James' Fish Room

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Welcome to my website! On this page, you can see blog-style updates about what's happening in the fish room.

SUMMER TUBBING CONCLUDED

Blog post #2, Sep 2, 2024
Blue Flame Paradise Fish, Macropodus opercularis)

Happy Labor Day! It's the official end of Summer tubbing season for me, the day when I take in all of my fish and plants that have been enjoying the warm weather and natural elements of my outdoor patio ponds since Memorial Day. This year I only set up one outdoor tub in the hopes that I could get my blue flame paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) to breed. The pond consisted of a 15 gallon plastic planter made to look like a whiskey barrel, a look that I'm very fond of. I planted the pond generously with water hyacinth and a single water lily. Filtration was achieved via a large Aquarium Co-op Easy Flow sponge filter. I really enjoyed the overall look of the pond this year. The fish were vibrant and active, spending a lot of time near the surface where their bright colors caught the sunlight excellently

Water lily in full bloom

Unfortunately, I was unable to observe any bubble nests or other breeding activity from the paradise fish. Despite this, I was very pleased by how well the plants managed to grow up over the course of the summer. The water lily which began as a bare rhizome sprouted many lilypads and a single large flower which bloomed about a week ago. The water hyacinths bloomed periodically throughout the summer, lending a splash of purple to the aquascape. Overall, summer tubbing is one of my favorite parts of the fishkeeping hobby and I look forward to trying it with new species next year in the hopes of actually getting something to breed outdoors.

WELCOME TO MY FISH ROOM

Blog post #1, Aug 25, 2024
Blue Angelfish and Pineapple Swordtail in heavily planted aquascape

Hello everyone and welcome to my website. I plan on using this space to write about my experiences in the fishkeeping hobby. I'm currently in the process of finishing part of my basement into a (roughly) 500sq.ft. fishroom with an estimated capacity of roughly 3000 gallons. When finished, the fish room will be focused on breeding projects for the tropical fish species that I'm most interested in. I enjoy working with a wide variety of freshwater species, especially rare, endangered, and newly-discovered wild-type fishes.

I plan on producing in-depth care articles for the various species that I work with. As operations in the fish room get up and rolling, I also hope to have high quality tropical fish available for purchase so please stayed tuned for future updates!