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sharn

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Everything posted by sharn

  1. so is that book saying to do that or is it their 'what not to do' list. i have seen some funny and amazing stuff come out of some books...
  2. IMO discus arent as happy alone than they would be in 5+ groups but i have seen it done, wouldnt reccomend it though (also once you get them you get addicted and always want more :lol: ). your neons will get eaten and i wouldnt reccomend mollies, unsure bout flying foxes, most geos are ok apparently. the temp would have to be upped to around 28-30 IMO. you also need 40L per discus but more is always better. most people do water changes to at least 30% 2-3 times a week, more if you buy young ones and want them to grow quicker. common consenus from the discus gods (simplydiscus.com :lol: ) is that its best to put fish into bare bottoms to grow out if they arent full sized. at present i am doing 70% daily water changes on my discus tank (but it is small, theyre moving soon) to keep their water clean and keep them growing. putting growing discus into planted often makes them grow slower and stunts them but only because of water quality i think, if your planted is in total balance (plants using up all nitrates etc) it might be ok, im unsure?
  3. the probable reason is that it contains two other ingrediants which might react under certain water params etc? pure prazi is by far the best but i got told it was around $100 a litre, well worth it though! not sure where you get it from, i think its a secret
  4. sharn

    Nasty Red-tail

    red tails are known for eating guppies, danios etc etc. i have mine in a tank with an oscar, sev and pleco and he does great. my oscar is placid but will give him a chase every now and again if he gets cheeky at feeding time but because all the other fish are so large he cant hurt anyone, i also dont have to feed him specifically that often as the oscar makes a large mess when eating and it ends up that his gill particles are just the right size for the RTBS
  5. clove oil is very widely reccomended, im not sure if it kills the fish but it definatly puts them to sleep. alot of people put the fish in a container of water with clove oil, wait till it goes to sleep then either sever the spinal cord or put it in the freezer. its totally painless that way. apparently health shops sell clove oil and a google should be able to get you something on dosages
  6. if you can get a bigger tank, i would try for around 800+ if possible to give everyone as much room as possible just incase one goes nutty :lol: a google should be able to get you some sump plans but im sure someone will chime in soon to give you some tips on them
  7. best not to, ich is always present in the aquarium and only takes hold when your fish arent right. i think ich comes in on spores or something? if one fish has ich the rest have a chance of getting it as any cysts that have fallen off with soon hatch and release free swimmers. try and keep them all as calm and stress free as you can in the meantime.
  8. sharn

    Beginners Cichlids

    not sure if kribs dont mind but rams are probably happier with plants. fish make their territories on the ground ie one fish will take 20x20cm of substrate for himself and the water column that goes with it wherever he hangs out. id imagine that on river banks they would use slopes as territory but in a closed tank situation that might be hard to replicate :lol: i think birchardi are very nice, if your into them you should def get some, if theyre naughty breeders perhaps just get all females or all males (if males can tolerate each other)
  9. sharn

    Bloated Goldfish

    cause im a sucker with gallons and all that i just use tbsp per 40L with tanks that dont have scaleless fish in there (like BN) or 1tbsp per 20L for normal fish. i am unsure how sensitive fancy goldfish are so probably do the one for 40L just to be safe. you should see an improvment in 24 hours. there is no need to remove other fish but i am unsure of its effect on plants? also perhaps get an autofeeder for the tank and let everyone know not to feed them anything. hope he gets better for ya!
  10. how big were the stones in question? they might be too large to pass and could lead to death but by putting him in the fridge (and removing the stones in his tank, sand, slate or large river rocks or nothing are good) it is going to slow his metabolism down and de-stress him. i can get some posts off the net if you want confirmation about putting them in the fridge, its very common practise for axie keepers :lol: get a food safe container big enough for him to lie flat in. fill that with tank water, pop the axie in, lid on and into the fridge. you will need to test that your fridge is above 5C though, put a thermometer in a glass of water in there for a few hours and get a reading before hand. whilst hes in the fridge he will need 100% daily water changes (because the small body of water fouls very quick), keep another spare container of declorinated water in the fridge too so that its the same temp for moving. you can offer food every 3-4 days if you wish but its not uncommon for them to not eat while theyre in there so dont stress too much if you offer and he doesnt accept. i normally offer the axie food in the container hes been in for 24hours and then if he makes a mess in that one its not a problem because you have that fresh container to transfer him over to. if the fridge is not an option i would just remove him into a large substrate free bin and keep in a cold place. make sure you check daily for stones and remove them. best of luck for him!
  11. sharn

    Convicts

    something that cant fit in their mouths and something that doesnt have tempting looking fins :lol: i can understand why you dont want more angels lol, want something different in a seperate tank. perhaps plant it and make it a nice community with some BN/cories etc for bottom, some beautiful rams and some schoolers? all bar the rams arent very territorial so wont mind the smaller ground space.
  12. sharn

    Beginners Cichlids

    kribensis are also pretty fish, females are pretty colourful but more so when breeding. not up on birchardi but they are pretty and i think theyre african meaning they would like rocks? because its so tall you cant really have that many territorial fish as territory is based on the room they have on the ground, not how much litres that have. how about angels? probably couldnt have too many, perhaps 3-4
  13. i would go at least 700L to give those fish the best shot and living together in harmony. oscars are going to hit puberty at around 6-8" and its very possible they will become like moody teenagers and its about a 50/50 chance they will go from buddies to worst enemies and include the tank mates in that list. just a heads up for that because it does happen. you can expect around 2cm or so growth a month from them up to around 20cm or so which means they will outgrow most fish which increases likely hood of them becoming bullies. i reccomend to get slower growing fish larger. those convicts are going to become pains in the butt when breeding, theyll get all agro and take up valuable room for other fish and all those fish in that tank dont need any live fish in their diets. acaras are pretty slow growers *i think*, i generally reccomend them as tankmates with oscars. jack dempsy is fine, maxs out around 20cm but is a slowish grower. he needs a good hiding spot too. fire parrots, well i dislike hybrids with a passion and they max out around 20cm. they can be nasty buggers but with their little mouths wont be able to do much damage physically but they can easily kill fish via constant harassment etc. i have seen them in alot of tanks and if theyre not the boss they are generally ok red spot, max out 60cm and are massive poopers however they are ok temperment wise normally. syno is fine depending on size but might get picked on. keep that jag out of it please! jags are hella nasty fish and i have seen so many tanks wiped out by jags and people saying 'yeah my jags fine with my fish' only to come back later and say hes killed a 60cm clown knife, 50cm pleco etc etc. they are not fish that should be put with others unless the same sex for breeding. the only fish that stands a chance against the jag is the pleco. they also max out around 40-50cm depending on sex. give that jag its own 90gal+ and hell thank you for it. not sure about festivums but as long as hes able to stand up for himself but not nasty normally and grows over 15cm or so he should be ok. you will need a very very good and high turnover sump, you have lots of large messy fish in there. not meaning to be a bummer or downer with that fish list but leave the jag and possibly parrot out if you see him get nasty and you shouldnt have too many problems bar cons if they breed. i would look at getting a smaller pleco also, perhaps something that maxs out around 20cm or so, large plecos produce an awful lot of waste and it works out they produce more than they clean up normally. your syno should probably take care of uneaten foods. if you do decide to keep the parrot and cons in there do be prepared for some goings on and make sure you have spare tanks or dividers handy. ive seen mixs like this work well but ive seen some go horribly wrong also, you will need to keep an eye out for problems or you could come home to dead fishies which isnt nice cause you do have a bunch of fish that can do damage if they decide to. good luck for your project too, americans are my almighty fav and a tank with a bunch of large ones would look stunning
  14. sharn

    Convicts

    its a tall tank so what about angels? not sure if your into them or not but theyll use up that height quite well. you can then add a few other fish aswell as they tend to be quite peaceful.
  15. depends what fish your interested in. theres many many to choose from. some like planted tanks with a few feature fish and a bunch of tetras, some like rocky cichlid tanks with africans, some like americans like angels etc. you want fish that stay under 10cm or so if you want to house a few. browse around sites on the net and have a squiz at a good LFS and see if theres any fish that take your fancy good luck choosing
  16. sharn

    Convicts

    quite a few females, probably dont want to mix sexes or you will have no water in your tank, only baby cons what are the dimensions exactly?
  17. i would seperate them after breeding also. mixing colour strains will weaken both but the GBA are probably classed as the strain you dont wana mess up as it took a while to get it to where it is.
  18. sharn

    Earthworms??

    my axolotls will refuse compost (red tigers i think) worms but will accept ones from the garden who have been eating dirt, most of the other fish dont care though. there is definatly a difference in smell between the two, the compost worms smell pretty gross
  19. sharn

    Which Fish?

    110 litres is bit too small, 250 for one oscar is bare minmum IMO. what are the dimensions of the tank? i cant really think of any fish similar to an oscar in personality but smaller, but there are other fish that have good personality, but most arent owner responsive. i say sell that tank and use the funds to buy a 250L+ and get an O, you wont regret it :lol:
  20. your lucky- it seems nz has possibly the most pathetic range of fish meds in the world sometimes
  21. at 7" those jags are about half grown, males generally max out around 45-50cm with females 40 or so i think. males are often alot more defined in colour while females are a bit more spotty. a google will be able to get you pics of both sexs. if they havent killed each other yet chances are you dont have two males, perhaps two females? its not unknown for females to pair up and try and make babies :lol: but if you can post some pics or even just a link to a photobucket picture someone should be able to help ya!
  22. sharn

    Oscars

    i agree with the interaction part, they dont need fish but they do need something going on around them that they can take interest in. theyre very smart fish and need all the interaction they can get. i have a set of toys for my O, ping pong balls, a plastic shot glass, a lego toy etc and they get changed over weekly. i often see him having a geeze at them whenever im not moving and he gets 'bored'. theyre sort of like puppies in tanks IMO. i tried a cat biscuit once, not to see if i could feed him them often but if he would eat them. he didnt. i would be worried about saturated fats and oils in cat biscuits, they probably put stuff in there that fish dont digest easily? thankfully i have fish that like to think theyre the clean up crew so not much goes to waste :lol: red tailed sharks go good with oscars IME, they have tiny mouths that pick up those fine particles all the other big fish miss.
  23. ill spend my time trying to combat dog fighting, setting fire to animals, shooting them without intention to kill, throwing bricks at em, putting them in microwaves etc instead of worrying about that, thats a quick death compared to some of the stuff i have witnessed (dying over days, months/years of torture). i dont like watching animals die but theres far more worthy causes involving animals than that (how about bears used for bile?) i think id rather see 1000 animals be killed in 30 seconds or less than 1000 animals tortured for long periods of time, specially when you see their pleading eyes people that get a kick out of it deserve the same fate IMO oh and jono- good point bout O's being fed guppies (oscars dont eat alot of fish naturally either). you dont see the fish being torn up but if you listen you can most certanly hear him being killed, oscars have pharangel (sp) teeth, like ribs with spikes in their throats and they use these to munch up their food, it sounds quite cool when they eat hard pellets :lol:
  24. most meds for fish dont have prazi in it frenchy but the dog wormer does :lol: i prefer prazi over formalin cause its gentle, doesnt ruin bacteria and works just as well. we can get the liquid form of prazi which is ideal but very expensive. the only downside of drontal is it makes your tank pink for a few days :lol:
  25. it might cause an algae bloom (not sure, its a small lost snippet in my brain), not sure if its from the sugar or the yeast but yeah... hope all the fishies are ok
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