alanmin4304

Aeration increases the surface area of the tank and allows you to have more fish and can help circulate the water to even out temperature etc. If the tank is not heavily stocked with fish it is not realy required but in some circumstances would be advisable. E.G. I have a tank in a cabinet which is aerated to keep fresh air above the water as it is pretty well sealed otherwise.

Have a look a few posts back in this section under Plant ID please. I thought the plant was (and still do) Eichornia azurea, but Plantman thought it might be Tonina. I have not seen Eusteralis, but talk to Bob Ward at Redwood about Eichornia azurea (first cousin to water hyacinth but permitted as I understand) Needs strong light-- I used to sell it to the shops years ago. Bob had grown it to the surface where it converted to emersed and flowered ( not easy)

The problem is that the offspring will look like the dominant gene but carry the recessives which is basically a mess for anyone wanting to breed.

It also depends on how it is braced. Your drawing could be interpreted a number of ways and as for the other bracing ???

You don't need a massive cover of inert media, you only need to fill the tank carefully. Place a plate on the lowest portion of media with a glass jug on the plate and fill the jug slowly so it overfkows onto the plate and you should find it is only slightly cloudy and should clear quickly. I use about one quarter cover material.

Those plants are a bit like lotus and banana plant in that they have a submersed form and emersed form. They remind me of red eared turtles---they are cute when young. I have seen them a monstrous size with all emersed growth and spectacular marbling grown with flouros at Redwood Aquatics.

That is why I don't grow them now. They will grow like that with flouros as well. They are a hybrid with cordifolius I think and grow the same way. Unless you have an open top tank all you see from the front are a bunch of stalks, but the varigation is quite distinct on the emersed growth.

The bracing wants to be on the longest side because that is where the most flex is.

When I was breeding angels the biggest spawn I had was one of my first at over 1200 raised and sold because I remember counting them out of a bath to take them to a wholesaler. They certainly can produce. I used the money to start building tanks.

If you remove a small amount of bracing take it from tha end rather than the back

I would use Euro bracing on a tank that tall regardless of glass thickness.

I found baby brine shrimp best followed by microworm. You are best to seperate them by sizes or you will end up with only a few large ones and the smaller ones are probably the best looking.

I tried altering the photoperiod but the sun did not respond to my request.

That is a big tank--hope you have been saving your pocket money.

I have a number of the smaller swords from various sources and have been trying to identify them but they send runners but no flowers

Warren-- what is the chain sword? It doesn't look wide enough in the leaf to be magdalenensis, but might just be the conditions.

I am trying to propagate a number of swords and have a few varieties available. Working on Red special, uraguayensis, ozelot, leopard, amazonicus,bleheri,red rubin and a number of smaller ones which I think are types of tenellus. Hoping to get barthii and more red rubin today.

I use river sand from tha local nursary (next to Petworld in Smith St). Seive out the larger stuff with a large kitchen seive and wash. Mix unwashed fine sand with JBL micronutrient (daltons aquatic mix is probably as good and cheaper). Place washed fine gravel over mix and fill carefully into jug on plate to avoid disturbing too much. Add JBL nutrient balls under Echinodorus sp. I have a number of Echinodorus sp. thriving this way. I find Crypts from Sri Lanka like walkeri, wendtii and petchi as well as from Tailand like balansae do OK with this set up as they don't need soft acid water.

It would depend on how much you use. Most people tend to use too much RTV when making tanks. I have always been prepared to fill a tank next day. If it is very thick it doesn't cure properly in the middle.

It would pay to avoid breeding from the ones with the bent fin. It comes out pretty often and will probably come out in ones bred without showing it.

When you forget when Chinese New Year is you could be getting on a bit as well.

I thought I would show the difference as I was a bit surprised myself. Red special, ozelot, osiris and leopard are large and the more normal swords like amazonicus, bleheri and tenellus are smaller. I have some different types of what I think are tenellus which are propagating with runners but wont flower and I have another which we thought was parvulus but is just packing a sad and doesn't want to send runners submersed or emersed but flowers all over the place. Also can't get Sagittaria microfolia to flower to confirm what it is. But we are having fun.

E. red special flower E. bleheri flower fully open with 8 stamens Comparison of both flowers as above showing comparitive size; red special on left, bleheri on right.

I have tried peroxide but had no success this time, so used antibiotics and water changes to try and prevent it coming back. It will always be there so cross contamination is not a problem it is getting the balance right. Like a doctor or vet I only use it as a last resort.

If you want El Cheapo lights I think you may be best to buy second hand flouros. There is not much point in running massive metal halides because they give off a lot of heat and use a lot of power. Intense lighting is not much use unless you go the full hog and add fertilizers, CO2 and a bigger power bill. That is hardly cheap lighting. You will probably also need two or three to get a decent spread of light.