Faran

I think you're referring to Hygrophilia Corymbosa. Great plant but takes up a lot of space and grows very fast.

.... you don't do a water change with the valve at the bottom. You get a 1" (2.5cm) hose and attach it to the extra quick release they supplied with the filter. You stick the hose out the window and turn the filter on and it drains the tank in a matter of minutes. /me needs to get new lights...

elmo, how long have you been running it? When I drain my FX5 to work on it it's often noisy for a few hours until the last few bubbles are gone then it's quiet as a mouse. As I said in the review above, if it's noisy just come back later and it fixes itself (smart pump air purging). Have you done a water change yet? Purged the gunk from the bottom valve during maintenance? Yes, it feels like a bucket - but anything this size would. Admittedly, the media baskets are a bit flimsy but considering I've only had to deal with them twice thus far it's a moot point. Last point, this is the first filter I've ever had that had a decent strainer on it. It's huge and not easy to hide but at least it does its job. The Eheim 2028 attachments were just silly. The FX5s tank clamps are pretty tough as well, and you can adjust for an unusual top-of-tank situation (like a frame bracing). The Eheim brackets are literally designed for Eheim tanks and that's about it. I think it's a wide spread opinion that the Pro series of Eheims aren't comparable to the Classics.

sharn - typical adult male BN behaviour. Try a flower pot with a chunk taken out of the lip to form a cave. Kookie - as far as I know your BNs are still very young. They will get messier and more boisterous as they get larger. Right now they're just trying to fill their bellies and not fill a belly - of another fish. Night all.

As I said, you'll have to give them space. Mom and dad have chosen their spawning site and you've done the right thing separating them from the rest of the tank. The more you look the higher the chance mom or dad will get nervous and eat the youngsters. Best of luck!

Hi Lynne, Congrats! Raising discus (or even getting them past eggs/wrigglers) is a difficult task. You're lucky in the fact that mom and dad have laid eggs in a spot that's hard to see. My advice is, put in the divider, feed twice a day and let them do their thing. You can't really remove fry from mom and dad as they 'need' to feed of the parents for a couple of weeks after starting to swim around. So here's a few things to know - eggs hatch 2-3 days after being laid. Wrigglers are cared for by mom and dad for three days after that and then they start swimming and (hopefully) find mom and dad and start feeding. Keep your water quality good, continue water changes as normal and if your filter inlet is on the same side of the divider as mom and dad and eggs do something about that so the fry don't get sucked up. If you lose this batch mom and dad will probably have another go in a week. You can always try getting a breeding tank for them, if you're serious about breeding them but you're in for a long learning process to get there. Good luck!

LOL, it's a good point and exactly why I'd start keeping convicts if I had large fish to feed.... but all of Billaneys fish are itty bitty aside from his wifes cichlids. THEY would enjoy the cons... but with that rocky tank I'm sure some would survive and eventually start having babies there, too

ouch. L14s are about $100 in shops and a bit cheaper on TradeMe. So what plecs do you currently own and which ones are you after when you get back?

Which distributor/fishery are they available from? I checked the Highway fisheries and Brooklands price lists today and couldn't find them.

Explains why so many people have had one... it's been passed around to the homies like a '40' on a Friday night! So the auction where I "snagged" the picture of the Network Syno has just been relisted if anyone else is after one. Think I'll fill him in on what it is for auction so people don't think he's nuts for trying to sell a featherfin for that price... Is a network syno worth this much?

It sounds like the movement of the spray bar below the surface probably left the water surface with little to no agitation and he may have decided it's time to have a go if you have a pair. Chances of the fry surviving are pretty slim but they can always TRY. Thing is, when dwarf gouramis spawn the fry are about the size of this - . - so trying to save them is pretty hard. Try giving them their own tank and see how it goes. So yeah, if it's a bubble nest there's no CO2 problem, obviously. Have you already turned off your CO2 to test if it's the cause?

Would you happen to have a gourami, betta or other bubble-nest builder hanging around the area? Just a thought...

Would men in black suits with nondescript cars show up at your door? Or would they even notify you? Funny thing is, EVERYTHING I've ever recieved by post or courier from overseas has had a green Customs Declaration form aside from this package. And the rellies say that they filled it out... odd.

ROFLMAO Too funny, Laura! Just wanted to mention that I answered Krib via PMs and no, I don't have any Tangs at present but love them to bits and looking forward to having a Tang tank of my own someday soon. 'Specially Julies... gorgeous. Leleupis are okay, pulchers are some mean little things and, of course, compriceps would be awesome... /me bows to the fishy gods praying for some compriceps to land at his feet

Yeah, they (phantoms) are gorgeous plecs. Saw one in the Para pet shop for $140 and with the discount that brought it down to $126. Almost went back and picked it up a few days later but managed to control the urges - MUST HAVE FISH!!!! This one was being sold as a "peppermint" by cat from the forums for $100 and a good price. A little smaller than the one I saw in Para, I'd say it was 5-6cm and very nice colouration. The hoplos were adult females (15-20cm) and $20 each but two of them had hazy eyes - possibly from rubbing on rocks and such. Give her a PM if you're after any of her fish. She actually sold a butterfly pleco to Jammos for only $100 but no one else knew about it being for sale as they listed it as a "brazilian" - I was imagining something very clean shaved :lol:

LOL Alan, yeah I have the same problem. I was planning on popping the Angelicus into the discus community tank for a while but realized at the last minute that the nocturnal behaviour freaks out the discus so they'll have to have a tank of their own... with the hoplos, I suppose. Evil - they're currently housed in a Tanganyikan tank with a high pH around 7.5-8 and 26 degrees. Will be doing something similar for them in the new tank - a 120cmx60cmx45cm with a fake rock (poly and concrete) background - I'll be getting in a little while if everything goes as planned.

Thanks guys, I knew the "common name" but was having trouble identifying it on Planetcatfish. Laura - I was trying to get in touch with you guys yesterday about some nice catfish (adult female hoplos, phantom pleco) which were for sale up in Shannon that I thought you'd be keen on. Picked up this beaut and a S. Angelicus while I was there and a friend got a Farowella acus. Cat also had a quartet of whiptails as well... so many cats, so little tank space. My Synos are currently in a friends tank while I get my new 4ft down and set up.

Hi everyone, can you tell me if this is a Network Syno? Planetcatfish is just coming up as Synodontis Sp. but the pics aren't very clear to identify... TradeMe auction of same type of fish Thanks!

I used all the ceramic noodles from a Fluval 204 that was being retired with the intro of the FX5 as well as all the ceramic noodles that I had laying around the fish room. Took all of them and even had a bit of room to spare. Middle basket has a big bio-zorb bag and Phosphate Remover.

Loopy, there is a statistical impossibility that you have 14 females and 0 males in a .50 ratio snail like apple snails. Now, you've been getting snails from willy-nilly so you need to make sure that they're the same species first. Then check the sexes. It's all covered on applesnail.net and I'm sure you'll find that some of your girls are boys after all.

or.... you could always separate the male and female? Just a thought. Seems that long distance relationships and fone lovin don't do it for fishies.

Well I'm not distributing it, selling it, licensing it or even advertising it. Just giving a review of my opinion on using it. Sad that good meds are so hard to find, with e-commerce and the internet I'd find it hard to believe that you can't order in a simple fish medicine from somewhere else in the world for "personal use". So to answer your questions of where I got it from, it was sent over from family overseas. Suppose it's gonna be hard to get for anyone else so if you want it you'll have to check online pet stores.

Morning, Tubifex are typically pathogen infested and the eggs are known for surviving the preservation process. Here's a few threads that cover this topic - http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... ht=tubifex http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... ht=tubifex Glad the rest of your fish are okay! Blue

You're going to need enough media to fill two baskets approx 25cm wide and 10cm tall. I recommend a large bag of ceramic noodles but you're free to use anything you want. The middle basket is for bio-chem zorb or phosphate remover or whatever "special need" filtration media you may need/want. Otherwise you have three baskets to fill with whatever you want Yes, this is in a 460L well planted discus tank. The fluval 404 intake/output on the left side of this picture has been replaced with the FX5 intake on the right bottom corner and the output on the top left corner. The tank is FULL of runners (pup stalks from the marble swords) and looks a bit unsightly but I'll get some decent pics up once they settle down... IF they settle down Yup, a very nice machine and I suppose I could turn it down (which is quite easy with the adjustable intake/output valves) but haven't found the need quite yet. The air purge actually happens only once per 24 hours but a very cool feature none the less. I used to have to climb under the tank and play with my other canisters when they got noisy but with this one I just come back in the morning and it's quiet as a mouse again Well, the Pro 2 series has a $750 RRP and it does 1050lph so I'm guessing the Pro 3 will have a price tag twice that of the FX5 when it finally lands. Also the Pro 3 has a rating of half that of the FX5 and none of the cool features like the smart pump, purge valve, separate hose connections (to easily hook up a drainage hose), etc etc. Gotta love those castor wheels though. That's worth an extra $1000 alone! NOTE TO FX5 OWNERS When shutting off the valves on this machine extra care should be taken to shut off the intake valve before the output. If you do this backwards a decent amount of pressure builds up in the machine which rewards you in about 1L of water coming out of the first available opening. The use of the purge valve on the bottom would be a good way to avoid this in the future. VERY easy to use.

NEVER FEED DISCUS TUBIFEX!!!! Sorry, just saw that in the post and had to jump up and wave my arms and stuff. Blood worms are fine but tubifex are well known for causing heaps of problems in discus. As for your juvenile discus dying it was most probably hex from the colour and appearance you mentioned. Treat with Met as sharn or antwan will tell you how. I'm trying a new med over here called Spirohexol that I got sent to me as a pressie from overseas but don't know how effective the stuff is yet. Keep your nitrates down and add some plants to the tank so they use it up naturally. If it's a bare bottom tank ignore that advice and just up the water changes and test the water to make sure all levels are at 0. How often are you doing water changes?