sharn

keep in mind theyre hybrids- not sure your views on them but im quite anti em- feel sorry for them too cause of their deformed mouths. im sure theres no need for me to do the 'reason why hybrids should not be sold or bought' rant- if you like them you like them they can be agro but because of their deformed hybrid mouths they cant do much damage so will be suseptable to getting bullied if you have nastier cichlids with them that realise the parrots cant do much, putting them in with fish that can stick up for themselves would be your best bet or have a parrot only tank. they normally eat smaller tank mates. they get to around 20cm i think and require your basic needs- nothing special at all as theyre very adaptable species (due to being hybrids). these days they go quite cheap but it isnt too unreasonable given the size-pet stores would charge you way more. personally would spend that $50 on a nice sev (which is one of the species that makes them up) or three. good luck with your choices- i think a new tank is definatly called for :lol:

was recently reading a post on SimplyDiscus about how low in fat whiteworms really are http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... p?p=302739 http://www.amidchaos.com/cakc/articles/tappin_05.html theyre a great food and i cant wait to get my hands on a culture. i put my nets in a bucket of boiling water to sterilise *edit* its late and i had to deal with whingy people all day, my brain is allowed to run at 0.000005% at this time of night :lol:

how big are the axies? chopped bloodworms can be an alternative if theyre big enough to recognise 'dead' foods, they smell strong too which is a bonus

thats mincie

hopefully its still here then. anyone know where to get it from? ill have to do some research on it as im not sure what it does- seems quite similar to levamisole which i already have. thanks Mincie

fluke tabs and copper may hurt your baby axies, at that age they are quite delicate and as you probably know will absorb meds thru their skin. shaes method is good, i would go that way

Flubenol- can we get it here?

although id like to give keeping pirahna a go i would rather go without- i can only imagine what losers would set up tanks for these and sarcrafice hundreds of fish and animals just for kicks- im sure there would be some sickos out there that would feed cats and the like to them

i think the bronze and albinos will cause theyre the same species but im unsure if the others are able to even if they wanted to

:lol: jude- have you been getting our newsletters? thats awesome paul- if you need a bed just let us know, someone will be able to help ya out and ill shout you pizza ok?

are they both boys? im not up on geos but maybe thats why hes doing it?

your cories will certanly hang out together even if theyre not the same species

generally no- mainly because of the water param difference but africans show aggression a bit differently to americans and it seems they are generally a bit meaner than your average american (unless your talking jags, devils etc) but i havent kept yellows or zebras so im not sure what they would be like. what size tank is the geo in, what is the decor like and what fish are picking on him?

i have read dwarf gouramis can be one of those hit or miss fish. some batches that come in are really weak in infested with parasites while others will be fine. if you could get them off a person that has healthy fish and breeds them- that way you dont have to risk getting sick imports. also some apistogramma can be quite touchy so be sure to do some research and add them later down the track once the tanks mature. the cockatoos or orange flash varities are really neat, colourful fish that have big personalities for their small size

lovely tank graeme! im sure your discus will be happy in it it depends who you talk to. angels can carry parasites which they would be fine with but if you transferred that load onto the discus it would die. for that reason people often dont like mixing them but if quarentined and healthy (angels often carry worms) there isnt much of a problem except that the angels are often more aggressive generally and at feeding time.

they do like to pick on smaller fish, and really seem to dislike reds/oranges/yellows in other fish as it reminds them of their own species (which they hate). they seem to like those artifical logs or bells for some reason so perhaps thats worth a shot? there isnt much you can do other than try to give him his own spot he can defend. they do great in tanks with large cichlids which they cant boss around though

clowns might be a bit active? not sure bout the BGK. a fancy pleco that isnt too bossy might be something to consider as they wont be out much when your aro is awake?

ive read very active nocturnal fish can upset discus (like clown loaches etc) as it doesnt allow them to sleep properly? ive seen rainbows in with discus and theyre fast fish but i think it comes down to how relaxed your discus are whether or not that would annoy them. gotta take into account how quickly the other fish will gobble up the food- discus can be as quick as any other fish to start eating but they like to graze around for a while and by then the other fish have gorged themselves :lol:

crikey, it is a fair whack of fish. i suspect the most sensitive ones are showing signs first but i would expect the others to show some sort of symptoms soon. you may be experiencing a mini cycle from the tank moving or it may just be too many fish and not enough w/c's to keep everything under control. i would ditch the ones caryl mentioned (shark, pictus, tiger barbs, nugget) or get another tank the shark will get to 30cm or so, the pictus i have no idea and the nugget will get to 35cm and be quite agro. the barbs will just be pains in the bottom cause they are in a smaller group and have fish they can nip at i would be doing w/c's every 2-3 days depending on what the levels are telling you, during the earlier stages of some problems they can sometimes be halted and stopped by extra clean water

sadly most LFS staff dont know alot about their animals, especially 'boring fish' alot of people never find out about cycling and kill countless fish so your doing better than most 4sticks if you keep your fish load small for a month or so then slowly increase numbers (like a few small fish every 2 weeks or so) you should be fine as the bacteria wont need to increase rapidly to handle the new load and you wont get spikes. stay away from the more sensitive fish like clown loaches etc if you want them until the tank is matured well though because i have other tanks i never have to cycle (steal water and filter media) but on the rare occasion that i do have to cycle a tank i pretend there is fish in there and feed them :lol: once all the levels are fine a big w/c is done to remove gunk and away you go.

silvers can get between 2-3 foot long (3 foot when housed properly) so the tank isnt going to be quite wide enough for a smaller adult (good excuse to upgrade to a 3 foot wide though ). dunno about the aussie or asian aros. i dont know much about them other than theyre big fish, they are prone to drop eye (and some beleive a cause is fish at lower levels as they like to keep an eye on them) and eat alot :lol: they jump too so you need good secure lids- many put bricks etc on top as they can easily pop off your average lids

give your discus a good feed and then a w/c a few hours later so they have sparkly clean water while your gone theyll be fine without a feed but you can expect some excitment to see you when you come home :lol:

not every tank requires weekly water changes but thats normally how often most people do them on your average tank to keep the levals nice and fish happy. planted tanks can go longer without water changes because the plants absorb wastes and keep the water nice. some tanks require 3x weekly, some require daily and some require monthly depending on the stocking density and the fish. i purchased a nitrAte test kit for this reason as i like to keep my nitrAtes below 10ppm on one of my tanks and the test told me how often i needed to do them (tested daily until it hit 10ppm then did them that often). that tank gets 30% water changes every 2 days but all my other tanks get a weekly regardless, fish love clean water and its pretty hard to do too many water changes. they double as a good excuse to get out of things aswell- 'i need to do water changes so i cant sorry' and help ease boredom :lol: generally you are wanting to keep the nitrates in your tank under 40ppm but up to 80ppm is acceptable for some fish for short periods of time im told.

i wouldnt add them to your new tank unless you want to risk your existing fish getting exposed to nasties- even if they dont look sick quarentine is still reccomended. IMO cycle doesnt do much and i dont think your new tank would be ready to put those cories in. because of the effects a cycle has on fish, even if they are lessened by w/c's (which draws the process out significantly as you are taking the bad stuff the good stuff feed on out) the cories wont be able to handle it as well as a healthy fish because their immune system is weakend by what they have. if you can half fill the new tank with water from your other tank plus take a good amount of substrate and some filter media and put it into the new tank it should pretty much (sometimes not quite though) eliminate your need for a cycle (thats how i set up my quarentine tank as i cant have it running all the time). im not too up on fin rot myself so wouldnt know what to look for but fish can develop fungus on their fins when they have been nipped at or damaged? normally fin rot effects are around the edges i think, so if they are spots in the middle perhaps its something else. good luck with your little dudes, cories are neat fish

formalin depletes oxygen quite alot (depending on % used) so you could be onto something there fishboi.