Pat, Cat & Dog

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Koi fish are the domesticated variety of the common carp. In fact, the word “koi” is actually Japanese for the word “carp”. The Japanese introduced koi in the 1820s. Since then, they’ve become a popular domesticated fish. Today, due to their popularity, koi fish come in a large variety of patterns and colors like black, red, orange, yellow, silver, green and blue. Follow this link for fish koi information.

Many people like to have koi ponds in their backyards because of how relaxing they are. The soothing sound of the gently trickling water makes it easy to let go of the day. Creating visually pleasing koi ponds is almost an art form. Cultivating living plants and replicating a natural environment in the koi pond is no small task. But when someone is talented at creating the necessary synergy, the result is captivating. Some people do not realize that certain koi and plants do not live harmoniously together. Koi fish can sometimes give their owners a hard time when it comes to potted plants within the pond.

Certain plants need to live on the floor of the pond to thrive and mix well. Sometimes people are so attracted to the look of the plant and they try to grow them within the water of the pond. When you place a plant that should be rooted in the sod of the pond free and loose in the water, the koi themselves inadvertently knock the plants about. This not only muddies the water, but can create havoc in the pond environment. Koi are notorious for the digging up the soil at the bottom of the pond. You can have plants in your pond. Do not let these facts discourage your efforts to create a beautiful, serene pond. Find more koi colors info here.

There is more than one way to solve these pond issues. Netting placed strategically over the plant tops will prevent the koi from being able to dig the plants out. Another method of circumventing the digging efforts of the koi is to use pea gravel along the bottom of the pond and on the tops of the plants. If you have a really large potted plant, then river stones would be an appropriate measure. The weight of the stones will prevent the koi from being able to knock the plants over. The stones will obviously outweigh the fish themselves. The stones also keep the fish from being able to loosen the dirt underneath the plants. Thus, the plants cannot be dug up by the koi.

Lilies are a wonderful choice to place within your koi pond. Lilies are available in a wide assortment of species. Many will root in shallow water, while others will develop in much deeper water. Lilies are not a good choice when what you need oxygenation, but they do bring shade and shelter for the koi. As a bonus, lilies are attractive to look at. Plus, having plants in the water will attract insects. The insects and their larvae provide sustenance to the koi. Koi fish are meat eaters and will search through the foliage to find the tasty treats.

Koi eat other things besides insects. They have a varied diet and can be fed many different things. Many owners swear they have trained their koi to come right up to the water’s edge and eat from their hands like a pet. Koi fish have the ability to be able to recognize the person who feeds them and will approach that person during feeding time. Although you can buy koi food, koi fish also like to eat food human beings eat. They’ve been known to consume peas, watermelon and lettuce.

Those who have koi ponds truly enjoy them and visitors to their homes always comment on how pleasing the atmosphere is. They area able to add a great amount of pleasure to their owners lives and in turn are rewarded by the generosity and good care of their owners.

If you are raising either chickens or turkeys the next logical step would be to raise the other one as well but is that such a swell idea?

Raising turkeys and chickens together is not that good of an idea but with a little bit of maneuvering it can certainly be done.

So why is it a bad idea to raise chickens and turkeys together?

Turkey care is not quite as easy as hatching turkey eggs and watching them grow although it can be very easy. There are some things that need to be considered when raising turkeys and chickens together.

The main reason that you shouldn’t raise them together is because of diseases.  Turkeys are susceptible to life threatening diseases that chickens are immune to.  Chickens can also be a carrier to these diseases.  When you keep chickens and turkeys together you run the risk of all of your turkeys getting infected and dying. That will make it very hard for turkey breeding.

Another reason you should not consider raising turkeys and chickens together is because they require different nutrition in their diets.  If you have both in the same pen it is going to be really hard to make sure the chickens are eating the chicken food and the turkeys are eating the their food.

Without the proper nutrition in their diets you run the risk that both your turkeys and chickens are going to have health problems.

The third reason is that chickens and turkeys do not have the same type of personality so you could get into trouble if they decide not to get along.

So how do you actually go about raising turkeys and chickens together?

If you have a large enough yard and would really like to raise both of them then you need to make sure that they both have their own separate spots.  Make sure that their pens are not right up against each other because that is to close and disease can spread across the fence.

By keeping them in their own seperate spots you can have the benefits of raising both chickens and turkeys without having to worry about them harming each other.

Pet Containment Reviews

Most families today have one or more pets. That’s because pets really improve the quality of life of their owners. They are great company, and kids in special like them. Of course, pets also teach you responsibility since you have to take care of them and make sure that they don’t get into danger. This means ensuring that they are properly contained when you let them outside.

Pet stores will offer you several products or guides that will help you achieve this objective. Training your dog is an important part of your dog’s life, but you shouldn’t just leave it to the dog. Most dogs have reflexes and instincts to chase after other dogs or people if they happen to see them. Sometimes no matter how well you think you have them trained, they are going to do something when you least expect it.

This is where the Invisible Fence saves the day, so to speak. This dog fence is one of the best options in the market and it’s worth seeing how it works, preferably with dogs.

The Details

Like you would expect for such a fence, the fence can’t be seen. Though invisible, the fence will still be a barrier around your property. Trained professionals will come and take care of all the installation for you. This way you have the weight taken off your shoulders and have someone else doing all the work for you.

One of the main reasons so many homeowners opt for this invisible dog fence is that most homeowners do not want to have to look at a gate or fence tacked up all the way around their property. People who took the time to design the look of their houses either have a fence already or don’t want one at all since it would ruin their desired house look. And if the property occupies a large area, a fence that surrounds it completely might be expensive or inconvenient, but the owners still want the dog to lack any spots where it could escape.

After the system has been set up, your dog will have to wear a collar that will beep if it comes too close to its new limits. This lets them know that they have to stop and turn around or they will get a slight electrical shock. This shock might not be necessary, as the team that comes to your house will train your dog to go back as soon as the beep is heard.

PH measures the degree of acidity or alkalinity present in the water of your aquarium.    The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, 0 being the most acidic, 14 the most alkaline and 7 indicating neutral.   Most fish happily tolerate anything between 6.4 and 7.8 but there are some exceptions.

The ph scale is logarithmic which means in simple terms that a very small change in value is a very large change in acidity or alkalinity.

It is much more important that you maintain a consistent pH.  While a fish may prefer a pH of 7.2 it will most likely be perfectly happy with a pH of 6.7.   However that same fish will be really stressed if it has to endure a pH swing of 0.3 in a day.

The best way to deal with pH is to acclimatise your fish to live in the pH that you provide and try to keep this constant as far as possible.   By constant, I mean no more than a 0.2 change in the pH during a 24 hour period as this is considerably more important.

In some cases breeding only takes place at a particular pH value.   If you plan to breed a certain species, research the range of pH it finds acceptable to breed in.    Some varieties are easily pleased while others have a very small range.   This may be one of the only reasons you need to go for a specific pH.

Factors Affecting pH

• Biological filtration As you already know, filtration is essential in a well stocked aquarium.   Biological filters reduce pH by releasing carbon dioxide into the aquarium water.
• Carbonate Hardness Carbonate hardness or kH is a measurement of the carbonate hardness of your water.   A high kH (i.e. the harder your water) the better is the water able to neutralise added acids without significantly changing the pH.   When you water has a kH of above 4.5 it is said to have a good ‘buffering capacity’.

Adjusting pH

Frequent water changes (which you should be doing anyway) are the best way to keep the pH up to an appropriate level.

As stated above you should acclimatise your fish to live in the ph that you provide but if it is necessary to change the ph for any reason then here’s how.

How to Lower the pH

• Filtering water over peat
• Add bogwood to the tank
• Inject carbon dioxide CO2
• Use a commercial acid buffer
• Water changes with softened water or RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionized) water

How to Raise the pH
Raising the pH makes the ammonia in the water more toxic to your fish so this should be done with great care.

• Aerate the water, to drive off excess carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Filter over coral or limestone
• Add rocks containing limestone to the tank or use a coral sand substrate
• Use a commercial alkaline buffer

Conclusion

The particular pH value is not so important, what is important is to have a reasonably constant pH value.   To achieve this the kH should be around 5-6 dH in order for the water to have enough buffering capacity.

Adjusting the pH in your aquarium can be dangerous to the fish as swings of just 0.3 in a day can be deadly.   Unless you have good reason it is best to leave the pH alone unless you have a specific reason for changing it.

For more information on freshwater aquarium pH go to my website www.freshwateraquariumsecretsonline.com

Jim knew that his wife was getting bored staying at the house by herself while he was away on business. The problem was that he just did not know what to get her. However, he quickly found Jenny the parrot and decided that she would be a perfect match for his lovely wife. He never realize just how difficult Jenny would be on him.

Since Jenny would walk on his shoulder the entire time in every store she knew what exactly they were getting. Then later on when they would run into Kim, Jenny would look at her and tell her in a really loud voice exactly everything that they had gotten that day.

One day though it was the worst ever. Jim had decided that he was going to get a mongoose mountain bike for Kim so she could get back in shape. The problem was that as soon as they got home Jenny decided that she was going to share what they had gotten with Kim.

Jim sat down and thought that at least he had managed to get the pearl izumi shorts into the bag without Jenny noticing. So he quietly walked into the room that Kim was in. He handed her the bag and knew that she liked the item and the surprise by the hug that he got after she seen what they were. Jim smiled on the inside while sticking his tongue out towards Jenny.

Jenny started screeching loudly towards Jim and Kim hugging. Jim quickly headed back out to his shop and thought about what he could do to make sure that Jenny would stop telling all of his secrets. The next day he headed back into the house and gave Jenny a brand new perch to sit on.

As Jenny was relaxing on the new perch a week later Jim slunked out of the house. Jenny never even knew he was gone so the surprise of the new diamondback bikes would be complete. He would not have to worry about Jenny blabbing to Kim about the new item that he was getting her that day.

He go back home a little bit later on in the day. Jenny noticed that he was gone and gave him a nasty look for leaving her behind. However, Kim was happy because it finally meant she would be surprised. Surprised she was when she went out to the truck to see the new items had a custom mounted perch that Jenny could use to go with them to any place that they headed to now.