October 09, 2015

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"Teach your children well..."

Ok, it's been totally crazy today and I've been focusing on getting ready for a major saltwater show here in SoCal ("Reefapalooza") for Unique Corals, so I am just leaving you today with a simple, reflective little piece that may resonate with a few of you...

With my father now gone almost two years, I still think of him often. Every day, in fact.

My father started me in the aquarium hobby when I was about 3 years old. He bred fancy guppies, and my first fish were some of his fry, along with a goldfish bowl, food, and some great advice: "Feed them small amounts often, and change some of the water every few days. Watch them carefully, and you'll be able to tell if they are having any problems."

Good advice..Great advice, actually.

Some of the best aquatic advice I ever received. To this day, I apply those simple bits of advice to my aquatic efforts, with fantastic results. I will always be grateful to my father, not only for his love and compassion; not just for the advice he bestowed upon me - but for simply being there. He started me on this lifelong adventure in the aquatic realm. An adventure that would take me from the kid with a fishbowl to an owner of a truly amazing online dry goods company and livestock company.

My dad knew something that was pretty remarkable: If you have a passion, share it with your children. Teach them what you know, nurture their dreams, answer their questions, and encourage them in every way.



Give your son or daughter their first fishbowl, nano-tank, baby guppies. Allow them to feel the excitement when they add that new Tetra, find that cool Angelfish they've been looking for, pick kill eggs from a spawning mop for the first time, or create that perfect aquascape.

Embrace their geeky enthusiasm.

And most of all, treasure them. You just don't know the direction your child's life might take when you give them a little push in the right direction.

Happy Friday!

Stay Wet.

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

October 08, 2015

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A little drip that can save you an ocean of grief!

One of the most critical practices we as hobbyists can use to help increase our odds of success with newly-acquired fishes and inverts is to embrace a simple acclimation procedure before adding the new arrivals to our aquariums.

This practice reduces stress, which can be life-threatening to a new fish, particularly if it came from an environment that is substantially different than the one in your aquarium. It's heartbreaking- and entirely unnecessary- to lose a beloved animal because of a simple ommission or shortcut in a simple process.

Proper acclimation procedure is simply essential part of aquarium "best practices", along with quarantine and environmental monitoring.

As you probably know by now, I'm a big fan of the Innovative Marine Accu-Drip Acclimator. It's an inexpensive, easy-to-use device designed to facilitate simple and efficient drip acclimation of tropical fishes and invertebrates. 

This ridiculously simple, yet absolutely ingenious device is a virtual "no-brainer" for any fish geek to have in his or her "tool kit." You literally hook it up to your tank, squeeze the little plastic bulb to get the flow started, and adjust the water drip rate with a simple snap wheel. No more siphons, no more aquarium water in your mouth, having to tie airline hose in a knot to "control" the drip rate.

Super easy.

 

You can acclimate fishes and inverts with so little effort with this device that it's almost a shame that this isn't considered "standard issue" equipment by every vendor who sells tropical fish. 

How long should you take to acclimate your fishes? Well, it depends, really, on what types of animals you're acclimating! For most fishes, I'd recommend that the process take about an hour, which facilitates a drip rate of like one to three drops per second (roughly). For more delicate animals, the process can be extended to up to two hours, so you'd adjust to a slower drip rate of like 1-2 drops per second.

Acclimation is such an important and critical step in acquiring new fishes and invest that we should all take the time to learn a bit more about the process. It will help reduce shock or stress to the animals brought about by rapid changes in pH, temperature, or specific gravity (in the case of marine fishes).  Having a simple acclimation protocol in place is one of the single most important things you can do to help ensure that your new fishes get off to a great start in your aquarium.

 

The Innovative Marine Accu-Drip Acclimator is simply one of the best investments you can make to help assure success with your newly received fishes, and we cannot recommend this product enough!

Stay Wet

 

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

October 07, 2015

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Fall is upon us...and it's time to get excited!

 

 

Wow, seriously? Where did the year go?

 

Summer is finally winding down. The kids are back to school, The World Series starts in just a couple of weeks, football season is in full swing, and the Holiday Season is just around the bend. Craziness.

It’s what I like to call “Aquarium Season” again!

If you’re like many hobbyists- despite the very best intentions, your aquariums may simply have not gotten the same degree of attention that they did during the cooler months, when there were far fewer distractions pulling you away from them. Let’s face it, for many reefers who live in areas of the country that had ridiculously long and nasty “Polar Vortex”-influenced winters (and springs) this year had far less motivation to stay indoors this summer! 

What that translates into is that your beautiful aquariums might be showing the subtle signs of benign neglect. You know, it’s not a wreck or anything, but some of the super vigilant care that you bestowed upon the tanks when it was -8 below zero  outside and there was nothing to do but stay indoors may have fallen by the wayside a bit when attractive summer alternatives like barbecues, beach days, baseball games, vacations, and just plain hanging out in the backyard became available to you and your family. 

What to do? How do you take back your aquariums from the “summertime malaise”, to get it ready for the hobby's prime season? Well, here are a few suggestions to get you started. I’m sure you probably have dozens more, so, in the finest tradition of open source modification, please contribute your ideas to this one!

Do some basic water tests- In order to assess just where you’re headed, you’ll need to know where you are. It’s never bad to have some good information about your systems available. By running some basic tests, such as Ph, Alkalinity, Phosphate, and Nitrate, you’ll be able to get a board “snapshot” of the condition of your systems. If you notice a lot of nuisance algae, poor plant growth, or general “malaise” of the livestock, it’s a good indication that the system is showing signs of benign neglect, and needs some TLC to get it back on track. Usually, it’s as simple as some water changes and/or a replacement of filter media.

Clean or replace filter pads and media- We all know how quickly these rings accumulate all sorts of nastiness. If you let the tank go for a bunch of weeks or months, the pads will be completely saturated, and will essentially become “nutrient sinks”, filled with decomposing biological materials and detritus from the tank, leading to degraded water quality over time. And, chemical filtration media, such as carbon, tend to lose their effectiveness as such after mere weeks, so simply changing out these media can give your tanks a shot in the arm, so to speak!

Check out your substrate - Yeah, if you have a sand or gravel, and you’ve neglected your tank for any appreciable length of time, the substrate can not only accumulate a small layer of “funk” and algae, in the case of sand, it can actually “clump” together to make an almost concrete-like block of substrate in higher pH situations, like in African Cichlid tanks. Not good! So, what you probably want to do is give a nice little stirring of the very uppermost layer of the substrate, to get this stuff into the water column, where you can physically remove it. Notice that I didn’t suggest stirring the whole substrate, as this could seriously disrupt the very biological processes that you’re trying to foster. Just use some common sense and you’ll be fine!

Perform a water change- Oh yea, the dreaded water change. You’ve put it off long enough; time to get “back on the wagon” with that. You don’t have to perform a massive water change- in fact, I’d advise against such a radical move, unless your tank is in extreme distress. Rather, I’d simply start with a 10-15 percent change, which will help “reset” your parameters and get you back into the groove of doing regular small water changes. Although the bane of many hobbyists’ existence, water changes are an essential part of basic aquarium husbandry, and the benefits are obvious once you embrace the process. and, you might just induce spawning in that stubborn annual killifish you've been trying to breed all year long!

 

Re-asses your foods-  Yeah, you read that correctly! During the lazy days of summer, you may have just gotten a bit more “casual” about replenishing your supplies. Maybe you were a frozen-food-kind-of-aquarist, and ended up using mostly flakes and pellets during the summer. Or, perhaps you simply blew through your foods and thought, “I’ll stock up again in the Fall!” Okay, well- Fall is here! And, since there are a lot of really cool foods out in different formats, such as Paradigm crumbles, ZHF pellets, and Doc’s Eco Eggs, it might not be a bad time to try some new ones!

 

Evaluate plant growth- Let’s face it- in your “absence”, some stuff will inexplicably thrive, some will falter a bit, and some will simply crap out. It’s always a good thing to give your tanks a good, hard look to see what is thriving and what is on the way out. After this assessment, you may decide to prune or remove some of the stuff that is doing really well, and the same goes for the stuff that is doing poorly. If you’re dead-set on keeping a plant that is struggling, you’ll need to reconsider where you want to keep it in the future.  If you’re cutting stuff, that’s perfect, because you’ll have plenty to trade with fellow hobbyists as the aquarium “season” heads into full swing. When stuff grows into something else (a problem, but a “good” one, at least…), decisions need to be made to ensure the future of the corals involved; the onset of Fall is always a good time! 

Inspect equipment for wear and tear- While you were running around enjoying summer, your pumps, electronics, reactors, lights, and other equipment were doing their thing. What that means is that some of them may need service, cleaning, or flat-out replacement. In years past, I’d suggest checking lightbulbs, but this is becoming less and less of an essential task given the pervasiveness of LED’s. Do evaluate things like pumps, plumbing connections, and protein skimmers. Check for “mineral creep”, around your aquariums  which may be indicative of a slow leak or overly-powerful pump return somewhere, as well as for any loose connections, dangling wires, etc. Clean your pump impellers  thoroughly, to keep them in good operating condition. Pumps need to be clean in order for them to operate as intended. If you use an electronic controller, review your program to make sure it’s doing the things that you want all winter long.

Try something new!- Now is the time to try new stuff: New fish, new plants…a new tank! It’s a great time of year to acquire new broodstock for breeding programs, or to re-arrange your aquascape! If you’ve never tried our aquatic botanicals before, why not embark on a new adventure? It’s fun to start in new directions as we head into the stretch of the year when you’re most likely to spend a lot of “quality time” with you fishes!

In general- Just take a good, long, objective look at your aquariums. Fall seems to be a great time to set new goals and embark on new projects. Livestock vendors seem to have even more of a great selection. Club auctions and other events seem to pop up on an accelerated pace, and attention shifts back to your hobby. Think about the ideas that have been in your head all summer, and start planning to implement them. Try to attend a local club meeting or conference if you can, and hang out with local hobbyists. Trade some fry, Check out the LFS and all of the cool stuff they have in stock. Get on the forums and run your schemes by fellow fish geeks. To summarize, get ready to enjoy your tanks during “Aquarium Season.”

Let’s hear some of the things on your “get back to the aquarium” agenda this fall!

 

Share, inquire, enjoy…and stay wet.

 

Regards,

 

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 06, 2015

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Just what kind of fish geek ARE you (And does it really matter?)?

I was reflecting recently with a fishy friend about the current trends and state of art of the aquarium keeping hobby. As usual, these conversations encompass a little review of the cool tanks that we’ve seen, what we’re doing, new products, who’s influential in the hobby, etc. Your typical chat about the usual fish stuff. 

One point that we brought up in our discussion is the fact that the freshwater side of the hobby is remarkable for the sheer diversity of ideas and areas of specialization. You just need to peruse the web a bit before you realize there is a special interest group for just about everything!  Biotopes? Sure! Aquatic plants? Take your pic: South American, Asian, or one of the 20 or so Amazonian study groups! 

Cichlids? Old World, New World, Rift Lake (and which one, Tanganyika, Malawi, or Victoria)? Livebearers? Are we talking Guppies, Platys, Mollies, or Halfbeaks- or for that matter, any of the other dozen or more possible wild varieties? I can go on and on, but you get the picture. 

We’ve been at it for over 100 years (in reality, much longer than that, but we’ll just use the twentieth century as a line of demarkation) and the state of the art has changed as the hobby has expanded…slowly but surely.

What is interesting to me is that as the "reef" side of the hobby “grows up”, we are starting to see some of the same kinds of specialization, but at a much more accelerated pace. In recent years, we’ve witnessed an explosion of new animals, new equipment, new techniques, and a whole new attitude about reef keeping. The state of the art changes almost monthly! "Cross pollination" between marine and freshwater is occurring regularly.

If you talk to a lot of reefers today, they might tell you that they “specialize” in SPS, but their area of interest is “Monties”, or “Tabling Acros”. A big change from a decade or so ago, when a reefer would basically say "I keep SPS" or "I keep LPS" or "I keep softies."

Now, it's getting really specilaized.

It’s amazing. The stuff we all do.

In the end, of course, we’re are all just fish geeks, obsessed with the animals and aquariums that we love so much. But what is cool is that there are soo many talented (and essentially unknown) hobbyists out there doing great things- specializing-and advancing the state of the hobby as we know it. Just take a look around at the next hobby event you attend: 

That lady over there with the purple Mohawk, full-body tats, and multiple body piercings? Oh, she breeds Knifefish! That 14 year-old-kid with the dripping wet bag- he’s an ubergeek at growing aquatic mosses! The breakthroughs in this hobby often come from the most appropriate place in the hobby: The day-to-day, hardcore, obsessed fish geeks like us! 

 So what kind of aquarist are YOU? 

I don’t think it matters, as long as you’re a passionate one. Get out there and share your knowledge, stoke a fellow fish geek with some free fry or plant cuttings, help a newbie (or experienced hobbyist) get her system going. Because not only is it cool to do, but you just might be helping another hobbyist create the next great breakthrough in the hobby!

 

Stay Wet

 

Scott Fellman

 

October 05, 2015

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Reflections on the first 3 months of our existence...

Hard to believe that we've been in operation almost 3 full months! It's been a lot of fun introducing fellow hobbyists to our products and ideas, and we've enjoyed every second of it! We're particularly satisfied that many of you are commenting on the quality of your overall experience with Tannin.

Part of the Tannin experience is the care that we put into each and every order. When your aquatic botanical order is received, we take the time to hand select each and every component from our inventory. None of the Tannin aquatic botanicals are “pre-packaged.” In other words, every leaf, every pod- each and every one- is carefully chosen just for you, with an eye towards aesthetics and value.

We give each specimen the same consideration that we’d employ if we were using it in our own aquarium- because we do. We understand how important that value, pride, and passion are in our hobby- and how important it is to demonstrate these values in everything we do, and through each and every product we offer.

Yeah, it can be a bit time-consuming to prepare dozens of orders this way, but it’s the only way we’re going to do it. Perhaps there are more efficient ways to do this, but we feel that they won’t provide you with the same experience you’d receive when we take the time to hand select everything.

Your experience and satisfaction with every part of the process are super important to us, and we don’t want to be like everyone else in this business. We want you to know that, each and every time you order, you can expect an experience that will reflect our values, service, and aesthetic.

You’ve likely had limited exposure to aquatic botanicals before, so your experience with us is super important. The packaging, the now-famous jute bag, the natural packing materials- each one was chosen to help convey our values and the experience.

I thought of this the other day, because we realized that, yeah- we’re starting to grow, and our fellow hobbyists are beginning to turn to us for more than just botanicals. You’re grabbing small-batch foods, unusual accessories, filter media, and high-quality gear from us, which we’re really happy about! As we’ve said repeatedly, we’re not about being all things to all people. Rather, we’re all about providing a very specific experience, and a carefully curated selection of merchandise that reflects that. 

We promise that, no matter how busy we get, how large we become, that we won’t lose sight of our core values. We won’t abandon our focus, nor will we forget the purpose for our existence- to provide serious hobbyists with the things they need to make their hobby more enjoyable. We will not abandon our “customers first” mindset and practices. We pledge to continue to improve our service, quality, and selection, for the continued enjoyment of you- our valued customers.

You deserve nothing less.

Thanks for making the first three months of Tannin’s existence incredible! Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve our service, selection, and your overall experience. We want to continue to earn your trust, confidence, and business.

Regards,

 

Scott Fellman, Owner

Tannin Aquatics

 

 

 

 

 

October 04, 2015

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Things aquarium-related things that scare the @#$!&* out of me...

Ok, I’m man enough to admit it…

After a lifetime in the fish world, there are still some things that I’m flat-out afraid to do. Stuff that scares the daylights out of me. Some of these are challenging to almost anyone- others are seemingly mundane, yet have hidden difficulties that can sink your whole project…yeah.

 

Here’s a list you can build on, I’m sure…So, in no particular order, here is my list of the top 7 aquarium-related things that scare the @#$%& out of me:

*Drilling aquariums- Glass, acrylic; doesn’t matter…The idea of taking a perfectly good aquarium, and using my limited DIY skills to drill it out for a bulkhead, fitting- whatever, is a akin to performing surgery on myself…ain’t gonna happen. Strictly for professionals with experience, skill, tools…and liability insurance!

*Automatic water changing systems- If I had a dollar for every person I know who’s had a nightmare failure (ranging from minor leaks, to full-on flooding of a multimillion dollar Hollywood Hills home) caused by automating top and water changes, I wouldn’t be slinging fish stuff for a living. The mere thought of installing such a system in my home makes me shudder. Besides, I love manual water changes. Really!

*Building an aquarium stand- Seriously? Unless you have mad carpentry skills, this is one that is just brought with danger, IMHO. I fully admire anyone who has those skills, and the courage to forge ahead on a project like that…and a gracefully step aside and admire from afar. I mean, if you don’t get it perfectly right…how long will it be until the inevitable disaster?

*Changing out the media in my Ehiem canister filter- Look, I’ve plumbed reef aquariums, set up my HDTV, learned how to build a website, etc.- but few things intimidate me like disassembling and re-starting- er, attempting to restart- my beloved Ehiem. My mind races with anticipation: “Will it restart? Will it prime? Is the quick disconnect loose?” A several-times-a-year angst-fest for me. Sigh.

*Retrofit Lighting- Okay, I know I’m not alone in this one…Anything that involves wiring, light bulbs, and water is a recipe for problems in my book. To me, it makes a helluva lot more sense to pay the extra few bucks for the completed lighting system, right from the manufacturer.

*Bagging fishes and corals- Okay, even though I am an owner of a company that sells corals and marine fishes (Unique Corals) in addition to Tannin, I suck at bagging them. I sucked at it as a kid when I worked at the LFS, and I still suck at it. Like, I have two left hands or something…That’s why I have people that are really skilled with rubber bands to do the job. Oh, I’m a demon on an impulse sealer, but that is not quite as widely used..yet. Bagging. Yuck. Hey, I’m honest- it’s the task I like the least in this industry.

*Netting fishes from a display tank- Sure, it’s a fundamental skill we all need. Knowing I have to net a fish out of my display tank strikes fear into my hear, as well as that of the fishes I’m trying to catch. Pretty much always results in a wrecked aquascape, frayed nerves, and some seriously stressed-out fishes. I’m even pretty bad at it in an undecorated tank, so you can imagine how awful the experience is in a display!

Oh, there are plenty others, trust me…and that could conceivably fill a book…hmm, nothing to be proud of, really, but…

Anyways, I shared mine- let’s here some of yours!

Stay afraid…

And Stay Wet.

 

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 03, 2015

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Are we talking about...water changes...again? Yup.

Let’s face it. Keeping an aquarium just isn’t that difficult. Unless we make it that way.

Think about it. We often take a simple thing and, in our own wonderful way, make it much more complicated than it has to be. The best example, in my opinion, is how we love to employ all sorts of schemes, equipment, and techniques to avoid performing the most basic maintenance practice of all: Regular water changes.

Why is that? Think of all the money that we could save if we would just change say, 10% of our water every week, rather than spending tons of money on all sorts of additives, trace element solutions, exotic equipment, etc. Not only would we be making our lives a lot less complicated, we’d be providing the animals in our care with the best possible ‘additive”- properly conditioned fresh water. 

I’m not suggesting that you forgo necessary equipment, additives or supplements altogether. What I am advocating however, is that we ask ourselves if we really need to add these things to our tanks. I subscribe to the “test, then tweak” school of reef husbandry. 

 

In other words, before you rush off to add stuff to your water, test for it and determine if it’s really necessary. Granted, systems requiring nutrient supplementation (like heavily planted tanks) and specialty systems ( like brackish water tanks, or African Cichlid tanks) that require specific water parameters typically will employ some sort of additives.

In most cases, though, regular water changes will help bring things back to where they need to be. No expensive, exotic dosing regimes or chemicals required...And, you get the added benefit of diluting organics from the water as well! Talk about a win-win!

 

Need another compelling reason to perform frequent water changes on your system? Just think about the incredible diversity of fishes that we keep in the close confines of our aquarium- all residing in close proximity, living in a veritable “soup” of chemical warfare products. 

 Talk about stressors!

 What’s a good water changing regimen? I’d love to see you employ 10% per week...It’s what I’ve used for decades, and it’s served me- and my animals- very well! Easier still would be to employ two 5% water changes twice weekly. Way easier than you think, and has the added advantage of keeping you in intimate contact with your tank on a very frequent basis. And, when you’re changing water, you could easily complete a few other regular maintenance tasks at the same time with a minimum of extra time and effort.

 Regardless of how frequently you change your water, just do it consistently. In fact, I’ll humbly borrow a line from Nike to tell you to “Just do it...”

 So, you’ve heard me make my case, extolling just a few of the virtues of frequent small water changes on our tanks. I’m kind of curious what type of water change regimen you employ with your system, and just what kinds of results you’re enjoying. 

 Let’s hear it! I’d stick around, but I need to do a water change!

 

Stay Wet!

 

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

 

 

October 01, 2015

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A "Game Changer" for feeding fry!

As you know, we come from a reef aquarium background. As such, we're always interested in foods that can benefit corals. One of the most important factors in feeding corals is getting the particle size right, so that the food is accepted by the animals. 

When we were introduced to Doc's Eco Egg Brew, we used it as a coral food at Unique Corals, where it was consumed readily by a wide variety of corals, including the rather finicky "SPS" varieties (Acropora, Montipora, etc.), which need small-sized foods.

 

After much consultation with the folks at Doctor Eco Systems, manufacturers of Doc's Eco Super Eggs, they encouraged us to use the "Brew" as a supplemental fry food. We realized the potential for what this food is, and for how it can change the way we feed fish fry in the freshwater hobby.

We immediately got it into the hands of an avid fish-breeding friend, (Who, as luck would have it, was raising a few batches of killies, Gouramis, and a very young clutch of Apistogramma at the time). She was blown away by the acceptability of this food! In fact, I got an earful about how I should have been telling her about it sooner...LOL) Because it's a blended version of the Eco Eggs, it has a particle size between 1-400 microns- which puts it in the range of acceptability for pretty much any fish fry we work with in the freshwater world! 

And when you consider the amazing nutritional properties of this food (24.5% protein, 2.54% fat, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids) and it's purity (no arsenic, copper, or other heavy metals), you've got what amounts to a real "game-changer" for feeding freshwater fish fry. 

It's easy to feed, and super concentrated (that translates into "economical" in fish-geek speak!), so you've got a winning combo here, and a great alternative food to the traditional ones we use to rear fry, like brine shrimp, microworms, etc.

All in all, we're as excited as can be for this cool new form factor for feeding our fry, and we think you will be, too!

Keep those fry well fed...

And stay wet!

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

September 30, 2015

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A little bit more on Paradigm Fish Foods

If you’ve been following us a while, you know we’re really into offering our customers unique aquarium experiences, products, and ideas that they may not have seen before. And of course, we love bringing you new form factors of things you might be familiar with…like foods, for example!

We receive quite a few questions about Paradigm Fish Foods…We admit, this brand was new to us not all that long ago, and we had many of the same questions that you did. However, it only took a little research and a bit of trials of our own on our fishes to realize just how good this stuff is!

As you probably realized. we’re HUGE fans of Paradigm Fish Foods! We love these foods because they’re formulated to maximize net energy gain. This means you can feed less food and your fishes will realize as much energy gain as possible. When the fishes are utilizing more of the food, it translates into less waste in your aquarium! Always a good thing, especially with big, active, and rapidly growing fishes!

Paradigm is all natural, 100% grain and gluten-free, which puts it into a very unusual category of  being the ornamental aquarium fish equivalent of “health food!” 

Of course, to a lot of our customers, this food is brand new, and unlike any they’ve experienced before. It’s a “crumble”, which means you don’t simply sprinkle the stuff into your aquarium. You feed to your fishes by smashing it up, either manually, or with a cool gadget like the Innovative Marine Auqa Gadget Gourmet Grinder. How finely your grind this food up depends upon how small your fishes mouths are. The beauty is that you’re in control of the particle size you feed!

How much to feed is simply a function of trial and error. Paradigm recommends that you always start off feeding a bit less, because remember, this food is very nutritious, and you can still get the appropriate daily dietary requirements for your fishes by feeding less- seriously! 

All in all, we find Paradigm to be one of the best values in fish foods, because not only do you get what you pay for- you get maximum nutritional value as well!

Stay Wet...

And satisfied!

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics

 

September 30, 2015

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Some "Marginal " Success with Riparium Plants!

As you know, we're doing our best to get you creative aquarist types hooked up with the stuff you need to do some awesome displays!

One of the things we've been working with is the Riparium Planter by Aqua Verdi, which lets you grow marginal plants in your aquatic display!

Of course, having a cool planter for marginal plants is that much more cool if you have the marginal plants! We've been quietly and diligently growing some out, so that we'll have a little assortment available to you in the very near future. just thought you might like to see some of them.

 

(Cyperus, starting to settle in nicely! )

 

We started with some quality plants and are doing our level best to get them off to a good start...It's as much fun as a hobby experiment as it is as a business venture! And, it makes the house look better with all of these cool plants around!

 

(Mexican Milkweed, coming along nicely; growing lots of new leaves! Can't wait for the pretty flowers!)

 

(Ruella Bluebell and Acorus are starting to do well after a rough start!)

 

(My personal fave, the "Cat Palm", taking root!)

What we're finding is that these are surprisingly resilient plants, and with more experience, a lot of love, and some common sense, we think we'll be able to grow and propagate them nicely. It's our hope to be able to offer these to you for sale in coming months as nice cuttings, so that YOU can start your next geeky aquatic adventure!

Stay tuned for updates!

And Stay Wet.

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics