sharn

shoulda been at our last meeting mat, we learnt how to decapsulate them ourselves :lol: just kidding, i know ya had work

you will see her get alot fatter than usual, i have read of them aborting if they are moved into a seperate tank/breeding container when they are close to dropping from the stress so i am unsure what time would be the best time to remove her. not sure how old the swordies have to be to breed. we have a tga club too if your interested, you can PM me if you like for some more info

personally im anti-inbreeding but others dont mind. it does weaken the strain to some degree (even though it is used to create new ones which is why new strains are often weaker) as the parents to yours could have been inbred, their parents could have been inbred and so on, this is one of the reasons most of the rams around are very weak (which sucks cause i really like them) personal choice and its totally up to you, if your fish are strong and healthy then its better to breed them than weak siblings

beautiful N!! he definatly has some fish that can knock ya flat on ya bum :lol: they look like theyve settled in well, good work

until i see pics im not sold. also your 'buyer' will be loaded, how do i know? cause the more common shovels can hit 3 foot easily and not many people have tanks that large :lol: i thought shovelnose as soon as i read the flat nose part but i just dont think the likely hood of them getting mixed up in a shipment is very common, i only know of one other person ever to have had one. also (to the people that know about this stuff), when fish that we arent allowed get mixed up in shipments would they get destroyed if found? if so i hope you dont get your fishie confiscated

most of mine are on and angle but i have no hesitations about putting my stainless' vertical as they have an external thermostat so its not going to stop the heater from working properly. all my heaters have filter outlets placed near them or facing towards them to make sure the heat is getting around properly

haha good point SF! snails can travel a good distance, i think youll just have to stop spraying around the house and start pulling weeds SW :lol: i have to weed one garden, mum said if she isnt allowed to spray it i have to weed it (only gets done once every six months though so its a bit of a jungle :lol: )

is that silica sand? or something like that? saw some on TM the other day but im not sure what its made of. looks lovely until ya fish crap all through it and make it look dirty :lol:

oscars are very hardy fish, if water params are stable then they will be fine you need at least 5x per hour when using canister filters, sumps etc and at least 10x per hour when you are using HOB's/internals etc. 5 oscars are probably not going to live happily together once they get to 6-8", oscars seem to 'pair up' and will pick on the one that doesnt have a friend, third wheel syndrome we call it :lol: however six oscars are not going to fit in a 450L tank, i would see if you can get him to ditch one. IMO a 450L is bare minimum for 4 adult O's, thats only around 120gal so he will need to keep on top of his water changes and maintenence to keep the water quality good, i would suggest minimum of 40% weekly, i do 50-60% weekly on my lightly stocked 90gal- they are super messy :lol:

it will to varying degrees (depending on what your water is like now) but im not sure how much. the apistos may dislike it if it gets too high but the kribs probably wouldnt care

also the beach sand will increase your hardness and ph as it is basically just crushed shells, just something to be aware of just incase you are using it in a tank with fish that like soft water

thanks guys my goldie, two leucies and wildtype are all around 20-25cm with the albino being around 16cm or so. fungus and his gills actually snapped off when he was netted thankfully the fridge and salt baths set him right. fishboi- i think i might as i have never seen a melanoid (theyre pure black, velvety looking with no gold ring in their eyes), there are the colour varients of wildtype and leucies (olive green, greys etc) but i dont class them as 'strains' and i dont have any more room in that tank TimTam- i think that too :lol: he has got very prominent dark markings on his face with the white lips unlike my female and i always joke to people about him. thats one of the things i like about leucistics, they have varying degrees of black on them and the pattens it makes can be really neat. Mel- i hope your baby does wonderfully, they look neat when their gills go red around feeding time and they really brighten up a tank

and heres the man himself :lol: 200L is totally fine for discus (i have a 220L for mine), go BB if you can and dont mind the look (potted plants can help make it look nicer) as that will give you more le-way with stocking and will help keep their water cleaner

hey guys, as requested here are some pics of my axies Please excuse the brown algae, the tank is on the floor and only gets ambient light :oops: My male wildtype (Demetrious) is not in any pics as hes a grumpy fellow :roll: Odin (albino male) with Lucian (leucistic, my only female) Odin Thanatos (golden male) and Cizin (leucistic male) OH! just remembered i had a pic of an axolotl spermatophore from the first time Demetrious left them, they are basically little cones of jelly with a white tip (sperm). they feel really neat too (hey, i had to handle them to remove them!), like jelly fish this one is partially damaged due to handling and my camera isnt the greatest.

bloodworms are fine for oscars but wont be the most suitable food for adults, my 11"er probably wouldnt be able to manage to get any down his throat- itd all go our his gills :lol: ramshorns are fine, oscars eat alot of crustacians in the wild and are pretty good at digesting that stuff. i have seen Tracey mention a few times that her O's get garden snails- one will suck the snail out of its shell and the other will eat it whole, shell and all. your lucky to have ones that eat ramshorns! oscars are brutes of fish when the want to be, my tank is also done in a mix of glass from 12mm to 6mm and whilst its probably not classed as 'safe' it has held water fine for years (tank is 360L), it would be a risk to have thinner glass but i would be hesitant to say that an O could break it. fish like jags, dovii, pacu and other very large fish could could easily help the glass to break when its too thin by applying that intial force but the water pressure is what helps it along (there are exceptions though). for a 300L you are techinally able to have 2 O's and nothing else but i would personally only have one, with perhaps a firemouth, coupla cons, or your Geo. they do get large and my 360L looks full enough with 4 fish (one adult O, a medium sev, a RT black shark and a 20cm pleco). they are active fish that like to prowl up and down their tank so the more room you can give them the better if you get young O's that havent gone thru puberty you run the risk of them deciding they hate each other (which can happen easily when theyre adults too though), 6" is around the time they go through that and can be worse than tempermental teengagers. of course getting adult/subadult O's and putting them in the same tank can also have its problems. every oscar is different so you need to be prepared just incase

i personally dont use peat in my discus tank because my water is extremely soft but would like to but im too lazy (have to add more shell grit to the filters and make sure its stable which can take a few weeks). they do like it but it isnt essential and i wouldnt reccomend it if your kh is low as that may increase your changes of a ph crash/large swings. the LFS will be able to give you a base test of your tap and tank water to see what you are dealing with, if its above 4 DGH then your good to go

congrats on ya new fishie! i agree, severums are a piece of cake to look after providing the fish is in good health. they are very placid fish (IME anyway) and its nice to have a large cichlid that doesnt think hes a brute. they dont care about water params as long as they are stable and not at extremes, your usual aquarium maintenence suffices. they are also very owner responsive it depends on the footprint of the 170L, severums can easily get to 25cm and are average growers (IME). as long as the tank is at least 35cm wide you should be sweet. feed your usual cichlid foods, large pellets, earthworms, frozen foods etc and he will be happy. they are slightly more messy than your smaller fish so make sure you have some decent filtration.

i would aim for 6+ discus as any less seem to have a fair amount of in-fighting unless you have bonded pairs together. i got told this when i first started but decided to see how i went (and budget wasnt permitting), i had 5 at one point and still found the dominating fish would make the other fishes lives a little uncomfortable. i have 7 now and all is well- even got a pair out of them, one or two fish can really make a difference. discus love the bigger groups and they are definatly more comfortable and outgoing. also remember the rule of 40L per adult discus, it might seem alot but when you see a 15-16cm flat tall fish you can see why :lol: i wish you the best of luck with rehoming (or getting larger tanks) with your fish and if you like you can PM me and i can put you onto a great discus breeder, getting good quality fish for your first lot makes all the difference

id cry for days if he ever tried to morph (im against artificial methods to make them morph), they nearly always die and i cant say i find the morphed ones too attractive :lol: i would assume he would stay albino, as far as i know they cant change but it would be one interesting looking sal thats for sure :lol: my cameras pretty crappy but i'll see what i can do

sounds pretty good to me unsure about tubifex worms, perhaps because they expand in water they may cause bloat or something?

welcome notorious *waves* sadly caryl is right, O's need at least a 4foot x 16" tank and cause of the potential size of aros they need a tank at least 2.5 feet wide *drools at such a large tank and fish* :lol: i say ditch the couch, bed and dining room furnature! you can always get the top half of a bunk and put a tank under there and cushions do great for lounge suites. once youve sold that gear youll be able to afford a few tanks :lol: remember discus need 40L each miniumum

too right, im sure most of our fish eat better than us :lol: feeders are not one of those 'never ever do that' things, home bred healthy ones are ok every now and again but for many fish (excluding piscavores) there are better alternatives, even if prepared foods are less fun for them :lol:

when little even the slightest hit to the immune system can knock them back unless your like Discusguru (who really is a guru i must say ) and are able to take actions to ensure their growth hasnt been compromised, they can be touchy little things when theyre young :roll: no worries about keeping them in the planted, do a few extra water changes making sure to get the crud from the substrate out and see if that helps. perhaps look into some protein packed foods (which do pollute the water a bit more normally) and see if that helps but a good varity is the key

i gotta say that site musta been telling lies :-? i am an oscar keeper and consider myself to know a fair bit about them and feeders are one of the worst things to feed them (and most fish). besides the fact that oscars eat very little fish in the wild (they prefer crustacians, bugs etc). i was recently informed by a friend on the subject of feeders that i have written this down as i personally didnt know any of the scientific downsides to them other than the introduction of disease i am unsure of how much carotenoids goldies have have but when you weigh up the potential disease introduction and downside of feeding them nutritonally i say your money is better spent on krill or prepared foods that have natural colour enhancers. oscars do not need the 'exercise' of feeders and the mental stimulation can be derived from many other sources which are 100% safe, you can make up safe ways to drag pieces of prawn/food around your tank (which i do every now and again) to make them chase it or those neat little silicon fishing lures without the hook can provide a bit of stimulation for these cuties guess you can tell im anti feeders for oscars huh? :lol:

when you disturb the thick part of your gravel does bubbles come up that smell like sulphur and is the gravel underneath black?