ryanjury

I have actually found the aqua ones to pick up alot of crud, they get pretty filthy and do a good job of clearing the tank plus have a few trays for bio media it even comes with its own media which (even though it comes with cheap stuff not the gold plated eheim stuff) it seems to a really good job.

Good work As phoenix has suggested just feed until they are full, if you stick it in a syringe and squirt it in their direction it can work better, the great thing about green water is it is natural so harder to foul the tank with overfeeding it. In an established tank the fry will find all sorts of stuff to munch out on anyway.. If you want to keep the fry you can also consider siphoning some/all of them off at any stage from now, yes they do go better with the mother but then you run the risk that she might eat them. Some are good (and yours has been great so far) but some are bad and there is only one way to find out what sort of mum they will be. But nothing worse than having free swimming fry, leaving all of them with the mum and then having her eat them only to loose one of the pair or never have them breed again..

Awesome pics and fish good luck with them What size tank do you have them in? Those filters are awesome I have them in quite a few of my tanks and they work really wel..

You obviously have to choose the right plants for the setup, and harder ones that the fish won't eat.. I have java fern, anubais and don't have val growing happily in hard water with tropheus..

lol it is interesting that you say it is unnatural that people have mbuna in tanks with only rocks and overcrowded I think you need to do a little more research into the fish that you are talking about and their natural environment you might be surprised Anyway yellows and dems and even peacocks can be kept with plants some of them may eat them or dig a little but as long as you have good light and the plants are growing they are fine, gravel colour/type doesn't matter most use the white stuff because it buffers the water but there are other ways of doing this..

What a shame to pull your marine tank down But can easily see why. A sump will do a great job of filtering the tank, and the oscars should be really easy care, although it would be an awesome sized tank for a whole heap of africans I agree the lighting will be alot and will probably just grow algae if you have no plants in the tank..

Yep Ira you pretty much summed it up, but the eheim crew might be out to get you now lol I am a believer in getting what you pay for but sometimes the cheaper stuff is actually quite good, and just because an eheim is expensive doesn't mean it is always the best..

Yep the CF series of filters are great, I like them better than the 22xx series of eheims (and yes much to Phoenix's amazement I actually own one of these lol) And just in case you were going to buy one wonderworld is selling the CF1200s cheap at the moment.. http://www.wonderworldpetcentre.co.nz/

I have no idea about your questions but there are quite a few threads about enclosures and a few on permits in this section if you browse through it.. viewforum.php?f=40 Maybe even the search function at the top of the page would help? It just saves the same people typing the same thing out again..

I am pretty sure most dechlorination products get rid of heavy metals.. But I would also think that copper pipes would only be a problem if they water had been sitting in them for a long period, I would be inclined to flush the water out of the tap/hose for a while before using it.

NLS is good but I find you have to bomb the tank out with the 1mm stuff to get big africans to get their fill but it does seem to fill them up.. Also what types of africans are you feeding? Mbuna/haps/tangs all have different food prefereances.

Yeah that is what we are waiting for, well responses from the clubs anyway There was a hope of getting enough responses through in time to be included in the year book but it was not to be Hopefully they come through soon as there are already quite a few of us that have paid and are waiting

Maybe you can try and reduce the water level (or stick the fish in a shallower tank and then slowly increase the water level) it might help change the pressure the fish is under and ease it somewhat. Peas and/or epsoms salts might help if the fish is constipated but hard to know for sure what is going on..

It can point to problems with africans and is quite common.. It might be as Smidey has suggested and feeding more might help but it might be something else.. We discussed it a while ago here but didn't actually come to any conclusions.. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=45066&p=489682&hilit=cichlid+skinny#p489682

It is hard to know what to do but without any symptoms to suggest worms then I wouldn't be worming them, what you are describing doesn't sound like worms so I am not sure if it will help your fish at all. I agree that most fish can be infected with them but don't know if it will help your fish. Ammonia is completely different to PH, have you read up on cycling a tank and the various basic things that have to happen to have a stable and healthy tank?

I would be inclined to hold off on the aviverm or any other meds, from reading your welcome thread it appears you didn't cycle your tank and it is likely your fish is sick as a result of that and not worms or anything else.. Keep up with the water changes and hope that the fish recovers by itself, there is a chance that the fishes gills were damaged in an ammonia spike (hence the gasping at the surface). Also take it easy on the water changes unless you have the ability to match PH, GH and temp, I remember you have a 50L tank so it probably only holds around 40L changing 2-3 buckets at a time would probably be alot of stress on the fish. You do need to do them but maybe just stagger them throughout the day..

Size of the tank could be important maybe the fish aren't healing because they are beating each other up.. Angels are most certainly not angels in behaviour.. Are the edges to their damaged fins white or just not growing back?

Are they still eating and otherwise healthy?

If you have no luck finding them in Auckland then maybe get in touch with Bilbo he has some and he can ship fish

How did you cycle the tank? The process of cycling a tank isn't just turning on a heater and filter and leaving it, it involves building up bacteria etc to a level capable of reducing the waste in your tank to a safe level so your fish don't die. Did you read the link that someone provided on cycling a tank? Just crush up the big flakes so the smaller fish can get some, although you don't want to add anymore fish for a while you might want to consider adding a bottom feeder or bristlenose to clean up any uneaten food..

Hi and welcome Fluffy stuff on the gravel is most likely rotting food.. It sounds like you have done 2 of the most common things that people do when they first get fish (which usually results in all their fish dying them deciding it is too hard and giving up). 1. Buying too many and chuck them in without cycling the tank (did you read the link provided) 2. Overfeeding. So to start with I would be getting at least an ammonia test kit and testing your water, but in the mean time it is safe to assume you have water quality issues so change 1 bucket of water a day (could even do 2 1 in morning one at night) trying to suck up as much uneaten food as possible. Once you have measured your ammonia then you will know where you are at. Only feed once every 2 days and only as much as the fish can eat ALL of it within 5mins of you sticking it in the tank. Cutting back on the feeding reduces the bioload on your tank and gives you the chance to learn how much to feed, once you get the hang of it and your tank is cycled then you can feed 1-2 times daily again. Good luck!

Fish don't generally eat themselves to death, the risk you run is when you feed fish that have big mouths pellet food and they stuff themselves and then the pellets absorb water expand and pop them..

It certainly sounds like she has some eggs hidden somewhere in there. You will notice her loose interest if she eats them, but be careful because they do move them so she may start showing interest in another area of the tank instead. Lol she will probably try and round up the WCMM fry along with her own That is always funny to see..

Check in the gardening area and look at all the irrigation fittings. Bunnings is the best place I have found, the mitre10 ones are like twice the price.. Good luck and I hope you find a solution

They do sell them separately just check at your local shop or ask here maybe in private trade/exchange.. All I was thinking was use some tubing and an elbow and just direct the flow across the tank the elbows are like $1ea or something like that..