sharn

aqua safe will have removed the chlorine which is a good thing, cycle wouldnt have done much at all but it wont have hurt im not sure what the ideal size would be to house two comets permanatly but because of their max size it would be over 150L i would imagine. many people put them out in ponds as they get larger because they require alot of room- apparently cold water fish need more room for their size than the equivilent tropical fish (not 100%). on the other hand if you keep upgrading it means you will have a few tanks to house other fish as the goldies go up in tank sizes :lol:

where abouts are you (in NZ)? perhaps put a post up in the private trade and exchange, someone may have a tank going cheap in your area

how big are they? coments are messy little critters (not so little once they reach full size around 20-30cm though :lol: ). you could try a few flakes or perhaps a shelled pea depending on how big they are, if they dont eat just wait- dumping more food in will just foul the water. they will be fine in that tank for a few days (or weeks if you are willing to keep up with the large daily w/c's) as long as you change their water frequently so the toxins dont build up. do you have a test kit to moniter whats going on in the tank?

your ones sound like tubifex whiskas most fish love em if they click on that they are actually edible :lol:

my spills are pretty pathetic (but not to my mother lol). worst was when the siphon hose slipped inside (it was out the window), had about 10L on the floor when i spotted it. my bucket handle broke the other day but it was only half full so only about 3L got on the floor, amazing how it sounds so little but it spreads so far!

i would get that tank asap. in a small bowl those levels are going to turn deadly in just a few days- you will need to do daily w/c's to keep things safe for them until you get the tank. i would say putting them in a larger uncycled tank is better than letting them go thru a cycle in the bowl (smaller bodies of water pollute quicker). what type of fish do you have? the fish are probably still settling into their new surroundings, most fish will have a little sulk for the first few hours but do keep an eye on them as it could be a sign of sickness. water changes will be their friend until you can get a larger home for them cycling time can vary, if you use existing filters/media/substrates etc it will speed things up as they already have bacteria in/on them. you can borrow some media out of a friends filter (make sure the tank is healthy though). products like cycle dont seem to have a very good success rate so i wouldnt waste your money on them. when i do fishless cycles they take between 3-4 weeks, they took the same amount of time when i used fish too. best of luck

depends on who ya talk to. some breeders overseas claim they can get their fish to 14cm in like 9 months which is extreme growth most of mine have grown around .5-1cm a month if they are eating well (the lowest ranking in the group hasnt grown so quick though but thats normal). i bought a pigeon at 6cm last easter and it is now pushing 11-12 which i didnt think was too bad for me (our water is crappy for growing them out) max size doesnt necessarily indicate age either, it could take a few years of slow growth to get to 15cm or it could be as short as a year or so with perfect care. some may max out at like 8cm if they have had less than ideal care, are just runts or have bad genes. water changes are your friend when growing discus out and the more you do the more they will grow (along with a few other things like feeding etc). harder water also helps too (calcium and all that for bone development or something)

thats not an actual gold-wildtype (as in half and half colourwise), the parent is leucistic (white but obviously holds the wildtype gene) and the other is gold. those are wildtype babies, they come in shades from mustard yellow, to slime green to nearly black and every colour in between.

sorry if i misread but wouldnt you want to put it on the inside on the bottom instead of the outside? cause if its on the outside its got the pressure pushing downwards anyway which could cause it to come loose or something, if its on the inside the new piece is being pushed down and held in place? dunno if it really matters all that much or if i explained it clearly *shrug* :lol:

khulis are pretty cruisy wee things. most cichlids (and other fish for that matter) will attempt to eat anything that fits in its mouth so you would have to be careful with anything that has a largish mouth- khulis are very secretive though and are good hiders so they would probably be fine unless caught off guard

when i sunk a few fresh pieces of driftwood i had the greyish fuzzy slime coat for a few weeks, it looked like in your pic but to a slightly lesser degree. mine went away by itself eventually, i dunno exactly what it was but the fish didnt seem effected by it. if you really like that piece of wood just wait it out, if its the same thing i had it should go away in a few weeks.

if hes got that little gonapoduim (sp, that little stick instead of an anal fin) then its a boy, as far as i know females cant get it at all. he may have just had is sword chewed off or be a late bloomer?

awww, theres the lovely Laurel (i miss you!) :lol:

perhaps something like a large pillow case/duvet cover may work? guide em in like they do for snakes. bet they can put a bit of a fight tho! S & P- glas hes ok *phew* did ya keep any of his scales? be neat to have a look at!

some of the gouramis get a good size, not sure what species or what their temperments would be like tho (im not up on gouramis). not sure how they are with fighters angels also get a fairly decent size, enough to attract attention out of a group of small fish anyway and they have some neat colour variations. they may become neon eaters tho (not all do it, only some) as they get to adult size.

:lol: ira as evil said 3 probably wont be happy- cichlids often have problems in groups of three (not breeding trios), two buddy up and make the other ones lives misery or one becomes boss and nails the other two constantly- i experienced this when i had only 3 and it wasnt nice to watch two fish become withdrawn. 3 discus can technically space wise go in most 3 foot aquariums but 5+ cant which is when they will be at their happiest and most confident. with my 6 i can see the definate rankings but when they get stroppy it isnt often major. the main problem with mixing fish with discus is alot cant handle the higher temps (28-31C), bristlenose will be fine but i am unsure how the others would handle it, i think swords and guppies prefer the lower temps around the 24-25C range?

no pics? sounds bacterial whatever it is, it may have started from a wound or something though. its really hard to treat big fish (their size makes moving them hard or the water volume of their tank means treating is costly), is he small enough to move still? if so id go with a broard spectrum antibiotic like furan 2 or something similar. im unsure if clowns are med sensitive or not, i know furans fine for plecs etc

please dont let me put you off! im just sharing what mistakes i made (which at times made me want to chuck in keeping them) in attempt to help it easier for those getting into discus. sadly they are one of those fish that almost need the tank and occupants to be designed around them which is why it can be hard incorperating them into existing community tanks.

:lol: poor mummy and daddy! they will probably turn hannibal lecter on their brothers and sisters soon enough and take down the numbers for ya, well at least i hope so perhaps you will be the new jag supplier for the northern hemipshere? :lol:

IMO to see discus at their absolute happiest you need at least 5 and that means 200-250L just for them alone so IMO (and its just my opinion) your tank is too small to house a group of discus with the gravel/plants etc still in. from personal experience all my discus were unhappy when i had only 4 (except the bully of course because he was getting most of the food)- watching one fish constantly harass your other fish is very stressful not only to the fish but you also. i would get rid of the clowns (they prefer to be in groups of 3+), keep the BN, unsure what catfish you are referring to, ditch the sharks (they will harass the discus), get rid of neons, platties, swords and glass cats and keep the widows. one of the main problems with mixing fish with discus is the heat- many fish dont like the 28-31C that discus like to be kept at. for someone learning about keeping discus a planted tank seems easier to maintain and prettier too but it isnt if they are still growing. discus need frequent water changes (growing out babies is extremely hard work so buy the largest you can afford) which will upset the plants. it is also hard to keep the substrate clean which means more gunk polluting the water. in a properly setup tank the plants will be using up some of the fish waste and nitrates but that is often quite hard to acheive. looking back on when i got into discus i wish i had gone barebottom straight away- its so much easier to keep clean and i dont think ill ever put mine into a planted tank (even tho all are over 9cm).

like a blood streaked red? is there any inflammation around the base where it joins the body?

didnt you say your aros heater stuck on tho? was it in a sump or something? i have used the fan method myself- i found it only dropped my axolotl tank a few degrees (not as low as i needed it to be) but the frozen bottle method wasnt suitable for me as i was out alot and if you dont switch the bottles in even rotations then you will be getting temp swings

you may find you have problems with only two discus also. i found in groups less than 5 there was one who constantly made the others lives hell (pushing, ramming, chasing) and they werent as happy as they should have been- with only two you will have a boss and a punching bag i would think

peppering is pretty common, heavily peppered fish are less desirable than 'clean' fish. some fish will show more peppering when they are stressed but the really good quality ones dont have the ability to show that (peppering just doesnt exist on them). most pigeons do have a degree of peppering on them permantly

at first i thought it had been bitten in half then i read the part below the pic :lol: