smidey

plug it in and move the impellor and see if it spins

if it's a stand you need here's the thread for my 2.0m stand viewtopic.php?f=28&t=48784&hilit=+timber+stand+2.0

so don't start another tank, just leave them to it and any that make it are a bonus that you don't need to spend money on buying.

what's the issue with getting fry?

i noticed a drop in power usage when i put poly sheets around the sides and a woollen blanket on top of my big tank, It is in my uninsulated garage/rumpus room. i recently started saving money on power as well, the company i am already with phoned with special rates for new customers not realising i was an existing customer so i let him tell me what they were and argued with them until them put me on them to. :lol:

your 60T tank, does that have a hood and if so is there a place to put the canister piping through? IMO those tanks are too small for a canister, i have a 80L tank that i filter with two bubble filters which is more than enough.

i have left my canisters off over night and just turned it back on without any issues.

i wouldn't try to change your ph, leave it as it is and the fish will adjust and be fine as long as it stays reasonably constant.

i had 200 i couldn't sell for $2 so they weren't worth that at the time as i had already sold a hundred or more i guess. IIRC I was getting around 40 per batch and there were three females holding so the quickly became surplus. like anything, supply and demand.

why would i know them as feeder fish? wouldn't that be arowana keepers or something like that? the only feeder fish i have fed were red empress

mine grow quick as so i see no need to do any of these extra water changes. what's a leopard fish?

maybe it's something to do with the fish themselves, i recall reading something about some fish releasing some type of hormone into the water to slow down other fish's growth rate. i wonder if that applies to africans, in saying that mine grow plenty quick enough and i don't see the need to increase that.

fair enough but keep in mind that food makes them grow, not fresh water. Having enough filtration will negate the need for the water changes wouldn't it?

i have hailea air pumps and they are silent

i agree with over feeding but 50% WC's 1-2 times daily? that sounds over the top in my experience. Personally i have always over fed but never done more than 1 water change a week, just have plenty of filtration and maybe do two water changes a week if your concerned or see the parameters rising on your test kit. I always have food left in the tank so they can graze throughout the day. One method i use when they are very small, probably for the first 4 weeks or so i put them in a net in a large tank (300L) running a CF1000 canister. I make sure there is plenty of water flow through the net to stop the water in the net going bad and the fish get plenty of food. They grow surprisingly fast. I also just feed what i feed the adults, they small fish have no problems eating NLS cichlid formula and JBL novorift sticks.

what's the tap water's ph?

nice pics mate, well done

totally and often we have different experiences which is fair enough. I must have stripped near on 1,000 african fry and never had an issue that i can remember. I did have one peacock female that would spit them when you tried catching her, that actually made it quite easy as you simply had to net the fry.

gotta learn somehow, it's easy to do. no amount of hours looking at fish will make you "ready" to give it a go. did you watch the video i posted a link to at cichlid forum? that clearly shows how easy and quick it is.

the bucal cavity will expand or she may only have a few eggs which won't make her mouth swell much at all. In a few days as the eggs grow into fry the eggs will darken and so will her "chin" which will confirm it without actually looking in her mouth. i disagree with this advice, it is easy to do and far better for the malawians as they don't eat while holding. If you leave her to spit she will loose a lot of condition and you run the risk of loosing her. I often check if a fish is holding, just net her and open her mouth with your finger nail or something pointy but blunt, I use a roofing nail which works really well. I strip around day 16 or 17, that way they are free swimming and the female doesn't loose too much condition. here's a good video showing how easy it is. just stay calm when you first do it, i have done it dozens of times with a wide variety of africans and it is really easy once you have done it once or twice. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/stripping.php

i think you'll have more issues with bird poop or what ever else is in your gutters than the tiles leaching anything. We are on tank water so drink the water off the and the fish also get that water, no issues and our house is also close to the gravel road we live on.

cool vid, thanks for sharing

what will happen is the dominant male will want to breed with the female and will chase all other fish away from his breeding area and female, doesn't matter what species.

i agree. it's just a waste of creatures.

if they are solid particles then mechanical filtration will remove it. the more you filter per hour the faster it will be picked up. rinse the solids out of the filter wool or pads so it can hold more, it may be letting the particles back into the tank defeating the prupose of doing it in the first place.