I have been waiting for a pair of German blue rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) to spawn for a few months so I can get some video. They finally cooperated, and laid eggs a few inches from the front glass… and moved the larvae to a pit even closer! Rams are one of those species I return to again and again. I had not have any for four or five years, however, until I got this pair from OddBallFish.com to photograph for their website. OBF has some great rams! They also have nice gold and electric blue rams, and a lot of other great fish. Check them out.
Watch for the Repashy Superfood in the video. I placed a couple pieces near the nest before the fry were fully free swimming, and the parents picked a small piece up and dropped it dead center of the fry pile. The fry were picking on it! That is less than 6-hour free swimming fry picking on a food that is NOT alive. I was amazed… Repashy food is awesome.
As promised, here is a video with more detail on mixing and using the Repashy Superfoods. There are many different ways to present the food to fish. Be creative! Everyone would like to hear about you ideas, so post them in this blog thread if you want to.
I will be traveling to several aquarium events this year. If you would like me to deliver the food to you at one of them, here is what you need to do. Go ahead and use the on line shopping cart, but choose manual payment instead of Pay Pal. At check out, leave me a note in the instructions box to bring the food with me to whatever event you will be at. An email reminder would help too. When we settle up you can pay me cash or check, and we will back out the cost of shipping. You will only pay to price of the product.
My next visit will be to the New England Cichlid Association in CT on February 4th. After that I will be in Raleigh for the club’s workshop the weekend of Feb. 18. Hope to see you there!
We are almost through our tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This episodes features the Aviary and Touch Pools (on the aquarium’s map), but I have always referred to that corner of the building as the ‘Shoreline’. This section has displays that feature different aspects of the estuaries, beaches and rocky areas around Monterey Bay. There are also some cool fresh water displays. I especially like the sticklebacks. When I was editing the final cut of this video, I decided that the sound was perfect without interjecting the peaceful scenes with my voice. Enjoy…
Thank you everyone who has been ordering Repashy Superfood. Allen sent me a note today saying that tomorrow is production day and he will ship on Wednesday. I am excited! (And out of a couple types of food… so I hope it gets here quickly). I promise that the moment it arrives I will start packing shipments to go out.
I also have lists of ingredients on the product pages now, so go check it out. The most common question I have gotten is about the ingredients. The second most common question is about the cost analysis of using the food compared to flake and pellet. I am going to shoot another video that shows in greater detail the amount of food that 1 oz makes. I will get that posted on Tuesday.
As with anything that is measured in weight, the cost per feeding goes down as the amount purchased increases. The 64 oz size bag calculates out to $1.09 per oz. 1 oz = 1 pound of food. The video shows me making about 1 pound of food. That deli cup I use as a mold holds about 1/2 pound. The 1/2 pound feeds my fish room (70 aquariums), so my room costs about $.55 to feed. That is comparable (or even less expensive) than high-end pellet foods like Xtreme (which I love, and use a lot of).
When I post with the new video I will break the costs and value down for you some more.
I also made a change in the Stock Shop. Shipping is now included on orders $75 and higher. That should help. If you are ordering fish, please note that when you add fish to your shopping cart you need to choose either the Priority Mail price or the Express Mail price. The free shipping at $75 includes fish.
This website has a new Stock Shop. The links are at the top of the right hand side bar. I have had a lot of requests to automate the Stock Shop, so here you go. Please be kind if we experience some hiccups! Please note… due to the cost differences in shipping, if you order fish and dry goods you will need to purchase shipping options for each type separately (one shipping for fish, the other for the dry goods). Also… fish shipments may be delayed by weather, and we just had out first Winter blast here in Wisconsin. If you want me to bring the fish to a meeting that I am speaking at, please send me an email BEFORE you place your order. I have to pay to check bags in order to transport fish, so there will still be a shipping charge for me to carry fish to you (unless I am driving… send me an email).
Repashy Superfoods!!!!!!!!!!
I have not been this excited about a new product since polyether foam for Hamburg matten filters finally showed up in the states (thank you Stephan at www.swisstropicals.com). Allen Repashy’s well known reptile and feeder insect gel food formulas are well known in the herp hobby, and now Allen has brought his knowledge and creativity to fish food. These gel foods are a revolution in feeding fish. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to test the foods (thank you Allen and Rachel O’Leary!!!), and I endorse them so much that I am going to sell the foods.
Before you think, ‘What a scam… he is pumping a food just to sell it’, please understand that five years ago I swore off selling dry goods for the hobby altogether to concentrate on writing, photography and breeding fish. Maintaining an investment in merchandise inventory is hard on the wallet. I am selling Repashy SuperFoods so you have a place to get it. And you should get it! Check out the video:
I cannot express enough how much of a positive impact I know these gel foods will have on the hobby. I have been out of my test samples for almost two weeks, and am waiting impatiently for the first order to arrive so I can start feeding it again
The Stock Shop for the superfoods is open, but they will not ship until they arrive here.
At long last!!!! Here is the next installment to the Ted’s Fishroom series on the topic of water. There is no way the topic of water can be covered well in an hour-long video, much less a five minute video! This is just the basics of what to think about, and one way that I make the onerous job of water changing just a little easier. One of my New Year resolutions is to automate water changing in my fish room this year, and if I manage to get it done I will be sure to post a video blog series about how I did it.
There are three galleries with large tanks at Monterey Bay Aquarium. The kelp forest is the most well known, and the open ocean tank (which was closed for renovation while I was there) is the new shining star. The third is the tank in the Deep Waters gallery, which shows us the deep water zone at the edge of the kelp forest. The water is deeper and darker there, and the animals are larger and more predatory. The bottom is rich in life forms that eek out a living on the organic matter that descends to them from the brighter kelp forests. Overall, I think this gallery is one of the most interesting. You will especially enjoy the ‘gimoungous’ octopus!
Greg Sage is a talented aquarist who has built a viable business out of his hobby in his basement. I have never seen a more productive fish room! The number and quality of fish Greg has is astounding. And his fish room is designed to make it possible.
Select Aquatics is a retail business. If you are interested in purchasing some of Greg’s fish, feel free to contact him through his web site: Select Aquatics
Here is a short video that continues my tour of Monterey Bay Aquarium from last Spring. This is one of my favorite aquariums to visit and photograph… except for ONE aquarium that appears at the end of this video. And that tank has to be one of my favorite small reef displays anywhere! Someday I will get a chance to visit after dark when the glare from the windows is not a problem…
Here is a video of another endangered fish I am maintaining. I have not had these killies very long, and have just recently been able to collect and hatch viable eggs. The fry are growing fast though!
A few years ago I had the great pleasure of visiting the Aphanius sp. maintenance facility in the basement of the aquarium building at the Wien Zoo (Vienna, Austria). I was not there to see the killies, and had no clue that they were even there. What a surprise! The program maintains more species and locational varieties of Aphanius than most of us even know exist. Some of these little fish are spectacular, and I have been on the hunt for them ever since.
The genus is found all around the Mediterranean Sea, and all the populations are considered threatened in the wild. Some, like the A. transgrediens in this video, are critically endangered (if not already extinct). One species, A. mento, is relatively common in the U.S.A. hobby… and it is an excellent species to work with. All the other species are very rare, and I thank my friend Kurt Z. in Missouri for sending my founding group to me.
“Who C.A.R.E.S…?” This is a challenge… if you are not keeping at least one species of fish that is at risk of becoming extinct, please find a species that interests you and make the commitment to keeping them for as long as you can. And breed and distribute them. Check out the C.A.R.E.S Preservation Program to learn more.
