Man, it's been a while since my last blog.  Looks like it's been a long time since anyone else has been blogging.  Maybe we can change that.

The biggest news in the Bolen Fishroom is the fact that I've emptied four 20 gallon tanks, two 55 gallon tanks, and four 10 gallon tanks in anticipation for the Spring collecting season.  I'm looking forward to collecting in a few spots, namely, my parent's stream near Emporia, KS; then a place that Jeremy (Peanut_Power) has told me about, and maybe NW Arkansas or SW Missouri, if I have time.  Mainly looking for darters or other smallish fish; although I am looking to acquire a couple of pairs of Longear Sunfish.

Other new things in the fishroom include spawns from Apistogramma agassizi "double red" (ate their eggs), Apistogramma eunotus (Orangeshwanz), and Apistogramma schwarzkinn "black chin".

We did a group order from aquariumplants.com and I got tons of crypts, swords, and vals for pretty darn cheap.

I'm also ordering SIXTEEN 75 gallon tanks here in the next week from L&L Pets in Emporia, although, I won't be setting them up for several months, maybe even a year, until I have enough time to build the new fishroom in the garage.

The auction was GREAT.  I didn't have the opportunity to buy anything because I was working the registration/check out table, but still had a great time.  I sold almost 50 fish, which was an attempt to clear out the tanks listed above.

All in all, I'm happy with where I'm at in my hobby.  And I'm super stoked about spring on it's way!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bb

It's been a busy couple of weeks since the last time I posted.  I had a real nice Bolivian Ram spawn.  The mother was doing great, but I got paranoid she was eating the wigglers, so I stole most of them and placed them in a 10 gallon.  They started jumping yesterday, but I went to the fishroom this morning and they were all dead.  She did eat all of her fry in the community tank as well.   Next time, I'm letting her parent raise until the fry are free swimming.  I say once they are freeswimming, they should be ok.  The apisto fry are doing great.  The double red agassizi age her wigglers, but I have two females in that tank, and both are gravid.  Should have eggs shortly.  The other apistos look like they are on the verge of, if not have already, spawning.

The fishroom got down to 68 degrees while we were gone, which wasn't good.  Might have lost power, but not able to tell.  The digital thermometer I have measures lows and highs for the past 48 hours...I've since put some plastic up across an open wall, and the fishroom is a comfy 75.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year.   2009 has been great, looking forward 2010.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bb

Aaaah, today has been a busy day.

Started out on a trip to Lawrence to PetWorld for their semi annual sale.  I was second in line at 9:30; the store opens at 10:00.   I tried bribing the two kid brothers that were in front of me, for a dollar, to let me cut in front of them.  They said "no way!".  Nice to see that kind of enthusiasm in the youth.  Of course once the doors opened, they were aghast at the cookies on the table by the entrance...so I strode right past them to the fish area.

Saw a lot of great deals and passed some by.  I'm kicking myself for not getting the congo tetras, zebra danios, and white clouds...but oh well.  Ended up with four Bolivian rams, ten Black Phantom Tetras, four Metae corydoras, and six Skunk corydoras.   Didn't buy any plants or hard goods, but there were decent deals.  Thanks PetWorld for the great time.

Ended the day with the HAAS Christmas party.  It was nice to see alot of the regular folks and a few newer faces.  It's difficult times both economically and just planning things around in general; smaller crowd but it was fun.   Randy and Jenny (sorry if I misspelled your name) got a life time achievement award; which I'm sure both of them were excited and deserving of.  That was really cool.

The white christmas gift exchange went relatively mildly; not much stealing except for some discus.  I scored a L180 pleco.  Not sure what the heck it is, but it's alive and in a quarantine tank for now...so we'll see.   Thanks for bringing that DaveW and sharing that passion.

Time to go for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bb

Wow.  What a year it has been.  The first six months were, in terms of the fishroom, uneventful, as we were still living in an apartment in the northland.  At that point, I only had three aquariums setup; two 75s and a 35.  I don't even remember what I kept in one of the 75s!  Oh yeah, they were peacocks.

Starting in June, after we bought out house, I started working on plans for a fishroom.  With the MCA coming, I had to act fast.  After the fish from the apartment got moved, it was time to start building.  Here's somewhat of a progression tank and gallon wise.

JUNE: Tanks: 3 // Gallons: 185

JULY:  Tanks: 18  // Gallons: 460 (added eight 20s, one 55, six 10s)

AUGUST: Tanks: 22 // Gallons: 500 (added four 20s)

SEPTEMBER: Tanks: 21 // Gallons 425 (lost a 75)

OCTOBER: Tanks: 25 // Gallons 465 (added four 10s)

NOVEMBER: Tanks: 30 // Gallons  560 (added a 55 and four 10s)

DECEMBER: No tank activity

As far as spawns, I've had 10 different new species spawn for me this year:

Aulonocara hueseri
Cynotilipia afra "cobue"
Labidochromis caeruleus "Lions Cove I"
Labidochromis hongi
Pseudotropheus acei "Msuli"

Apistogramma eunotus (Orangeschwanz)
Apistogramma schwarzkinn / black-chin

Corydoras aeneus "albino"

Nanochromis teugelsi
Pelvicachromis taeniatus "kienke"

September was my favorite month, because of the MCA.  It was a great time, and I was able to pick up some rarer or unusual fish.

All in all, I'll give 2009 a grade of A+ in terms of personal success in the fishroom.  Here's looking to 2010 will be just as great.

Thanks for stopping by.

Has been a great couple of days.  Got my Nanochromis teugelsi have free swimming fry as of today.  I'm really excited about those, as they are an unusual west african that I don't see alot of.  My apistos are all doing great.  Going to pull the adults from that tank here after Thanksgiving for the fry to be counted and grow out.  I would like to get them to the 3/4" mark before BAPing them, and at least an 1" before selling them.

Plans for the "big" fishroom have been pretty much finalized.  The new room will contain 36 twenty gallon tanks, 8 seventy five gallon tanks, and 20 ten gallon tanks, for a total number of tanks of 64, with a total of 1,520 gallons.  Granted, it's no Walter or Steve fish room, but it will do, for me, for now.

Still a lot of work to do before framing in of the walls.  I have to tear down all of the hanging fixtures, all the light fixtures, a previous owner's copper air delivery system, and figure out a way to frame around the garage door.  All of the electrical outlets are ran (there are 12).  The space is 26 feet long and 12 feet wide.  I only have 7' high ceilings though. 

Here's a few pics...

"GENERAL LAYOUT"

"RIGHT SIDE"

"LEFT SIDE"

This is an interesting week.  This is my first week of my "vacation", or as my wife would call it, months of honey do's.  I will have plenty of time to work on the fishroom but also have to do Debbie's list and the house chores.

Up this week:  got some corydoras schwartzi and corydoras sterbai from Woo.  Other than that, no new acquisitions.  Picked up a couple of 10's from Roger, so we'll be incorporating that shortly.  Added a 55 from Dave, and will be adding filtration to that soon.  After I bap out my africans in my other 55, I'll clear those out and have two 55s for grow out.

Excited for the holidays to pass because I have more fish I want to order.  Specifically, some more cories and apistos.   In terms of wild fish from the southern hemisphere, this is their best collecting time...just when it's the worst shipping time on our side...so will have to work around that.

Good to see a large crowd at the last auciton, I think 40+?

Gotta go do some water changes now.

Bb

Been a while since I posted...a lot has been happening in the fishroom though.

First of all, got the furnace fixed, which the fish really appreciate.  Didn't lose any fish that I could see, so you can't be too upset about it.

Second, added a three tiered rack of ten gallon tanks, five on each tier.  This was intended for the Wet Spot order, as well as raising tanks.  Turns out, I may be getting more cories, so it will have to be home to them instead of raising tanks, which means...more tanks.  To date, I have 26 wet tanks and 540 gallons.

Thirdly, the Wet Spot order came in last night.  Thanks to those that organized it and did the running around delivering fish.  I got:

Corydoras trilineatus
Corydoras similis
Corydoras schwartzi
Corydoras sterbai

Apistogramma agassizi "double red"

Everyone came in healthy and alive.  I'm really excited about the cories.  A couple are pretty common, the other two are a little more rare, a little more difficult to breed.

On a personal note, I found out Thursday that November 20 will be my last day at my job.  We have been expecting it, and it's no surprise.  Actually surprising it lasted this long.  I'm excited about taking some time off and really finding something that I want to do.

It's getting late, so I shall go now.  Thanks for reading.

Bb

This being my first blog on the site, I thought I would share a little about the progress of the fishroom in the last couple of weeks.

After the MCA, my wife and I returned to find my prized 75 gallon tank leaking from the bottom seam.  By leaking, I mean gushing.  This put a serious dent in my carrying capacity for fish, as I had set that tank aside for my new Central American purchases (more on this later).

Then, last Friday (October 9th), I went to go turn on the furnace, because it was getting quite chilly.  It wouldn't fire up.  Five days later and two trips by the furnace repair man has restored the fish room from 65 degrees back up to a manageable 72 degrees.  During that time, I have had corys spawn, and hatch; and also lost some peacock fry.  Ugh.

But, now all is well at the Bolen Fishroom.  Heat is on, water changes done.  Time to try to take some pictures tomorrow and see how things are progressing with the apistos.

Speaking of apistos, still trying to nail down an accurate identification on them.  The folks who were selling them at the MCA not only had them  mislabeled, but also mixed.  Grrr...

More later.