BD / Leo pups :)

[Dieselhybrid]

Congrats on the pups, very nice. Where do you get your fiberglass tanks from?

Thanks Reedmaster16 I received my fiberglass ponds in trades for the pups of the mother above. All of them were used when I acquired them. Some originally came from collectors in SE Asia, one is from the company Pentairs. Pentairs is also manufactured in SE Asia (I asked them on the phone) but is slightly different. 8x4x3 with a glass viewing window. Very light for the size, easy to move around. Negative is the interior paint. Keep them bare bottom, don't use rocks or sand or anything that can start the paint chipping, once it starts, it never stops. I periodically have to remove paint chips that flake off of the bottom. The paint doesn't impact the seal, in fact I wish the interior wasn't painted at all. Annoying, and it can clog your strainers teeth. Which we already clean regularly because of old food but good to watch out for. It can burn your pump motor out as the paint can "seal" it off if too much debris builds up.

Hard to recommend because of the paint issue, many hate them, Frank Castle comes to mind as one who would rate them 1 star.. For me, the negatives are tolerable, because I don't do substrate or any decor anymore. I'm a function over aesthetics guy and the rays look great. The enclosures need to be safe and dependable, beauty was an afterthought. I have rearranged rooms full of them by myself, I'm a pretty large man, but that wouldn't be possible with even my moderate sized acrylic and glass tanks, the ponds are surprisingly light. They're also really affordable. One of those, a 55 gallon drum, reeflo hammerhead, DIY ugly plumbing, tons of rinsed and sifted pumice, some foam pads, old matala or poret, and you've got a well filtered 720 gallon for under 2500. That really doesn't need to be completely leveled. Some of mine are lightly shimmed underneath with composites if needed. Easy. I was on a tight budget when this started, plus I wanted to spend the bigger dollars on stock options...

 

[CichlaLoverer]

Hard to get good shots of the mom, she's been in a pond for years. There's just one glass viewing panel, I'll take a few more top down next water change.

For reference The p14 pair are around 5 year old adults 15-18" range. I last measured her at 24" when I put her in the pond she's in 2 years back. She may have grown another inch or so since then. She's enormous and a breathtaking sight

I've had her for 5 years, my friend before 4 years, and she was breeding for the previous owner to us both for many litters. I'm sure she's at least 12 at this point. I'll dig up some more pictures when she was in acrylics with better viewing. She's been the most gentle ray I've ever seen, only gets aggressive for food

Years ago she would have litters of 8 and a few of 10 but last several around 4. I think it's time.

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Nice datnoid... is it a ST?

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Dieselhybrid
Thanks for replying and the pictures


She looks like an awesome girl...one of those that no matter what, you never forget.
She must have been huge when she carried 10 pups!!!

Yes she'll always be my first love She was so big I felt bad for her, she wouldn't swim much just use the anal fins to "kick" around the last few weeks.

She is a great looking girl! Made some very nice pups too, though sorry about the losses.

Those P14s are stunning as well

Thanks for the kind words friend! The p14 pair are funny. Male loves the female, female hates him. He always tries to court, she quits eating and pouts and "glues" herself to the bottom of the pond refusing to flip. I always separate as she gets beat up and takes lots of damage, loses weight from not eating. I've decided not to put them together anymore, I can't stomach the abuse.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Nice datnoid... is it a ST?

Thanks! I rescued it while I was doing work in a different state years back. Horrible HITH and clouded eyes around 19". Medicated and TLC and it finally came around and made a great recovery. It moved back up with me after my assignment was over, cool fish.

Definitely not an ST Regular oddball indo, my first Dat. Someday I'll get an ST when I can find someone that wants to trade for some pups....or I sell a kidney

 

[CichlaLoverer]

Thanks! I rescued it while I was doing work in a different state years back. Horrible HITH and clouded eyes around 19". Medicated and TLC and it finally came around and made a great recovery. It moved back up with me after my assignment was over, cool fish.

Definitely not an ST Regular oddball indo, my first Dat. Someday I'll get an ST when I can find someone that wants to trade for some pups....or I sell a kidney

Nice to hear u rescue it and it's doing well now... post up a pic of him

 

[Reedmaster16]

Thanks Reedmaster16 I received my fiberglass ponds in trades for the pups of the mother above. All of them were used when I acquired them. Some originally came from collectors in SE Asia, one is from the company Pentairs. Pentairs is also manufactured in SE Asia (I asked them on the phone) but is slightly different. 8x4x3 with a glass viewing window. Very light for the size, easy to move around. Negative is the interior paint. Keep them bare bottom, don't use rocks or sand or anything that can start the paint chipping, once it starts, it never stops. I periodically have to remove paint chips that flake off of the bottom. The paint doesn't impact the seal, in fact I wish the interior wasn't painted at all. Annoying, and it can clog your strainers teeth. Which we already clean regularly because of old food but good to watch out for. It can burn your pump motor out as the paint can "seal" it off if too much debris builds up.

Hard to recommend because of the paint issue, many hate them, Frank Castle comes to mind as one who would rate them 1 star.. For me, the negatives are tolerable, because I don't do substrate or any decor anymore. I'm a function over aesthetics guy and the rays look great. The enclosures need to be safe and dependable, beauty was an afterthought. I have rearranged rooms full of them by myself, I'm a pretty large man, but that wouldn't be possible with even my moderate sized acrylic and glass tanks, the ponds are surprisingly light. They're also really affordable. One of those, a 55 gallon drum, reeflo hammerhead, DIY ugly plumbing, tons of rinsed and sifted pumice, some foam pads, old matala or poret, and you've got a well filtered 720 gallon for under 2500. That really doesn't need to be completely leveled. Some of mine are lightly shimmed underneath with composites if needed. Easy. I was on a tight budget when this started, plus I wanted to spend the bigger dollars on stock options...

Nice. I've run the large blue FGTs from pentair in the past and really appreciated the lightweight aspect. Acrylic sheets in the sizes I need have risen to a point DIY is not as cost effective as it use to be. I know a lot of the FGT including the pentair ones are manufactured over in SE asia and imported. Been hunting around for FGT options in US but haven't found many economical options.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Pentairs is the only one I know of domestically in US. I'm sure there are other options, I just haven't looked into them as I've found used ones from friends. Acrylic is going up in cost everywhere, but still my material of choice at this point. Glass I'm not a big fan of, just heavy and can shatter on impact.