Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] New to Group with THREE QUESTIONS

Hi Rose,
Welcome to the group. We were just in Ithaca to visit my brother this summer what a lovely state you all live in.

What I did when the power goes out is cover my tanks with heavy blankets to hold in what ever heat was in the tank, make sure to unplug the lights so you do't burn down your house when the power comes back on. The temps will go down slowly this way and when your heater turns back on the temps will also rise fairly slowly.
When the power is out do not feed or open the blankets for any reason it only lets out heat and the foods will soil the tanks water quality.
If the power is going to be out for days and its really cold that is a whole different problem. We do have a generator and even though we have never had to use it I am so Thankful knowing its there. You do have to turn it on with a load once a month to keep it working right so its not with out effort. They do sell generators that work using car batteries but someone else will have to point you to them.

Any of the live bearing fish reproduce like crazy this can also be a problem if you have no where to sell or get rid of the young.

Plants and fish and snails can all live together ;-) Look through the photo's of tanks and see all the pretty planted fish tanks. Its rough time of year for buying plants, it is very expensive to ship them in the winter. Do you have a local store that sells good ones (not those ones in the little containers)?

Donna

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> From: Rose Lieberman lapis@frontier.com>
>New to Group with THREE QUESTIONS
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>Hi, folks. My name is Rose, I'm 65, I live in rural upstate New York. I raised freshwater tropicals back in my Brooklyn days, and that was about 40 years ago. So, I'm familiar with the hobby but there's a lot I've forgotten.
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>QUESTIONS: WHAT DO I DO WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT?
>I never used to worry about power outages, but now that I live in a very rural part of upstate New York, outages are not uncommon. They don't usually last very long, but once in a while, we might get one that lasts overnight. I do recall that tropical fish do not like temperature changes. So, what do I do? Do I NOT do tropicals? If I CAN do tropicals, which species are my best bets. I know goldfish can tolerate a lower temperature, but that's all I remember. Then again, no fish likes swings in temperature. Do I purchase a $1500 generator for what could be a $10.00 fish? (I say that as someone who hasn't purchased nor bonded with any fish at this point).
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>QUESTIONS: IF I CAN HAVE TROPICALS, WHICH ONES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BREED?
>I thought it would be enormous fun to watch fish reproduce. Some are quite particular, while others seem to have no problem. I just don't know which ones those are. Any thoughts?
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>QUESTIONS: SNAILS? I'D ALSO LIKE TO HAVE AN ADDITIONAL AQUARIUM DEVOTED TO AQUATIC PLANTS AND PERHAPS A COUPLE OF INTERESTING SNAILS. Any thoughts on which species of snails would be good? What what's a good source for aquatic plants?
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>Thanks,
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>Rose
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