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Proper Lighting | 20 comments (20 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Where does Axelrod suggest that? :) (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by unclescott on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 04:09:55 PM PST

What do the guppies in Venezuela do in summer? While those habitats are pretty close to the equator, the sunlight will shine more than 12 hours some days. :)

This is not intended as Axelrod bashing. The context he wrote that in is important.

It may be that guppies need shelter some of the time. Observers certainly see them in the open in shallows. Isn't sunlight needed so that creatures, people included, can synthesize a certain key vitamin? (Somebody here will know which one.)

Also in an aquarium. the intensity of the lighting would be a factor. If one has a little 15 watt bulb (even if fluorescent) on the tank hood, that light could be on all the time, the guppies would be ok and many plants still wouldn't grow, :(

Ok, maybe the guppies would be a little sleepy. ;)

Humans also benefit, physically and psychologically, by some time in the sun. Too much time in those rays, over the years, and the odds of skin cancer, especially - or mostly - on fair skinned individuals, will dramatically increase.

Gee, another case for plants in a tank and sunscreen on the kids.

In Panama there are even some egg-laying fish (Rivulus) who, like some more northerly ones, will spawn when the photoperiod reaches a certain length of time beyond 12 hours. Yet if those eggs were left in the direct sunlight, they would perish!

As with so many things in life, there must be a balance to be achieved. Now if only those things were easily figured out. :)

[ Parent ]

His comments were in a book he published.. (none / 0) (#16)
by Angelee on Sun Dec 28, 2003 at 10:30:41 PM PST

back in the late 70's. It was entirely on guppies. I can't remember the co-author's name. He had a lot of interesting data in it. I just had never heard of the "too much light" theory, and certainly don't want to test it to see if it really makes them sterile or diminishes their color intensity. The book was called "Guppies - the care and breeding of". I figure the amount of light to be okay if: 1. My plants are not turning brown (from burn or too little of light) 2. The water isn't turning green from the overexposure 3. the fish aren't showing signs of distress (HAH sunburn!) I kind of wing it in that department most of the time.
"The Rocky Mountain Gupster" ANGELEE
[ Parent ]

Guppies Herbert R. Axelrod, Wilfred H. Whitern ? (none / 0) (#17)
by unclescott on Mon Dec 29, 2003 at 02:47:33 AM PST

That one was out in 1988.

There was also a Fancy Guppies for the Advanced Hobbyist
By C. W. Emmens, Herbert R. Axelrod
Paperback / January 1968

There's an amazing number of books and pamphlets which have been cranked out over the years. Of course if one throws in breeding fish, starting an aquarium and livebearers as topics it really get voluminous. :)

It was a little disturbing to run across a kids' book on keeping goldfish and guppies. No wonder people think they can go together!

[ Parent ]

Mine is... (none / 0) (#18)
by guppygirl on Mon Dec 29, 2003 at 11:37:00 AM PST

"Guppies" by Wilfred L. Whitern, cc 1980.
"With a special section on inheritance by Dr. Myron Gordon."

"Front and back endpapaers by Dr. Herbert R, Axelrod." HUMMM, they didn't make it into my copy for some reason. But has many of his photos of guppies throughout.

It is a great book, easy to read, with clear explainations.

[ Parent ]

let there be light (none / 0) (#4)
by parttimer on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 06:10:02 PM PST

12 to 14 on, 10 to 12 off, no problems.

[ Parent ]

12 on 14 off -that's a pretty long day though! ;) (none / 0) (#5)
by unclescott on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 06:18:48 PM PST

Then there are those days like today where I need 48 hours just to keep up with everyone else! :)

[ Parent ]

I figure if i'm up (none / 0) (#6)
by parttimer on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 07:21:08 PM PST

so are my fish. My thinking was that the sun is up for that long. When i went down to the west indies last year, I met some fish people in st.lucia who raise fish and guppies and there lights are on up to 15hrs a day.

[ Parent ]

the ifga people (none / 0) (#7)
by parttimer on Tue Dec 23, 2003 at 11:59:22 PM PST

say lights should be on 10 to 16hrs a day with nap time for fish? does anyone turn off lights durring the day for a nap? ifga.org (beginners).never tried that one. it's bad enough when your fish eat better than you, but now they get naps.

[ Parent ]

Naps for guppies? (none / 0) (#8)
by unclescott on Wed Dec 24, 2003 at 02:40:05 AM PST

I suppose in Venezuela those would be siestas?

Still temperate zone fishermen know that high noon is a terrible time to drown worms. There's a lot more feeding in the morning and late afternoon. :)

Mother nature doesn't turn off the lights though, excepting the occasional thunderstorm.

Some timers could allow that. Everyone else must rush home from work, turn off the lights, tear back to work, run home after work and turn the lights back on? ;)

I'll betcha the IFGA person who said that is retired. :)

Noddingly yours,
uncle....zzzzzzzz

[ Parent ]

Oops, I think you misspelled that... (none / 0) (#9)
by Scott Lockwood on Wed Dec 24, 2003 at 04:46:10 PM PST

I think that's spelled 'retarded'.... :-) ESPECIALLY if it was someone at IFGA. :-)

"I love to visit PetSmart's Tropical Fish Dept. to see what new diseases are around today." -- inkmaker
[ Parent ]

I was reading Stan Shubel's book today, (none / 0) (#12)
by unclescott on Sat Dec 27, 2003 at 05:01:01 AM PST

came to the section on lighting. Around funny stories of cats knocking metal top lights into a tank, reaching in and jumping to Olympic heights, was his lighting plan.

At the time of writing, he had a central set of flourescent lights down the middle of the room. The lights would illuminate the sides of the guppies. That set of lights was controled by a single timer - probably one of those which can have several pegs inserted, turning the light on and off as one wants. He also had a small light on the brine shrimp hatchers. It heated the brine shrimp a tad and provided the room with a moon so the fish didn't panic when the lights came on, when off or when he walked by in the gloaming.

He seems a practical and cost conscious individual. His box filters and water changing system seek efficiency and simple construction. His fish room is insulated, vented for some fresh air, heated by a single 220 watt floor heater and was able to withstand a three day power outage in the midwest.

He has tried almost every kind of filtration, lighting and tank arrangement likely to be attempted by a person raising a lot of stunning show guppies, something he has been doing for decades. He had a best of show at the IFGA nation in 2003. At the time of his book he raised few plants. His lights were set to go on for three hours in the morning - he fed them before work. Then they went off. They came on again about the time he came home from work and stayed on an hour past his last feeding in the evening. They were on the 12 hours he's likely to be around the fish or when they are cleaning up a feeding.

It makes sense to me. Why pay for lighting when nobody is there and no plants need them? Maybe Axelrod lifted the idea from Shubel's book - a TFH publication. Ideas lifted out of context don't make the sense they would if the original explanation was provided.

I was showing some killie newbies around. Cheapskate that I am, I toss 8 oz yogurt cups in 20 to 40 gallon daphnia cultures, AFTER the cup had been pretty closely cleaned out. That was a small suppliment in their diet. One of those guys went and tossed all of the yogurt from a much larger yogurt container - if a little yogurt, why not a lot? - into his soon to suffocate daphnia culture. :(

There are a couple of people in a group, loosely affiliated with the IFGA, who behavior towards others in the aquarium hobby once upset me a lot and still saddens me. I wouldn't tar the rest of the IFGA members by them.

There is a guy who briefly was an AKA member, has been thrown off of at least three mailing lists, four times or more for the bunch and probably really needs some sound counciling. He resurfaced on-line recently. He elicits pity more than scorn. There have been a couple other AKAers who are gone from the hobby and I'm not sorry about their departure. But four, even if they were 40, from the 4,000 who have been in the AKA over that time period, again are not typical of us all.

The rest of those in the hobby all have bad days. I'd like to retrieve too many snappy and stupid comments back through the air. What human hasn't said things they wished they had never uttered?

As for fish room ideas, check to see why someone does what they do. It may not sound so odd when the rational is explained. (And it may still seem crazier than a loon anyway.) There are lots of ways to raise fish; methods need to fit the individual like a favorite shoe or they will move on to other things. :)

[ Parent ]

Proper Lighting | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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