Nice work, I had rays years ago. Gonna have to get back in to them. I had 6 teacups that did very well.
Rays on a budget- My (somewhat long) story w/pics
- Thread starter Clearwater guy
- Start date
love the quick rig seperator man, the dividers are a great idea, but when you slide in the dividers you should make sure there slots under them sothat water can still flow through, like what you did with the tile and glass tank. when she has the pups where are you gunna keep those guys?
The little Motoros in the upper tank are being delivered to their new owner this weekend, and the Male that came in last weekend will be out of that tank by the time the pups are born, so they will go in the upper tank...
But there's a timing issue....The rays coming in next Thursday will need to go in the upper tank temporarily. I had a failure today that took precedence over the new pool construction, so I wasn't able to get anything done on it.
I made the mistake of getting the plastic tubs that are made of a more brittle plastic than the ones I've used in the past. one of them cracked in the bottom...What a mess. I discovered this at 10am and I was supposed to be at the race track by 3'ish for opening night.... Which left me 5 hours to freak out, panic, contemplate suicide, wonder where the money was going to come from, and how It was going to be fixed safely to make it to the track without leaking all over...for free...Since I went over-budget on the rubber coat...
So, a few hours later I had a nice new sump made out of the 2 original tubs, cut and overlapping each other, with peices of styrofoam to protect the sharp edges, and a bunch of boards supporting it all together...and a piece of pond liner that I had left over from the pool which was just the right size... It actually works better than before because it doesn't have the restriction where I had originally connected them with 2" pvc. But i'm a fraid to load to full of sharp lava rock. I did put plastic tray lids under the lava rock to protect the liner on the bottom. I think it will be fine...I just got home and it's still going well.
I'm tired...I'm used to racing in a class that doesn't have many rules, so we get weighed after the races, and then we go home...Well now I'm a tech official...so the classes that DO have engine rules and such...we gotta take them all apart to check for things. Tonight, the top 3 were all illegal in the class we checked.
I'll get pics of the updated sump tomorrow...
Also...At least 3 Tilapia have eggs again, and I have them set up in a better situation now with some fake plants and stuff....Now I just gotta figure out what to do with them...
Mike
But there's a timing issue....The rays coming in next Thursday will need to go in the upper tank temporarily. I had a failure today that took precedence over the new pool construction, so I wasn't able to get anything done on it.
I made the mistake of getting the plastic tubs that are made of a more brittle plastic than the ones I've used in the past. one of them cracked in the bottom...What a mess. I discovered this at 10am and I was supposed to be at the race track by 3'ish for opening night.... Which left me 5 hours to freak out, panic, contemplate suicide, wonder where the money was going to come from, and how It was going to be fixed safely to make it to the track without leaking all over...for free...Since I went over-budget on the rubber coat...
So, a few hours later I had a nice new sump made out of the 2 original tubs, cut and overlapping each other, with peices of styrofoam to protect the sharp edges, and a bunch of boards supporting it all together...and a piece of pond liner that I had left over from the pool which was just the right size... It actually works better than before because it doesn't have the restriction where I had originally connected them with 2" pvc. But i'm a fraid to load to full of sharp lava rock. I did put plastic tray lids under the lava rock to protect the liner on the bottom. I think it will be fine...I just got home and it's still going well.
I'm tired...I'm used to racing in a class that doesn't have many rules, so we get weighed after the races, and then we go home...Well now I'm a tech official...so the classes that DO have engine rules and such...we gotta take them all apart to check for things. Tonight, the top 3 were all illegal in the class we checked.
I'll get pics of the updated sump tomorrow...
Also...At least 3 Tilapia have eggs again, and I have them set up in a better situation now with some fake plants and stuff....Now I just gotta figure out what to do with them...
Mike
Picture day!
Ok, here's the sump ver1.1b. I think it will serve fine until I can build an entirely new one. I have the plans coming together, but will need to purchase a bunch of materials. When I build it, it will be 2-3 times the volume of the current one, or maybe more..
I took a couple pictures of the new Hybrid male. He is doing great, getting more playful and is healthy. This makes me need to revise a few statements I had made very early in this thread. Initially I had no plans for hybridization at all. I am a conservationist of sorts, and I don't believe in unnatural crossbreeding... But I was forced to re-consider this for a couple of reasons. First, I believe that there is a certain amount of this that takes place in the wild. Second, I needed a way to work with my Motoros that would make them somewhat profitable. I love the adult Motoros I have, but I need to mix them up a bit so I can at least cover the expenses of keeping them. So, I will be hybridizing Motoro mixes in a controlled manner so I can ID the parents. As I continue to collect Black rays, my project will be separated into 2 breeding projects. Purebred Black rays, and motoro mixes. Some people may take issue with this...but I believe that these 2 simple recipes combined with honesty and transparency on my part, will allow this to work without question of what the bloodlines are. Because quite simply...It will either be purebred...or it will have Motoro in it. There may be a few other hybrid projects along the way due to not having certain females, but I'm doing my best to get them as quickly as I can pay for them. And I am very happy to say that I have a great vendor that I will be working with to do this. The rays coming next Thursday are just a small start of what is to come, and I intend for this to be a long term business relationship...so there will be many more to come. I'll tell you all where they came from when I post pics of them.
I'm bummin about the flood in the basement. There's no way I can complete the new pool and have the rubber coat cured by next thursday now. Since it's water based, I'm sure that the high humidity will affect it. but I still have provisions and it will be fine.
Lastly..I threw in some pictures of what used to be White Nile Tilapia...They are all over an inch now, and are no longer fry...
Ok, here's the sump ver1.1b. I think it will serve fine until I can build an entirely new one. I have the plans coming together, but will need to purchase a bunch of materials. When I build it, it will be 2-3 times the volume of the current one, or maybe more..
I took a couple pictures of the new Hybrid male. He is doing great, getting more playful and is healthy. This makes me need to revise a few statements I had made very early in this thread. Initially I had no plans for hybridization at all. I am a conservationist of sorts, and I don't believe in unnatural crossbreeding... But I was forced to re-consider this for a couple of reasons. First, I believe that there is a certain amount of this that takes place in the wild. Second, I needed a way to work with my Motoros that would make them somewhat profitable. I love the adult Motoros I have, but I need to mix them up a bit so I can at least cover the expenses of keeping them. So, I will be hybridizing Motoro mixes in a controlled manner so I can ID the parents. As I continue to collect Black rays, my project will be separated into 2 breeding projects. Purebred Black rays, and motoro mixes. Some people may take issue with this...but I believe that these 2 simple recipes combined with honesty and transparency on my part, will allow this to work without question of what the bloodlines are. Because quite simply...It will either be purebred...or it will have Motoro in it. There may be a few other hybrid projects along the way due to not having certain females, but I'm doing my best to get them as quickly as I can pay for them. And I am very happy to say that I have a great vendor that I will be working with to do this. The rays coming next Thursday are just a small start of what is to come, and I intend for this to be a long term business relationship...so there will be many more to come. I'll tell you all where they came from when I post pics of them.
I'm bummin about the flood in the basement. There's no way I can complete the new pool and have the rubber coat cured by next thursday now. Since it's water based, I'm sure that the high humidity will affect it. but I still have provisions and it will be fine.
Lastly..I threw in some pictures of what used to be White Nile Tilapia...They are all over an inch now, and are no longer fry...
I feel like an idiot. It's hard to consider a "lesson learned" when I already knew better.
The momma that I separated was not nearly as big as all of the prego pictures I had looked at, and I had not seen movement in her for quite some time...Now I know why.
I was worried all along, because she had been bought, brought, and moved several times...But I still didn't expect this to go like this.
I absolutely KNEW that the overflow was a danger, I tried to get her on the other side of the pool, but it didn't work out. So I left her there, thinking that I had a week or 2 before I needed to worry.
Not the case- I discovered a severely under-developed stillbirthed pup in the section where she was, and it looked as if she had been totally deflated.
I went to the sump (where I SHOULD have had my bag filter, but I didn't.) There was one more stillborn, and 3 fully developed pups...ALL being forced HARD into the lavarock in the bucket.
ONE of them is alive. It is the one in the small container of water. I don't think it will live, but I sure hope so.
So, out of 5 pups, 3 were alive initially, and I killed 2 of them for sure with my stupidity, and the 3rd one will likey die as well. It has massive contusions from the force of the water...
The momma that I separated was not nearly as big as all of the prego pictures I had looked at, and I had not seen movement in her for quite some time...Now I know why.
I was worried all along, because she had been bought, brought, and moved several times...But I still didn't expect this to go like this.
I absolutely KNEW that the overflow was a danger, I tried to get her on the other side of the pool, but it didn't work out. So I left her there, thinking that I had a week or 2 before I needed to worry.
Not the case- I discovered a severely under-developed stillbirthed pup in the section where she was, and it looked as if she had been totally deflated.
I went to the sump (where I SHOULD have had my bag filter, but I didn't.) There was one more stillborn, and 3 fully developed pups...ALL being forced HARD into the lavarock in the bucket.
ONE of them is alive. It is the one in the small container of water. I don't think it will live, but I sure hope so.
So, out of 5 pups, 3 were alive initially, and I killed 2 of them for sure with my stupidity, and the 3rd one will likey die as well. It has massive contusions from the force of the water...
