April 2010 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

A P R I L 2 0 1 0would hardly be able to afford the additives this system basesit’s technology on.As a vintage hobbyist (that has a nice ring to it) I have to reflecton one of the earliest lessons I was ever given in tropical fishkeeping: “Son, the two most important tools in this trade are ahose and a pail”. To my thinking it’s like taking a sniff of thefiltered, heated, recirculated and medicated air inside a hospitalward in lieu of pointing your nose into the wind as it sweepsalong a forested hillside in the great outdoors. Not in the sameleague is it?These glass vases are at least bigger than the cups your LFS,even here in Panama, display their bettas for sale in. Rememberthat small water volumes are prone to contamination if notregularly maintained. I can picture you downsizing my hoseand pail doctrine to airline tubing and a coffee mug for keepingyour own ‘Goofy’ on your desk at the office – Good work!So I will simply offer that once you have had one of these newsystems going successfully for a year, let me know. Until then,I’ll keep the pail’n hose handy and leave these “zero change”devices to the wealthy ex-pats down here in the tropics whomight not know any better. ‘Nuff said!It is Panama so I should at least mention the big water filledditch which bisects the central mountains here and whichbecame a legendary shipping route – The Panama Canal. Thedaming up of several rivers to create a huge lake flooded 262square kilometres of the interior jungle of the country includinga number of villages and even part of the original railwaysystem. Could such a project pass today’s environmental impactstudies? Likley not. Freshwater from this lake flows northwestto the Caribbean Sea and southeast to the Pacific Ocean, ananomaly you need to refer to a map to get your head around. Itis rather like imagining Detroit being north of Windsor – whichit is.And then another familiar sight popped up. Again it this notthe usual hobbyist methodology but I was glad for any fishydiversions. TMA’s eldest child came into this world and spenther first public outing at an aquarium society summer picnic.Later in life having been baptised into fish keeping she kept asingle male betta in just such a ‘tank’. Sadly her “Goofy” passedrecently of old age and I have forgotten until just now to askhow his plant is doing? Hmmm, honey call our daughter!In our eco-green, zero carbon footprint world, these surely mustbe worth a look. The local price in Panama – 12-13 US dollars.In any event a dracena palm, peace lily (Spathiphyllum willisii) orbamboo shoot is typically grown soil-less with one fishmeandering in a world without corners through the root base.Here as in the former situation, food (for the fish) and waterchanges are key even though the plant can be reasonablyexpected to draw some soluble waste nutrient from the water. 7