SpidersWeb

Worms?

Go somewhere else. If they call you to say it's in, you can tell them it took too long and you couldn't wait. Often the delay isn't their fault, but the lack of communication certainly is.

How do you get the female in to breeding condition? (I mean purposely primed for breeding)

Little tonic salt usually helps. Maybe a bit more filtration as well??

Whenever I see or am talking about clown loaches, Sweety always comes to mind. I often talk to people down here and they know who sweety is now. Becoming a real famous fish that one Be able to start selling tickets soon Must be an amazing site to see her swimming about.

Yeah I want to see this fish too! I love big angels. Will have to make the drive and visit you one day Amazonian.

Yeah hard thing with getting fish to that age is all it takes is one nitrite spike

Na not enough light spread, too much power wasted on heat etc T5 is a much better middle ground for me Also T5 will fit in the hood, metal halide would need to be hung, I'd have to remove the hood and lose more power to heat :(

Give him a few weeks. The female will also need to fatten up. You'll know she's ready when she keeps trying to get in his cave (e.g. spends half her time hanging around the entrance). You'll know he's ready when he sits there fanning all day (using his fins to circulate water). No idea why they do this in preperation, but they do. Only need two. I've got a black male and black female in the giant gourami tank (male is very old, got him fully grown for free off fishyt), and the other day I removed a log full of bristlenose only a few days old (already hatched too). The eggs will take a week to hatch, and he'll keep them clean and wont eat the offspring. If you remove the eggs/young to another tank, don't expect dad to let go, he'll spike up and hang on for dear life.

Not sure on the suramensis (spelling?) as I can't even remember how mine behaved or even if I kept them in the same tank as Sevs! But I will say your xmas moss wont have long to live with sevs. They'll be ok with swords, but if its plant like and fits in mouth........... they don't just eat it either, often they'll just rip it to bits because they want to (especially ambulia etc). I've kept about 7 severums in the past, and they've all loved to eat plant.

Oh I'm not that crafty with the corgette, I don't steam it, just through a brass screw in it and drop it in the tank, then remove screw next day. Works well! Especially since I have a big container of them (it's easy to lose the occasional one, esp in the gourami tank which has sand as a substrate). I'll be doing corgette anywho because its easy to remove for the young bristlenose, unlike the tabs which break down and go rotten if uneaten. But if I run out of corgette I'll give your idea a go for sure Trouble is pleco and gourami are about the same size, but the plec is flatter

Legend Guess if I use old tankwater that'll work even better? Most of them are too nervous to leave dads cave, but there are 4-5 roaming around, two of which are already hooked on corgette. I found a rock covered in algae from a plecoless tank, and moved that in there tonight. Trying to work on getting my goldens to breed as well. Got male in cave, fat female, just been feeding them up. Will feed some bloodworms and do a water change tomorrow, see if I get lucky.

Thanks heaps Just what I was after. Might start with just a twin tube setup and see how that looks first, can always add another fitment later. So 60 for ballast, 70 for proper aquarium reflectors (maybe less from Switched On Gardner??), then money for plug, I've got like 10 metres of heavy duty mains cable left over from when we redid the pumps in the spa. Sounds like a cost effective result. I can then use the T8 ballasts and tubes to light the garage properly :bounce: :bounce: Unfortunately I think I've just given myself even more to do haha Yep I've made two T8 lighting setups myself before, know what I'm up to and know how to wire a ballast Just wanted to know who has what as I've never done T5 before, and last time I went to advance electrical they only had T8 and T12 gear and magnetic ballasts. All the plants in my T5 and Compact Fluoro (yes a 6500K house bulb) setups grow well, but my T8 setup has always been meh unless i run all 5 tubes, even then it's not that bright (compared to others I've seen).

Dear internets, I forgot to ask while at Hutt Pets last week, but they've started selling T5HO gear. They've got 4' reflectors for $35 which was all good, but I totally forgot to ask about ballasts, tubes etc? If I wanted to setup 3 x 48" T5HO lights, all up, what should I be looking at price wise? (And no I'm not going to buy a $$$ unit, just talking home made here). How easy is getting T5HO ballasts? connectors? I'm sure someone is doing it or has done it and wants to share the details with little old me Cheers, Jono

A bucket of rain water also used to work for my Neon Tetras, in a community so no young ones, but it's amazing what a bucket of rain water can do to fish, esp tetras!

:lol: :lol: I never read manuals. But I was just visualising some discrete detail like 'to remove the lid make sure to turn the....' hiding in the book somewhere. I only found the air lock release on my Jebo externals 2 years after buying my first one, could've saved lots of water on the carpet with those!

Nothing beats the Sneezing Panda for all round cuteness Also, can't miss everyone's favourite show, Will it Blend?

You'll know when they're about to breed as her breeding tube will get big and puffy. I haven't bred severums for years, and then I was removing the eggs. Because these guys didn't spawn while I had them I can't really say how good they'll be, or even how fertile they are, but often cichlids take a couple of goes to get it right. Good luck 8) and make sure you remove any algae eaters like bristlenose etc if you see eggs. They'll get them when the sevs are sleeping.

I think Gavin at Hutt Pets (Giant Gourami) died at 26 years of age.

Day before you picked them up they were liplocking and cleaning rocks Should be good times ahead! She dances for him sometimes as well.

Yeah what he said. In my book, its a Severum but not Heros Severus (spelling?)

Undergravel filters are totally underrated.

There is something crazy acidic in there. pH of 5 is crazy. It could be the wood, or something in the gravel etc (any peat?) I'd start by removing the wood but its possible something else is going on in there. I agree with what Luke posted, test a bucket of tap water 24 hours later and post up the results. This will give us an idea of how hard/soft your water really is, but there has to be something in that tank.

What have you been feeding them? If they 'die very quickly' it just sounds like nitrite. You need to test for ammonia and nitrite (dont worry about the others unless you have it handy). Did you do a big water change recently? Wash the filter or change the media? Filter get turned off? Fed too much? Tonic wont really help, if anything it'll stain the tank and/or cause problems with the bacteria in the filter. Rarely do medications available at pet stores offer a serious benefit. First thing is to test for ammonia and nitrite, personally I'd be doing large water (1/3) changes (proper temp, not just cold water) with water ager. Whether it is nitrite that's killing them or something else, clean water is the best medicine. So if you can't get the water tested like now, just keep changing the water. Remember to use water ager or water conditioner, and use water that is warm not cold not hot, otherwise you risk the bacteria in the filter (which keep the ammonia and nitrite away). I'd wager its nitrite.

I like darker gravel too. I think its called Brightwater Gravel, but that's my favourite, best gravel ever IMO. Its the right size (not too big to clean, not too small to clump up) and has great dark colouration without looking fake. Trouble is you can't just hop down to the landscapers and buy 20kg of it. I always end up paying an outrageous amount for bags and bags and bags.