CraigMcN

I've got a pair of Kribs guarding fry at the moment in my community tank, 200L with hatchets, harlequins, platties, cories, and others. The cory's get a bit of a hard time as they seem to think they're invincible and the kribs nip their fins up a bit, but everyone else manages to find plenty of room. This pair managed to raise about 15 babies to about 2-3cm long before I gave them away, so you can get lots of kribs from a pair in a community tank if they're lucky C.

I've got a shoal of 10 of them, and don't see any fighting or any other problems with them. They seem to be very peaceful little fish (and very nice looking in a big shoal as well What have you got yours with? Mine are in with harlequins, hatchets, kribs, angels and baby geophagus brazilians so there might be enough distractions that they don't feel the need to squabble amongst themselves. C.

180L might be pretty small for 4-5 fully grown silver dollars. They only take about a year to get to 10-12 cm long and keep growing from there. They also treat live plants like a salad bar so don't plan on having any. They are very cool fish though, and I'm pretty attached to my shoal of 6 that follow the oscars around looking for scraps C.

I've seen them down here (Dunedin) a fair bit. I had four, but now down to one left, and can't find any more at the moment to give him some friends. Most places refer to them as "green corys", but you can tell them apart by counting the dorsal rays. Brochis have 12, corys have 8 or 9 (from memory) C.

Here's my Fluval starting scheme.... Make sure the outlet is above the water level. Unplug the hoses and open the grey aqualock tap above a bucket. Wait till all the water has drained out of the outlet hose, and the inlet hose is rapidly siphoning water from the tank. plug the hoses back in and open the aqualock. you should hear water draining into the filter. Wait till the filter is completely full, the water has stopped draining, and the output pipe has filled up to the level of the inlet. (Your ears will tell you, wait till the gurgling stops Turn the filter on, and it should just go. Fluvals seem to have big problems if there is water in the output pipe, but air in the filter body. The air stops the impeller pumping water, and the full pipe stops the air getting out. C.

Well, I'm never going to find out, coz all the eggs are gone this morning... ... I don't think they've got the hang of this whole parenthood thing yet, as I watched a convict brazenly wander in and snack on half a dozen eggs before the parents realised they had to do something about the striped little bugger Given the topportunistic tankmates (cons, silver dollars, syno, RTS) I think they'll have a hard task guarding eggs at the best of times. Hopefully they'll try again. I've no idea what I'd do with 100 little oscars, but it'd be a very cool sight to see. C.

Well, my ocscars Pinky and The Brain finally decided to settle down and start a family... a very large family if they have any luck with this bunch of eggs! It's their first spawn, so who knows how they'll get on... Some pics... Craig.

I used to have to muck about a lot with my fluvals to get them started, but have a method now that works every time... make sure the output is above the water level, and stick a bucket under the end of the hoses. Open the aqua-lock (or whatever it's called) and it'll drain all the water out of the output hose, along with all the gunk from inside the hoses. Let a bit of water siphon out of input hose to make sure it's full of water. close the valve, reconnect and open the valve again. You'll here a satisfying gurgling sound as the filter refills. Power it up once the gurgling stops. I don't own any other canisters except fluval 04's, and have had no problems at all (now I can get them started again easily C.

I've got the same guys from NZ Discus. The "argumentative" description fit's them pretty well Best ID I have on the so far is A. Cruzi. There was another thread here recently that linked to a great apisto specialist forum that seemed fairly certain. Craig.

They look a lot like the the ones I've got, and the best ID I have on them so far is apistogramma cruzi. Check http://apistogrammaidiots.com/Fishroom/ ... erie1.html I think they're a pair, but these guys can be very confusing. I got four of them, one definitely male, two definitely female, and one who looks like a female, but acts like a male, and tends to display all the time in front of the a. agazzizi female that's in the same tank. "He's" either a different species, or "she's" confused

My silver dollars eat anything! They'll quite happily scoff down any meaty scraps or cichlid sticks that escape from the Oscars, they devour pleco chips, and when I thin plants out of my other tanks I just throw the clippings in with them and they're gone in minutes.

Yep, I got four of them back in February. I lost one after about a week (looks like there was a fight and he got an eye nipped, went rapidly downhill and died) but the other three are going strong and growing rapidly. They're currently in with a bunch of neons/cardinals, bristlenose, and brochis and have settled in really well. They're fascination to watch compared to tank raised fish, they keep an eye on _everything_ that goes on around them, and get spooked pretty easily but have a bunch more character than my other bigger angels. I posted some pics a while back in the cichlid section, search for "Altum" should find 'em C.

Mine started breeding at about 2" (for the males, 1 1/2" for the females) and haven't stopped. I got 5 at about the same size as yours (2cm) and ended up with two breeding pairs and lots of fry. Neat fish, probably took about 4 months before they started breeding. Caught me by suprise coz I assumed they were still too small. (adults apparently get to about 4") Just give them lots of caves and hiding holes, and a reasonably strong current. C.

If you haven't seen it here's a good reference for NZ freshwater fish.. http://www.niwascience.co.nz/rc/freshwater/fishatlas/

Having them survive is the only danger with using convict fry as food I've had a 5mm long convict fry grow into a happy healthy 2" male in a tank with two constantly hungry and rapidly growing Oscars. After a while it seemed they just recognised him as a tankmate rather than a food source... I'm just thankful it turned out to be a male, coz there are two other male convicts in the tank, and having a female turn up would be a recipe for chaos

I've got some Altum angels from Phill, I posted some pics in the cichlid section a few weeks back. Really nice fish, and fascinating to watch how different the wild caught behaviour is compared to "domesticated" ones. Most of my other fish either ignore me or beg for food, these guys watch me like a hawk whenever I'm close to the tank, occasionally "flaring" and flicking their fins if I get too close. I'm guessing it's a territorial warning thing, as they occasionally do it to each other as well. I've got mine in an amazon style tank as well, with emerald cats, bristlenose and a big shoal of cardinals/neons. C.

Hi, , don't know anything in particular about that pleco, but I've bought from Phil at NZ Discus and had fish shipped down to Dunedin no problem, so I'd recommend him. If you've got the time to go hunting www.planetcatfish.com will almost certainly have info about the fish, it's just a matter of finding the thing amongst the thousands they describe Only thing I'd caution is that it's wild-caught, and will probably be very finicky about water conditions. It's probably used to soft acidic water (asuming it's from the amazon or similar river) and if it goes into a hard water tank it'll probably be very unhappy. It's probably also used to close to zero nitrates and won't cope well with poor water. I'm just getting the hang of the wild caught Altum Angels I got from Phil, and keeping a very pedantic eye on the state of their water and doing _lots_ of water changes to keep them happy. I don't know how much they'll tolerate, but when you pay big $$$ for wild caught fish it's probably best not to risk it Good luck with it if you get it, it's a great looking fish!

Yep, that's the repair plan. Cut out the melted bit from the lid and glue a big piece of acrylic across it. It'll be almost as much fun to watch as the tanks

Lindyloo : the heater was cool in the water, light was off as the thermostat had kicked in (which was what I was checking for). The glass felt "water temperature" when I pulled it out. I guess it took a few minutes for the thermostat to kick back on and started the melting and the burning and the smoke and the rest of the fun. A 300W heater throws out a huge amount of heat when there's no water around it C.

Stupid Monkey did stupid thing... Was testing a tank heater in the laundry tub... After a few hours satisfied it worked, I pulled it out of the tub, checked it was cool, put it on top of the washing machine,and pulled the plug out of the wall... Wandered out for a while came home to a smell of burning... Pulled the wrong damn plug out of the wall, and the heater had melted a 10 inch long hole in the lid of my damn washing machine As a testament to the heater, it still works fine once I scraped all the melted plastic of it. Wish I could say the same for the washing machine! C.

I'm not sure how old they are, but I'm guessing it'll take them a few years to get to full size. BK : from what I've read, if they breed I'll be amazed and ecstatic! Still, give them time, and lots of soft clean water and who knows what will happen Apparently they've been happy eating flake food and ox heart, but if I have problems with them a white worm culture would be great! I'll send you a PM if I need 'em... Thanks!

Hi All, Just got my Altum Angels from Phill at NZ Discus, and having spent the last hour watching them glide gracefully round the tank I thought I'd share a picture or two... They're still only small, but I can't wait to see these guys when they get a foot tall

Mine spawned on a flat rock (after they'd spent a few days cleaning it), so it seems they're quite varied in where they're happy.

I'm seeing pretty much exactly the same thing from my Severums. They lay eggs fairly regularly, but the eggs turn white in a day or so, and the next day they're all gone. It doesn't look like fungus on the eggs, they just go opaque. They have raised one brood to free swimming fry, so I know I've got a fertile pair, they just don't seem to be getting it right at the moment. I'm as interested as Quack in any advice C.

Hi, I got my lionheads about 4 months ago when they were about 2.5cm or so. They're now up to 5-6cm and spawning already. Don't know how long it'll take them to get to full size (about 10-12cm from what I've read). They should be fine with other cichlids as long as there's enough room for everyone. Mine were pretty calm fish until they started spawning, then it's the usual cichlid story, the parents took over half the tank and bullied everyone else into the far corner. I've got 5 of them in a 3 foot tank, and I don't think there'd be room for much more in the tank C.