Breeding livebearers in your tropical fish tank is very easy. Guppies and Swordtails are very popular tropical fish for beginners and easy to breed. They are both livebearers, that is they do not lay eggs but bear their young live. From conception to birth can be between twenty and forty days with an average of 28 days. If you have both make and female livebearers in your tank they will inevitably mate and produce young as long as they are healthy and the conditions in the tank are good. You can tell if a female guppy is pregnant by the appearance of a 'gravid spot' on her abdomen. This is a dark mark shaped like a triangle that appears close to her anal vent and darkens and enlarges over the course of the pregnancy.

Taking Care of the Young

To prevent the fry from being eaten when they are born you will need to provide a breeder box with a v shaped vent to allow the fry to be separated from the mother immediately after birth. The box can be placed in your main tank and the mother placed in it when birth appears imminent. You can also add some breeding grass to the tank in case birth occurs before you have managed to separate the mother and provides somewhere for the young fry to hide.

Feeding the Fry

The fry can be fed with the same flake food as the adults but crush it first into a fine powder. If possible using live food in the form of tiny brine shrimp is also a good idea although most people cannot provide this regularly. Any left over food should be removed from the bottom of the breeder box before it begins to decay by siphoning out with a piece of tubing. Make sure you do not siphon up any of the tiny fry!

Looking After the Fry

It is a good idea to perform partial water changes at least weekly while you have baby fish in your tank. The fish will be big enough for their own tank in a few weeks or can be kept in the main tank provided you have a divider as they are still too small to be mixed with adult fish. Only after about 8 weeks are they big enough to safely mix with your adult fish unless you have very large fish in the tank. In this case you would probably be best to wait longer.

Conclusion

Breeding livebearers, especially guppies and swordtails, is very easy provided you provide a healthy environment and know how to look after the tiny fry until they are big enough to fend for themselves.

Find out more at Aquariums for Sale or buy a big 55 gallon fish tank for your pets!

Once you've purchased your fish tank, filter, pump, decorations and any other accessories and set up the tank it is time to prepare it for your fish by 'cycling it'. What this means is that you need to provide an environment for the bacteria that will keep your tank free of toxic chemicals to grow. Nitrifying bacteria convert toxic ammonia that is excreted by the fish into, firstly nitrites which are also toxic, and then into the much less toxic nitrates.

There are two ways to do this, one is to introduce some hardy fish into the tank which can survive the higher levels of these toxic chemicals until the bacteria grow enough to deal with them. The second way, which is more humane as it does not involve using fish, is called fishless cycling. In this method a culture of bacteria is introduced and ammonia is used to encourage them to grow.

Ammonia is very toxic to fish and can cause damage to their gills. If you use fish to cycle your tank, even though they do survive, they will be damaged and much weaker. We recommend that you use a fishless cycling method which is very easy to do and only introduce fish in the tank once the levels of toxic chemicals fall to zero.

Fishless Cycling Method

The Bacteria Culture

The first thing you need to do is to obtain a culture of nitrifying bacteria. If you have a friend with a fish tank you can take some of the gravel, filter material or even a piece of rock or decoration from their tank which will be loaded with these bacteria. Failing that bacteria cultures such as Hagen’s Cycle (TM) Cycle or StressZyme can be bought in the pet shop. You can then introduce this culture into your tank.

Sources of Ammonia

Now you will need to introduce some ammonia into the tank. You should obtain household ammonia that is 100% pure and free of any perfumes or other additives. If you cannot find ammonia like this in the local supermarket your local pet shop may sell it. If you know a science teacher or someone who works in a lab this could be another source.

The Tank's Temperature

The temperature of the tank needs to be ideal for growth of the nitrifying bacteria and should be between 85 and 95 Fahrenheit (30 to 35 centigrade). Once the tank is cycled the temperature can be reduced to a level that is more suitable for your fish.

Cycling the Tank

Make sure you have plenty of aeration in your tank and also through your filter as bacteria need oxygen to grow. Add your bacteria culture to the tank and then add a small teaspoon of ammonia to a small tank, one and 1/2 teaspoons to a medium tank and 2 teaspoons to a larger tank. After about an hour test the water for ammonia which should be somewhere between 3 and 5 ppm. If it is lower than this add some more ammonia, leave for another hour, then test again. Once the level is correct you can leave the tank for a few days. Now you will need to test the water for the presence of nitrites which the bacteria have produced from the ammonia.

At this point the ammonia level should drop as it is being converted into nitrites. When the ammonia level drops to zero or is very low add the same amount of ammonia that you added in the first place. Continue to monitor both the ammonia and nitrite levels until they drop to zero. Although it is not necessary you can also monitor the nitrate levels as it is interesting to observe them rising as they are produced from the nitrites.

Once the ammonia and nitrites drop to zero your tank is cycled. Now you should do a 60% water change being careful not to disturb the gravel at the bottom of the tank. Do not change the filter material as this now contains the good bacteria. You should now lower the temperature to a level that is right for the fish you will be going to add. Leave the tank alone for two or three hours then recheck it to make sure ammonia and nitrite levels are still zero.

Congratulations! You have now cycled your tank correctly and can now add your fish. Be careful not to overload the tank with fish immediately. It is far better to add the fish over about a month to allow the bacteria to continue to grow and to be able to cope with the maximum number of fish in the tank.

Maintaining Your Tank

Although we won't go into details of maintaining your tank here we will say that you must be careful to preserve the bacteria cultures that you have carefully encouraged to grow. This means that you should never completely change all of the water, only partial water changes are necessary, and never remove and clean all of the decorations and change the filter material at the same time.

Find out more about looking after your aquarium at Cheap Aquariums for Sale.

A good moving checklist is a must-have, if you want your move to be smooth and with no major incidents or flaws. This applies to all sort of relocation situations, be it you’re moving house, office or apartment. It also concerns people who move inside the same country as well as those who have to go through an international move. This article is going to offer you a brief moving checklist for several relocation situations such as home moving, apartment moving and office moving. Depending on your specific case, you may want to add items to the list or to delete those ones which are not applicable.

Home Moving Checklist

• Get moving truck rental quotes: try to do this as soon as you know your moving date, because last minute truck reservations may not be available and you want to make sure there will be a vehicle available for you on the move date. If you decide to hire a company to help you move, then you’ll have to ask for quotes on the complete relocation services, including people to load your boxes and your furniture in the truck, moving boxes, labels and all other required supplies. 
• Give away or sell old items you won’t use anymore: there’s no explanation for why we are storing so much things in our lives, but it’s a common habit for many people. Moves are the greatest opportunities to get rid of useless possessions. As a rule of the thumb, you can consider that if you haven’t used an item for two years, then you can give it away, as it’s probably not necessary for you. If you want, you can organize a garage sale.
• Make inventory sheets: take the rooms one by one and write down on a list all items contained in each room. You could also use these sheets to make observations about the furniture condition before the move: scratches, damages, cracks and other similar things. Make sure to confront your lists with the movers, so you all agree on the furniture condition. That will be your insurance for the case your things would get damaged during the transportation.
• Get moving supplies: if you’re only renting a truck, you’ll have to buy your own cardboard boxes, plastic bags, duct tape, labels, markers and rope strings. Make sure your boxes aren’t too big, or in case they are, don’t fill them completely, otherwise it will be really difficult to move them. If you need to pack books, you’d better remember this piece of advice, because paper is very heavy.
• Announce insurance companies you’re moving: in case you’re changing the state or the country, you’ll have to transfer or even to cancel your insurance policies. Contact your agents, let them know you’re moving, and they’d give you advice how to proceed.
• See if you can obtain employer benefits: this applies only in the case you’re relocating because of your job. Ask your HR people if you qualify for getting some funding for your move expenses.
• Get your medical records: your doctors would either hand those records to you, or they could send them directly to medical services at your destination place.
• Cancel utilities and services agreements: be sure to do this at least one month prior to the moving date, as some companies usually require 30 days notice.
• Preorder items for your new home: there are department stores such as Walmart which would take your order and deliver your ordered items at the desired date, directly at your new place.
• Return borrowed items: if you borrowed library books, movies, tools or anything else, make sure to return them before you go.
• Review the house on the move day: after everything is loaded in the truck, don’t forget to take a look in all rooms to see if there are any items left behind. Also make sure the water, gas and electricity are switched off. Give the keys to your real estate agent, if that’s the case.

Office Moving Checklist

• Delegate one of your employees to coordinate the move: choose somebody who’s used to supervise projects and who’s detail oriented and focused.
• Check with the new owners when they’d be ready to let you in: an office move is different than a home move, because you have to be connected and wired from the very first day of your arrival. Phones need to be working, internet connection needs to be available, all offices need to be wired to the network. It would be best if you visited the new place by yourself in the week before the move, so you can make sure everything is settled and your business won’t have to suffer from lack of communication means.
• Obtain office moving quotes from moving companies. It’s better to pay a bit more but have professionals to handle the move for you. Before contacting them, make sure you prepare a rough budget allocated for the operation.
• Order new stationery and business cards: these should reflect your address change and also your phone numbers change, if that’s the case.
• Make computer backups: your IT manager should make backups of all office computers, because hard disks might get damaged during the move, causing losses of important data.
• Hire a cleaning service to clean up your old office: most probably, your agreement with the building owner requires that you leave the space clean, just as it was when you moved in. Your employees would surely leave behind a lot of stuff they don’t need anymore, so the whole place would be a big mess. That’s why it’s better to have professional cleaning services instead of asking your own people to do it.
• Announce all employees in time: this is important, because people need to be prepared for the moving day, without causing troubles to the business. They should have their work done for that day just one day before, and they should not set important meetings a few days before and after the move. All deadlines of projects need to be reconsidered in order to accommodate the moving interval.

Last but not least, in all situations, don’t forget to make a moving checklist!

A moving truck rental can be very pricey if you treat it like an impulse shopping and go for the first rental company you come across. Even if the initial cost may look small, only think what happens in case of an accident, if the truck insurance doesn’t provide adequate coverage for that particular situation. Here are some basic tips to keep you away from many problems.

Not all truck rentals are the same: get multiple quotes

Moving house is most of the times an action which we plan long enough in advance as to be able to allow enough time for proper market research. Helping people relocate is a profitable and flourishing business, so chances are that wherever you may live, you’d still have at least three or four companies to choose from. Don’t shy from asking all of them for quotes. Just don’t forget to prepare your lesson well and have a thorough checklist when you call them.

Here’s a minimum of what your list could include:

• Approximate size of the truck: if you don’t know how to estimate that, you can simply make a list of all big furniture items you need to have moved, then think to double that space, because furniture usually has stuff in it, which has to be transported separately, in boxes. That would take a lot of space, you can be sure of that.
• Truck driver needed or not: if you can drive the truck by yourself, don’t forget to mention that. However, if you don’t have that type of driving license, you’ll need to rent the truck together with the driver.
• Additional staff needed or not: if you’re a tiny, fragile, human being, most probably you won’t be able to move your furniture at all, not to mention loading it into the truck. Actually, nobody could do that as a one man show, so if you don’t have a team of solid friends and neighbors to help you, you could find it better to rent also the people from the truck rentals company, as you could get a better deal than if you did it separately.

Truck rentals are more popular than you think

Don’t underestimate the number of people who need to hire trucks to get moved. About 1 in 6 Americans move each year, which means over 42 million people (U.S. Census Bureau). The same source states that the average American moves 11.7 times in a lifetime. Under these circumstances, and taking into account that most people would probably try to move in spring or in fall in order to avoid extreme temperatures, and that they’d rather move over the weekend than taking a day off their job, you’ll see that the earlier you make your truck reservation, the better. With all these considerations in mind, you'd also want to estimate as accurately as possible the period of time you need the truck for. Maybe you won't be able to find a full day truck rental at your desired date, but if half day could be enough for you to finish the task, then your chances could be bigger to find a rental company as smart as to couple two clients for one day and make money as if they'd had given it to only one customer for the whole day's time.

Besides, why pay for a whole day when you're going to finish earlier anyway? You could always do something else with the money difference, couldn't you?

Don’t rent a moving truck without insurance

If the truck comes with a driver, you probably don’t have to worry about accidents, because they would be the driver’s fault, not yours. However, if you’re going to drive the truck yourself, be very careful and read the insurance policy terms with the eyes wide open, otherwise you risk to get burnt and take lots of money out of your pocket in case you damage the truck. Moreover, you have to think also at the situation in which your truck is fine, but you scratch a street-full of parked cars. Those owners would probably need to have their repairs covered by you and if you don’t have insurance, your move is going to cost you a hell lot of money. Make sure to understand all terms of the rental agreement, because if you break them, your insurance policy may become void.

When you rent a car, not necessarily a moving truck, the agreement usually states that you have to return the car in the same condition as it was when you took it. This is why the truck’s condition has to be very well documented before you take it from the rental company’s parking. If you spot any minor damages to the truck body, make sure to write them down and eventually take some pictures and attach them to the rental agreement.

Most of the times, a moving truck rental is just an ordinary thing, but you need to make sure you’re preparing for the worst while expecting the best. Happy moving!