sharn

fish can bruise but it usually looks like a black patch. That looks like some sort of heamorrage (sp) to me

Not feeding any shrimp pellets or similar are you? They can make the water stink *really* badly. If it is the tank itself that is stinking this is one of the reasons why carbon can be a problem IMO- an unusual smell coming from a tank is something you would want to rectify (incase there is an underlying problem) not cover up.

People fly them in monster poly boxs. However a giant gourami is gonna be alot heavier than a 55cm aro so you may have big issues transporting it, not to mention the stress on them of moving them is tremendous once theyre at that size. I moved a 57cm pacu half an hours drive and the stress was too much I would suggest trying to find someone 'fishy' that is able to give it the proper care during transport or finding one closer to you.

sometimes gill damage can be permanent depending on whats been done to it. think of it like a scar- the problems gone but theres still something showing that there was an issue once.

im gonna say get more aswell. another 4 should see you right but you may get away with 3 though (i found with 5 i still had a decent amount of aggression)

Ill have to second the danios. People use them in oscar tanks a bit and id imagine mouth size wouldnt be too different?

:lol: I hope not :lol:

What you do mr pleco is called a cycle with fish, what andrea is doing is a fishless cycle. People have their own preference as to how they cycle their tank and thats fine because they both work just as well as the other. A fishless cycle is much less hassle IMO and much nicer to fish who dont have to put up with ammonia spikes over and over again while you keep adding more fish to up the bioload. Good luck with your fishless cycle andrea and it looks like you are on the right track, hopefully your nitrite will start to rise soon

A 3 foot isnt gonna be able to handle one lone oscar for very long. They grow around 1" a month until they get to around 10". Overcrowding just ends up with angry fish and missing scales Can you not use the 4 foot straight away and save the hassle of switching them up? Three oscars is *always* a bad number, two will buddy up and nail the third. You are best to stick with two (they will need a minimum of 300L-350L by themselves) or four (they will need at least 450L). Having said that you would only want to put one pair of oscars in your 4 foot and anything more will create extra work for you and possibly territorial issues, especially once those O's hit puberty (they can go a bit haywire sometimes during that stage :lol: ). Silver sharks also get big, around 12" i think and they are bullets. IMO a silver shark needs a larger tank than 300L. Common plecs arent too much of a big deal except with oscars already creating a heck of waste you may find its just too much poop. IMO they will need a tank at least 60cm wide to be happy long term as they can get fairly large. In your 4 foot i would say that an O, a Firemouth and possibly your common (he may need to be upgraded to a larger tank though) would be fine long term. Or you can have two lone oscars and possibly the plec. An adult oscar should have at least 200L worth of tank to himself so you are fairly limited as to the stocking. Oscars arent the nasty big lumps they are made out to be, mine is fairly laid back but that could partly be due to him having a largish tank (460L and shares it with a sev, 3 silver dollars, a common, a RT black shark and soon to be a synodontis), i have read of a few serial killers though so it really does depend on the individual fish. They are definatly worth the extra tank space, they are like dogs in tanks they way they carry on (drama queen anyone?) :lol:

Whats the deal with these guys breeding? Found three fry in their tank at work, dont know how they got past the apple snails, fighter and penguin tetras!

People usually remove either eggs or parents from the tank. If you remove the eggs pop an air stone in the container with them to stop fungusing. If you remove the parents and leave the eggs in the tank then it may pay to increase the water movement a bit. Raising isnt too hard, they usually require live foods until they are big enough to eat chopped bloodworm/mashed axie tucker or similar (normally once theyve got their front legs they will start eating prepared foods). If using BBS you will want to change the water regularly to stop any dead shrimp polluting the water. I would advise seperating them out into similar sizes unless you dont mind the larger ones eating the smaller ones as they will do that rather quickly. Also keeping them in overcrowded situations will increase the limb eating

Because you have a small number of discus theres nothing you can do to stop the fighting bar getting more or seperating them (i had three at one stage and it wasnt much fun). I would attempt to get some more asap because stress can bring on illness very quickly. If the bullying is really affecting them i would probably seperate them, they will be sad by themselves but not as sad as getting picked on 24/7. Gill inflamation is not a good sign, usually when they use one more than the other/ breath extra fast its often flukes.

I add shell grit (stuff birds eat) in stockings to my filters. works a charm at upping my kh (0 out of tap) which in turn raises my ph it a bit.

i think i recognise that vallis? :lol:

:lol: snookie for some reason most of mine died off when i got an algae issue in my planted tank they did do a decent job though when i had a good amount of them

i would say its a nutrient issue if anything, not a disease. im not sure what type of nutrient issue though :lol:

i got my sand from benchmark, 20kg bag for 5 bucks. It was labelled as plasterers sand and has done me well in my planted and axolotl tank. I just had to give it a real good rinse before i put it in my tank (put into a pillow case and chucked the hose in it). Only downside of sand is it can compact rather quickly depending on how coarse it is so you need to make sure that its getting well airated if its a thicker layer. Your loaches/eel will help but i wouldnt want my fish digging around in anerobic substrate so its probably better to maintain it yourself (i drag my fingers through mine). A thinner layer will also lessen the anerobicness.

i asked her if it was possible the kids can get to it but apparently not. i also asked if she had any decorations and if she had checked them and she said she had so who knows. if her water isnt settling down with her not playing with it so much i will suggest the tank break down and leaving the filter as is. thanks guys

A lady came in the other day to get her water tested for a tank that is kept at a daycare (she maintains it). Apparently the tank was stocked until about a month ago when the fish died (suspected ammonia poisioning or similar). She knows not to clean the filter media in water and what not and has been doing w/c's twice weekly since the fish died and hasnt added anything to keep the bacteria going (fish food etc) except 'cycle'. The readings were: Ammonia: 4ppm Nitrite: .25ppm Nitrate: 5ppm I found it wierd that she was still getting a considerable ammonia reading when she isnt feeding the tank and is doing large w/c's? I suggested that she stop the w/c's and feed the tank very lightly to keep bacteria going and see if that levels things back out as her w/c's would just be prolonging the cycle right? Any advice would be appreciated as the daycare is getting a bit sick of having a tank with no fish :lol:

marko- sometimes during a w/c some fish get a little bit too enthusiastic about swimming in the fresh water and will sometimes get some of the air bubbles attatched to them. its not usually an issue unless it gets in the gills or something i would guess and should go away after a few minutes

three is a bad number because either two will buddy up and nail the third or one will become super bossy and relentlessly go at the other two. its usually the first one though, experienced it myself and after getting more i now have a happy tank (6 in my 200L barebottom).

:roll: guys.... :lol:

Not even mincie! :lol: Ive had to deal with camallanus which can be transferred via live foods so i have the right to be cautious :lol:

if you are wanting to feed live water living creatures (daphnia etc) get them from a clean, trustworthy source. they can introduce all sorts of nasties to a tank which is why i dont feed them- im too paranoid :lol:

no worries, i think it was catbrat that informed me of what they actually were. I strongly reccomend you get one marko :lol: awesome little guys! Cant wait till mines bigger (max size is 12" apparently) :bounce: