ryanjury

Yeah im back home got back a week ago All went well its good to be home.. Good luck with the babies they're pretty easy

Awesome I notice that mine have spawned too The babies don't need dad when they have left the cave so you can remove him at any stage..

I have had crappy success rates with stripping eggs too But can get them all to live or very minimal losses when stripping after they have hatched I generally wait 2 or so weeks before stripping to ensure they will all make it. Demasoni babies don't tend to grow fast enough to start eating each other.. I haven't seen any africans that have yet, however if you want them to all grow you can seperate them out into batches so the smaller ones get food. This wouldn't be a good idea with dems though as they need to be in groups to reduce aggression.

lol yeah you're probably right there I do handle it with care though use a dust mask when cutting etc (apparently you're supposed to do this with all poly?). I got it from a local insulation place I rung around asking for free poly.. They had stack loads of it and can't melt it down like they do to all the white poly because it was the fireproof stuff in it..

Bumping the temp up while treating is to speed up the life cycle of the white spot parasites... I wouldn't recommend keeping mollies or other community fish at 30C though it wont do anything and may even stress them more shortening their life etc.. It is caused by stress and usually no biggie.. Qtine is good but you may qtine then move them to your other tank stress them and they may well get it then. I find the best way to treat it is to add salt to the tank just plain old rock salt seems to get rid of it. Increasing the temp will get rid of it faster but I usually don't do it because I had a heated room and was too much effort for one new fish that got white spot. If you do have to add meds there is one that works really well think its the white circle or something like that..

Another theory is that some imported guppies carry diseases that they are immune to and these are all slightly different.. You will be fine as long as you keep the fish together but as soon as you add them from different places the different diseases wipe them all out.. Just something I read unsure if it has actually been proven or anything?

Demasoni and tropheus are both vego's so will be sweet diet wise.. I would say the 2 would be fine living together, I haven't kept tropheus before though so haven't mixed them.. But don't think the tropheus would smash the dems and the dems wouldn't care about the tropheus..

Have you had the same fish in the tank all the time? And where did the fish come from? I only ask because I know that some shops are having trouble keeping guppies alive they seem to be so inbred or have some other issues that they just gradually all keel over and die.. Might be something to consider?

Yeah the theory is that angels carry a nasty internal worm that doesn't affect them much.. However it screws with the discus, I guess it all depends how often you worm and how much you worry about your discus.. As for your altums, have you got any pics and got any id's? I have no doubt that the importers/wholesalers had some fish they sold as altums, but do doubt that they were actually altums.. They will call anything they want common names to sell them

Awesome.. Where did you get your altums from?

I have seen nice males and females imported they get them in here all the time in the shops.. Maybe you need to get someone to sex them for you nz discus man?

You can also get fireproof poly which is what I lined my fishroom with it was designed for us in household insulation.. I got a whole pallet load of 8ft by 4ft sheets for free..

Not really that confusing just buy from descent sources with descent names especially if you plan to breed and pass fish on.. Beware of common names.. Especially be very wary of who you buy from as some people are just out to make a quick buck and are hung up with random internet links and even more random common names as reference for definate ids of fish.. Hmm again depends what hansbaenshi you have there are many different varients and the name is associated with many fish. They are all stuartgranti now... However that fish does look good for a red shouldered hansbaenshi as sold in NZ. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/c ... .php?cat=3 Could be any of the stuartgranti listed..

Sad news our condolences to his family, i didn't know him personally however from his sales on tradme and what people have said about him he was obviously an awesome person and extremely passionate about the hobby and helping others

Yeah thats right.. Could go for dem's they're wicked little fish id probably stay away from the dolphins though in a tank that small... heres an article.. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c_moorii.php Another option that might work out and is pretty cool is jullies marlieri or transcriptors they stay pretty small and add something different.. As for dem's I lost my adult colony so have to grow out my back ups I am sure some of the many that have brought colonies off me will start breeding soon and there will be hundreds of them out there

Nz discus man, you seem to have taken none of the examples on that were posted here? You can google around and find firebird associated with any of the peacocks that link you posted does not prove they are jacobs it only proves that you haven't read any of this and just can't seem to take anything on board? Anyone can make up a common name they mean absolutely nothing at all.. Now you're saying that you have jacob's but you brought them as baenshi and they were most likely imported as rubins? What a mess you have now and im sure you will happily sell them on as whatever you want maybe "baenshi super firebird jacob's" doesn't that sound fancy? I'm sure you will make lots of money.. I have brought fish similar to the ones you have brought with dodgy id's and grown them out for a year on the best food in their own tank etc etc lots of time and money only to still not know what they were and have to kill all the females and basically give all the males away as hybrids.. I lost alot of time/money and tied up a tank I could have used for something else but it was the right thing to do. Do you have the ability to do this? It is well known and has been posted on here that Rubin's are maleri's that are line bred for more red that still doesn't make them jacob's (which you have just posted as your definite id above) or baenshi though? And no that doesn't mean we should go and breed them willy nilly with our maleri's red's/golds even though im sure you will. They probably originated from different places in the lakes and we don't know where so best to keep them pure. And yes you may have owned a goldfish farm and bred discus and imported a few randomly named appisto's but that does not mean that you automatically know what to do with africans because you very obviously don't. You have been called out before for doing and suggesting dodgy things just crossing various appisto's that you imported under different names because they are basically the same anyway.. Also from one of your previous posts you say that female peacocks are different thats cool I have noticed some differences are you experienced enough to id these female peacocks? It’s all well and good to breed whatever you like to make some money and you have every right to do it but to call yourself the best in nz etc is laughable.. It is just a shame because there are many of us out there breeding the best that we can and trying to get descent stock out there in nz and educate people and people like you drag it all down And most of us out there don't make anything trying to breed fish just do it for the love of the hobby and to try and make things better so everyone can enjoy these beautiful fish.

Blue dolphins are cool fish them and yellows will be good together.. Long term I wouldn't keep any dolphins in a 3ft tank it would only be suitable for a grow out tank as they get to 25cmish (that can take a while but they will quickly outgrow a 3ft). Yellows would be ok in a 3ft though and maybe some peacocks.. There are not many africans especially haps that are suitable for a tank that small. Coral sand on the bottom vs something in your filter is upto personal preference and what you can source/afford (coral sand can be hard to get and can be expensive). Coral sand in your filter wont work too well unless you stick it in a very fine mesh bag to stop it going everywhere.. They wont actively dig up plants but will dig around a bit probably uprooting them and might even have a munch on some plants depending on the fish. Also be careful moving fish that small it will be quite easy to loose them..

Awesome man congrats The babies colour up real fast aye.. They breed like mad just have to go to all the hassle to keep catching them stripping them etc. I had a bit of a disaster with my demasoni while I was away lost the whole adult breeding colony only have 2 left However I kept back 20odd babies so will have to grow them out and start again.. What are you plans stocking wise for the 6fter?

Sweet where are you getting your tank from? Is it drilled already.. Google syphon overflows I did recently there are quite a few good designs for high flow ones that seem easy to build.. Return pump just make sure it can do 4+ times the tank volume at whatever headheight you are using.. PRobably around 4000LPH +. Silver aro will fit in there but will probably outgrow it as I think they get longer than 2ft long but haven't kept one before sure someone else will comment..

No biggie they will breed in trios and males are easier to find

Well said firenzenz.. I agree that the problems do start with the overseas exporters/breeders and also our wholesalers when they make up these stupid names, I was under the assumption that all fish imported into NZ had to be imported under a sc. name? What happened to these names? End of the day they will import them because they sell and where else are we to get new fish from? Those fish maybe dodgy they may not be, to me its not worth the risk, and I would assume anyone buying them to breed and sell would be the same way. Maybe the current price of $2 a fish is part of the parcel? The potential to buy them make up a name and breed them with no concern and make money is there for a commercial operator.. You can find pretty much any common name associated with any fish if you use google image and this again just leads people astray.. I could start up a site today and post photo's of my guppies and call them firebird peacocks it doesn't mean they are? But someone somewhere may see that and use that id.. Some people think that this is all coming on a bit strong and a bit serious but there is a very real threat of loosing these fish.. We might loose alot of these fish in the wild the last thing we want is to loose them in our tanks as well.. If imports stop to NZ all together do we have enough to keep our species going we have had alot in NZ that has died out will this happen? Will we get a mix (like when you mix all the paint colours together and always get brown) of crappy hybrids.. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c ... n_list.php http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p ... malawi.php

10mm is fine for 600 high from memory, the main concern with thickness is depth not length because length can be braced..

FX5's are great filters you do get alot for the price.. Yes if you compare it with the eheim that has similair spec's (but almost twice the price) the eheim comes out on top but you have to pay twice as much for it? I have one on my heavily overstocked tank that I also feed alot http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt31 ... sc&start=0 That tank has been surviving with my wife doing water changes every 1-2weeks and feeding without the filter being cleaned for the last 4 months so definately recommend them.. I don't notice the flow decreasing much over 3monthly cleanings either. And yeah it has all the attachments for putting water change pipes, draining it etc and also shuts down every 24 hours to let air out. Well worth the price esp if you can get them second hand like I did for $300odd..

All well and good seeing the male was it a rubins or a baenshi? The main concern as always with peacocks is the females.. Where did the females come from? Did this guy buy a random Rubin male and think it was a baenshi and buy a baenshi female? Best bet is always straight from importers or from descent breeders if you want to get descent fish.. I think most people who want descent fish would probably stay away its not really worth the risk when other people who know what they're doing are breeding the Rubins..

Awesome I hope that insurance came to the party and paid out so you can get a bigger one