Afrikan

I have a breeding pair that I have successfully spawned twice. Great fish 8)

Oh I'm sure you were fine too Ryan, men just play the waiting game while the incubator goes through all sorts of ailments :lol: :lol:

They are nice They don't look like the hansbaenschi I had a while back, my ones shoulder didn't carry right up through to the head like yours are showing, maybe just a different marking? I don't recall my ones having as much markings in the finnage either, and mine were alot darker blue.. and the shoulder was rather orangey red, mind you, could be the camera that is showing them up different to how they look to the eye also, could be a matter of shading.

The tyre track long term will need a large tank, if you were able to go and spot the one at Wet Pets in Palmerston, then you will see what I mean, I am pretty sure he is in a 6ft display, if he/she is still there, would be mean to keep it in anything less at the size it is at.

Ohhhhhhhh so cute Ryan.... Tell Steph that little Paige is just goooorjus! Can't wait to see her when we come through Our young man Rory had thick jet black hair born... a real mop... no wonder I had major heartburn prior to him being born.. Did Steph suffer major heartburn? Supposed to have something to do with baby having a good head of hair.. wives tail or not I don't know, but the midwife believed in it :lol:

There might be someone around wanting to sell some adult Brichardi... we keep both, Pulchers and Brichardi.. currently have some older youngster Brichardi available... but Pulchers are a way off, this lot are a bit young at this stage. Once you decide on a definate, might pay to ask around in Trade and Exchange section 8)

Yeap you are definately right vegemite they aren't an "eel"... There is a really BIG tyre track in Palmy and he would certainly eat any smaller species of spiney like half banded spiney etc... A.PROPHECY my tyre track and fire eel are a very decent size and they are as good as gold, even share the same area in the tank by choice and feed happily together. A friends are the same. But two tyre tracks together even from a small size fought from first sight.

It isn't good to mix tyre tracks, they fight, speaking from experience, they are fair devils too when they decide to crack one another Fire Eels and Tyre Tracks mix well, we keep two together. Tyre Tracks years down the track when they reach a good size will eat Spiney Eels no doubt, Tyre Tracks can grow to a good size, between 75-90cm long and pretty big bodied and you can imagine, big mouthed. You can't mix native eels and tropicals, neither of them would tolerate the temps that either eel requires.

Convicts Blue Acara Lionhead Cichlid (African river species) Kribensis (African river species) Electric Yellow (Malawi mouthbrooder) Brichardi (African Tanganyikan substrate/cave spawner) Just a few ideas...

Wow what a bronx neighbourhood for the guppies :lol: I agree with posts above... ghost knife and angel being the top two prime suspect gangsters by the sounds

Yeap the added buffer is good for africans... tap water can most definately change. Frenchy gave me the dinky buffer recipe which hellishly saves pennys not having to buy the expensive buffers on lfs shelves... 8)

I agree with Ryan, if you are wanting to start with an african, Electric Yellows are relatively easy to start with When starting out, sometimes it is better to start with one species together and then feel your way and research alot, compatibility with africans is a trial and error thing, some work, some don't... I would definately keep a solely african tank tho, and give the idea of adding convicts a miss Your tank is relatively small so territory as fish mature and get to a decent size will be a factor, might then be time for an upgrade :lol: Have you ever looked at Dwarf Cichlids (American) they do well in a nicely planted tank.... Rams, assorted Apistos, Dwarf Nano's, Bolivian Rams are available here... very addictive to some :lol: Or maybe some Tanganyikan africans that don't get overly robust and big, like Brichardi, Pulchers, Julidochromis... Brichardi are easy to start with 8) Anyway, keep us posted and good luck!

It's funny, my Geo Suri's sift the stones of course, but don't move them much at all, just sift and drop on the same spot.. wonder if you have nesting behaviour going on in your tank... If really robust plants are planted like strong heavy vallis and crypts etc that heavily root down there shouldn't be a problem... we don't have any problem with the Geo's in with plants... just make sure the front of your tank and sides etc is left bare for them to sift happily... our tank has mainly the middle heavily planted, that way it still gives them a heap of space to be able to sift happily without having to venture into the planted area.

Good excuse for hubby and I to make that trip through now Ryan in a week or so, to do a fish drop off and a catch up aswell as have a peek at the new cutie :lol:

Thought I would send you and Steph another congrats Ryan :lol: :bounce:

Gorgeous pics, totally calendar worthy!!

Oh Our deepest sympathy to Alan's family.. When we met Alan you would never have known he was unwell, he was smiling and full of fun... He will be really missed..

:lol: :lol: Stella... the picture would be somewhat disturbing

The threadfin rainbows are rather curious critters too so you might find he is attracted to your fighters finnage aswell, so they will probably have some mutual fascination with one another that could end up working or could end up rather messy :lol: The threadfins are gorgeous and I was actually thinking about setting a tank up in the shed solely for them 8)

Pretty fast growing, we have terrors, good consistant food and a bit of live food and they grow well

We keep Geophagus steindachneri and Geophagus surinamensis.. awesome fish, have them on propagating sand and tank is well planted with robust vallis, and assorted crypts 8)

Sounds like a good plan and good advice to, in the mean time tho before change over, if you have a large enough breeding trap, you could place the female in there till tonight... to give her a rest from the woman basher... I have done that the odd time with african females to let them have peace.

Sounds good evil 8) the yellow and blue will definately look great... we are currently doing a soley mbuna display, gonna have wicked filtration on it and it's going to be stacked to the brim with mbuna species, males only.

Gotta love the Oscars must admit :lol: Silver Dollars, Jack Dempsey, Nicaragua Cichlid, Plecs, Chocolate Talking Catfish and other larger robust cats and even synodontis, large Snakeskin Gourami.. etc are good tank mates for Oscars also and have been kept successfully with Oscars over the years... Just pays to have really good filtration as Oscars are messy eaters.. but well worth keeping. We keep mainly African species of fish, but would never part with our two Oscars and their tank Oscars are classed as semi aggressive not aggressive compared to alot of other large cichlids species.. I reckon Oscars are fair little devils as youngsters but seem to grow mellow out with age and size

Another thing to think about to with buying peacocks from stores... The one thing that bothers me with buying peacocks from lfs is the fact that you can never also be 100% sure that the shop workers place the same species peacocks in the same tank or have labelling right on tanks either, I would be really worried buying a peacock female as something when there could be a worry of lfs workers mixing peacock species (of which has been done plenty of times in the past) I prefer to order species in and pick them up the morning they arrive from suppliers and cart them home in the bags they arrive in.. Some more pics of your male would be good as he matures