purplecatfish

Ah someone like me, information junkies unite :lol: . What do you use as a chiller, (brand, make etc) and what is the wattage? I'm curious to know if the running costs would be the same as a tropical tank. You'd certainly be winning as far as lighting goes.

One of the theories that I haven't seen discussed is that by providing undergravel heating you promote root growth and therefore higher nutrient uptake. In terrestrial plants if the leaves are at a comparatively higher temperature then you get reduced root growth compared to leaf growth. The actual temperature isn't the significant variable it's the difference between leaf and root. But Alan points out that observations don't always match general theories. This is often due to the species involved, but is just as often due to reality not agreeing with the scientist in the lab :lol: . Mother nature is a clever lady but she has only been working on aquariums for about a hundred years and hasn't had a lot of experience with undergravel filters, canisters and PMDD. So I'm not sure a tropical bog is a valid comparison with a temperate fish room :lol: . I think Alan might agree with me that the main purpose of undergravel heating is to get us to spend money in the local LFS.

I've used a snail trap before for ones up to 4cm using shrimp pellets, pleco chips or whatever their current favorite food is as bait. One of the fishclub members said he made a "baitcatcher" with one entrance by inverting the cut off top from a bottle, again a favorite food as bait was used. Most recently I've caught one in a hole in my huge piece driftwood like everyone else has mentioned (what a mission). Good Luck

I've just set one up on a 200L tank that is going to have Sewellia lineoata (aka Balitora lineolata ). I think that it is a great filter and good value for money and I would recommend one. It primes easier that the fluval FX5, the spray bar is in three pieces with extra elbows and straight joiners so that a range of shapes can be created, the pieces that fit over the side are wide enough to go over any bracing less than 100mm [see next post](again better than the FX5 setup) But I thought I'd play devil's advocate ( :evil: ) so here goes: The instructions are minimal so that if you've never set up a canister filter before you might have a hard time. The large diameter hose is a soft clear plastic that can kink. The fittings seem to be made of an acrylic that won't take any hard knocks. The media isn't enough to fill the baskets to the recommended levels, there are a couple of bags of carbon, a bag of chips that look like white scoria, and some noodles. Definitely worth buying a couple of boxes of JBL sinomec. (I'm not to sure about the foam pads, they have the finest ones on the top and the larger pore ones as you go down the filter, is this how it sould be?) The warantee is for two years. Umm... that's about all I can think of :-? . I'm considering getting one for my 300L/5ft tank , so I guess I'm not a very good devil's advocate :lol: .

Another Tank (But be careful it could be the start of MTS :lol: )

I'm not sure that fry and whitebait should go together. Perhaps bubba should be the prefered term for native fish. :lol:

Wicked photo

(It seems like this one tank has never ending disease problems ) One of my bristle noses has lost it's tailfin and has turned white on one side of it's tail. Any ideas? It's the same tank that: 1) Has Blue Emperor Tetras that have ripped fins see http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/blue-emperor-tetra-behaviour-vt17663.html thread. 2) Had a molly and hara hara catfish die with no obvious symptoms. 3) Used to have the Angels/Molly with worms, they've now been moved out and are waiting for a new home http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/camillanus-camallanus-vt17303.html think i'll go and sit in the corner

Man I hate snails :evil: Why did I ever introduce those rams horns? and why didn't I put the plants into quarantine? I've tried Snail Rid, squashing them and a variety of loaches including: Clown, Yo-yo, Angelicus, Chain and Skunk. I've had three types of snail infestations and they still come back again and again. I can't seem to get rid of them, but after a while they can be kept under control. Chain Loaches seem to work well against those little ones, I guess they don't make much of a meal for the larger loaches.

Thanks for the recommendation evilknieval69 . They do provide a great service, and I'll be saving hundreds of dollars over the year . I've been using the potassium sulphate and I've also got some potassium nitrate from them.

Depends on the generation :lol: When choosing a group with the hope of a pair the usual choice is 6 because it gives a 96.875% chance of getting a pair. 5 will give a 93.75% chance; 4 would give a 87.5% chance. (Do you want to be confused with the maths? :lol: )

I thought I'd share these links as somone once asked what the difference is. http://www.aquamoss.net/Singapore-Moss/Singapore-Moss.htm http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1547 Definitely look at this: http://sea.nus.edu.sg/aquatic-mosses.pdf Taxonomic nightmare as my understanding of the universe goes through yet another shift - I wonder what one it is that I have? :-?

Sorry, i'll try again. The thing to remember in genetics is that the appearance is different to what the genes actually are because a dominant gene will mask a recessive one. If a fish has two recessive genes (aa) for a trait e.g. golden colour then it will be gold. But if a fish has one recessive and one dominant gene (Aa) it will look exactly like a fish with two dominant genes (AA). When you cross two fish with (Aa) characteristics you get offspring who carry the genes in the following proportions: 25% (aa) 50% (Aa) and 25% (AA) but their appearance is 25% recessive and 75% dominant. You can determine the difference between (AA) and (Aa) by making a cross with (aa). The first will only produce offspring with dominant characteristics the second will produce 50% recessive and 50% dominant with mixed genes (Aa). But I would like to add these percentages are best shown in a large population. Hope this helps, please ask if it's not clear.

If the Parent generation GBA is recessive (aa) and the Normal is dominant (AA) Then: Generation 1 will all look normal but will genetically be (Aa) Generation 2 will have 25% GBA and 75% normal looking although the genetic makeup will be 25% aa, 50% Aa, and 25% AA. this does make quite a few assumptions such as only one gene being responsible for the golden colour.

Mainly the price. You can get T5 and T8 from any electrical wholesaler as the "T" just refers to the bulb diameter (and length?). There are some posts worth taking a look at. e.g. Maran's one on Kelvin ratings: p2 replies by Warren.

Does anyone have a school of Blue Emperor Tetra Inpaichthys kerri ? Do fight with each other? I've recently got a dozen who seemed to be fine but now that they've settled in I think they may be trying to sort out who's dominant. Some have shredded fins and some have white spots on their lower lips which look like they might be bite wounds (those that have them are all in the exact same location). Oh, and where is the tetra category for posts?

Everything seemed to be going fine. The Molly had shed all external signs of the worms and was putting on weight . I did the second dose on the 23rd after a 60% water change (I couldn't do more because Ugly Bob the Bristlenose Dad was looking after his fry in the bogwood ). Everything was fine this morning, but I've just got home to find her dead Oh well c'est la vie. At least there's a bright side. I've recovered 18 bristlenose fry from the canister filter this evening Congratulations Mr and Mrs Ugly Bob. (The fry are now in their own nursery tank because I saw one of the Blue Emperor Tetras eating one of the BN fry).

Only two have survived . They are now in a tank with 18 baby bristle noses that I found in another filter today . But there are two spawns in the tank, so I now know where to look in about 4 days. If I can get these to survive past 6 weeks I'll be extremely happy. Spawning is the easy part. 6 weeks old is the magic milestone.

.....18 baby bristlenoses (in the canister filter) .....

If it is gill flukes, get some liquid praziquantel.

When I first started out I set up a tank with bog wood and overstocked it :roll: . I knew a little about cycling but I never had an ammonia spike :-? and all the fish survived . After talking with the LFS owner all we could put it down to was the presence of the bogwood keeping the pH acidic. After a while the the colour will lighten up but I wouldn't worry about it.

Check this out: http://www.cameraguild.com/technology/kelvin.htm Don't confuse the temp scale (deg K) with the light spectra scale (nm). In basic terms the whole colour temp thing is a one dimensional scale to represent a three dimensional system (white light is 'made up' of red, green and blue). So it's not the best way to look at the effectiveness of lighting. And the spectral analysis graph on the packaging is also often misleading especially when the axis aren't labeled correctly. I've recently changed from the various LFS aquarium lights (I've tried most brands) to some 86's and they look nicer, I haven't seen the colour of the 96's but I'll be trying them out (thanks for the advice Warren and everyone ). I haven't noticed any downsides yet and I'm looking forward to considerable savings as they are less than half price. But from the plant perspective you need to consider chlorophyll a and b absorption spectra. Check this out: http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/chlorophyll/chlorophyll_h.htm The ideal lamp spectrum for plant growth would be the sum of both. And I've not yet seen the spectral graph of any of the recommended ones. But (to get technical :roll: ) it doesn't take into consideration the secondary photosynthetic pigments which give the various reds we see in some plants. Does anyone know what rating I should be looking at for a pink fluoro bulb to bring out the fish colours?

No such thing as too big , just don't move and that solves everything :lol: . But watch the depth. In a planted tank it gets difficult if you can't reach the bottom (i.e. top of the substrate) and light has difficulty penetrating to the bottom for ground covers. Big is best because you have a lot of water to act as a buffer if something goes wrong. For me 3ft is the barest minimum.

I first managed to get 'the planted tank act' together once I started using a substrate . I use Aquabasis but only because I didn't know where to get Dalton's Aquatic Mix at the time of setup. It's definitely the first place to start IMHO.

Sometimes I feel stupid, especially when I discover the obvious :lol: . I cleaned out my Fluval FX5 the day after another spawn of the Sturisoma festivum hatched. :oops: Easy to guess what I found? I now have four fry in a small tank , hope I can raise sucessfuly them this time.