Platies!

[DMD123]

I was going to steal your idea - sword tails.

I doubt I will ever get the chance to set up anything else in the near future, so go for it. Plus mine would just be an experiment in food raising for the bichirs.

 

[pbmax]

i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

Indeed; the yellow high-fin is pretty. How long have you had the dalmation mollies? I tried (and failed) several times to keep those in the past.

 

[pbmax]

I was going to steal your idea - sword tails.

I doubt I will ever get the chance to set up anything else in the near future, so go for it. Plus mine would just be an experiment in food raising for the bichirs.

And mine would be for my own enjoyment. Selling live stock isn't why I got into this hobby

I don't really have the budget for it right now anyway. If I did buy a tank it would end up sitting idle for quite a while.

 

[fishyladdy]

i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

Indeed; the yellow high-fin is pretty.  How long have you had the dalmation mollies?  I tried (and failed) several times to keep those in the past.

Well I started out with two about 2 monthst or so ago and now Ihave 4 so I'm doing pretty good lol

 

[pbmax]

I finally got some decent photos of my sunburst platies.  I had a bulb out on my 4x31w 30" T5HO fixture, which took a bank of 2 out.  I fixed that and with 122w of light over my 29g I had just barely enough for a photo.  I need a remote flash...

Anyways, here they are:

 

[Anonymous]

@pbmax, ohhhhhhhh HD! :spoton: Nice choice with the Sunburst Platies. Looks great!

 

[pbmax]

Thanks! They're the prettiest that Petsmart has, I think. I'm going to give Petsmart one last chance tomorrow night (they get fish on Fridays apparently) for different, attractive platies. After that it might be Aquabid...

 

[KaraWolf]

Lol pbmax petsmart is Friday PETCO is Saturday and in Lakewood they're 5 min apart. Drives me nuts when I happen to visit and I can't buy anything because they're probably sick or stressed. These look good though!

 

[pbmax]

So the fish quality at the Petsmart and petco in lakewood is pretty bad too? I was thinking of driving up there one of these days...

 

[KaraWolf]

They usually look good I just got a bad batch most recently >> usually they're pretty nice looking. I know the PETCO will quarentine if they look bad. Mostly though I just try not to buy fish on shipment day.

 

[pbmax]

Well, my logic there is to get the fish before they have a chance to fsck them up. My petco is awful...

 

[KaraWolf]

ahhh >> thats a different way to think about it lol Sadly I think of it as letting the lost causes go before I try to treat and end up with dead fish (and before now I never used quarantine tanks cause I didn't have any....) seriously starting to think I'm going to have to talk to the order guys though....I haven't seen the two species I want since I first got excited about them being in stock but before I had room for them.

 

[pbmax]

That is definitely a good point. But if a fish looks stressed, I won't buy it. Any fish that can recover from transit that quickly is likely either a really good faker, or going to make it. I don't expect to find anything anyway. But it'll be nice to dodge the weekend masses...

 

[MorganEA]

You take such great pictures!! When I try to take pictures my platys just look like yellow blurs, they are too busy begging for food to stay still for pictures.

 

[pbmax]

Thanks The most important aspect is tons and tons of light over the top of the tank. Mine didn't exactly sit still either, so I took a ton of photos before I got some decent ones. Even with 122w of light over their 29g I still couldn't get shutter speeds faster than 1/80 or the rare 1/100. Someday I'll invest in a remote flash setup for my DSLR...

 

[LuminousAphid]

Yeah, I have a 20 gallon and usually have to use 1/50 or slower at any decent ISO. You could try using a high ISO if you haven't. 122w seems like it should be enough to get a bit faster, and maybe if they turn out dark you could adjust levels up if you have PS or anything. But they look awesome anyway, so I don't think you need to worry about a flash. I have seen people hold a piece of paper over the normal flash to diffuse it (might help with reflection?), I haven't tried but it might be worth taking a shot.

Don't worry about it though, those pics look great!

 

[pbmax]

I never shoot indoors with anything but max iso (1600 on my canon xsi).  Lighting from above is the best approach for aquarium shots as even diffuse light will reflect.  This is why night time works best if you have any windows.  A remote flash positioned above the tank is critical for fantastic photos, especially with the smaller aperture needed for better field of view.

Some really high-powered lighting over the tank would do the trick as well, but I don't have any more room above my tank to boost the light more than it already is with all 4 bulbs on.  I run the tank with 1 bank of bulbs on normally - 62w.

I'll stop worrying about it when my photos are as good as binbin9's:

http://www.wafishbox.com/t6561p44-some-updates-on-my-shrimp-breeding

 

[CrazedAce]

I stopped following this thread because of my lack of skill caring for platies, but I learned something about taking pictures just from reading everyone's posts. Thanks. Lol

I have the "Blink" lens on my phone that takes about 20 pics when you push the button. Sometimes I get a good shot in there. Its actually pretty cool on my phone, because it plays it as a GIF, but unfortunately it doesn't transfer to my PC that way.

 

[pbmax]

That's the sad thing about digital photography these days.  Most folks don't buy a decent camera because their phone takes photos.  Only most phones (including the almighty iphone) take absolutely abysmal photos unless you have insanely bright lighting.  Even a cheapie canon elph will out-perform any phone out there.

I bought a DSLR specifically for taking photos of my aquaria.  And my (at the time) soon-to-be-born child.... in that order? But before that I did pretty well with a little canon.

 

[Nick_87]

i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

Indeed; the yellow high-fin is pretty.  How long have you had the dalmation mollies?  I tried (and failed) several times to keep those in the past.

Well I started out with two about 2 monthst or so ago and now Ihave 4 so I'm doing pretty good lol  

Really, those mollies didn't do well for you guys. I have about 5 genertations in my tank. All you gotta do is when the get fat put them in a breeder box. Which is like once a week if you have a few haha. I had so many a few months ago i was giving them away 50 at a time and was still over run haha. The mollies do like a bit of salt in the water tho which makes it hard with plants. GL both ya.

Nice pics PB. I really need to start working on taking some pics since my wife is a professional photographer but she rarely lets me use her toys. Maybe i'll break out the mark II and get some photos soon.