Category Archives: Equipment

Personal GPS tracking

In exploring handheld GPS units I came across something that was really interesting and has a lot of fun promise. It is the SPOT Personal Tracker.

The Personal Tracker is a device that you can carry with you while traveling on remote, or not so remote, adventures. It uses the same GPS satellite systems that other GPS receivers do, which means that it will work globally, and in places where cell phone coverage is limited or non-existent. The devise promises several nifty features that could be very handy and fun.

For example, you can set the unit to track your progress every 10 minutes and send a message back to friends and family to let them know your location. You can even allows people to follow your progress on a website—a fun way to share someone’s adventure with them. I can see those intrepid individuals who climb mountains or sail solo across the ocean, or even something less grand like driving across the country, making use of this for family.

You can have the unit send an “all OK” message to a list of people to give them periodic evidence that you have not fallen off a cliff. And in the case of a real emergency it has a 911 button which transmits your location to rescue operations and lets them know you need immediate help.

These all sound like great features, especially when the unit costs only about $100. However, in reading reviews and exploring the SPOT website, it may be an idea whose time has not quite come.

Reviews of the device are mixed, with more positive reviews than negative to be sure, but the negative reviews are consistent in topic. Mostly the complaints are that the unit does not obtain satellite lock as well as regular handheld GPS units, so in places with forest cover or in canyons that have limited access to the sky, the unit may not be able to transmit the location. This might not be so bad if it lost connection periodically, but seems to be a consistent issue.

The second issue that negative reviewers mention is that the website interface that SPOT provides is often, well, “spotty.” In order to use the device you must pay a subscription fee (basic fee looks to be about $100/year, with additional options available). And there are many complaints about the unit not being able to correctly contact the web system to update it. For example, if you arrange to send an “OK” message everyday at a certain time as a check in, the system might well not register it, leaving those tracking you wondering if it was a system error or something more serious.

Out of curiosity I visited the SPOT webpage to look it over, and I must say I was not impressed with what I saw. For a company offering a “high-tech” service, I could not get the webpage to function correctly. It may just be my browser, but the pull-down menu items flashed on and off and I could not navigate—it did not inspire me with confidence.

So, I guess I have to agree with the reviewers that this unit might be fun to play with, and it has great promise, but it might not be something to risk your life with. Although if this brand does not fully meet expectations I bet one will sometime soon—it is a great idea. If you know of other brands out there let me know and we can look into them.

More about egg-laying fish

By Rita:

In an earlier post I briefly described the most common egg-laying style of fish in a fish tank aquarium, egg scattering, and provided some insight as to why these eggs often did not reach adulthood.  In this post I will discuss some of the other egg laying strategies. Each group is presented in order of parental attentiveness to the offspring.

The egg scatterers have no parental interest in the eggs or the fry.  They are also likely to eat their own eggs after the spawn.

The egg hangers on the other hand are not as apt to eat their own eggs.   The spawning fish lay and fertilize each egg then hang them by a fine, sticky thread from plants usually near the top of the aquarium.  Beyond that there is no parental care.   This group of fish includes Lyretail, Panchax, Lampeye, and Rivulus plus others.  Most of this group is not common to the average tropical fish aquaria.  One of the reasons is they are among the more expensive fish. The expense is due to the fact that it takes more time and space for breeding. The female will lay up to 200 eggs over a 20-day period.  The young will then hatch in a staggered period according to the day laid.  This can result in a hodgepodge of growing fry.  The younger fry is in danger of being eaten by the earlier hatched larger fry.

Nest builders are the another group and they take a slightly more active parental role. The nest is first prepared either by sticking bubbles together or gluing aquarium debris into a nest.  The eggs will be deposited into the nest.  The nest is then protected until the eggs hatch.  Once the fry hatch they are on their own. The fish that comprise this group are the Sticklebacks, Siamese Fighting-Fish and Gourami.

The most protective of their eggs and off spring is the egg hiders and the egg anchorers.  This group consists mostly of Cichlids and Dwarf Cichlids.  It also includes Angelfish, Jack Dempsey and a few others.  As the group name implies the eggs are attached to a surface either secluded (the egg hiders) or in the open.  Both partners concern themselves with preparation of the spawning bed, the care and protection of the eggs, and the care of the fry for a period of time after hatching.

To leave a pair of spawning fish in a community tank is always a risk. A properly prepared breeding tank would greatly increase the chances of having viable young.

Marcum fish finders

When it comes to ice fishing gear it seems that the world has gone completely crazy over electronics. This isn’t for no reason, mind you.  The electronics world has taken ice fishing to the next level.  Gone are the days of sitting on a bucket staring at a hole hoping that a fish may actually be down there to bite your offering.  No, today we take our fancy electronics and make sure that the fish is down there.  In addition, we could even use an ice fishing camera to see the fish and what species they are.  Heck, we could even see them bite the hook if we wanted to.

And this is where marcum fish finders come into play.  If you are using an ice fishing flasher you have a much better chance of catching fish that a counter part without any electronics to aid him.  It is the run and gun style of the modern ice angler.  If you put your flasher down a hole and don’t see any fish, it is time to move.  Keep moving constantly until you locate fish on your flasher and then try to catch them.  Much like you wouldn’t sit in a boat on open water in one place for a couple of hours catching nothing, you should not do that on the ice either.  if you aren’t seeing fish, move to another hole.

Which brings up a good point.  In order to enable moving constantly we need to have a lot of holes at our disposal.  Make sure that you punch a significant amount of holes before starting to fish.  15-50 is a good number to think about.  The more you have the more agile you can be and the more fish you will likely catch.  Granted once you find that honey hole you likely won’t leave it, but until you do the numerous holes around you afford a lot of room to roam.

Related Posts:

Fishing games—a sea of options

Breeding fish in a home aquarium

The usual fish tank aquarium is set up for the enjoyment of the observer.  An aquarist will often buy a pair of fish, a male and a female. As with other creatures when a male and a female get together the natural impulse is to breed.  A natural question might be, ”Why doesn’t the aquarium soon over flow with fish?”  One of the answers to such a question is related to the breeding needs of tropical fish.

In some cases, fishes in captivity do not acclimate to aquarium conditions.  Even though they may be kept alive and in good health there is “something” missing.  The missing element could be one thing or a combination of things.  It might be that the water pressure is not right for that breed of fish to spawn.  For some fish there is a need for a lot of surface water and even a large fish tank cannot provide enough surface water. Some fish are rendered sterile under normal shipping conditions. Not all the reasons are known and most are speculation.

For the fish that do breed in a fish tank aquarium, the usual community tank does not give enough protection for many of the fry to survive.  This is especially true for the egg scatterers.

Egg scatterers comprise a large portion of the commonly used tropical fish population.  Included in this group are the Tetras, Pencilfish, most of the Barbs, some of the Minnows, Hatchet, and Catfish as well as many others.  The process is just as the name implies.  The female swims and scatters her eggs; the male follows behind her and fertilizes them. An observer sees this behavior as a chase.  Other fish in the tank see this as a feeding.  Even the parent fish will enjoy the roe once the spawning is completed.

A few of the fertilized eggs may make it to the bottom of the tank and find shelter in the aquarium gravel.  The eggs differ in degrees of stickiness to none at all.  The sticky eggs may adhere to an aquarium ornament or plant; some of the eggs may float.  All of the eggs in this group are abandoned by the parent fish making them susceptible to scavengers.  Even the eggs that make it to the safety of aquarium sand or gravel have only a slight chance of maturing into fry. Bottom feeders and scavenger fish will eat most of them.  If an egg should be able to hatch their chances of survival are next to nothing.  The fry are non-swimmers until the yolk sac is absorbed and a lack of an appropriate food source will also inhibit the small fish’s chances of survival.

Related Posts:

More about egg-laying fish
Live-bearing fish
Aquarium gravel and water
Aquarium stands, options and considerations

The Difference an Inflatable Mattress Can Make

Guest Post:

If you are planning a camping trip this summer, you are probably looking forward to it. The one thing that you may not be looking forward to, however, is sleeping on the cold, hard ground on the inside of a tent. No matter how thick the sleeping bag is that you are sleeping in, it seems that it is never enough to keep you from waking up with a stiff neck and a sore back. This can be enough to ruin anyone’s outdoor adventure. For some the idea of sleeping on the ground is enough to plan on a much shorter trip. Simply because you will have to be without a good, comfortable place to sleep seems to make the trip a bit less enjoyable. For this reason, investing in an inflatable mattress can be a very good way to enhance your camping experience.

Inflatable mattresses are mattresses that are made of a thick vinyl or plastic material that you fill with air. Some of these mattresses are covered with a very nice pad on the top. These can be so comfortable, that you would never know that it wasn’t a real mattress you have just slept on. It is almost like sleeping on a huge pillow of air. They come in a wide variety of styles and sizes. They can be found in everything from a twin size mattress to a king size. A lot of these mattresses even come with a portable, battery operated, pump for ease of inflating when outdoors. They can usually be deflated very quickly because they are equipped with an air release nozzle that will allow the air out for easy deflation. These take up very little space when deflated and are easily packed away when they are not in use.

While planning your family’s next camping trip or vacation, you should definitely consider the purchase of one or more inflatable mattresses. It will give you a better night of sleep and will ultimately make camping outdoors a much more enjoyable experience.