General

by Dale Tyler (DFWMAS)  - The main deciding factor if you are considering getting an octopus, is usually the lifespan. At 1-2 years, it is rather short, and an even shorter 6-8 months for Dwarfs/Pygmies. Tragically short, considering the wonderful nature of these creatures. The worst part about purchasing a wild-caught octopus is that you don’t know how
old it is.

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by Kieth Ledbetter (kwl1673 DFWMAS) - Building on last month’s topic of planning an in-wall tank, I want to expand on concerns with planning a large tank. Many, if not most large tanks are in-wall, so all the last month’s suggestions apply here as well. A big tank, however, has several “special” concerns in addition to the in-wall issues. Big is an obviously relative term that I’m going to leave undefined. I’ve set up two large tanks myself within the past year ...

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by Jeremy Wolff (Sy5tem_0verload) - Everyone who has a marine tank knows that it requires at least a minimal amount of planning. Thorough planning can prevent loss of time and money due to changing equipment, buying new/better equipment, redoing plumbing, making numerous trips to the hardware store (which inevitably happens regardless of how much planning we’ve all done :D), etc.

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by Ashlar - One of the things that most hobbyists have to face at one time or another is the need to set up a quarantine tank - either to acclimate a new fish to eating frozen food, or to treat a disease or injury, or as a time-out for an aggressive fish.

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by Brian Ecton (Serk DFWMAS) - Tank emergencies happen to the best of us. No matter how careful we are, you just never know when something unforeseen will happen, be it a heater breaking in your tank and contaminating your tank with copper, a pump cracking internally and giving you copper contamination, or a foreign substance being introduced to your tank (pesticides are a common problem, but many common cleaning products have chemicals in them that could be lethal to your tank’s inhabitants).

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by Frank Perkins (DFWMAS) Fish need to remove parasites which live on their skin and scales and inside their mouths. If these parasites are not cleaned away, they can multiply and cause illness

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When establishing a tank, two of the more popular choices are to build a display aquarium or a marine habitat. Each choice has its benefits and drawbacks. They also can have very different needs as to equipment, maintenance, and livestock. A brief description of each type tank and a basic view of their requirements is given below.

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by Scott Rowe (Ashlar) - Cyanobacteria, aka cyano, blue green algae, red slime, or‘that !@#$#! brown mat stuff’ is one of the oldest forms oflife on earth. Based on fossils it’s actually over three anda half billion years old. It’s also very important as one ofthe major sources of oxygen on the planet.

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This is an article wrtten by Barry Dahl and posted on Randy's Aquaria. It is about starting a co-op for our hobby. This article outlines the basic tenets of running a co-op for fish hobbyists. These are similar to the "principles" that have been developed by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).

I have created a discussion thread in the forums for this topic.

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