CraigMcN

Yep, they dig big pits to raise the fry in. They'll lay their eggs in a cave or other secluded place, and then transfer the fry to the pit in the gravel and guard them there. When they get a bit bigger the parents will escort them round the tank looking for food, but they head back to the pit as soon as anything threatening appears (like a gravel vac . It's cool watching them head about the tank looking for food, the females will thrash about in the gravel stirring up all the surface muck for the fry to pick over for edibles. Single males will also dig pits just on the off chance that a female drops by. The guys in my oscar tank must have moved kilos of gravel about, and they must be getting pretty frustrated by now

It'd be good if there was just one common name for these little guys, lionheads, buffaloheads, blockheads, and another one I can't remember... At the moment they're being pretty gentle to the rest of the tank, but who knows how things will pan out. (and profile updated, missed that when I created my account

These ones are steatocranus casuarius, africans, but a river species. Dark brown/grey with the big protruding lump on their forehead.. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... hp?id=8864 They seemed quite happy to pair up and breed without any help from me, though they did spawn right after a big water change after a couple of weeks neglect when I was on holiday...

Cool! My Lionheads caught me completely by suprise and spawned! They're only little guys at the moment, got them at about 1" and the biggest male is only about 2" at the moment. I was wondering when/if they would pair up, and suddenly I had a cave full of eggs. For small fish, they lay huge eggs! About 3mm across and you can see the fry developing in them. I've now got about 20 fry being herded round the tank by the parents, and everyone else (yoyo loaches and a pleco) are giving them plenty of space. If anyone in Dunedin wants some lionheads in a month or so, let me know C.

I guess it was the Angels. I've never seen my black ghost dig, but almost every cichlid I've got seems to take great delight in rearranging gravel, digging up plants, and generally making themselves at home... I've never bred Angels, but it a couple have paired up they may be making a safe place to rear the fry?

some thoughts... It's possible the bristlenose is scoffing the eggs overnight when the lights are out, you could try leaving a small night-light on to make it easier for the parents. They could also just be getting the hang of things. Most cichlids will go through a few spawnings before they work out exactly what they're doing and how to do it. If anything spooks them or goes awry, they'll just eat the eggs and try again. It might take them 3 or 4 tries. The eggs might be getting fungus or diseased? The parents will definitely eat any that aren't viable... C.

Hi All, Just got back from a weeks holiday to find my neon gourami with a case of popeye on his left side. He still "seems happy" but looks freakish and unpleasant Any advice on the best treatment? He's in a community tank at the moment but I've got a quarantine tank I can put him into if necessary (is popeye infectious?) Thanks. Craig.

I added some smaller (3") silver sharks in with my oscars, and spent the next few hours watching oscars swim round with silver shark tails sticking out of their mouths Waited until I found some larger (5") ones, and they've survived fine. Note that my oscars are just kids (about 6"), so larger O's will need larger tankmates still. I've also got Silver Dollars, a Red Tail Shark and Convicts in with them, all of which seem to work well. If going the convict route, stick to one sex only, as a breeding pair will terrorise everything else in the tank regardless of size

Hi All, Recently won a trade me auction for a bunch of tanks and stuff, and included was 75(!) tins of JBL Discus Grana food (about 6.5kg's of the stuff). Enough for about 20 years of feeding by my reckoning The "minimum shelf life" stamped on the bottom of the tins are all 01/99, and they're still all sealed perfectly. Do you think it'll still be a worthwhile food? I've cracked a couple of tins and it still seems fine and a trial feeding met with approval from the lionheads.... I'm also debating using it to bulk out my homemade oscar food (beefheart and shrimps and spinach and stuff), would that be a good use for it given that I'll never get through the lot feeding it any other way? Thanks.. Craig.

Mine have spawned a couple of time (suprising the hell out of me and they're only about 25mm long... Everyone else in the tank ate well that day, but I don't know if the cory's will snack on their own eggs.

Well, I gave it a go, and I think I left it too long... The fry are now big enough to swim against the flow of the gravel vac (and look really funny swimming for all they're worth in the tube , and get spooked too easily if anything else gets close to them. I might have to spend some time and patience with nets... Thanks! C.

Cheers everyone, I'll give it a go this weekend and see what happens C.

Hi All, After a few unsuccesful attempts, my Kribs have managed to overrun my community tank with about 50 fry. I thought they'd all get snacked on by the Angels and others (like previous batches), but they're up to about 1cm long now, and I really need to get them out before they overwhelm the entire tank. It's a heavily planted 200L tank with harlequins, angels, bolivian rams, hatchets, and corys. What's the best way to track down 50 small krib fry and get them out of there in one piece? Any better ideas than spending hours up to my armpits in the tank with a couple of nets? Thanks! Craig.