ryanjury

We all know the formula's and I know for sure I don't use them I just go with what looks right, having kept fish for 10 years now I have a fair idea what I can get away with. And with keeping africans I stick heaps of fish in there and do alot of water changes. Personally I wouldn't stick a jag in a tank that small well of course I would to grow him out, but when he reaches the 15-20cm mark id move him on.. There are some people that say as long as a fish can turn around in a tank its big enough, it all comes down to what your happy with, me I hate seeing huge fish in small tanks I think its cruel these fish in nature have so much room its not funny and I dont think its fair to keep them couped up. Also I thought male jags had a rep for being girl beaters and can just randomly pack a sad kill their partners? Although of course that would depend on the fishes individual temperament.

Thanks guys Win, have been trying like mad to catch up with you but your never home.. Sorry bout the name thing, its been Steph's girl name since before I met her and I couldn't come up with anything better so it stuck, anyway come over and say hi..

Yep thats what they're describing but its not what they're selling.. What they were selling looked like a blue zebra to me.. Thats the problem with common names people get confused and think all blue fish are electric blues.. Or people just dont know what they're talking about make up a name sell fish and the new buyer keeps that name.. Its just messy best to stick with a scientific name if your fish isn't a line bred hybrid..

I find it best to recommend some buffering of the water regardless of what the PH is out of the tap some tap water can sometimes have a low KH and be very unstable.. People have mentioned measuring their ph out of the tap when doing a water change and having it high and then measuring their tank the next day finding it low.. All depends exactly what cichlids they are wanting to keep! As Mekhaela pointed out there are dwarf cichlids and even discus are cichlids..

Not a very good support group... More like an encouragement group!

lol you never need an excuse Mekhaela you and Daf are always welcome, just let us know when were not going to be upto much for a while now.. And thanks Ron it has already been pointed out that I had better not hide in my fish room when there are nappies to be changed

lol yeah well as much as my wife would love 10 kids I think ill give that one a miss.. And I think there is some dodgy breeding on one of the parents sides.. Thanks for everyones kind words, yes we were home before 7 less than 4 hours after she was born, my wife always said she didn't want to stay in hospital so made a deal with her midwife if her midwife was 100% happy for her to go then she would Midwifes coming over in a few hours anyway to check on things.. Will put up pics later

They should heal themselves but if you notice white edges on the tears and them getting worse finrot may have set in... I usually catch the fish and stick meth blue directly on the wound someones once is enough to clear it up, sometimes several times..

To all the people on here I haven't sent a text PM or email to just letting everyone know that my wife finally gave birth to our daughter Paige Olivia Jane Jury at 3.25am this morning. Was pretty quick she woke at 12.30 with really big contractions (thats been happening every night for the last 3 weeks) and then they were coming 5mins apart, straight into the car drive to palmy hopspital we arrive and she's already on the way couple of hours later she was born everything was fine so we were home and in our own beds by 7 Pics to come when I upload them

Hi and welcome Paul's got a good setup and knows his stuff can guarantee you'll be round there a few more times MTS is already setting in good to hear

Really sorry to hear about this, he was a great help on here giving alot of people advice im sure he has helped many with their fish and they will all remember him. Our thoughts are also with his family at this time

African cichlids are awesome and ive found them to be very hardy and easy to keep/breed. They can be messy eaters and do best overstocked to reduce aggression so a good filter or at least a descent maintenance schedule... Personally ive never had any ammonia problems and have never had the need to use all those products in my tank and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, if your having to do it to keep ammonia down your filter isn't cycled or your overfeeding or somethings going wrong. You can keep the huge pleco's in with africans but I prefer the bristlenoses as they stay small and dont produce much mess, you can stick a small piece of wood in for them but not too much as it can leach turn your water brown and lower your PH. On that note africans like high PH and hard water, you can achieve this by making your own buffering recipe or like I do use coral sand and limestone rocks. Also although your tank may seem big there are african species that will not be suitable for it as they will get too large and aggressive for it so do your research (and ask here) before buying fish. Also bear in mind you have issues with creating hybrids (cross breeds) if you mix the wrong fish so again do your research or stock all males if you want to mix species that cross breed. You dont want to create anymore hybrids! Hmmm well thats a huge rant if you have any specific questions fire away and maybe a good idea to direct them towards the cichlid section thats where most of us african keepers lurk..

A heap of rocks is all good the demasoni like to hang out in all the hidey holes.. I dont stick poly on the bottom of my tank I have a huge ass rock in the middle of my tank probably around 30-40cm's square! It was certainly a nervous time when I stuck that into the tank it barely fit inbetween the centre and end braces.. Im just careful and the most important think with africans and rocks is to ensure you stick the rocks right on the bottom of the tank (move the gravel out of the way or twist the rock around until it touches the bottom. If you have gravel underneath they will dig under it and the rocks can fall on them making all our rocks on top also fall and potentially smashing your glass.. Apparently you can also get a lighting grate its plastic square things around 1cm square and 1cm thick, personally its just too much effort for me maybe when I smash I tank ill get around to it.. Your tanks a good size, you will need to get a descent stack of rocks in there with it being 600 high!

Yeah have seen the wild caught ones and they're very hard to sex probably best to wait until you can afford 6 of them or until they're sexable

Good lesson there I had no idea it used to be called Nyassa.. Guess it does make sense that they named all peacocks as such, as you said it works out well for us given the range of peacocks coming into NZ Does anyone have any idea what any of the new ones look like? Blue fusion etc? I doubt ill see them unless I see a pic on here our local doesn't get new africans in..

You can get standard black gravel, but unsure about sand, I have pool filter sand in some tanks and thats very fine and quite dark could be a go.. As for big river rocks lol we have a river right next to us thats full of them! Just go for a cruise im sure you'll find some.. As for stocking level's if you've got a good filter you can cram them in there, none of the fish you've chosen get big, is your tank a big 4' or small 5'?

I have jave moss in my unlit tanks it doesn't seem to grow but doesn't seem to die either.. So should be fine, sounds like you have a good plan good luck let us know how you get on!

If your original tank is large, fill one of your 2fter's with it, you can cycle the sponge in the parents tank.. But if you've already cycled it you shouldn't have too much trouble. I usually half fill the tank with original water transfer the fry, then top the tank up gradually with fresh water.. Depending on the size of the fry and what your feeding they wont produce much bioload anyway..

Actually I have a suggestion Rogan I always planned to do when I did a tank exactly like what your planning demasoni and yellow's and maybe a species of peaock. What I planned to do was track down some black or dark grey sand, and rocks (maybe buffer in the filter) that way the fish wont get washed out in colour being based over white coral rock and rocks, I think it would also make an awesome contrast the blue of the demasoni and the yellow of the yellow's against a dark background

lol sounds like a good mix man I planned a similar tank and may thin the demasoni and yellows out into a smaller tank when I get the fishroom going its a pain stripping down the whole 540litre tank to catch a 2inch fish every week!

Hi, just noticed noone has replied to your post, I bred these ages ago and found them very easy to breed and very undemanding to keep. When I first bred them like 10 years ago I had a tank with peat as the substrate (wouldn't recommend this its messy as) but would aim for a ph below 7 water maybe 26-28C and on the soft side. I'm pretty sure most captive bred cockatoo's will breed and live in whatever water you provide however. HTH somewhat let us know how you get on, when I get back from overseas next year ill be buying some more cockatoo's maybe some of those wild caught ones off trademe.

Hi Brad, do you feel NLS exclusively to your fish? I haven't got any yet its pretty hard to get into the country, I have my dad looking in asia so hopefully he finds some and can send it back through his work

Whenever I have fin rot in my fish I catch them and put meth blue directly on the damage several times daily until it clears up, salt in the water can also help.. But I know absolutely nothing about treating your fish in particular, if they're scaleless maybe salt woudn't be a good idea? Who knows but I cant see meth blue directly on the wound hurting, I haven't had much luck with meth blue in the water it just seems to stain everything and not achieve much.. but thats just me HTH

Thats my thought exactly I wonder if everything used to be called Al. nayassae baenshi for exanple and then then decided to stick baenshi as its own species... Which maybe why they're the only allowed fish but we get all these others coming through.. Who knows I juts wish the powers that be had left it as Al. sp on the import list! I to have no problems with line bred hybrid peacocks, provided they are named and identified and imported and breed true. I should mention that I am against hybrids random ones that are created in tanks and then matched up roughly against a random pic off the net that most likely has the wrong name under it and sold on trademe..

Our local vet has said he knows nothing about treating fish, but if I do my own research and print out any official looking web page and go in discuss it with him he will happily sell me drugs to treat my fish, obviously this is on a case by case and as long as its for me and nothing too nasty.. Even if they have never heard of or know of a drug surely they can type it into their computer system and order it in for you?