Cichlids Get Two New Tankmates

Hey now, set up the 125 gallon tank I received from a guy who had a snake in it. But it holds water just fine.
So here is the before and after. I don't usually take the cabinets unless I have room for it. So I just modify and/or construct my own to fit the space.

 Here as you can see I used a Trader Joe's recycled cabinet and it works just fine. Especially after adding 3 large cinder blocks between it and the wood directly under the tank. You can easily see how the board is necessary to be able to sustain such a great weight. Then it also allows me to place my tools and food close for easy access.

I also painted the whole kitchen bright yellow as you can see and the fish get a tank with a view of the backyard. I get almost no algae buildup that I can see.
I do not like bending over to view my fish. Some like it hot, some cold. I like it so I can stand and view the fish. I can always sit and view so then I am looking up depending on the chair. You might want to think about tank placement before you place it; moving issues later can be more problematic. I am staining and sealing two more cabinets before I even bring them into the house. Here's one reinforced with black enamel first:

Got an under gravel filter powered by an Aqua Clear 70 Power Head Pump shown here. And the pipe through which it pumps water.

I also employ the Emperor 400 which I really find efficient to the max for the power it draws. Easy to clean and always keep a spare impeller in addition to the regular media it comes with and replacement types.With and without the top of course.

I love these Oscars as I do all my fish and just rescued a red tailed catfish

 from a guy that was downsizing and moving. So this huge catfish had to be relocated or rehomed as a Craigslist afficiondo will know in a wink. They are all about their rehoming attitudes there just look. Some more honest with it than others. So I drove over there and got busy with moving a large catfish that most people can't or won't accommodate. Just like kids I guess: Feed them and take good care of them and they grow. Then you can't get rid of them.


So here you see the Oscars taking notice of their two new friends. I have a Pacu that was biting other fish in another tank. But he got checked in once I placed him with the Oscar pack.

Then comes big daddy cat and here are shots of him (see top). He was quite the model and poser for these and seems to love the camera, who knew?

So then I was feeding them whole shrimp for the sake of the catfish that was swallowing them whole and lo and behold the smallest Oscar of the bunch the almost albino one takes a hold of a whole shrimp. So now I call him 'PIG'. They are all my buds though and they surely recognize me whenever I come to the glass.

Tree Stump Removal

I hired a couple guys to help me remove some of the more unsightly stumps; the trees were already cut down a few times and began to grow back. Looking to spread out some good top soil, then complete the chicken coop/rabbit condo run along the back fence. Trying to get this done before the rain comes in. Looking for help with construction and development of such and have most of the wood, first main coop, some other hutches. Just need to hook it all together. This is one of the stages in tree stump removal. It's loud so turn down your sound. Thanx for watching.

Please donate when you can in any increment if even a dollar. Money goes directly for electricity, pet food, vet needs, supplies for water, tanks, filters, and all other mechanical tools. I do not accept any compensation for myself as salary as I am NOT a non-profit or profit for that matter. This is NOT a business but rather I am doing this out of the feeling I have for the animals and no other reason other than to keep my sanity in a totally unstable economy.

Savannah Devours His Cousin

Here is the newest addition to the family. He is a Savannah Monitor from the badlands of Africa. He's kinda bad hisself as goes to show in this video. Just recently acquired this monster, the kind they used for all those cheap dubbed Japanese movies where the monster is looming over the city! Right! Just an overdub of one of these monitors. He's friendly to me although I wouldn't extend a finger to him.

I can pick him up and carry him around, just don't let him get too close to your face. My turtles can be fairly aggressive and actually bite and they really hold on for dear life. But I was able to get out of ones iron clad hold one day. Got me by surprise. But much ado about nothing like this. This takes the cake. My new monitor will grow to more than 3 feet, he's a killer. Even killed somebody in his family, a snapping lizard of the garden variety kind.

He was caught outside and I kept him for a while and he stayed very healthy until he landed inside the monitors cage and got ate. Here is a perfect example of who you can and can't trust. My monitor will also eat boiled eggs, but for some reason not baby guinea pigs. I found that out this morning. But he supposedly loves mice and rats. We'll see how that turns out.

So here he completely devours his little cousin. I would call that murder in the first degree of course but he ate the evidence. That's why I shot this video tape as a witness and to use as evidence. But who could prosecute a cute thing like him really?

Please donate when you can in any increment if even a dollar. Money goes directly for electricity, pet food, vet needs, supplies for water, tanks, filters, and all other mechanical tools. I do not accept any compensation for myself as salary as I am NOT a non-profit or profit for that matter. This is NOT a business but rather I am doing this out of the feeling I have for the animals and no other reason other than to keep my sanity in a totally unstable economy.

Turtle Box

Here are the marching soldiers, they are trying to escape. I have two super large females and they are trying to lay eggs. So at this time I will separate them and give them some slack and place them in the box by themselves and see if they want to lay eggs on some CA dirt or some ocean sand. I have both. They most likely will lay eggs in the dirt so I might just mix some sand some CA dirt and some black dirt and see what they think about that. I might have the largest collection of over 8 inch Red Ear Sliders in the World, unless we're talking about a zoo somewhere. I am not running a race, it just be's like that when you rescue soooooooooo many large Red Ears, that outgrow their host and it does take a lot of space and time to make them comfortable.

As you can hear, they sound very much like marching soldiers, they are all trying to escape to see the world. Only a few have actually ended up for a short period in the wild. Some people tell me the turtle was coming down the hallway, really? So invite it in and get used to it. Many people put them in the bathtub similar to the way New Yorkers traveling to Miami, and buying a baby alligator found one day it was too big for the tub and the animal kept them from keeping clean. Unless they could shower or bathe at a friends house. But that get old. So many just flushed their overgrown alligators down the toilet and the sewer ended up with an overflow of alligators! Really.

Well I'd much rather people just put their ad on craigslist and then I can pick up the turtle and bring it back home to my rescue mission. I have rescued not only turtles, some lizards, and frogs, but many 100's of fish with the whole aquarium set up. People donate to me because they have a good feeling about me that I can handle it and have a heart and they are right again. I also take care of an elderly parent but she is in the hospital right now and healing and getting stronger. But when she arrives towards the end of the week, she will rejoice that I have added a few more larger turtles to our family.

Just to reiterate I do not sell animals. I rescue them and shelter them for their natural life. This is not a business for me. It is a passion that I developed for animals when I was very young. What I tell people is that I had at least 3 tanks, 2 hampster cages, down in my basement on a wood table. But life happened and I got busy with other interests. But now at this time, well since about 3 years already, I have set up many tanks in my home and rescued many oversized tropical fish, goldfish, plecos, catfish, Jack Dempseys, Blue Devils, my large collection of super huge Tiger Oscars. So stay tuned and we'll grow together.

But definetely take a look at my new addition 'Turtle Box' video that I just shot today. It's hot and I got enough time to clean their outdoor tanks which give them plenty of room to roam and eat and sun, but have serious plans to construct a major pond in my backyard. There is the space for it. Just need a few more items to put it into motion. SO watch the video and look out for more blogs about chickens, they are too numerous to mention but hey they lay good eggs and I'm eating them best believe it.

I'm just touching on a few other subjex as I have totally neglected my blog between taking care of mom and my pet safe home, I have been spinning. So I will highlight my newest 135 gallon tank set up just recently for my large sized Oscars with photos, but no video at this time, only because I will wait for better light so I can really shoot them in depth; their movements, playful and eating.

A little history behind the tank is that I had two different quantities of black substrate and just combined them for a total stretch across the bottom. I acquired it from a kid that worked at a pet store and had an affinity for snakes, so he had two large boa's in this tank and it took some cleaning to get it clear and snakes as you know can smell funky. So he took out the two snakes then offered to sell them to me and I almost went for it. I played with the small one for a while and he was all over the place; I do have roomates and thought that for just an instant if he escaped, I would probably have roomates jumping out the windows. So I nixed that idea and just took the tank plain. Slid it into the back seat with the help of the kids father and I was good to go.

The tank stood for a while until I could get the exact stand for it. I did so one day when Trader Joe's was remodeling some of their food storage containers and let me have a beautiful solid, light wood, 6 foot stand on which I place the tank. But not before placing a couple of square cinder blocks to give me more height. Don't you just hate when a tank is too far down, and you are only comfortable sitting down on a chair or straining your back to see the fish. Not in Pet Safe Home, we don't play that. We get our tanks up to speed so no back straining here.

I have a Marineland Emperor 400 Power Filter http://www.thatpetplace.com/emperor-400-power-filter-80-gal?gdftrk=gdfV2226_a_7c268_a_7c6967_a_7c214081&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc
that I employ for this tank that needed to be scrubbed with white vinegar inside and out before being able to put into service. Somebody had left it caked with light or creme colored mineral deposits that could have included salt. So my personal solution is to use a metal scraper first because I'm only scraping plastic and there's no serious harm of scratching it and if you do so what. I have dug grooves into a few when my elbow grease went through the roof. But if that is what it takes to get the job done, so be it. I would wrap the scraper in a small towel after lightly soaking it in the white vinegar, the brand you get at 99 cents store, so don't pay anymore for it. It doesn't smell bad because it is a salad dressing, but it is strong so don't let it permeate your nose, as it will burn.

So scrape first the plastic whenever you can reach the tiny grooves and the mostly flat surfaces. Then go in for the kill with the scraper wrapped in the towel. At that point it will immediately begin to look better and be healthier for the fish in the long run because you don't know what is mixed up in that substance. You would much rather just not have it caked on the filter especially the part that is immersed in water. It also will keep the filter from running properly in the long and short run.

Next you can just rub harder on the surface with the towel alone with plenty of vinegar dipped on it. At some point you will become satisfied with your results and you can dip the whole plastic enclosure into plain water and let sit at least over night. What I like to do is to keep rinsing/dumping it for a few days before I even consider using it. Then I employ it without the fish so it can recycle and any residue from the vinegar will dissipate and your job is done, for now.

I will address the cleaning of the filter and charcoal housing at a later date. I want to go to dinner and I'm starving from cleaning tanks today so that will have to wait. But I promise to come back and post more often. The methods I explain are my own personal and they can work for you. But if for some reason,  something doesn't work for you, get over it and adjust it. I don't like to use bleach on filters although I will use it on an empty tank especially a turtle tank as it can smell to high heaven after just a few short days without a super external cannister and I will go into the Magnum 350 as I have two older ones and a newer design model that I swear by. So stay tuned. porous ceramic noodles

One more quick mention is that your noise level of any hanging on back filters will be extremely subdued by filling the tank to peak level. I have found this little trick will save your ears especially if you cannot block out dripping water while watching television. I have a few tanks within ear shot of the television in the kitchen. Will show some pix later, I'm out.

Please donate when you can in any increment if even a dollar. Money goes directly for electricity, pet food, vet needs, supplies for water, tanks, filters, and all other mechanical tools. I do not accept any compensation for myself as salary as I am NOT a non-profit or profit for that matter. This is NOT a business but rather I am doing this out of the feeling I have for the animals and no other reason other than to keep my sanity in a totally unstable economy.

Baby Chix Get a New Home

I was perusing Craigslist yesterday and came across an ad seeking a new home for 5 baby chicks. They were only a couple of weeks old at that the ad went on to say. Once I got the woman on the line she stated she had bought them with her significant other and were planning on a move where she would have a large backyard. Well needless to say, that didn't happen this time around, so hence the craigslist ad for baby chicks who needed a new home. So I got on my white horse and rode over to her humble abode in Hollyrock, California, known more for rock than wood.

It was off the 101 in Friday rush hour traffic when I finally picked up the cute little chicks. She was very sad to see them go and I can surely understand. And so would you if you saw how long her face was. So we loaded up the 5 chicks in their pretty purple cage lined with paper for their poop and pee and made it back north to their new home.



 So I was glad to add these new chicks to our family collection of chickens. There are many at this point. But I love them all just the same. I have two medium size chickens that I also raised from babies. Here's a shot of them. The white one is the smaller of the two and they both should start laying eggs soon. So before I got home I dropped off at my favorite farm Feed and Tack place 'Da Moor's', that has been there since the cows came home. They were there forever and cater to mostly a horse crowd, but have much feed and tackle and hay and the like. So I picked up a bag of special Starter feed cause thats what they grow on, so thats what I buy. I fed the same to the two on the left as you can see they have grown sturdy and solid in the interim.

So to show more shots of the chicks here they are:

Please donate when you can in any increment if even a dollar. Money goes directly for electricity, pet food, vet needs, supplies for water, tanks, filters, and all other mechanical tools. I do not accept any compensation for myself as salary as I am NOT a non-profit or profit for that matter. This is NOT a business but rather I am doing this out of the feeling I have for the animals and no other reason other than to keep my sanity in a totally unstable economy.