ryanjury

From what I have seen with fish sent to me is the fish usually die from incorrect bagging (ie getting stuck in corners or bags leaking out), or too many being stuck in a bag and bashing each other up usually only 1 left half alive in the bag all others smashed to a pulp. The other major one I have encountered is the couriers loosing fish, but most of the ones that have been lost I have shipped have made it because they were well enough bagged to survive a few days. Pretty much all of the fish I have received have arrived with cold heatpads (including the 40 hour ones) that have reactivated when exposed to fresh air so I don't think heat is a big killer.

I can see where Barrie is coming from, but alot of people I know are keeping guppies outside already so I doubt they would die even in a cold snap when being shipped in a insulated polybox.. Personally I would leave it upto the buyers discretion if they want to pay for a heatpad it is at their cost and they aren't very pricey really.

Have you considered joining here? It might help to get more local knowledge of what is available to you in Aussie.. We can always help recommend stuff but it may or may not be available to you and we can't really help you find it either http://www.qldaf.com/forum/index.php

Awesome fish There are plenty of triple red x F1 babies around that would provide very good females to breed with that male and I would think they will yield a high number of very red babies as the ones I have been breeding without new blood have been.. I was at JC360's house today and they had tanks filled with very nice ones that I think were for sale maybe pm them and see if they have any spare

Are you feeding the pellet food you sent up to me? If so I have noticed the same thing in my fish so can only assume it is diet based apart from that there has been no ill effects in my fish so I wouldn't stress too much.. The black marking is often attributed to spirulina based foods but even when I stopped feeding them for a long period I still had them there so I am unsure what causes it, it may be as smidey has suggested and be environment or stress related but that would be fairly obvious stress type barring or lack of colour I would think.

lol the mbuna will get pretty big and fill in the open areas of the tank.. Even though mbuna translates to something like "rock dwelling" they certainly don't sit around in caves at the back of the tank. You may get away with some male peacocks but bear in mind that some mbuna are very aggressive and consistently nasty so some peacocks will just be left cowering in the corners, or you will add beautiful males only to find them so sub dominant they just assume female colours and sulk around in the tank.. Things like a large ice blue male will easily claim half to 2/3rds your tank for his turf and everyone else will be left fighting out for the remaining portion

Lelu's would be cool but depends if you want that personality type fish of the pair forming tangs or that in your face burst of colour and activity of the mbuna.. Those lelu's that hollywoods had looked awesome as did the Jullies hopefully someone purchased them to breed from and we see more of them around the place.

Each to their own I guess, it all depends on what you have seen and done before.. Demasoni, yellows and peacocks are all relatively peaceful (dems are only nasty to each other) and stay pretty small so you can get away with it more than with the bigger haps etc. I would start off with those numbers and play it by ear, if you were buying them as younger fish then you would have time to see how it works out and then move or rehome fish as you go, if you had issues then thin out male peacocks and male demasoni or remove an entire group as required but I wouldn't see too many issues with it. Was in at a random local shop today they had 9 assorted peacocks (dragonsbloods and obs) 5 random zebras 10 yellows all adults in a just over 2ft tank and they were all fine, they had also previously had demasoni and fryeri in the same tank with no issues. I wouldn't think it could work but The guy who bred them is also a guy who brought 2 demasoni off me ended up with a compatible pair that happily bred away for him so he must be pretty lucky

That is awesome It is very creative will it keep separated forever or do you think you will need to separate it all out again at some stage? I saw a video here http://fishkeepers.co.nz/forums/viewtop ... =18&t=1802 that is of a river in Brazil it is mostly of dwarf cichlids but there is some footage of the cories rooting around in the sand it is awesome to see a video of them in their natural habitat The video takes forever to download but well worth it..

Merry Christmas everyone

What are the dimensions of the tank? It maybe pushing it a bit but I think you may get away with it.. I have heard of people overseas cramming 20 dems into 2ft tanks and having them work out I am unsure how (and I wouldn't recommend it) but apparently it does apparently having less room for less territories causes less issues as the fish have less turf to guard? I have had a similar number of adults in a 75cm tall tank and got away with it also, if you were growing them out from babies together you would also have a greater chance of success as they would all grow out together and sort out who is boss from the beginning so there shouldn't be any major scraps.

Lemon Cichlid - could be lelupi? Might be ok in your tank but if you got a pair then all hell would break loose.. Powder Blue Cichlid - The most common correct sc. name is ps. Sacolofi but sometimes they are powder blues or could be any random blue zebra its soo hard with them as most are hybrids.. Anyway I wouldn't put any zebras in your tank it is too small 1 male will just dominate the tank and you wont enjoy it. Melanochromis johannii - might be ok if you get the right ratio but will probably outgrow the tank as well, I will have some for sale in the new year. Demason's Cichlid these would be ok as Phoenix said get at least 12 more is better I will have some for sale in the new year. Sunshine Peacock - who knows sunshine peacocks are used to describe so much these days it is just a common name but you coudl get away with a colony of one type of peacock in a 140L tank. Most of my breeding tanks for peacocks are only around 100L. Electric Yellow - these would be good also. Jewel Cichlid - not a lake dwelling cichlid but I have seen people mix them successfully. Orange Chromide - No idea. I would probably go with a dem/yellow/peacock tank, start with around 15dems maybe 6-8 yellows and 6-8 peacocks and it would probably be all good, I would be adding more rockwork though..

What type of cichlids are you thinking of getting?

There maybe some bacteria left but probably best to just transfer some media from your existing cycled tanks and then stock up slowly you should be fine.. What you should go for next depends on your tank size/budget and what you like Cichlids are always good when you have only really tried live bearers, something like kribs will happily live and breed in a 2fter..

It would work well for smaller tanks, I have used old bedrolls as well.. The good old poly seems to work really well and most of the time you can find it free so can't argue with that

It will clear with time.. No matter how much you wash it it seems to happen, adding charcoal won't achieve anything, if anything just pack your filter out with filter wool to try and catch the small particles..

Chuck in the younger ones first and then build up from there only adding new ones every few weeks until you have built upto what you want.. Be careful mixing bigger and smaller ones not only do they eat each other but bigger ones can be hard on small ones.

What type of cichlids are you planning to put in it? Are you planning to buy adults or young ones? There is probably no reason why you can't cycle a 300L tank with cichlids especially if they are africans and you start off stocking it and build up slowly. Just rearrange the rockwork every time you add new fish so there is less fighting. Also transfer some media while you do this and you should be fine.

lol that makes sense I haven't had an acrylic tank before and thought they would have been ok, lol probably not worth the risk.. Are you using a scouring pad to clean it? Plus on a nice day it would be a good dip, also amusing for any visitors that may visit. Maybe you should hook yourself up to an air line and float up and down like those divers you can buy.

lol cool video Haven't you heard of those magnetic algae scrappers? I guess its not as refreshing on a hot day though..

What is the ph level of the tank that you are worried about?

Cool congrats on the spawning I will ask the same questions as firenz what size tank was it? What water conditions and what were the other tank mates, these things may need to be replicated if it is to be repeated.. lol did you say the parents were for sale

No point dosing with meth blue it is pretty much pointless as a general cure all an only really works on fungus. Just keep the fish separate for a month or even longer keep a good eye on it make sure it is healthy eats fine and does everything a healthy fish should.

From memory the glass is lined with phosphor or something like that.. If you are using that and then another layer of glass it would be very hard to view the tank behind that glass with any glare or anything and may end up looking quite shabby, I guess it would have to be done to find out first.. Capacitance of tube should also dissipate quite quickly, wouldn't hurt to poke under the button with a multimeter first to make sure though. I made one of these years ago but it didn't look cool because I just used a normal custom made tank in the frame and the framing for the screen was rounded, your plan would get around this so I will be interested to see how it works.

What type of cichlids do you have?