antwan

Diverjohn makes a good point, I forgot about T5's, they're a bit brighter than T8's, but I think a bit more expensive too. I have seen great planted tanks with T5's, T8's and MH, it's really just up to you what you want.

Yea, you could prob just fit a 150W halide on top, but my plants on the side of my 900 long tank bend in towards the center. If you wanna get the BEST lighting, go for two 75W halides. If you can't be bothered with the expense, just go for fluoro's. I wouldn't really recommend the 250W'er cos it'd be too intense in the middle, then leave a few noticable dark patches at the ends of your tank. Rogan has explained everything else really well, so good luck with your tank Quack.

Just get a couple of holes drilled in it, that allows all the cords and filter intake/outake to go through. That's what the guy that made mine did and it works a treat.

Wow! nice selection indeed.

They shouldn't be too bad since the tank is quite large. Apisto's in general are good parents, but it really depends on the individual, and with a lot of inbreeding and cross breeding, these fish (particularly cockatoo's) tend to lose their natural instinct's of being good parents. But hey, you may just be lucky and get a great group of fish that are wonderful parents to their young. If you keep plants in there, it will be a good refuge for the tetra's to hide in if they get bullied.

Yep, caserole is definitely the man to see for apistos, he can breed anything! A low pH is not necessary for cockatoo's but will definitely help. One male is a good choice, would hate to see a death due to a territorial issue. The male's look awesome when displaying. You could perhaps try using a few dither fish e.g. tetras, or danios. These will help keep the parents on their guard when guarding eggs/wrigglers/fry.

your pH and tank are definitely adequate for your intended fish. You could probably even keep 2 males and 4-6 females, trusted you have a lot of hiding places, and plants. This would look very cool. Dwarf cichlids are awesome, good luck with your tank.

yip, sure will, to make it a little faster you could put in an airstone or powerhead to circulate the water.

nice one mate, those maulbruter are very rare, the Australians are always moaning because they never have them. Hopefully you get a male out of them. Have you thought about taking them away from the mother and raising them yourself? That way no risk of mum eating them. Sounds like your fish room is very busy at the moment. Nice work.

yep, maracyn is erythromycin.

Hey, this one here is a good site: http://www.forum.apistogramma.com/index.php Post in the "Identification and Morphology" section and you will get an ID.

superb, just awesome

Very pretty fish there, male looks like he has a lot of potential.

Absolutely beautiful fish there Chin, well done!

VERY nice work mate, I just couldn't resist, so I went and bought a pair of these today, awesome fish.

I managed to get some KMnO4 for Sharn today...now I just have to put it into solution and hopefully get the conc. right :lol:

Hey there, sounds like you have cyanobacteria. Easiest and best way to get rid of it that I've found is to use Erythromycin. You can get it on prescription, not really sure on dosage rates though sorry.

are you trying to tell me something stu :lol: :lol:

Nah, Phil hasn't got any at all, nobody does... I really need her out so I can get some Nannacara's in :lol: Can't wait a month sorry, time is precious for me as I have to sell up in a few months time for uni.

What can I say...

That's a shame you can't make it Stu, would have been nice to meet you.

you're on a roll mate.

Shot Stu, nice hatch looks like a good amount too. You're doing awfully well You don't by any chance need another hongsloi female do you? I can't find a male from anywhere and this female I have is getting in the way :lol: If you want her, she's yours, I could get Billaney to take it back down with him(if he's keen), or send it...

Make sure you have lots of caves/driftwood/plants to make definitive territories for the fish. Dwarf cichlids get very defensive when spawning, not just on other species, but also their partners, so they all need somewhere to hide when the going gets tough. Apistogramma's are very beautiful dwarf cichlids, and there are many different types too. Good luck with it.

niiiice, wigglers on the first hatch, wish mine would do that :evil: keep it up!