I've experimented with several means of record keeping, espescially when I was running the fishroom at the lab.

I found the following to work well:

2 note books

1 book for general notes, daily activities etc...
A 2nd book with a page or page dedicated to a particular fish generation (so I would have a page for N. rachovii hatch on 25 Dec 2005)
A 3rd book to keep track of eggs is a good idea...

Computers are nice but I find having the books in the fishroom then and there make making notes easier and more routine.

[Xoles]

I've tried keeping all kinds of records. I've made up forms for everthing from tank maintenance, to breeding and hatching records. Unfortunately, the only record that seemns to be kept up with is the species list.


Kent