ryanjury

They will eat the micros or crushed flake the parents usually do a good job they are very easy to raise, some would say too easy when they get overrun with them! Congrats on the spawn

Yes saw those angels, guess it is another to add to the long list of dodgy things that seller would do to make a buck, some things never change. Trademe cracks me up they will do nothing about these auctions, but I guess trademe are not fish experts so how are they to know the fish are pure etc? There is a person still selling those hybrid asti. C in Christchurch they are well aware they are hybrids but have no intention of doing the right thing. I have no problem with anyone selling anything even if it is dodgy just don't give them a pure name and rip people off in the process, if its dodgy then say so and then people know. Some people think it is all way OTT and people are just being annoying but if any incorrectly named fish gets passed on and bred from it dilutes the gene pool of both the fish it has been correctly named as and whatever fish it may be. Someone may buy this dodgy "p82" get some real p82 females and then create a mess which will continue to be passed on as p82 then we have the potential to loose a species in NZ. Unfortunately this person wont have a bar of the (must I say very diplomatically worded) questions that have been added to the auction, maybe someone should link them to this thread?

You can add the coral sand if you like, but there are other ways to buffer the water if you don't want to go down that route.. Maybe your tank doesn't even need any buffering at all what are your ph, kh and gh readings?

No they don't need sand, they don't need any substrate at all.. Most people use sand as they like to dig in it and spit it around the place (they will still happily dig in gravel) and it is easy to find sands that buffer the water like coral sand etc.

It is never too late to add more dems, but I would add them small the bigger fish will leave them alone as they are no threat It will be like the ones that grow up in there. If you were to try and add one the same size as the others without completely re arranging the tank then you would have issues.

Yeah I would agree and say it is a hybrid zebra. They are from lake malawi and are mbuna so you were correct with those findings The problem with zebras is most people keep them in mixed tanks and any 2 fish can breed together, the resulting fish is a crossbreed without knowing who bred it and what 2 fish were spawned together it is next to impossible to find out exactly what it is, just treat it as a zebra and you will be fine.. However zebras are known for being quite aggressive, I would be worried about your community type fish as he grows up he would be alot better off in a mixed african type tank with others who can handle his aggression.

Awesome good choice mate If you want some golds let me know

Are they being aggressive towards the other fish as well? Are they digging holes together or just randomly rooting around? Are these the same fish you asked about getting here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=37924

Glad to hear all is well Have all the worms gone from the fighter? Make sure you do the full 3 treatments to make sure you have gotten all the worms, it is only in very bad cases when you actually see them sticking out so they may still be there if you have missed any when you did your gravel vac etc after treating.

I accidentally unplugged the filter on my big african tank for 3 days when I was flat out, chucked food in the tank when I left every morning.. Only noticed that the filter was off because the tank went brown, so did a water change and plugged the filter in, all the fish were fine. Now no matter how busy I am I always look at the filter outlet and make sure it is going

You can also revitalise a new culture by adding yeast and bread. Some people keep a culture going indefinitely but tipping half out and adding more bread/yeast.. If you want a fast culture (that doesn't last very long) use bread and yeast, but if you want one that is a bit slower but lasts longer use porridge.

My guess from the head (which looks zebra to me) and body barring which looks kinda bumblebeeish would be some sort of zebra x bumblebee.. In this situation there is no real way to tell as the hybrids can throw any way they please. It is the usual story if you want pure fish breed in species only tanks Obviously Mark wasn't intentionally breeding these and has disposed of them so there is no problem.

Are the discus happy?

Yeah venue is definitely a good one not fishy related but big enough for all of us and nice and warm and welcoming Some very good suggestions for things to do I am sure it will all come together as we meet more often and figure it all out.

Well this all sucks doesn't it Why don't you just move out and leave them to it?

Only problem is I have found melafix doesn't actually do anything.. If you have a bacterial infection you need to wipe it out with antibiotics.

It will raise the ph, it is ideal for africans, not so good for other fish of course they will adjust but it wont be good for them long term

It depends on alot of things noone can really say how quickly it will grow for you, it depends on what water conditions you keep it in, what tank mates are with it, what size tank, food, how often you change the water, genetics and probably a whole host of other factors.. I would say you should expect it to grow from 3-5cm to 10cm+ within a year in good conditions..

Can you make the pics any larger? From those pics I would have to say some sort of zebra probably a hybrid if you just inherited it, but could still be pure some better pics might help..

Looking good I have tried kribs in my african tanks and they didn't last though The livingstonii will certainly think of them as a nice snack when he gets a bit bigger so would watch them..

I have kept the clown loaches with my africans before in a high ph and hard water with no problems.. Actually they did get white spot alot but I did do large water changes straight from the hose so think the temp drop probably stressed them so it was probably my fault. I have seen others like yoyo's and stuff in there, I would probably stay away from the koolies though they would be too slow and the africans would probably kill them being curious. Snow whites are probably what they sell as Tropheops snow white, I haven't investigated them much as I have never kept them nor wanted to but maybe they are part of the Tropheops family, or just some zebra.. I would echo Smideys question about the tank upgrade.. You have an awful lot of fish for an 80L tank I hope something bigger is on the way

Frozen shrimp is the main ingredient in my home made frozen food it is awesome.. I just chuck some shrimp and some cooked veges (peas carrots potatoes broccoli pumpkin + whatever else I have lying around) some garlic and some dissolved gelatine into the blender and blend it.. I made a couple of different mixes (vary the blending time) so that I have some with big chucks for the big african tank and some that is very fine for the guppies and babies. After it is blended stick it in fish bags and squash it out flat and freeze it you can just break off bits as you need it.

I was thinking melo auratus, but something looks a bit off.. Maybe its just that weird colour, I know there are a few albino auratus around and wonder what a normal x albino would look like?

Can you get a better pic? Looks sorta bumblebeeish to me too, but that blue? And almost has an afra head.. Hard to tell with the pic on that angle and the rest of the body out of focus..

The usual stories for growing out fish do large daily water changes and pile in a large variety of quality food Lots of food means lots of good stuff to grow, and lots of water changes means that any waste (From the heavy feeding etc) doesn't build up and slow down their growth..