RICKY GRANGE. JEFF MANDRUSIAK. : MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES by Howard Norfolk

RICKY GRANGE:

Before Ricky Grange was born, his older brother had a small aquarium. It was disposed of as a health hazard when Ricky came along, and the family forgot all about fishkeeping. There were a couple of aquarium books hanging around the house however, and as a youngster Ricky liked looking at the pictures. These pictures, plus his fascination with the mountain creek that ran through the garden of his family’s house in Vancouver Canada, gave Ricky the idea that he would like to keep fish himself. So at the young age of six he was given a 27 gallon community tank which was kept in the eating area of the family kitchen.

By the age of fourteen Ricky’s hobby was well developed. He was breeding fish in five or six tanks spread throughout the house (including three in the kitchen by now), and also had a part-time job in a nearby pet store. He worked on Friday evenings and weekends whilst still at school, and full time since his graduation three years ago.

Ricky’s big break came when the pet store moved to bigger and better premises, and installed all-new fittings. Ricky had his pick of the old tanks and equipment, and his parents let him clear out a room in their basement for his exclusive use. So at the age of seventeen Ricky was the proud owner of a fish room complete with twenty six tanks!

Ricky drew this in Grade 1. The fish species are clearly distinguishable!

His main interest became the breeding of discus. He had a collection of specimen fish, and after much work and trial and error he successfully raised some fry. But then came disaster! Last summer Ricky went on his annual holiday visiting out-of-town relatives and left carefully measured daily portions of beef heart food with which his father was to feed the fish. The fish didn’t eat it all however, and the uneaten food was left to rot. This put the fish right off eating, but they still got fed, until a thick layer of sludge built up on the bottom of the tanks. Hearing that his fish were dying off, Ricky called a friend to do some emergency water changes......but it was too late……by the time he returned from his holiday, every single fish Ricky owned was dead !

So Ricky had to start again from scratch, and not all his tanks are in use yet. He has given up discus for now, but his main interest is still breeding fish. He has albino, black and blushing angel fish, three species of dwarf cichlids, two species of killifish, two varieties of guppy, and some oscars. These are kept in bare-bottomed tanks with sponge filters powered by three Whisper 1000 air pumps.

Ricky is a fan of live food, and keeps microworms, white worms, red wigglers, and has a five year old culture of vinegar eels. In the summer he breeds daphnia outside in buckets, and similarly brine shrimp using ocean water.

Ricky with his first aquarium

A summertime project for the last four years has been an outdoor tropical pond. Ricky dug a pit 10’ x 4’ and two feet deep, in full sun in his backyard, and each May lines it with ordinary thick clear plastic. Into this simple pond he puts all kinds of tropical fish, acclimatising them by simply putting them outside in a five gallon bucket to cool off. The fish are a bit sluggish at first, particularly early in the season, but they soon thrive and even multiply. Ricky finds that livebearers do particularly well outside: they grow large and their colouration is enhanced, and they breed enthusiastically. Rainbows, killifish, dwarf keyhole cichlids, and rosy barbs have also bred outside, in the warm Vancouver summers. Ricky has tried white clouds, catfish, zebra danios, kribensis, and even angel fish and discus, but these have not bred. The pond has no mechanical filtration, but has lots of plants; particularly water lilies, water hyacinths, water lettuce, and salvinia (which takes over and keeps the green algae down). One problem is racoons, which pull things apart periodically, so the pond sometimes has to be covered with a chicken wire net. Ricky likes to look into the pond and watch the fish behave naturally. There is something new to discover every time. In September he dismantles the pond and trades in the fish.

Customers at the pet store sometimes ask for help with their tanks, and they are referred to Ricky. In his evenings and days off he looks after twenty five different aquariums; in waiting rooms, home offices, restaurants, a night-club, a seniors’ home, and in private houses. He spends two to four hours per month servicing each tank, and his contract varies according to whether it is “labour only” or “guaranteed." For the “guaranteed” tanks he supplies and renews the fish, plants and filter material for a fixed price, and guarantees that everything will thrive and look great!

Ricky also boards customers’ fish at his home, charging $1 per day per tank. When I visited him he was boarding some fancy goldfish which had damaged fins. He called me a few days later to say that they had bred and he already had fry swimming in the tank !

Ricky’s pet store has a row of breeding tanks on a top shelf, which Ricky is partly responsible for. Bred in the store and raised for sale are bettas, killifish, gouramis, angel fish, livebearers and catfish.

Ricky is active in his local aquarium club. He is not only the treasurer, but handles membership as well, and contributes regularly to the club’s newsletter.

Ricky’s ambition is to own his own aquaria only store. He is gaining more experience and waiting for the right opportunity, and is also expanding his aquarium maintenance business. His dad may not be much good at looking after his fish when he is away, but should be able to advise him on the retail side of things, since he is retired from owning a large and successful stationery store downtown. His mother works as a accountant, which might come in handy too.

Ricky’s every waking hour seems to revolve around fish, and he tells me he often dreams about them! After working in the pet store he maintains customers’ tanks, then goes home and looks after his own fish or works for the aquarium club. His days off are mostly filled with tank maintenance. If he really has a day free, and on his holidays, he usually goes fishing!

Note; Ricky wrote an article about his outdoor tropical pond, which is in Aquarticle's 'Ponds' section. He also wrote about breeding discus, to be found in our 'Fish Breeding, Keeping' section.

JEFF MANDRUSIAK :

Nobody in his family was an aquarist, but they happened to live near a pet store, and Jeff Mandrusiak knew at a very young age that he would like to keep fish like the ones he saw there. He bugged his parents for an aquarium, and they finally gave him a ten gallon tank for his eighth birthday, “provided he took care of it himself.” Needless to say he did, and he retains his enthusiasm twelve years later.

His hobby rapidly grew from this early beginning, and he acquired more and more fish and equipment throughout his school years. In fact he hung around his local pet store so much that, at the age of fourteen, he was given a part time job! He worked there on evenings and weekends for four years, in the fish section. A couple of years ago this store was taken over by Petcetera, the western Canadian chain of pet supermarkets. This coincided with Jeff finishing school, so he took a full time job at Petcetera as a “livestock associate,” dealing with fish, birds and small animals.

Over the years Jeff has kept all sorts of fish, both freshwater and salt. He particularly likes breeding dwarf cichlids, also African cichlids, angel fish and catfish. He has never kept a goldfish! – however one of his aims is to have a koi pond when circumstances permit. Until recently Jeff had eight tanks operating: two 100 gallon tanks in his bedroom and the rest in the basement of his father’s house. At the age of sixteen he ambitiously tried a reef tank, but found it too expensive and closed it down. He would like to try again when he can afford it.

Jeff has since moved to a smaller house with his mother and brother, and has had to limit his fishkeeping to what his mother will allow in the living room and what he can fit in his bedroom.

His mother generously lets him have a five foot long 100 gallon plexiglass tank dominating the living room. It is a real showpiece, and is full of a variety of aquatic plants, which are one of Jeff’s main interests. Particularly impressive are a large Madagascar lace plant, a flowering aponogeton, a banana plant, eight different crypts, and lots of Java fern on wood. Sharing the tank are two specimen discus, a shoal of rummy nose tetras, cherry barbs (which breed), otocynclus, clown plecos, and Adolfi catfish.

Jeff saved up and bought the big tank from his part time earnings, and he and his brother made a sturdy wooden stand with doors. The tank is brightly lit, with two 175 watt metal halide bulbs, and two 4ft. 40 watt Actinic fluorescent tubes. Substrate is 100lbs of 3-4mm. gravel with 40 litres of Terralit. It is filtered with a pre-filter and a trickle filter using bio balls. Jeff is about to add a simple home-made C02 system.

Despite the temporary abandonment of his reef tank, Jeff is still interested in marine fish, and keeps two salt water tanks in his bedroom. He is resigned to putting up with steamy windows, a hot room, and the nightly hum of the filters and gurgling of the water!

Double hexagonal saltwater tank

One tank is a double hexagonal swim through, with 20 gallons per side, and it holds two pericula clowns, a royal gramma and an emperor angel fish. The gravel is crushed coral and the decoration is dead “live rock.” Jeff has kept these fish for three years (they are from the reef tank) under very simple conditions, which proves that you don’t need lots of expensive technical gadgets to keep marine fish. The filter used to be two Aquaclear 200s, but Jeff has recently acquired a Marineland 350 canister filter which he now uses. For biological filtration and water movement he also has a little Fluval 2 internal filter. The lighting is by two Coralife 2ft. tubes.

Jeff recently bought cheaply a damaged 70 gallon tank, and also a 33 gallon one. He re-siliconed them, and has just set up the 33 gallon tank in his bedroom. He is presently cycling it, and it contains six common damsel fish for this purpose. When it is ready and he can afford it, he intends to keep “aggressive” fish which he has not kept before: a moray eel, puffer fish, and lion fish. The filter is a Marineland 280 with bio-wheel and 8ozs. activated carbon, and there is a simple $75 ESU protein skimmer. Jeff spends about $10 per month on salt and filter materials for each of his marine tanks.

Jeff has nowhere to set them up right now, so his other tanks are in storage. He sold some of his smaller tanks to friends who thought they could have one that looked just like his. They didn’t realise that work and knowledge are involved and soon gave up on the idea!

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Angel fish (salt water)

Despite moving upheavals, lack of space, and other demands on his modest income, Jeff perseveres with his hobby and is constantly trying new things. He is hoping to start a side-line business soon, setting up and maintaining other people’s tanks. He doesn’t know where his career in fish will take him, but one gets the impression that we will see him in the aquarium trade for a while to come !