The Top Ten Reasons I loved the Aquarium Hobby in 2003

(by theAquarian December, 2003)

Another year has past, and the hobby has been just as enjoyable if not more so than last year...without further ado, my favorite exploits of the year:

Year-End Top Ten
10	Filter Experiment
9	Telmatachromis Vittatus
8	Endangered Article
7	Ivory Snails
6	Emperor Tetra
5	Black Calvus
4	FIT.N revamp
3	Tropheus debusi
2	Guppy (starlight)
1	Red Shrimp

10 = Filter Experiment

For years I've dreamed of running a filter experiment. The goal was to see if all of the opinions about the different filters was based on fact or just on opinion. So I took 4 ten gallon aquariums, hooked them all up with identical everything, and then set-up different filters in each. I have a Hagen, a Penn Plax, a MarineLand, and a Tetra filter. The only downside to the experiment is that it is taking a long time to determine the results.

So far what I have is mixed and there isn't any one filter that really stands out. Perhaps things will end that way as well. I know that the longer I've been involved with the project the more that I've felt it needs to be repeated several times in order for the results to be valid. We'll see where we are 6 more months from now, and then we'll decide if any of it makes any difference at all.

9 = Telmatachromis Vittatus

Last year I came to an appreciation of the "least" of all Julidochromis, the dickfeldi. This year I expanded that love...sort of. I decided last year that if I was able to find some Telmatochromis I would buy them regardless of what they were. I found some Telmatochromis vittatus, and making good on my self-promise promptly purchased them. Unfortunately they were young, so I was unable to immediately breed them.

As they got older I started to wonder if I would be able to breed them at all. I finally did, but managed to save only a small number of fry. I moved the adults to another tank, fairly disgusted with them. Then something happened. In the new tank I started to get a feel for how the fish really looked. The new surroundings worked very well with the colors of the fish, and I started to realize that the fish was a true beauty. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any more fry, but I've come to a realization of just what a great fish it is; and I've made sure I get a good glimpse of them every time I come into my fish room, just to see their beauty.

8 = Endangered Article

I was doing some research for the Fish Guide when I found out that the Boesemoni rainbow was in trouble in the wild. What is more, I found that the reason for the problem was that the fish had been over-collected by the tropical fish hobby. In complete shock I started doing some research. One thing lead to another, and soon I was consumed with research on redlist.org, trying to come up with all the different fish in the hobby that were threatened in the wild. The research was very difficult to do, but I persevered, and wrote an article that I considered one of my finest on fish in the hobby that should not be purchased in stores unless you knew that the fish was tank-raised. The article continues to be one of the most read on the website.

7 = Ivory Snails

This year was a little different than most as I found myself moving a little ways away from cichlids and the main stream of the hobby. One of the things that I got into this year was Apple Snails. I'm certainly not a master with them as my inability to produce fry indicates, but I've come to have a certain appreciation for the beasts. I decided I had to have some, and so I did some searching.

I finally settled on Ivory Snails, a color morph of the tank and plant friendly Pomecia bridgesi. This snail is a beauty to look at, with a very white shell that isn't easily confused with the golden variety. My hope every since I was a bit younger has been to introduce more fun things into my aquarium to go along with my fish. The Ivory Snail is certainly an interesting oddity that I think most people appreciate on sight!

6 = Emperor Tetra

One of the great things about being involved with a club is that you often see fish for much les than you see them in stores. You also tend to find items that you won't even find in stores. The "summer" auction for our club this year was a great event for both. I brought home both the Emperor Tetra and some Black Calvus, both at very cheap prices.

I immediately fell in love with the tetra, which was more of an afterthought than anything when I got them at the auction. However, after looking at the fish a bit more, the subtle coloration, and wonderfully shaped fins make this fish a real winner. I put them in a heavily planted 55 gallon aquarium, and thus far I haven't gotten any fry out of the group, at least none that I've seen. Still even without fry this has been a great fish to watch as the group schools together and swims through the tall plants that are everywhere in their new home.

5 - Black Calvus

The black calvus has been on my list of fish to get for years. The problem has always been that they cost far too much for me to afford. What is more, due to their cost in stores, they are not a common fish to show up at club auctions. Perhaps thanks to a bad economy, a bag of 4 was at the summer auction.

I started bidding like normal, figuring I would go up to $15 for the bag. At $12 suddenly the auctioneer said "Sold." I glanced around the room and then said "you mean I won?" It was one of two victories on the night. This fish is an absolute beauty as it ages, though it is rather slow-growing. I had been told that it would only eat live food, but that certainly hasn't been true of mine, though they do get the occasional guppy.

4 - FIT.N revamp

With the changes that we were making to the fish guide, my desire to change over to a mySQL based website accelerated early this year. We set-up a phpnuke site, complete with a fairly good conversion of the graphical redesign of the website that I'd done just 6 months earlier, but we felt something was missing.

With Pyrowolf helping to head things up, we changed the entire site to better match the forum colors of the old website. However that is just the visuals. The forum was completely replaced with a faster forum that would allow more people to use it, and discussions to run for a longer period of time. The new fish guide was added as the gem of the new website. Boasting an interactive ability for people to add things directly to the guide. The new website has been a wonderful revelation, a big thanks to Pyrowolf in making it happen.

3 - Tropheus debusi

At the October 02 auction I had passed on some Tropheus b/c I had been told that they require special care as vegetarians. Since I have always been told that you should never buy a fish unless you know how to care for it, I didn't buy any. I wished I had before the auction ever ended, and promised myself that I would get some if the opportunity every arouse again.

October 03 I went to the auction with a mind to get some Tropheus. They weren't cheap, but at $30 for 5 I still saved over the put stores. I'd been told that the Tropheus, though a vegetarian also ate plenty of mean content from the shrimp that would live in the algae that it ate in the wild. I tend to agree that these animals are not strict vegetarians. I also agree that they are beautiful, with a shape that is definitely different from the other fish out there.

2 - Guppy (starlight)

Guppies were one of the fish that I ever kept, and certainly they were one of the main fish that really got me into the hobby. Though I was a little late to sell Guppies to pet stores like people did in the 60s, I was able to make a little money by selling guppies to my friends.

I was probably the scourge of the neighborhood as many parents found themselves with fish they hadn’t wanted due to their child becoming fascinated at my house. Last year, I got a set of Japanese blue and a pair of double veil-tail guppies. I started breeding the fish, and they have since become a staple dither fish in the home. While breeding the fish I accidentally crossed the two strains together and ended up with an un-expected surprise.  The fry grew up with brilliant fire-blue bodies from head to toe and red dorsal fins.  The only problem is that the fish changes color between being a juvenile and an adult, and the adult isn't nearly as pretty. 

1 - Red Shrimp

This year was definitely one where I did some expanding of what I kept. Back in April, I think, TFH ran an article on these cool little Cherry Red Shrimp. I soon became obsessed with them, and worked to get some. They have turned out to be a delightful addition to my aquarium, the only issue is that they are a little small for putting with anything else.

Still they breed quite prolifically and are just so cool to see. It’s another reason why everyone should be doing freshwater aquariums in my mind. Though I’ve always felt there wasn’t near the variety that there is in saltwater (which is still true) there are plenty of cool critters that make keeping the fish a blast!

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