Southerrrngirrl

Oh.. well at least I'm cool then :lol:

I am a Light Cycle. I drive fast, I turn fast, I do everything fast. I even breakfast. I tend to confuse people with my sudden changes of heart. Sometimes I even confuse myself, which tends to cause problems. (If you were not a Light Cycle you would be a Scorched Earth Tank.) WTF is a light cycle??? I don't even know what a Scorched Earth Tank is!

Normally the tank is around 24 degrees, but on these hot days where the lounge gets really warm its a bit harder to control. We have a heat pump in there aswell as a ceiling fan, I guess that could help the temperature in the room keep down. Mystic, I've had all these fish for probably over six months, infact more like almost a year, except for the loaches.. they seem to handle the temp changes ok I haven't had a death in this tank yet. *touches wood*

Just wondering, does an increase in temperature cause fish to be more active? I got home yesterday and checked the temp of the tank, which was 25.6 degrees. Later in the evening it was 26.9 and the fish were very active, chasing each other etc. Our lounge, where the tank is, gets very warm in the afternoon/evening, and it was a particularly warm day yesterday.

Thanks purplecatfish! Guess it could be the lack of light. Will increase to 8 hours. Will also do a water change today. Might even again consider getting some otos. I've wanted some for a while.

I'm pretty sure its brown. Black beard is the long fluffy stuff right?? If so then yes there is some of that as well, although only two small patches. Was actually planning on removing that plant that its currently growing on during next water change anyway. How would there come to be too much silicates??

OK so I should plant some more plants, get some new light bulbs and leave the lights on longer and that should cure it??

Ouch! It might have to wait a month or two in that case. Has yours cleared up yet? Isn't some algae encouraged by light? If I left my lights on longer wouldn't that be encouraging it? Or is that only natural light that does that? Afrikan, I had looked at Otos in the past, but I think it might be difficult to get from our LFS here.. I've only seen them once and they only had 1-2 that I could see.. and the fact that they need good water quality put me off a bit.

Just the standard lights that come with the AR850. The lights are only on for 6 hours a day from 6pm to 12am, is that a bad thing? I have used JBL Algae... something in the past but didn't seem to do any good. Not sure about getting some algae eaters, with 22 fish in the tank already I think i'm just about at my limit. I heard the algae eaters get lazy as they get other though, and don't bother about eating the algae?? Are bristlenoses any good? They stay quite small don't they?

I'm trying to figure out what the deal is with algae. Have been researching but am a bit confused. I have plants in my tank, some that have been growing since the tank was first set up. I don't know what they are, one is small with long leaves and its a creeper type, it has taken over most of the bottom of the tank, then theres a tall growing one with large leaves and I recently added some cabomba. They all appear to be doing well, especially the large leaved one, I have trimmed it several times, and planted the cuttings in other locations in the tank. The old growth on the plant has dark brown/black algae on it. How do I get rid of this, it seems to slowly be rotting the leaves away? My understanding is that algae comes from too many nutrients in the water?? If I had more plants, the algae would struggle to grow as there wasn't enough nutrients for it?? Is that correct? I get green algae on the glass but thats easily scraped off. I just can't seem to get rid of this brown/black algae. Would it help to cut off the affected leaves??

He's so cute n' chubby! 20 years old he's doing well. I love clown loaches... must get bigger tank.

I'm relatively new to the hobby so still sort of learning what I like and don't like. I used to put all sorts of ornaments in my tanks, such has treasure chests, old diving masks that sort of thing, but I've recently chucked all those out and opted for driftwood. I like it, it looks so much more natural and the fish really seem to enjoy it. I like real plants too. I really like loaches, especially clown loaches, never had any cos don't have a big enough tank yet, but I do have Zebra loaches, they are such cool little fellas. I also like Rainbow Sharks, I currently have one, did have another one a few years ago but he died after an unfortunate incident involving the heater accidentally getting unplugged. The rest of the fish I currently have is: Silvertip Tetras Cardinal Tetras Black Neon Tetras Bronze Corydoras Zebra Loaches Rainbow Shark In the past I've had Gourami's, Platys, Neon Tetras and Glowlight Tetras

Thanks Caryl, it never occurred to me that it might grow back!

Just an update on this: The lump eventually disappeared, along with the top fin of the tail, which I was a bit worried about. But now, it would appear the tail is growing back! Is this possible??

Yes well thats true Stella, but I'm not a big fan of the colour of the water! I thought the ph would be lowered, as I'd read somewhere that it can do that but on checking tonight, its still at or just above 7.0, where it was BEFORE I put the driftwood in. Weird. So over time it will clear is that correct?

I recently pulled out my old ornaments from my tank in favour of a piece of driftwood, going for a more natural look in the tank. Several days after I noticed the water had a sort of brownish discolouration. I assume this is just something leeching out of the wood, is this correct? And if so how long can I expect to have the brownish coloured water for? Should I be doing more regular water changes to get rid of it more quickly?? Is there something else I should be doing? The driftwood was purchased from LFS, and I did enquire as to what sort of preparations needed to be done before adding it to the tank. I was advised that I could chuck it straight in as all treatment and preparations had been done already.

I assume thats directed at me Timtam?? Yes, they are my two Zebra Loaches.

I had a snail infestation in my tank, bought a couple of Zebra Loaches (botia striata) and they cleaned up the majority of snails within a couple of days.. and within a couple of weeks it was very hard to try and spot a stray one getting around the tank. These loaches don't grow as big as the clown loaches so a better option for a smaller tank.

Rainbow sharks are great. Apparently less agressive than the Red-tailed shark. I have mine in an AR850, about 150 litres which I believe is about the minimum size tank for him and he's doing fine. I have him with tetras, corys and a couple of loaches. The only agression he ever shows is when someone is in his territory. He'll just headbutt the fish till it swims away. Just make sure you have plenty of hiding places for him and other fish that like to hide.

It's done. We moved the fish tank into the new house yesterday, and apart from a small incident which involved me turning the pump on and having water spray upwards because the spray bar was positioned incorrectly, everthing went smoothly! All fish accounted for and seem to be ok. It was hard work though, glad its all over!

I have two AR380's just sitting around collecting dust and I'm considering setting one of them up (if not both!!) and just pondering about what to put in them. Visted the LFS today and came across what they had listed as Neon Serpae's which I quite liked. Couldn't find much info on them as to size they grow etc. I assume they are just like most other tetras? Quite keen on some gourami's of some sort, perhaps Honey Gourami's as they stay quite small. I also quite liked these white mollies I saw, I think they were lyretail? LFS isn't all that good at labelling exactly what is in their tanks so I wasn't sure. The tank will be planted with real plants. Any suggestions?

I had this problem with a Silvertip Tetra and was told it could be poor water quality or old age. I think it might have been the old age as I'd had the fish for quite some time, and who know how old it was when I got it. It was skinny too, but seemed to eat ok and swim around actively. It did die eventually.

I think I'm well organised. Just have to get some bags and some large containers to transport the water in. I plan to move it this Sunday morning, (hubby doesn't know that yet though!) I have even gone to the extent of writing everything down that I need to do and in what order. Just so I don't forget anything. There won't be anyone in the way, it'll just be hubby and I. I knew there was a good reason I didn't want to get a bigger tank before we bought a house!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen suggested on several sites, that loaches generally like to be kept in groups of three or more. How long have you had yours for? Is it possible to get another one? However in saying that, my Zebra loaches seem quite happy in a pair. I was originally intending on having three but at the time I was buying, the LFS only had two available and were not sure when they were getting more. So I purchased just the two, and the LFS were to let me know when they had another. Looks like they forgot to do that cos its been several months and they still haven't contacted me. Check here http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile79.html

How often do you do water changes? How often do you feed??