TerminalAddict

Hey OS 1600L x 700W x 800H (just a little bigger than Murray's tank in Pet World anglesea st.) I have these fish 1 x Giant Gourami 1 x Silver Arowana 1 x Clown Knife fish 2 x Red Tiger Oscars 1 x Gold Severum 1 x Green Severum 2 x Red Belly pacus (that need a new home) 1 x Red spot pleco 1 x bristle nose pleco (yup small .. but he's a killer ;-) )

Warren ... thats very interesting reading that I did not know. Since you seem to have some expertise in this area ... I have 2 "Red belly" Pacus. They spent 3 months growing from the size of a five cent coins to about 200mm (about the size of a hand) they have not grown at all in 4 months, and are far from being aggressive, infact they are "picked on" by my giant gourami, and a gold severum that is only 60mm (ish) http://trinity.loudas.com/download_gall ... 010001.JPG here's a pic ... I'd be interested to know what "type" of pacu I have.

nope but I got a 900litre in hamilton, and its not my oscar ;-)

incase you're interested ...... The messy fish problem I have solved by replacing my filter I was using a home made trickle filter with 10-15 litres of filter medium. I now have a home made trickle filter with 150 litres of filter medium :-) the fish after 2 days of the new filter are happier ...... I used my old filter medium plus heaps more ... so I guess my biological filtering is work better already (surprised by that !!! ... how long does it take for the bacteria to start growing on the filter medium???) next step ... increase the volume *turn over* :-( thats the expensive bit ... currently I am turning over 1.5x per hour ... gonna try to increase to 4x anybody know of cheaps submergable pumps that'll do 4000litres per hour??

thanks Wayne ... thats the perfect answer ... the exact info I was looking for. I've got 300grams of rock salt in at the moment .... so I can safely add more as I do water changes :-) cool 8)

1 tablespoon per 10 gallons (thats 45 litres right?) sounds a little better caryl: I'm cofused by the 2 pices of info ... not by your article.

this just doesn't sound right to me (no offense Wayne) that would mean for my 1000L *freshwater* tank I would add 100 tablespoons ... that sounds like an awful lot of salt :-? almost marine :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? advice please ....... how about a Specific Gravity rcommendation?? I've also read this article by Caryl http://www.fnzas.org.nz/salt.0.html that states ok now I really confused. :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-?

sorry 100L = 10% here's my latest update yesterday I did 30% change, and bought some frozen blood worms. fish are much happier already ... so your advice about increased water changes was *spot on* I'll do 30% every 2-3days for a couple of weeks then reduce to once a week, and I reckon I should be all good 8) Oscar suddenly *woke up* yesterday, when I feed thawed frozen blood worms .... so I guess he just doesn't like the dry food. he even got in a big scrap with the gourami over some food ... good to see him acting a little more agressive (more like an oscar) the pacus, I've been a little dissapointed with ... they were sold to me as an aggressive feeding fish, with rapid growth rates .... up until last night I have not seen any signs of this ... but introduce a little *blood* into the tank ... and whoa ... aggresive feeders indeed !!!!! I'll start adding salt on a regular basis (during water changes) because I remember from tanks in the past, that this is very good *fix all* .... I didn't know I could use rock salt .... I've always bought sea salt .... any difference ???? on tuesday I'll start shopping for other food ... any recommendations??? I read that garden worms aren't so good ... is that true? coz I can buy them really cheaps (about $3 per kilo) if garden worms aren't cool ... what else can I feed them ??? blood worms will be far too expensive when these fish get big

whoa not sure about faeces ... what should I be looking for ???? I feed them a mixture of floating flakes, semi-sinking cichlids crumble, and sinking spirulina tablets. yep salt is already in the tank ... about 100 grams, I could use some more but I don't have a Hydrometer ... any idea what Specific Gravity should be, or what the *recommended* salt content is? I'm doing 100 litre water changes every week .... but I might increase it coz the bottom get messy quickly, what with messy eaters, and I may overfeed on occasion :roll: thought I might try some frozen bloodies, but getting food to a specific fish is hard with pacus, and the gourami (very agressive feeders) I would like to feed live aquatic food, but I have 2 daughters that would *KILL* me if they saw me feeding live food to the fish (they are proper little greenies )

but I was so looking forward to having another agressive oscar that *rules the roost* :roll: ah well .... got my fingers crossed for the pacus

my clown knife is about this big |------------------------------------------| about 4-5 cm and he's pretty active (and be nocturnal .. very active when its dark or dusky) I had one a while ago that was 1 foot long, but I killed him with bad water, after moving house. This is me restarting the fishtank :-) My oscar is very placid .... so much that I'm a little concered :-( the pH is 7.4 there is plenty to eat and hide in, and all the other fish are *happy as* ... I admit that the oscar gets a hiding ocassionally from the gourami .... but his behaviour seem more than pscyological. anybody got any suggestions about what might be wrong?? Fins are all in good condition, Colour is good, he's not "gasping" at the gills :-? he doesn't eat much (certainly not an agressive eater like my oscars in the past) and hardly ever ventures from *his spot* in the tank.

{sexist comments follow) gee all the females I know fight alot :lol:

this is what I've got (and I think I'm full up) 1 Giant gourami 1 Oscar 2 pacus 1 severum 1 tiretrack eel 1 Clown Knife 1 pleco 1000 litres of water .... I think I will have to fish some out when they all get bigger

the ones at jansen are huge tho' ...... Huge !!!

does this increase the pH ???? I have lime in my tap water .... and no matter what I try, I cannot get the pH below 7.4

8) cool .... I've been warned about my oscars ... that maybe the oscars won't survive the pacus ... but we'll see, the oscars that I've brought up in the past have been really agressive.

I just got a tire track which shoud,keep up with the growth rate of a gourami. I also picked up 2 pucus (canivoruous (<-- spelling) tetras) very cool

go to Jansen in #kings Auckland .. .they have a fish there for $4750.00 ... a red dragon arowana

cool my Giant gourami would look WAY cool in this tank in a few years

hey Cees ... I'm a PHP freak if you're interested ... running a forum/chat etc at http://www.mandrakeusers.org thought I might warn you that phpchat is REALLY heavy on the server, and you might be better to explore the options of starting an IRC bot instead. I have (actually someone else but it works with my site) a room at irc.openprojects.net #mub ... and I have found a nice little irc.cgi client ..... lot nicer on the server. I am also I'm pretty savvy with phpbb ...

I'm in Hamilton ... but willing to travel .. coz hamilton doesn't have too much to offer yup ... got one of them already looking for a jack dempsey (a baby) .. that would nice I think, especially a bright blu one :-)

I'm looking for suggestions to mix with a juv Giant gouramin (about 3-4 inches) but is growing about 1 inch a week. I have 1x Pleco 5 inches 1x Gold severum 2 inches 1x Giant Gourami 4 inches 4x comets ( these are my sacraficial fish to cycle a new tank) ... but my Gourami seems to be getting fond of them I know plenty of people have suggested an arowana ... but $$$$ and I killed 2 in the past (jumpers :-( ) and yes I have lid on my tank :-( I will get an oscar (coz the wife loves them) but I want some suggestions for some thing interesting .. that CAN be found in NZ tank is 6' x 2.5' x 3'