Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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orbital guppies

 fish tank solar system
  (+12, -1)(+12, -1)
(+12, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

I found some round pumice stones on a work site one day, (at least I think they were pumice, some type of porous volcanic rock). Anyhow, they were rock and they floated. I took them home and put them in our aquarium, a few days later they had absorbed enough water that they would float around at different elevations in the tank. The fish seemed to like having these floating rocks around, especially the algae eaters, until they took on to much water and sank.

If you coated half of the rock with a silicone sealant and allowed them to retain water, or injected them with a fast setting substance, just until they had attained neutral buoyancy and then completely seal the remaining half you would have the illusion of small moons and planets floating weightless in your fish tank. Throw a space mural behind the aquarium and you got yourself orbital guppies.


Galileo's Thermometer http://shop.store.y...cience/galther.html
The floats in this would make nice flying saucers [suctionpad, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

[link]






       how easy is it to carve this stuff? I really feel like experimenting with this. nice one [smallfry] +1
—po, Nov 09 2002
   

       Easy as custard.   

       -2 fries in a happy meal- Clever idea. I have to try this myself.
—_Mowgli_, Nov 09 2002
   

       or tie your fish to the blade of a ceiling fan.
—General Washington, Nov 09 2002
   

       Maybe he's got them rigged up with, self contained out of water breathing apparatus.   

       To boldly go where no icthyologist has gone before.... (cut to music)
—RayfordSteele, Nov 13 2002
   

       // Does algae grow on silicone sealant //   

       Algae grows on every damned thing, [rabbit]. <grumbe grumbe mumble>   

       I like this idea. Croissant.
—8th of 7, Nov 15 2002
   

       Or fire (!?).
—Jinbish, Nov 15 2002
   

       I am beginning to think unabubba has a fetish with metals and alloys :)   

       I love the idea!
—drfowler, Nov 15 2002
   

       Excellent!
—egbert, Nov 15 2002
   

       // It doesn't grow too well on silver, 8/7 //   

       Why, thankee, kind sir. Most thoughtful and generous of you, please feel free to come round and pay for my patio to be silver plated. Any time in the next ten days will be just fine.
—8th of 7, Nov 15 2002
   

       I'll make it an even +30.
—FarmerJohn, Nov 15 2002
   

       How did I miss this one? Cool. :)
—XSarenkaX, Apr 17 2003
   

       Thanks for bringing it ‘up’ XSX, I missed this one too. >O (+)
—Shz, Apr 17 2003
   

       I missed it too. Croissant
—saker, May 09 2003
   

       Why should only guppies benefit? Surely we can have a much larger, ocean going version for the sea creatures' enjoyment.
—FloridaManatee, May 09 2003
   

       Anyone remember that drink "Orbitz"? Mmm, thick sugary delight...
—oatcake, May 09 2003
   

       Brilliant. Wish I could keep fish at my apartment. Croissant.
—dstillz, May 09 2003
   

       Awesome idea. Can we have pool rocks like this too? Or even underwater floating platforms, to bring shallow water everywhere. +
—sartep, Jul 08 2003
   

       They won't even let you keep FISH? [ds], it's time to move out of the fascist regime you live under.
—RayfordSteele, Jul 09 2003
   

       +
No further comment required.
—DrBob, Jul 09 2003
   

       //Anyone remember that drink "Orbitz"? //   

       I had that crazy stuff once or twice. I don't understand it, but I just had to try it. What were those little floating beads that I drank made of, anyway?
—XSarenkaX, Jul 09 2003
   

       +Top idea, but fish aside I'm thinking this would make a brilliant educational tool for the classroom. A question: could you use currents in the water to encourage the planets into motion, like a planetarium. And to think all this time I've been using my pummice to get the dead skin off my feet. On the subject of that dead skin- it floats you know. Asteroids?
—Nickynackynoo, Jul 09 2003
   

       This is only going to work if you have a density gradient in the water column - so that the water at the bottom is denser than the top - or if you have a vertical current in the tank to carry the rocks round. Otherwise the neutral bouyancy will be unstable, and each rock will either sink or float. Look at Gallileo's Thermometer [link] - all of the balls are either at the top or the bottom.
—sandfly, Jul 24 2003
   

       I like the idea of having these be dual purpose - fish toys and thermometers. Just label each rock with a temperature.
—Worldgineer, Aug 02 2005
   

       So long, and thanks for all the fish!
—Voice, Apr 11 2007
   

       What you need is a waterproof robot arm that will automatically snatch up the pumices when the get too sinky, and put them in some kind of heater or mini microwave oven to bake out a bit of the water (not all, or they'd have to start at the surface again, unless that's what you want). Then, of course, the baked-out water will be condensed and returned to the tank.
—notexactly, Feb 06 2018
   

       Neutral is hard to do in an increasingly complex system. Still one for the wish list.   

       [notexactly] A underwater robotic pumice juggling hand. Nice. But a fish , either Actinopterygii or Chondrichthyes probably wouldn't worry at a clear (same light refraction as the tank ) , linear adjustable strut down from the surface.   

       Could magnetism be used to throw and catch a magnetized coated pumice? Event Horizon insanity in goldfish?
—wjt, Feb 08 2018
   
      
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