Foxglove

From wikipedia: Basically the same as limestone formed like stalagmites!

Aww! Congrats on the baby rebreed too! :bounce: :bounce: Wonderful news!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Congratulations!!! What a fantastic day for you both - great photos too.

What fish should you cycle with for an African (Lake Malawi) tank? Platys or a higher pH tolerant fish?

Looks great! I like the effect of the pumice. The fish should be really happy with it too.:lol:

hiya! My only concern is that mollies (and to a lesser degree platys) prefer alkaline water and rams definitely prefer it acid. good luck!

Two of my SAEs lost their colour for about an hour or so while they had a little tiff - the others got involved too but didn't change colour - then they got their pecking order sorted and all were normal afterwards. Lovely fish!

That is seriously scary!

Kribensis, angels, and keyholes. ...soon to get Lake Malawi Africans. :bounce: :bounce:

Great Photos! Nice looking fish too. :lol:

Really interesting! thanks. I could go for that! I wonder if I could do a two-foot tank set up... :lol:

Beautiful fish, good tank! Suggestion - I'd be inclined to stand some of the driftwood up to get a little more height in the tank or find a taller tangled root piece that would give some narrow roots for the fish to interact around, higher up in the tank. Do uaru like to stay amongst the roots or free-swim above? I love the look of the wood floating - great shape to it!

If you have a glass lid over some of the tank then you will already have a humid enough environment to grow many mosses. If you really prefer it dryer, then choose something like lycopodium which looks like moss but can grow in dry places.

There are plenty of mosses about that you could use instead of Java moss - just go to your local stream and look what's growing in the damp places (or try the garden centre).

Hydrocotyle is good - medium-sized round leaves. It will cover but can be trimmed or pulled very easily.

Spirulina is an algae, but a very high protein one. Which is why we humans like it so much. :lol: I also found that spirulina-based flake made my tanks get more algae - however now I have bns and algae-eaters! As Bill Mollison said, "you don't got a snail problem, you got a duck deficiency!" :lol:

Fishboi wrote a good article in the Feb 07 Aquarium World mag on making a river tank. Well worth a look.

Oh and kribs are great! I love my pair that colour up regularly, breed well and give heaps of entertainment.

oh yeah, it does require work! I've just spent three hours pottering with my cory tanks, separating some fry into two different sizes, collecting more eggs and doing water changes. Where does the time go?? :lol: At least while you scrub you can be planning what will go in there...

Try rinsing the lime scale with white vinegar. You can also add vinegar to baking soda for extra dissolving power. Of course you have to rinse the tank well afterwards, but neither are going to remain or be lethal like petrochemicals.

I just left some java fern on a log outside in a bucket for a week. We had a couple of near frosts and some very hot days... - result was a lower water level, and the leaves out of the water died ( no surprise!) and the ones just below it went a silvery bronze colour, I guess they got burnt, either by frost or sun.

hi, another possibility is Neolamprologus pulcher or N brichardi - also called daffodils, or Princess of Burundi. See http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a ... allery.php to check out details. These cichlids like a higher pH, and live together happily creating their own colony.

I think it is harder. It is as always a case of researching what the particular species likes/ needs and then providing that. Eg some like more turbulence, cold water changes, abundant food - things that mimic the rainy season. Good luck! Oh and Hutt Pets usually stock bronze cories, as well as several other species. :bounce:

Wow? Thanks both of you for your kind offers. I'm tempted. What type of syno is s/he? Planetcatfish has well over 20 species listed. corr, a whole lot more research! :roll: :lol: But until I choose the other fish (not to mention actually get the tank/substrate ect!) I don't want to say yes. I was wondering about a cleaner-upper, but was thinking bristlenose. Fishy, can I come see your fish sometime soon? I remember your cool corner tank set-up.

Sad for your loss. I breed pepper corys (which I like more than the bronze), and they are just as hardy. I have tried keeping the eggs/fry in both a livebearer breeder net and small containers with an airstone, and in my experience the small containers work better. I use microworms and crushed flake and daily water changes. I have schwartzi and brevirostris corys as well and they are much more skittish - the peppers will play in the open more than the others. Though every so often the brevis will do a synchronised swimming routine over and around the front glass! :lol: