Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

[theMusicMan]

Morning All

Over the Easter break my wife decided - after much badgering by both Lloyd and Heather - to go out and purchase a new Tropical Freshwater fish tank... this one...



Apologies about the poor quality of this shot.

Now, we have no clue when it comes to fish, but I am going to leave all that to her and the kids, they can decide what to get and when to get them etc. However - for me this presents some nice opportunities for new photo material, but having never photographed fish, nor fish through glass before, I have no real ideas as to what methods or equipment would yield the best results.

I think I am right in saying that a Polarising filter will eliminate most of not all reflections in glass...? is that right - so I need some of those - one for each lens I'll be using. Do they reduce stops when placed on the lens?

What about use of flash for coloured fish shots...? better/worse...?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Scapula Memory]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

I tried this before and it is not terribly difficult, depends on what you are aiming for. Get the camera close to the outer glass to reduce glare and shoot without flash. Natural light should be enough. One thing though is muck and dirt the other side of the glass which may interfere with shots.

Failing that an underwater case and a remote control might do it!!

[Ian]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Here's one of my fishy friends:

I have a whole gallery of aquarium shots on DPNow:

http://dpnow.com/galleries/showgallery.php/cat/535

Are you fully genned-up on cycling your tank before adding your main selection of fish?

How many litres is that? Looks BIG! Presumably a bow-fronted tank (not lens distortion! )

I'm currently suffering bad blue green algae infestation in my tank
Ian

[Ian]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Flash can be used but I try not to as it probably spooks the fish.

However, there is a neat trick I discovered for eliminating reflections through the use of flash. Basically, by increasing the light (by using flash) you can reduce exposure and this has the effect of making the reflections from ambient sources fade away (as they are much less bright than what you are photographing illuminated by flash).

I explained it last year on DPNow:

http://dpnow.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=2571

Ian

[Ian]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

I thought this thread might develop more than it did...

Ian

[Who's_E]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Well,

As you have an E3 and the 11-22 you could always take good advantage of the combination's waterproofing and dip the lens into the water for an "overhead fishy wide angle" sort of thing.

I have the Zuiko 8mm and love the images from it, per some of my gallery shots. So much so that I had thought of doing this to a circular fishbowl containing an appropriate castle, fish and weed. Hopefully the first shot would be okay as it would probably be an expensive test...

Nick

[Ian]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Well,

As you have an E3 and the 11-22 you could always take good advantage of the combination's waterproofing and dip the lens into the water for an "overhead fishy wide angle" sort of thing.

I have the Zuiko 8mm and love the images from it, per some of my gallery shots. So much so that I had thought of doing this to a circular fishbowl containing an appropriate castle, fish and weed. Hopefully the first shot would be okay as it would probably be an expensive test...

Nick

Haha! Not sure if the 11-22 is aquarium proof

It would probably scare the fish witless anyway!

Ian

[theMusicMan]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Yikes, I agree with Ian - I don't think I shall be trying that no matter how desperate I am to get fishy shots...

[Who's_E]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Haha! Not sure if the 11-22 is aquarium proof

It would probably scare the fish witless anyway!

Ian

Yes! I understand that birds get used to the presence of hides and become easier to photograph. Fish with their famous two second memories would get scared every time the camera appears

I shall now retire from this thread as it is probably not going in MusicMan's originally intended direction...

[theMusicMan]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Yes! I understand that birds get used to the presence of hides and become easier to photograph. Fish with their famous two second memories would get scared every time the camera appears

I shall now retire from this thread as it is probably not going in MusicMan's originally intended direction...

Any direction is good for me matey, especially with such a great username

Unfortunately though, we seem to be losing a few fishies of late. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know... Jenn (current wife) should have waited to populate the tank with fish after it settled down; but she purchased several 'hardy' species last weekend, but we've lost 5 of them this week - 4 neon Tetras and a Shark. The shark especially, was gorgeous and I had intended to take some shots of him/her this weekend.

@Ian - any idea what we can / should do to ascertain why they are dying off...? Acidity tests maybe...? Anything else...?

[Ian]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Any direction is good for me matey, especially with such a great username

Unfortunately though, we seem to be losing a few fishies of late. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know... Jenn (current wife) should have waited to populate the tank with fish after it settled down; but she purchased several 'hardy' species last weekend, but we've lost 5 of them this week - 4 neon Tetras and a Shark. The shark especially, was gorgeous and I had intended to take some shots of him/her this weekend.

@Ian - any idea what we can / should do to ascertain why they are dying off...? Acidity tests maybe...? Anything else...?

The tank needs to form a colony of naturally occurring friendly bacteria in the filter and the gravel. These bacteria convert the ammonia and nitrite fish waste into less toxic nitrates, but the process (called cycling) can take 1-2 months. In that time, ammonia and nitrites will be high and only the very toughest fish will, with your help, survive - typically these would be zebra danios. The help you need to give is regular water changes to dilute the ammonia and nitrites that build up during the cycling period. You can test for ammonia and nitrates using water quality test kits.

I'd also advise the use of a water conditioner to remove chlorine-based compounds in the fresh water you add when doing water changes.

If the shop you bought the tank from didn't advise you to do the above, that's pretty bad

Neons and sharks aren't suitable for the early cycling period of the tank - danios are the recommended type. There is also an alternative procedure called fishless cycling, where ammonia is added artificially, before any fish are added to the tank for the first time, to promote the nitrifying bacteria and get them established more quickly and with out harming fish during the cycling process.

I'd recommend googling for aquarium cycling for more detailed advice.

Ian

[theMusicMan]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Ian, you're a gem, thanks so much for this advice. I shall pass it on to Jen (wife) who, together with Lloyd (son) are the ones taking on the challenge of 'the Tank'

Much appreciated.

[vicb981]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

For photography; try flash over water surface to eliminate reflection from glass. Your bow front won't help matters.
About the fish; not sure of water pH here, but looks rather artificial with plastic plants. Neons want acid water. Suggest you get a Fluvial filter to mix the water at Niagra rate. I'm not sure how it happens, but I think bacteria remove nitrate - at least, they'll oxidise ammonia. I don't think nitrate levela are so serious, and to remove phosphate, you'll need to change water once a year. The white chips look suspect to me. An acid-washed gravel is better. Whatever you put in, don't use limestone as this will make water alkaline.
Sorry for short answer.

[theMusicMan]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Thanks Vic - all answers are greatly appreciated. Tanks... (excuse the pun!!)

[j.baker]

Re: Any Tropical Freshwater keepers here...?

Not that I know much about fish or photography, but if you use a flash gun off the camera (using a cord) then you should be able to reduce the reflections.

I have just purchased a second cable (clone) from ebay.