ryanjury

Dolphins are mostly off to the left with the splodges on the body looks like one in the middle bottom too.. Have to say that tank looks amazing and it is an awesome pic!

A 70L tank will probably only hold 55L of water anyway But guess it depends on how warm the area is as well? Just hook it all up and monitor it and see how it goes.

lol have some patience, there are plenty of fish I have had for months even years before they have bred

Go to the frozen food warehouse out railway rd it is the cheapest place I have found in Palmy get a kg for around $12 I think?? When it is usually more than that for 3-400gms at a supermarket.

If you like them then go for it I like them and they aren't that common in NZ at the moment (the wholesaler still has them though so they can't be that rare) but actually prefer the empresses in terms of colour etc.. As far as tank mates go here is a good article http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_steveni.php it seems to recommend keeping them with smaller less aggressive tank mates so they can be fully happy. OF course like when breeding any african cichlids you would have to have a reasonably sized species tank to breed them in to avoid any cross breeding, and it sounds like these guys spook quite easily too.

We already have the species in NZ - 'Lamprologus' ocellatus at best you might be able to get some that are bluer in coloration and you would probably just call 'Lamprologus' ocellatus because they are not pure golds or pure ones of any other variant..

Yeah all our fish are from the same lot but it doesn't mean they are related, I know out of the 2 batches I have had none are that colour.. They do go quite dark when stressed but all go gold again and haven't gone that blue/grey, more brown. These are the golds http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1753 But there are these 3 as well.. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1750 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2262 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1752 Could be a cross with one of them? Or could be something completely different who really knows, just have to grow them out and see

Yeah there are a few of us breeding them, don't think anyone will have fry ready to go yet unless you want to buy them really small.. Photo of my male is here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/ Pricing is relative, I wouldn't call a 2cm fish for mid $40 cheap but that's just me There are breeders out there who brought large numbers of these and have some $$'s to recover so would expect them to have a reasonable price initially..

That is odd, there is definitely a colour difference there.. Out of the 40 from 2 spawns that I have they are all the same (gold) colour so that is really weird.. Having a look through the cichlid-forum list there is 4 listed variants of them that are different colours and live in different locations, so my pick is that somewhere along the line one of the grandparents or even great great grandparents was the blue/grey version and one of yours has thrown back to that colour.

A bit of spit or water with dish washing liquid on your finger will smooth the silicone out really well without it sticking to your finger It is always a good day when you learn something new, the pooper scooper sounds like a good idea for getting the gravel out.

If the fish is only new and is otherwise looking healthy then I wouldn't worry too much the fish probably isn't used to the food you are feeding, and they should get hungry enough to try something new. As a breeder I feed a large variety of foods to ensure my fish eat anything for their new owners (plus variety is always good) but plenty of breeders feed only the one food so this is all the fish recognise as food and refuse to eat anything else this could be what has happened here. Is there any chance you can go back to where you got them from and ask them what they were feeding? All the angels I have had have eaten anything and everything they could (including neons and other tetras). Are the fish still looking healthy enough? Swimming around and pooing etc? Not looking too skinny?

Don't quote me on it but I think there was alot of discussion on here recently and the general consensus is that marble angels don't occur naturally they are an aquarium bred strain. Unfortunately some of the people selling them are known to just make up names for fish willy nilly that don't match up

And probably wasting your time Unless you have a really really messy tank there is no need to clean out filters once a week, if anything it might even be harmful to your good bacteria to disturb them all the time.. I have found all sorts of fry alive in my filters guppies, jullies, bristle noses, platties etc. It is not good when the strainer end falls off and they ingest a fish that is just big enough to block off the pipes where they go into the filter it is quite hard to get out again

Yeah it is a same to see the 5 bars have disappeared, it was a shame that no one managed to stick with them, I know there were a few with them but they all seem to have lost them. I know HFF albany had a few in there when I first got into africans (and was only looking at malawis at the time), they would be a nice one to have come out of the rock work. Although from what I have heard they are quite agro little guys..

Yeah I will agree there most fish keepers don't stay with types of fish for long periods of time or get really attached to them over time so are more than happy to buy a bigger tank when they need it.. You just never really know And I guess fronts are nowhere near as bad as pacu, aros and giant gouarmi..

No reason why you wouldn't get luck with a 4x2x2 and a trio or 1m 3-4f but I would say it might be too small, and also wish you luck getting sexable fish.. I have only ever kept one male front (who ate all my other fish lol) so not experienced with colonies. I think it would be best to give them lots of room and get a colony to keep them happy but that is just me and I have seen big massive adults cruising around in a 8 x 3 x 3ft tank making it look small.. There is plenty of info here. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/f ... corner.php

Awesome, I would still have a good look at your power cord if it is damaged though, while it wont make the filter stop it might cause issues if it gets wet and someone handles it or your kitten has another go at it.

I would say you need a 6ft minimum to grow a colony out and keep them happily.. In saying that if you brought smaller fish (not those 4" ones) you would get a few years out of a 4ft tank but would have to upgrade or move them on. I heard of someone recently getting baby fronts for $17ea and have seen them to for as little as $10ea so just hold out and put the word out if you are keen to get some I am sure you will find some at a good price. They are not that rare any more so really shouldn't be commanding high prices, however in some ways the high prices are good because it hopefully means people do research before buying them and they don't end up suffering in tiny tanks or eating everyone's guppies You could try a single male in a 4ft tank but they are good predators and will end up eating all of your smaller fish (dems/yellows/female peacocks etc) when they get bigger..

I wouldn't try and cut them and heatshrink them that is just dodgy the heatshrink wont have the same insulating properties as the insulation and also won't seal it up properly around water also ideally you should do an insulation resistance test on any repairs like that.. How far down the cable is it? Can you just chop it where it is damaged and put a new plug on the end?

lol assuming they weren't already sold before they even left quarantine you would have..

Yeah I don't think it will crash and burn but I reckon just try and make it as simple as possible at first maybe you will achieve what you want without spending all the money on CO2 and maybe a DIY one would work out well for you.. There is only one way to find out

Jen for 10 tanks I would probably go a bit bigger.. Something like this would be good http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 234440.htm.

You could probably get away with something like this.. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 937350.htm and have a bit of air to burn The best way to plumb these big air pumps in is using the 13mm black irrigation piping and irrigation fittings from bunnings etc..

I have heard 2 of those haileas going and they have been really quiet I have only seen the 2 XXL haileas running that have one big outlet, I forget the model numbers of them though not the 4 small outlet one I linked to.

The diagram one is pretty quiet but the compressors are actually not that bad when they're new, I had a 10+yr old one that was running my fishroom and that was pretty rattly.. Also if you are testing them to see how noisy they are make sure you plug an air line into them and have air stones etc running off them as with no load on them they are really noisy. I would suggest finding someone locally who is running one and go and have a look and listen (if you feel like a short trip feel free to come and visit) and see what you think. Sometimes petshops run a whole heap of different ones so they are good to go and have a look at.