sharn

You can use salt but you have to be careful- i do half doses which is 1tbsp per 40L but do watch them and do a w/c if they show any signs of discomfort, particular fish can be less comfortable with it than others.

They sure are on the lists, i ordered 10 or 15 (cant remember). If theyre on the lists again next week i might have a mega stock up to last us thru the next oto drought :lol:

Agree with the others about plecs- its just what you have to live with if you want them or any other large messy fish, feeding it less to stop it pooping isnt fair on the animal, its not like they do it to spite you :lol: In my 460L i have an Oscar, Sev, 3 silver dollars, a common and a RT black shark and i do 50% or so weekly with a decent vac. I may not *need* to do such large w/c's but i do just because- clean water means happier fish. I would also steer clear of UG filters with oscars in a tank (or other fish that dig)- they dig 90% of the time and that will render it nearly useless. Personally i would prefer to remove that waste than waiting for it to break down slowly.

My dollars, oscar and plec all take great delight in ripping my carefully tied on java moss and spreading it into a million pieces all over my tank :lol: Give something cheap a shot and see if it works, if it doesnt you can save your pennies and get some long lived plastic ones

Sorry i cant answer your above questions but when hes on the front glass have a look at his tummy- you will see his heart beating, well what i thinks their heart :lol: (little orangy thing).

I really cant help you too much on the bacterial bloom, ive heard of them lasting quite a bit longer but im not sure why it would take so long seeing as you didnt do too much of a cleaning. Have you read the other thread on the bacterial bloom, that may offer some ideas? Just wondering why you are adding ph down to the aging bins? IME and readings discus can do well in a pretty broad range of conditions despite their sensitivity and most of NZ has fairly decent water. IMO carbon is not necessary but its a big debate. My tanks (including my discus tank) run very successfully without the aid of carbon. IMO carbon can mask a few things i would want to know about (smells etc), especially when keeping discus.

im not sure how sensitive fancy goldies are to salt but i use 1tbsp per 20L for normal fish and 1tsbp per 40L for sensitive/scaleless fish.

as far as i am aware it isnt

if it popped up over night its not HITH as that takes a while to get going. If it happened overnight id say someone had a go or perhaps hes wedged himself somewhere and had trouble getting out? I would watch him closely, keep the water clean and perhaps add a little melafix to help healing if you like. Fish are pretty good at healing wounds

females commonly lay eggs by themselves or with other female partners (one resumes the male role but obviously nothing happens). Its fairly common and nothing to worry about, gives her something to fuss over for a few days :lol:

the stuff in the hosing is just algae, i got it on mine when they were exposed to light too much (even the tank lights getting it caused a little bit). Thats nothing to worry about unless it mutates and clogs up the tubes :lol: The stuff on the thermometer looks like plain brown algae of some sort to me? my new heaters/holders usually get a nice white slime on them, it goes away after a while. im not sure why it happens but thats nothing to worry about either if you have that.

slate works fine, we had some little terraces made up in one of our tanks at work

im with caryl, either that or perhaps hes taken a mighty big whack and hes bruised? (seen it in discus and other larger fish before)

WOW, thats awesome fish! Those woulda been perfect for your new big tank blue (minus the plants probably) :lol:

Gannet- sure is the little tyke. Loved him so much i had to get another one in at work just to drool over there :lol:

Im sure we have wilds on one of the lists at present... Pricey wee chappies too

Hey Becc, if your after Uarus and cant get them privately give me a yell at animal antics, theyre on the lists all the time

Bet shes feeling very releived :lol:

perhaps it was the ph change?

smidey- think he/she may have a hard time fitting pacu into a standard 4 footer :lol: FW's tank is absolutley amazing, definatly inspirational!

you could have issues with plants, my sev eats and pulls out plants plants, so does my plec and geos like to dig. however- well rooted swords are a pain in the bum for humans to get out so if the plant had time to spread out its roots it would stand a better chance. just a thought

Ive seen those lionheads before, at first i coulnt pick out what was different about them :lol: surely having no dorsal fin would effect their swimming abilities?

if you have metro liquid that will be way easier to put into food than dissolving up tablets! (as long as you know the % it is of course) sadly, short of seperating every single BN out you may have to take the chance that you will save some and you may not save others, its up to you whether you want to set up some little contraption (several breeding traps?) to keep single ones in.

gz loach- what he had was probably L204 or flash/zebra plec. its why common names are a pain in the bum but they are certanly pretty wee fellows! bolivian butterfly rams may be worth looking into?

thats just how they are, they were selectively bred to get that growth (or whatever it is). im not sure if a bigger head means better or if shape matters and so on