Terrible algae in planted tank

Since I replaced the tacky white and red gravel in my planted tank with crushed coral, and the plants with java fern and jungle val, I've been having algae from hell. This could be due to the higher alkalinity from the crushed coral, which buffers the water 7.6.

Occupant of the tank is one figure 8 puffer.

I've tried blackouts, lowering the light to 4 hours a day, 50% water changes every other day, and nothing has slowed the algae. It's green and covers the gravel, and there is also diatoms too.

I'm adding an oto from the 55 gallon to see if it can help. I don't think he'll touch the green slimy stuff, but it would be great if he'd wipe out the brown algae.

- Josh
joshday.com

Crawfish

Lot of goings-ons in the crayfish arena lately. That's the blue male above and below, one shot taken with flash and the other without. The brown female recently molted and we actually got to see it happen. She was on her back and snapped out of the shed skin like throwing off a jacket. Then the blue one grabbed the skin and took it to his den in the wood. Both craws ate it and it was gone in one day.
The male was previously terrorized by the larger female but after her molt he got braver and put on the moves, as you can see below.

The oscar kept getting in the way of the camera but I saved this junk picture because of his expression.

- Josh
http://joshday.com

Non fish-related entry

Ok, I'm going to take a break from fish today and talk about Food Network. Mainly the shows and people I absolutely hate on Food Network. So get ready for some expletives and off-color remarks.

My wife and I went without cable, and basically all of TV, for more than half a year. We finally gave in after Netflix didn't turn out to be as great as it sounded and picked up digital cable.

Food TV is a really fun channel to watch consistently. If you've ever read The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester, you'll know there are a lot of insane personalities out there who devote their lives to culinary arts. Now, I'm not saying some Food Network cooks are sociopathic serial killers like Tarquin Winot, but damn, there are some highly obnoxious personalities on channel 59.

Let's start with the easiest and arguably most pathetic target, Rachel Ray.

Her show Inside Dish was well into its embarassingly bad first season when we killed the lights on our cable. I was frankly stunned this show continued to air beyond the pilot where Rachel went to Dennis Franz's house and blatantly hit on him (repeatedly and moronically) in front of his wife and daughter. To give you an idea of how painful (and morbidly fascinating) this episode was, Dennis at one point said one of his favorite movies was "Dressed to Kill," you know, that really strange and bad Brian De Palma movie where Michael Cain is a serial killing crossdresser. Immediately Rachel Ray gushes and says how much she looooooooooooooves that movie... you could see Franz's wife and daughter cringing from her volume and ass kissing. It's a wonder the Franzes didn't have to call in a NEST team to decontiminate Rachel's screeching, gushing, hyperactive presence from their house after she and the Food TV crew left.

Rachel humiliates herself so often over three different food tv shows I have to wonder if she actually thinks she's being cool in this dorky girl kind of way, which she is most certainly not. Watching Rachel Ray is kinda like sending in a Turret-syndrome afflicted home school girl into a vicious high school clique and paying the girls to pretend to like her... it's a trainwreck, sure, but you can't deny the fact that it is entertaining.

I have some more stuff to say about Rachel but let's move on with the roast, shall we?

Next is Bobby Flay. Man, I really hate this asshole. He's an arrogant hack whose main focus is barbecue, if that tells you anything. I find BBQ at best bland and at worst disgusting. What Bobby Flay does to BBQ is one step above grilling cow patties and basting them in spider monkey gravy. His abrasive personality only makes things worse... and the fact this dumbass is a featured chef on Iron Chef America says a lot, doesn't it?

Speaking of Iron Chef America, let's talk about the personality I hate most on Food TV, which is Alton Brown.

His skits are stupid. His jokes aren't funny. He's a complete tool and poser. I take issue with half of the information publicized on his show, and I can find at least one thing he does or says which is flat-out wrong. The best thing on the show is when we thankfully cut away to a commercial and get an interesting factoid about some food or way of cooking or other.

This guy could ruin a glass of orange juice (and I'm sure he's done so on one show already). To illustrate: one episode he discussed BLT's, and he made it so complicated that BLT's were no longer a sandwhich but a goddamn salad that took 18 hours to come together. Basically you have to have an industrial grade kitchen and the Q-lab from James Bond in your kitchen cabinets to even contemplate making this guy's lame-ass recipes.

For the life of me I don't get why this show is so popular. This guy should be sent to the same high school clique where we sent Rachel Ray, then maybe I'd find his antics entertaining as he gets humiliated and beaten on a daily basis. It doesn't help matters my wife likes him and GOOD EATS is her favorite show next to Barefoot Contessa.

Now back to Rachel. Now, I'm not denying the fact she is kind of hot in that chubby kindergarten teacher kind of way, but then she has to open her mouth and flash her DSL all over Food Network (and no, I am not talking about Internet connections when I say DSL). If you watch the first or second season of 30 Minute Meals, you'll see that Rachel was at one time respectable. But then she had to take over Food TV and give Emeril a run for his money. It's like they've given her carte blanche on the channel and she has no supervisor anymore to tell her to fall back into line, that everyone else is getting sick of her smoker's voice, grating laughter, and weird, totally phony sorority girl-like demeanor. I am actually embarassed to see her behavior in public in her traveling shows cause you know the waiters and everyone else are laughing their asses off at her after she leaves.

Well, there you have it. The three people I dislike most on Food TV. Now for the personalities I like: Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa (my favorite show... the music is great, like an early 1990s cinemax softcore porno made with a Casio keyboard, and seeing all the yuppies in their sweater vests in the Hamptons cracks me up every time), Emeril (yeah he's also a tool but I like his presentations and he makes some great food), Sandra Lee (she boozes it up on her show and has some good tips now and then, also more good Casio keyboard music), and a couple other excellent show and hosts that have been pushed to Saturday morning and Friday afternoon time slots no thanks to goddamned Rachel Ray.

- Josh Day
http://joshday.com

New 29 gallon

I have a lot to update.

My wife has started her own tank, inititally for goldfish, which is a 29 gallon. Ultimately she decided on an oscar. Yes, this is a cardinal sin... omigod you're putting an oscar in something less than 55 gallons (or 70) omigod omigod... but here's the interesting thing about the 29 gallon we have. I don't know if this is standard for most models, but it's as wide as my 55 gallon, with about half an inch less, around 11.5 inches deep or so. If a single oscar can live in a 12 inch wide 55 gallon, I don't see why such a hardy fish could not live in a 29 gallon, singly, as the only fish.

Only thing I'd worry about is water splashes.

We've also added two crayfish for scavengers. Oscars prey on crayfish in the wild, so these guys will probably be lunch when the oscar hits 6-7". However, I'm doing an experiment of sorts... anecdotal evidences suggests some oscars allow a feeder fish to live with them for years, and my hope is this oscar will grow up with these two crayfish and as I have no plan of introducing live food like ghost shrimp he'll never develop the taste for living invertebrates.

But time will tell.

Right now I'm more worried about the crayfish.

I bought a special blue cray (crawfish, I am from New Orleans) and I don't know how things will work out with this smaller blue male and the larger brown female. i think there are the same species that it may work out, but I don't know. I noticed today the blue male has lost one antenna on the side of his face. But there hasn't been any new fighting, but who knows what happens when the light goes off.

Here are is a pic of the blue and oscar:

Josh Day
http://joshday.com