sharn

i think another member recently had problems the same, they just packed some filter wool in and it quietend things down

i personally try not to inbreed fish, if you can avoid it by getting others from another source your doing the hobby a favour cause inbreeding can unlock genetic deformities. the average hobbiest doesnt need to try and strengthen genes so inbreeding isnt necessary. if they breed thats ok, but its better if they breed with un-related fish (why not swap your adult males for other adult males etc?) just my two cents lol

shhh tanksman! were hiding this from her (jokes). krib- boiling probably is easier, have to wash it first though or mix it with a spoon in the pot, i dont have a big enough one either and getting water to boil is hard enough for me lol :oops: i also wanted my sand dry cause i think its easier to work with (im probably the only one that thinks that though right guys?) either would work well, just depends on which one you prefer!

we dont have fan bake on our old oven i dont think (well ive never found it!!) i just put mine in a roasting dish and chucked it in at 160C for about an hour but you could use anything that would hold the sand and stop it from going all thru the oven i spose. i dont know if that would have killed any potential bugs or not but it got the sand dry and my fish havent had any problems with the sand so far. you could have it as hot as you like dont see why you couldnt put several loads on at once, only problem i could think of would be weight on the racks?

i think it was more i was commited to keeping my life so had to be very careful not to get sand all through the house, the oven and all through my room :lol: it took me say 5 mins to wash a tray of sand (probably like 4-5kg) then poped it in the oven for 1 hour, so really that hour doesnt count as commitment cause i was doing other things during that time :oops: . ended up doing approx 5-8 lots. actual work with the sand (cleaning it) would have taken like 1 hour or so... but including breaks sounds more dramatic :lol: putting it in the tank... all of approx 30 mins to get plants in and everything settled.

mmmmm McNeons *drools* never tasted anything quite like em :lol:

welcome!!! firstly i think you need to get a bigger tank. contrary to popular beleif goldfish do grow big and need big tanks, they make messes like oscars apparently so they need alot of filtration. probably round the 10x per hour id guess, not too sure cause im not that up on goldfish. they can grow pretty quick when they have the space and given the room your little 7cm bubba can reach 30cm! not sure on the plants, i know they like to eay oxygen weed though. not a UG filter IMO, theyre quite delicate things and normally it takes a pro to get them right. goldfish are messy fish and i think they can actually dig? you need alot of gravel for a UG filter to work and then you cant siphon the substrate. stick with your internal filter, theyre pretty good most of them and are easy to maintain. paradise fish and WCMM (white clown moutain minnows) like cold water and danios have been used too i think. neons do like cooler water, just not sure how cold sorry, but i think youd need a heater. i had guppies in a cold water tank once, only had em one day cause they slowed so much, i think if you were to get some make sure you have a warmer tank for winter. maybe wild guppies would be better? sorry i cant be of more help, im not too up on my cold water fish

took me about 6 hours if i joined it all up, excluding breaks in between lol. that was baking each lot for approx 1 hour and i had lots left over. i think i used about 20-30kg of sand for mine (it felt like 60 though :lol: )

wicked! what a cool story! bet your girls loved taking 'goldfish holding' shifts :lol:

plecos need a half dose with most things, especially salt. if youve already given a full dose do a water change to get all the meds down. im not sure if melafix can be given at a full dose to plecos though. id imagine itd be easier to isolate the other fish if the pleco is fine to reduce on meds and stress to the pleco (can be stressful for fish to be treated with meds)

RTS have known to be quite nippy with other fish that have reds or the same species so i would only put one of them in with caution. neons, like everyone else said, even though theyre cheaper they dont grow as big i think and can become fish fingers for your prized discus. the khulis and clowns make great discus tank mates IMO DG, i have heard, are normally disease infested, nematodes or something like that, ive never kept them for that reason but i assume they wouldnt work too well in a discus tank alot of people have the suspicion about angels and discus, but the truth is all fish can have diseases that they can pass onto your fish, having said that though most store bought angels do have nasties attactched so if you do want to keep them together (alot of people have had great success with them) make sure you get them from reputable breeders. also people have problems with feeding times as angels are very quick and can be bullies while discus graze slowly. have a read of http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=46920 for some good views on the subject. arent swordtails hard water fish? not sure how well theyd do with the higher temps but if they did breed they would provide some yummy snacks! not sure bout fighters really, i wouldnt try it. and rams make great tankmates! have some myself and theyre not as agro as say triple reds etc. just make sure you qaurentine ALL your fish before you add them to the discus tank, you dont want anything getting in and upsetting the delicate balance. also if you wish to add angels worm them first. doesnt hurt to worm discus as well and alot of people say they bulk up if done regularly. HTH!

it depends how well you maintain your tank, i reckun gravel allows more room for error. i use sand in my amazon and axolotl tank. my cories dig in my sand but it never gets cloudy at all and the sand settles in a few minutes if i stir it up. if you have thick sand you need to either have it heavily planted so the roots keep it airated (i think im on the right track with that lol) or run a fork thru it at each water change to get some fresh water/oxygen into it cause if you dont it can create dead spots and thats where the ammonia probs would come from id imagine. i have about 1.5-2cm of sand in both my tanks. as PJ said smaller tanks are harder to maintain water quality so as long as you keep on top of everything you shouldnt have a problem. i dont know much about malawis, if they like sand go for it! if they have sand in their natural enviroment then theyd probably love it, i know my cories have definatly been having fun digging (depending on the thickness they could keep the substrate airated for ya ) i got my sand from bunnings, it was plasterers sand and i just washed it and baked it really well before use. its quite a dark sand but looks medium grey in a tank with lights. pool filter sand and kids play sand has been used as well. hope that helped!

cause the sands dense most of the stuff lies on top so i can just hoover like a cm above the sand and everythign gets picked up, even better if its sloping to the front and then everything falls down there!! the very fine, fine particles get sucked up, but then theyre more like silt than sand. with my axolotl tank i give it a good mix around but it never gets sucked up alot of LFS charge a arm and a leg for sand, not sure where they get theirs from, same place as i go i spose. i get mine from bunnings, the plain plasterers sand and it works great, doesnt alter water chemistry at all (i tried it in my axolotl tank first) and its quite dark too. for 5 bucks a 25kg bag you cant go wrong! pool filter sand is used as well, and play sand if you can find it. i wouldnt use beach sand unless you want to harden your water, lots of shells. would have to bake it heaps and wash with boiling water first too. my sand is quite dirty before i wash it, i chuck it in a pillow case and put the hose in it till it runs clear and bake it till its dry

ok, then rogans fighter is mental lol. i baby sat for his and he nailed my angel. guess that goes to show how different their personalities can be huh? if your angel is a stroppy one hed probably atatck your fighter and vice versa

in shops ive seen 20cm ones (not including tail) for like 50-80 bucks, go to your LFS and ask them what theyd pay for em, probably get more off TM though, LFS can be a bit on the tight side

Hello all, just an observation that i made this weekend while changing my tank around. I changed to sand from gravel and my cories absolutly LOVE it, i have never seen them so active before, they spend all day looking for food. Before they used to just head stand inbetween the stones to get to their food, now they shove their noses in the sand and swim! they plough through and leave lots of little trenches all over the place along with holes :lol: . ive always known cories come from sandy places but i never believed that it would make so much difference in their behaviour! im a bit worried that theyll get carried away and dig into my aquatic mix but its worth it to see them so happy! just my two cents lol

might do, i dont know much about bettas though. i do think that if your male saw the angel as competition things could get ugly, especially if you have a woosy angel :lol: but if hes busy trying to court the females all the time he could leave everyone alone. only problem then is that if they do breed he could take over a certain portian of the tank to raise the fry. i used to have one in with my angels way back and he was fine, never fought with the angels but i was baby sitting a fighter a while ago that was very agro and spent all day chasing my angel. i think it comes down to the individuals personality. what about just 2 females?

how quick do they hatch? it would have been approx 24 hours. i think they, or something else, ate em cause all the unfertilised eggs were gone too, unless they ate them and the wrigglers hatched? i havent seen anything, and theyre not being any more protective than they were before. guess ill find em if there is any when i move them back into the main tank. oh, yes i am going to set up their own tank once ive got some more room

ok, im figuring levamisoles gunna be a mission to get so can i use the other wormers commonly used like drontal etc? or do these not treat these specific worms? do you guys think i should treat my whole tank or just my angel and rams (treating rams just to be sure)

rams are pretty sensitive so only go for them if youve got some good water, very picky about it but they are well worth the effort. i had a few triple reds in with my angels a while back and they were VERY agro, i think its cause of the inbreeding. dunno, just something to consider . my rams/apistos stayed near the bottom/middle. if you want to add lots of colour you cant go past guppies and platties. having red, yellow and white platties swimming around looks really nice if you have a dark background. and since theyre so eay to breed you can either keep the babies and sell em or leave em in there for a tasty treat!! those two mostly stay at the top. other fish that stay at the top are siamese fighters but they could have a go at your angels fins, some of the gouramis (ive heard DG are normally quite heavily infested with nasties so only get em if you can quarentine them first) bottom feeders that have colours...hmmmm... maybe albino cories? lots of people have BN but they arent that colourful hehe. i do agree that having fish that fill all the levels makes your tank look soo much more alive. have fun picking out your new fishes

just checked now, all gone! must have disturbed them too much trying to catch all the other fish. not to worry, im sure theyll lay again soon enough once they settle back into their new tank if they like it

theyre actually not that protective, when i was catching the other fish to go back into the main tank they hid in the cave (the eggs are on top) and didnt defend their eggs. they dont seem all that interested but that doesnt bother me, still pretty cool to know im doing something right! they havent eaten them as of yet either and even the cories and BN didnt touch em! yes blue they are the golds i posted pics of, my prettier two that are the parents. ill leave em in the holding bin till the eggs are gone or hatch, if that happens ill start stressing cause im not prepared for em. oh, while i remember what do fertilised eggs look like? i have a very small amount of dark grey ones and lots of white ones. :bounce:

WOOOOHOOOO at 12.30 last night i went to have a peek at the fish in the bin (theyre in there during tank makeover) and what do i find? my big male guarding some eggs while the female fends off any intruders! im not sure if theyre fertile, i dont really want them to be anyway cause the parents are siblings but i still feel so great that they tried! it amazed me cause theyre in a holding bin and thought they would have been stressed from the move, maybe that new water that was in there did it! if they live they live if they dont they dont, it doesnt bother me but its sure made my day (more like week now!!) cause ive been having a run of bad luck. i had to share it with you guys cause mum and my little sister didnt seem too enthusiastic when i did a little scream and ran to wake them up... i wonder why lol. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... 0_5180.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... 0_5177.jpg

keep the pair you most prefer and see if that works out. personally id keep the pair already established together cause they tolerate each other. if you remove one half of the pair the remaning half may still decide it doesnt like the 'third wheel'. really its a trial and error thing, if you decide you want to break the pair up remove the one you want to get rid of to a spare tank, you dont want to get rid of it to find the remaning pair cant stand each other! oscars can be silly fish sometimes, and if you can get a pair that can tolerate each other thats a bonus! your 'pair' might well be two females, its not uncommon for two to pair up and try and make babies :lol: not so common with males cause most of the time they cant stand each other. only way to tell really is if you get fertile eggs! and even if they are the same sex its still good fun to watch them try. if you do get babies you cant keep alot of LFS will buy them off you, or you could just cull the eggs? HTH!

did the tank today, all went well. everything looks great and ill post some pics up later on, sadly i didnt take before pics will hopefully get the light tomorrow to get things going. thanks to all!