Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No one is allowed to tell him I said that, okay? (What happens on BYAP stays on BYAP, right?)

Thats the rules G2N

Anybody know about plecostomouses? (Plecostomi?)

This is the beastie that came with my aquarium. He's more like 14", not 24" as I was led to believe. Still no small fry, though! And they're in the catfish family. I did not know this.

What I'm wondering is, all the info pages list their temp range as something like 20-30 deg C. But I know they survive in ponds that get frozen over in winter, so I'm thinking he *could* potentially live in my AP system. I'd like that. But that would mean he'd need to be okay down to 10 degrees or so in the winter.

I'm hoping somebody out there has some facts they would share with me, because my speculations on the subject are beginning to be repetitive.

If I know it's possible, I'll work on acclimating him. If it's not, I'd rather not find out the hard way!

I had a common Pleco and tried it. The pleco died around 50 degrees F (10 C). Looked fine one day the next he was kaput. Mine was around 7". I'd bring yours into warmer water when it gets around 60 F (15 C). I've only had experience with the one.

I heard that they can be hard on other fish. But others have had them in ap before. I think they typically remove them for a multitude of reasons.

Ick. Thanks, I guess that answers that question!

Yeah, the big ones can be aggressive, it's true.

I can't speak for them, but I've found that my blue catfish have done fine through Houston's "winter" - from 95 F in September down to about 32 F/0 C, but no water freezing. Makes for good kale, lettuce, and broccoli crop.

Speaking of which, I have lettuce seeds sprouting in my grow beds, with freezing weather daily. The sprouts look so tiny and fragile to be so hardy!

Well, with the 1000 watt submersible heater cranked up to about 75 degrees (F) my system is staying about at 60-61. Of course, it's been a little bit warmer here the past few days, too, above freezing anyway.

I've learned to slam the greenhouse door a couple of times before venturing in, to knock the condensation off the inside of the plastic. Nothing like an unexpected cold shower in e middle of winter!

The new aquarium has been keeping me occupied, which is a good thing, because all the stuff that needs doing on the AP system right now is stuff I need several days for. I've got almost a whole 2 weeks off work coming up soon, though, and I'm hoping to get another grow bed operational plus do some greenhouse finishing that needs doing.

At the hospital, on the parking garage, there are these huge window box-style planters around the outside edge of each level. Every time I look out the windows and see them as I'm walking through the halls, I start mentally calculating the appropriate fish tank volume for supplying water to all of them, and where on the top level it should be located, and how I'd run the plumbing to keep it out of the way...this really IS kind of a mental illness, isn't it?

My chickens did not read the chicken-keeping book.

They are 5 months old, it's the dead of winter, I have not built them any nest boxes, and someone is laying eggs.


Sent from my iPhone, typed with my thumbs.

It's obvious that they want warm comfey nests and you have not provided them, so they are laying cold eggs because revenge is a dish best served cold . You should ask yourself, do my chickens secretly hate me ? Ask yourself these questions - Do they

1. have angry little stares like in the Hitchcock movie (you know the one).

2. cluster at the door when you go outside, pretending they are ignoring you ?

3. carry little clubs under their wings waiting in ambush ?

4. lay cold eggs .

If any of these are the case, don't lie down in the grass

Well dang! I wish I had more free time at the office to browse non-work related stuff. I went and talked to a couple folks and the guy at the pond shop sold me a couple of bulkheads for my grow beds rather then Uniseals. That will teach me to do a bit more research. The bulkheads are a lot more expensive. Yeesh!

Oh, dear...

You don't think they'd enlist the goats in any conspiracies, do you?

Nah...Hitchcock didn't put any goats in the movie. I'm sure he would have put them in if that was a possibility.

Right?

You should read my whole thread. There's a lot of off-topic stuff, and places where Bullwinkle got confused and thought it was his thread for a while (which I secretly think is pretty cool), but there's also a lot of great advice people have given me.

Also I need to get back to you about the catfish. I was too sleepy to think hard enough to respond last night. BUT I've finally made it through to my almost-vacation time, yay! It's not full-fledged vacation time, because I still have the last 2 days of my locum tenens job next week, plus 2 days of orientation for my new resource job (I was hoping there'd be a gap between finishing one and starting the other, but it didn't work out that way), BUT I've got TWO WHOLE WEEKS OFF from my primary job, and I have a VERY full schedule of goofing off planned. Including catching up on PMs and getting some more progress made on my AP system.

Oh, yeah...and building nest boxes for my stupid overachiever chickens.



Wait...pond shop? We have a pond shop???

Dang. Maybe I'd better put "explore the town I've lived in for 5 months" on the list for my 2 weeks off, too!