AQUARIA by Patrick Timlin

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----- Introduction -----

There are already a lot of pages out there for aquaria and I didn't want to just put up "yet another aquaria page" which contains the same links as every other page. Instead, what I envisioned was a page that was different.

By different, I concentrated on three main things:

1) I wanted links and information that contained more than just the general stuff. I want the kind of nitty gritty detail lacking in many pages. I wanted info and links that contain more of a scientific or maybe just a more "fact based" content. Not to imply that all you are going to find here are latin names and math formulas. On the contrary, I want to provide information that most people can use, but I hope to take it one step further, than much of the "dumbed down" stuff already out there, for those who are a little more serious.

2) I have often searched long and hard for information that for some reason is not "common knowledge" on the web, in books, or that is accurate. As an example, I see many kinds of non-fish animals for sale in pet stores for the home aquarium, yet most books, magazines, and web pages either ignore or just gloss over these subjects. So I wanted to try and provide info and links here that I had to search hard for so you won't have to. I am going to try and provide help with those animals and subjects that are out of the ordinary and for which info is hard to come by.

3) Some of the info and links here may be here simply because they are currently or recently of interest to me. I am not writing a book I want to sell, so I have the freedom to put stuff here that maybe the general aquaria hobbiest simply is not interested in or does not care for the sort of depth I might offer on a subject. For those people, there are already plenty of other pages that contain the more general stuff and do it much better than I probably could (like Cathy's Homepage of Tropical Fishkeeping). I have a seperate links page which has these sites and many more.

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----- Links and Info to Various Fish Species -----

A collection of links to sites cataloged by types of fish. I don't necessarily have experience with sopme of the fish listed here, but found the sites informative anyway, so I am presenting them here for others. Table of Contents (top of this page)

----- How to Control Snails -----

One of the other things about Usenet is that many questions come up time and time again. Often these are beginner's questions that even the most helpful of us get tired of answering over and over again. So I came up with the idea of "canned responses" where I would compose a sort of "mini-FAQ" that would deal with a general question that often comes up. Then whenever I saw those questions pop up, I would just post my "canned response." Of course I had imagined writing these for all kinds of different subject such as snails, algae, cloudy water, pH (how to lower/raise), and all the other common problem questions that come up. In the several years after coming up with this idea, I have written all of one, Controlling Snail Populations in the Home Aquaria.

Other links about snails you might like include:

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----- Crabs, Crayfish and Shrimp -----

Fiddler Crabs: Please do NOT email me with questions about crabs!!!! While my page does have a decent selection of info and links, I gathered most of these back when I was thinking about getting some. I came to the conclusion that I didn't have a setup at the time to properly keep these animals so decided against them until a time when I could set up a special tank just for them. To date, I have not done so, so my experience with aquatic crabs is virtually ZERO. Most of what I do know can be found in the links and archived emails below. If you still have specific questions, I suggest you try one of the sites linked below and email THOSE authors for advice and help.

Here I have included some emails, links, and info (both pro- and con-) about keeping Fiddler crabs in your tank. Please note, while I do provide a good amount of info & links here, I personally do not have any first hand experience with these creatures. Specific questions can probably be better answered by emailing the authors of these pages rather than myself.

Red Clawed Crabs: These crabs seem to be better suited for freshwater tanks than Fiddlers, at least from the various usenet posts and sparse info elsewhere on the internet. Finding good info on these is even harder than for Fiddler crabs. So far I have one link for you to check out...

Crayfish: Crayfish, crawdad, yabbie, or whatever you prefer to call them. Here are a few good sites information:
Freshwater Shrimp: An outstanding article brought to you by Joe's Aquatic Lounge... Other stuff: For additional information and links on Shrimp, Crayfish, and Crabs, drop by... Table of Contents (top of this page)

----- Eels & eel-like animals -----

One very commonly sold "eel" is the Caecilian Worm aka Rubber Eel aka Black Eel. These animals actually are not eels at all (eels are fish) but instead are limbless amphibians. Here are some excellent pages to learn more about Typhlonectes natans (their scientific name) as well as an archived Usenet posting:
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----- African Clawed Frogs -----

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----- Osmosis -----

What is it and how does it effect your fish. If you have wondered why sometimes it is helpful to add salt to your freshwater tanks or were wondering about the age old question "Do fish drink?" then you might want to look at my attempt to explain osmosis and how it effects your fish.
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----- Lighting Your Tank: Fluorescent & Other Lighting Info -----

One aspect of keeping fish that tends to be rather universal is the use of fluorescent lights to illuminate the tank as well as grow aquatic plants. Of course other forms of lighting exist and are used, such as incandescent lights as well as more specialized types like metal halide, but for most of us fluorescent lights are easy to find, economical to use, create less heat than other systems, use less electricity, have better/more spectrum options, and often simply are what came with our hoods (grin). Other forms of lighting are also represented in the links and articles below.

By the way, note the spelling of fluorescent. 'U' comes before the 'O.' Someone once mentioned an easy way to remember this that I like to use. Just remember there is no flour in fluorescent lights.

55W Compact Fluorescent DIY hood - This is a simple and inexpensive fixture you can build for a 55W compact fluorescent lamp. The write up for this one focuses mainly on the wood box with electric wiring secondary.

96W Compact Fluorescent DIY hood - This is the very preliminary page of the 96W CF lamp fixture. Right now it is just a photo gallery without a write up. Eventually I will write something up, but for now you can enjoy the 'purdy' pictures.

2 x 36W Compact Fluorescent Retrofit Project - This is another quck and dirty page I put together about a retrofit project I did for a friend of mine. He has a fish only marine tank which is one of those 55-gal acrylic ones with the dual plastic fixtures on top, each with only a single 15W lamp in it. Wanting to keep the same look to his tank and use the same fixtures, I upgraded his lighting to a pair of 36W compact fluorescent lamps which more than quadrupled his lighting without having to change different fixtures.

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----- North American Native fish related links -----

North American Native Fish Association (NANFA) web page.

Interested in something a little different? The fish you keep don't HAVE to be bought from a pet store or come from far off places like South America and the far east. Why not try North American native fishes? Many of us who live in the United States tend to overlook the fish that live virtually under our noses. A great place to start gathering information on how to go about collecting, keeping, breeding, raising, and trading these natives can be found at the North American Native Fish Association (NANFA) web page.


Native Fish Conservancy (NFC)

"[A] 501c nonprofit organization committed to the study, keeping, preservation, and public education of native fish... If you have an interest in fishing, keeping native fish or conservation in general, then there is a place for you in the NFC."

Aquaria Links

All other aquaria related links are on their own page. Other Aquaria Links.

Aquaria Related Photos

I have created a page of photos I personally have taken but have not yet used somewhere specific on this site. So I have put them on a seperate page where you can look at them if you like until they get used elsewhere or never get used elsewhere.

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Last modified: November 21, 2006
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