Faran

So I came across a new product on the market called JBL Spirohexol (imported it, not in any LFSes) which treats hole-in-the-head disease - specifically targeting Hexamita and spironucleous which are the causes of this debilitating infection in discus (primarily) as well as quite a few other fish. Treating with Met seems to be a costly and time-consuming affair and I was really looking for something a little more effective so I decided to give it a try. No reviews good or bad anywhere on the net that I could find so I suppose I'm the first to actually share my experiences. So, first impression - great value for money if it actually works. Package contains 20 tablets and each tablet treats 20L. This is a one-time dosage and you're supposed to let the water stay for a week and do a 75% water change afterwards. "Persistant cases may require an additional dose" which I'm fine with as long as the stuff works. I've come to trust JBL and hope this stuff doesn't end up giving my discus cancer or something! Other things to note - they mention that additional oxygen should be given during treatment. LISTEN TO THIS ADVICE. I've seen what happens when people shrug this off and lose a tank full of fish. I've added a high oxygenation airstone with a pump dedicated to this tank. This is now day 2 and the fish look surprisingly alert and readily take food with no sluggishness or lack of appetite. The pills were placed on the bottom of the tank at the base of the airstone for good water circulation of the meds. Meds have turned the water a dark peaty brown colour but the fish seem more relaxed by this than anything. Will update as time goes by and give my opinions and results from this first week of trials. Seems like a genuine product but I'm not gonna call it until I see some definite results! http://www.jbl.de/uk/aqua/uk_10037.html for product info.

I have to agree with Alan on that one, gizmo. They're called Giant Gouramis for a reason, mate. Here's a little info that tells you the size they grow, and more inportantly; what size tank he'll need as an adult. But if you're willing to take on the responsibility of caring for one of these gentle giants once you know what you're getting into GOOD ON YA!!! Always wanted one as they have p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l-i-T but couldn't house one. Enjoy!

Turn down yer flash, the fish look completely washed out!!!! :lol: Great pics, Paul

I have 20 of the little guys eating me out of house and home at present. Yup, truly gluttons. The rate of growth is amazing though. They've grown from 1cm to up to 3cm in just a week or two. Still very small from your breeding size but yeah, will keep an eye out for males for you when they get a bit larger. Oh, they're pretty tough to breed from what I've read.

Hi reef man, Due to copyrights I can't go and post all the pictures of the different catfish and discus for you but strongly recommend Google Images for the catfish or planetcatfish.com as mentioned above (by Jammos, methinks). Now, for the discus you can check the stock list of the company that Phil has imported from in the past. All my discus that I've purchased from him have coloured in true to these examples and even though they may look a bit different when you first get them, give them time to grow and you'll see that they're exactly what you ordered. Nothing but good things to say about Phil, one of the best... you have to be to stay in the game as long as he has! Oh, here's the website with the discus pix - http://www.limchareonaquarium.com/discus_stock.html

Depends on how many females you have. All females in a tank will breed with one dominant male. Females take about 1 month to be ready to spawn and the males kick the fry out at about 2 weeks from spawning, so you could easily have another brood going if you have several females. Congrats. I assume these are the GBAs from TradeMe you're speaking of?

She's a half-white, right? Saw them before he started throwing them at everyone to make room for the new fishies. Very nice.

They can be very protective of the eggs... you may have a few tries before they get it right. Good to know they're probably a true breeding pair after all. how bog are they now and what size tank are they in? Comm or breeding setup? Lastly, congrats!

So I've had the FX5 up and running for about 12 days now and it's time to write a little review. This filter is excellent. My favourite part is the fact that the draining part of the water changes which I do twice a day takes me 2 minutes instead of the previous half hour. And yes, that's exactly the amount of time the filter runs for before shutting off as part of the "smart pump" feature. So I remove the return hose, hook up the drainage hose with the supplied extra quick connect thingy and point it out the window. 2 minutes later the filter shuts off and viola, 20% of the water is gone. The filter keeps draining at 1" hose siphon speeds even when off but if I need to up my water change to 40% (200L) I just unplug and replug and wait for it to stop again. Mind you, the pump is so quiet that you need to watch for all this taking place. The FX5 is actually quieter than the Fluval 404 that I have running next to it - the 404 only is there to keep the bacteria alive and well for the new owners this weekend. What tweaks have I done? Well, hardly anything needed to be done aside from the directing the output nozzles towards the two walls of the corner it's sitting. The amount of current that this pump creates is HUGE. I had to look for a little while to find some 1" hose for the drainage hose but my LFS had sone Lee's brand 1" hose used for pumps for a good price so 3m of that only cost a few bucks. Good strong rubber like eheim tubing, as well. What else can I say... my discus tank has never been cleaner. The strong steady current washes away anything that gets stirred up and the plants don't even sem to mind. My next project will be the installation of a ceramic and glass CO2 diffuser directly below the filter outtakes. This will send the tiny CO2 bubbles to all corners of the tank and ensure there is no dead water and lack of circulation for it all. Well, after 10 minutes of typing the water level is finally getting halfway filled again. Suppose I should look into creating a rainwater collection tank on the roof with solar heating so I just need to open a valve and the water fills the tank as fast as it drained. LOL. That'd be funny. 5 minute water change. Poor fish. 8)

Which ones, Alan. Front ones or back ones?

I received a plant today that was sold to me as Tennelus but looks... well, see for yourself. The three small plants in the foreground of this picture closest to the front. Look like small sticks with a runner in between. I suppose I should let it grow out or a few weeks and see what it turns out like, but it's all soo confusing on what is tennelus and what isn't! P.S. - the plants in the background and all around are dwarf sag as far as I know. Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

very nice! Hey, I know them Congos!!! That's a beaut of a tank, well done!

They (nerite snails) are a saltwater snail that I didn't even know could survive in freshwater tanks. Interesting. I think they're the ones that look particularly cool when crawling across the glass, as the "foot" has undulating patterns that go in opposite directions. Will have to chat with some salty buds about getting some of them. Do they survive well in freshwater and do they need to go back to a salt tank occasionally (other than breeding)? Great concept - snails that can't breed. Hmm.... why didn't I think of that?

Hi Stu, Sometimes hard to find out what causes fish to die young. You have some massive filtration and it's not exactly baby-BN friendly so I'm not surprised you only had a 2-5% survivial rate. I had similar results in the past. The baby BNs decide that the intake tube is a great place to hide and WOOSH.... sadly enough canisters and impellers aren't fish friendly. Basically, if you want your BNs to survive, put them somewhere safe. Wish I could help you more with the dying fish mystery. Have you tested for copper? Do you have old pipes? Blue

Another 1200lph filter under $200 I'd highly recommend is the Jebo 819. One of the mods from this site recommended them and I never gave it much thought until I got ine with a recent tank purchase. Have to say, it's great. Good construction, solid working and never seems to slow down or lose efficiency like 99% of the filters on the market (namely Eheim). There's one at Wet Pets for $175. Good luck with whatever you end up with!

My 460L tank came with 2 huge wall hooks as handles on it to make moving the 100cmx15cm glass plate around easier... works like a charm. Everyone that sees it gives a "why didn't I think of that" remark, which I think is quite funny. And yes, they're just held on with the regular sticky stuff that comes with the stick-on wall hooks. Not that 3M wall-safe stuff, either. Sure beats marbles!

Usually when a bunch of expensive fish disappear it's cuz of death rather than a very happy customer... I see it all the time with discus.

Sweet, bro. Makes me wonder why I paid some guy $30 to replace one of my braces a few months ago. Ah well, will start on building/repairing my own tanks soon enough. I think I was too spoiled with the curved glass pre-manufactered stands for too long or I woulda started DIYing it sooner.

Ah yes, the Nutrafin bubble counter. Guessed which one I was talking about in the first post. They're often referred to as "dirt catchers" in the forums I've been reading about diffusion on due to their below-par performance (someone quoted 40% efficiency) and how quickly they get gummed up. Would have been much better if they'd put a simple layer of perspex on the front and back to keep junk out of it. Ah well, for a beginner-level system it sure beats the coke bottle and styrofoam cup (35% efficiency with the bell approach). Lynda, a reactor is used in conjunction with a powerhead and I think a filter as well. Either way, you'll need to supply power to it. This would be considered active diffusion while the other methods are passive. 100% is correct. You could have the same results by feeding the tube from your CO2 system into the intake of your canister filter, but you'd reduce the efficiency of your filter by 50%.... have you thought of getting a proper passive diffusor like the flipper?

Glad to point you in the right direction. Best of luck!

Hi everyone, I've recently been doing a lot of reading into CO2 diffusers and what's best and worst and what-not. My main shock and horror that made me start looking into diffusers was when I came across the opinion that injecting CO2 into your external canister filter for diffusion reduced the functionality by 50%!!!!!! I came across this over and over again and it got me thinking... why waste so much filtration when a simple diffusor like the ones I've seen in "serious planters" tanks would do the job (if not better) and not mess up my filter? So here's a summary of the info I've found on forums like arofan and Petfrd which cover the diffusion of CO2. Here's the rundown, taken from either of the two sites above. I've taken the liberty or cleaning up the engrish and adding picture links so people know what the diffusers mentioned look like: And the last little information I've decided to add.... a certain pre-packaged CO2 system has a diffuser that LOOKS like a "flipper" but has MUCH lower efficiency ratings. Just a heads up that your CO2 may not be to blame for lackluster plant growth after you got an off-the-shelf system.

Thanks Alan! That's exactly the type of info I needed. So bad for tetras but okay for cichlids, bettas and a large portion of the general breeding fish that we keep and definitely awesome for bottom feeders.... hmm.... I'm in. As far as making your own... it's about the same price as the 80% stuff but already processed. Think I'd rather just get the pre-decapsulated stuff. Rather tired of the whole brine shrimp hatching process after a container spilled and really munted the carpet...

Hi all you breeders out there. I'm posting this in here because you are the primary users of Brine Shrimp. I've been speaking with several companies out there about the Artemia that's available and was wondering if anyone has tried decapsulated and how is it? Considering that there's no fuss and muss of hatching out BBS I really don't see a downside, but I have no experience in this matter. Looks great on paper though... and a 425g tin of 100% "hatch rate" would make the value unbeatable! Thanks for your input and feedback. If I hear good things and you want to see some on the market it could happen in the next few weeks with an estimated price of $65-75 per 425g tin (depending on how bad I get hit with import tax).

Hi Keri Anne, Congrats on getting the Hara Haras, they're cool lil fish. Here's one of many websites that touch on the sexing and breeding of them. Not much is said aside from that they spawned in a mop.... Good luck and enjoy them! Blue

Do you get the Aquarium World? Paul Billaney wrote a great article in there about the mating ritual and courtship. To summarize, the male will give the female a hard time chasing her about. She'll need a hiding spot and will come out and inspect the nest. If it's not good, she'll destroy it. Male rebuilds and if she's happy they'll spawn. you might be lucky enough to see this happen but either way when they're done (takes a while) take out the female as he'll beat her up pretty bad. Think that's the nuts and bolts. Good luck!