ryanjury

How big is your tank?

Do they have finrot - ie is there white edging to the fraying? Are there any other symptoms they are showing? Did you buy them all from different tanks and then chuck them in the same one when you got home?

Yeah I first kept fish around 20 years ago and all everyone used was undergravel filters I don't think I saw any canasters around back then, apart from that the only other option was your bubble filters or power filters in your tanks. Things worked back then so it will still work just as well now You should be sweet for your community tank but you would have to use gravel and again I am unsure how well the plants like undergravel filters. Plants don't have to be expensive either, plenty of people on here sell them cheap or give them away and petshops do bunches for like $10 so you can easily stock your tank up with nice looking plants quite cheap providing you have the lighting to grow them. Africans probably wont be so good (again depending what types you wanted to do) with undergravel filters because they tend to dig them up which ruins the flow and stops the water flow causing the bacteria to die off and a tank crash.

lol even though I am a nube I can answer some of these questions.. 1. Coral rock is the best thing to make your reef out of, you should be able to get it from your local shop or off trademe, have a hunt around. If you wanted to start stocking soonish (but being in a hurry with a marine tank is a bad idea) then you would need to purchase rock that is already alive and filled with good bacteria (ie stuff that has already been in a running established marine tank for some time). Otherwise you need to cycle it yourself before you can add any fish, and even longer before you add sensitive stuff. 2. Unsure but I do know that some fish/corals are very sensitive to temperature increases and when you have high powered lights and summer etc temps can start climbing, I guess you would have to run your setup and see if you need one. 3. Unsure with marines but we have a robocan in the house with a tropical tank that is covered with no issues. 4. People have changed names on this site before so it can be done, I would contact a site admin person and discus it nicely with them and see what you can work out.

Not much point in making a sump if you already have an undergravel filter built into your tank! What fish are you sticking in it? And also are you planning on doing a planted tank? From memory I think undergravel filters are bad for plants but not too sure.

Just setup a 270L african tank

Got any pics of the setup? It sounds interesting.. But in response to your question, undergravel filters do work and they actually work quite well, you would need some sort of pump to power this for a tank this size and a couple of uprights to get enough flow throughout the tank. It also depends on what fish you want to have, if the fish are big and messy then you will have poo everywhere, if the fish are diggers they will dig all the gravel up exposing your fiilter plate making it useless. The best use for them (IMO of course) is to run water being pumped up through the bottom of the plate so it is pumping the poo and stuff out of the gravel and then have another filter picking up the crud. You could potentially connect the outlet of your FX5 into the undergravel filter to do this. Another consideration is the type of substrate you plan to use in this tank as smaller stuff will fall through the cracks and be useless.

Well the offer is there if you need it I have 35 tanks in a heated room so can easily find a tank for them and fit them into my weekly water tank regime, I wouldn't charge you anything either, I have been in the situation where I have relied upon other people to look after my fish before so like to pay it forward.

Where abouts in Auckland do you live? I could probably spare a tank for you to move them in here while you are away and then pick them up when you are back.

Yes too many fish.. A pair of cockatoos could be trouble in that sized tank they can be alright but if you get an agro male the female can get a hard time, and if they are successful in breeding then the other fish can get a hard time and beaten up. Unless you are hell bent on breeding them I would just get a male dwarf cichlid for a single show fish.

HTH reef it was posted a while back.. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=49422&p=540665#p540665

I would just use a normal dose of furan a double dose wont achieve much as it is an antibiotic.. I think the pimafix is natural so might be ok with the furan but it is not usually a good idea to dose with 2 different drugs at the same time without knowing how they will react it could turn toxic and nuke the fish..

I didn't pick that but can see it now, I had assumed standard albino peacock..

Awesome Any new africans or dwarfs coming in anytime soon boban?

If there is chlorine in your water to be removed by the carbon then your fishes gills will already be being burnt so it is too late.. I agree remove the carbon it is not needed, I only add it when I have a purpose like removing meds etc and have had no issues. Some even suggest that it can cause more harm than good by stripping too much out of the water and causing mineral deficiencies in the fish.

Brown haps can be difficult because dominant females can get some colour and egg spots, a sure sign of males is 3 egg spots on the anal fin, I forgot to reply to you but I have some males here if you need one still.

I know a guy with these he only has 2 females so is having issues breeding them because the male is so agro, I am trying to convince him to breed them and have offered a few dragonsblood females to make up numbers of females in his breeding group so it might work better. Obviously fry from the dragonsblood females would be feeders and only fry from the albino females kept, will let everyone know how I get on. The ones he has are not as colourful as the one in the picture though, but still very nice fish.

Just feed all the food you have variety is the spice of life, they will better with sinking foods though and you will quickly see what they have usually been fed with (ie flakes or pellets). But they will adjust to any food over time.

I am onto him to breed them, will send another message...

I have only drilled the one sized hole but would assume drilling smaller ones is easier, plus a 19mm drain is pretty massive, but that would depend on how much water you plan to flow through it.

I just used 13mm irrigation elbows.. Hori and cheap as.

The male should get in on the act while the female is laying, you never know he could have snuck in there and done what he is supposed to.. Failing that if they are only young fish it can take them a few goes to figure it all out at least you know you have a male/female so it is a good start.

Also bear in mind that they are warm blooded fats so very hard for a fish to digest, this is the reason why some people don't recommend feeding any foods from warm blooded animals to your fish as the fish cannot process the fats in them and it leads to these sorts of issues, yes the fish love it, and they grow fast and it is cheap but it is not good for a long life.

Some people (internationally) do actually have some luck with breeding pairs/trios of tropheus, they are not very likely to succeed but can work if you are lucky. I met a breeder the other day whos male ikola killed all the other tropheus bar one female and they happily breed together with no issues, but I wouldn't recommend trying it.. Also good luck finding sexable fish.

Stink one, I am sorry to say it was waiting to happen though At least it didn't end up in a flood or anyone getting hurt..