carla

So did you all go? I remember it was severe fun when i went many many years ago

A photo would be appreciated

Ask him

I took a stone from my severely algae'd Jordanella tank and put it in with the Julidochromis when I first had the transciptus kids and they were on it all the time. if they ate the algae or just the creepy crawlies that must live in it I don't know, but the algae got less on the stone and the transcriptus grew like mushrooms. Only drawback is of course to watch out that the algae isn't going to go and settle everywhere in their tank as well, as they won't keep it under control (nor do the hordes of Jordanella either in their tank!). So I put it in the middle of the white sand in the front and removed it when the first long threads went looking for somewhere to attach.

What are you feeding your demasonii? Do they need additional algae for grazing? or can they live on zuchini or lettuce as a substitute greenery?

Hmmm - must be doing something wrong then, cause my transcriptus babies are now over half grown, nearly as long as the parents, just not "filled out" yet. They came out of their cave about 2mm long and that was just before Xmas!

Yes it can. It damages the internal organs including the swimbladder. So if there was a loud "Bang" that everybody could hear in the lounge - I am sure that the poor fish would have had internal damages too. Unfortunately it seems that most people look for chemical problems first, but fish are very susceptible to sound waves, which seems not to be taken into account. Remember how people used to fish in Sout America, Greece and Asia - with explosives. The fish would just float onto the surface - still alive, but damaged - and people would pick the ones off that they either wanted to eat - or sell to the Aquarium Trade....

Ira might be 100% right there - as I have seen blonde guppies looking the same on the picture as golden or yellow ....

Cory babies actually do extremely well in very dirty tanks with lots of debris at the bottom. Exactly the opposite of many other fish kids! They tend to live IN the debris. I am constantly amazed of how many of them I can fish out of some of the big tanks when cleaning the tanks out after a year or two, sometimes a hundred or more ...

I would think that it was the shock wave from the exploding heater that damaged internal organs in the fish. We all know that kids shouldn't be knocking on the glass of the tanks because of that! So if that would be the case then no water changes will help, as the damaged fish will just die over a couple of weeks if they cannot "repair" themselves.

As a person that DOES sell guppies to pet shops - I can assure you the breeder does NOT make any money. Firstly a guppy that I sell for $1.50 to the LFS (and they will not pay more at any costs!) will be sold on for at least $5.00 - this is to get ALL the costs covered (by the pet shop): Rent, salaries, kiwisaver, insurance, phone, electricity, advertising, interest on loans to get the shop up and running, any deaths (as fish not always take kindly to go from one tank to another with completely different water parameters) etc etc ...... The $1.50 will of course NOT cover MY cost of raising said guppy - I am selling him cause I cannot just "compost" the poor fellows. This is what most LFS are happy about. If they buy imported guppies then they often have the so-called "guppy disease" which kills the fish very quickly - or at least it will kill all the guppies that I sell to the LFS - as mine wouldn't have any resistance to that disease. So if any fish shop has bought "lovely imported guppies" (as in females with coloured tails) - they have no other choice than to sell them for 10 or 15 dollars each - so long as they can keep them alive. I would strongly recommend that if you want guppies for keeps that you buy of a local breeder that has raised several generations in NZ - WITHOUT buying any off-shore fish in!!

Of course you can have a planted tank with cichlids. Maybe I should do some photos of mine? Just don't get the HUGE diggers in!

Why fish - you ask? Why not - I ask!

I usually look up in my books what I think is the problem - then get the vet to look it over with me - and prescribe the antibiotics or whatever I cannot get over the counter. The pharmacy will then order the stuff in for me. Has always worked ok. What is your problem - or the fishes problem?

If the female survives long enough they are very easy to breed. He builds a bubble nest and then they swim around in a beautiful knot and lay eggs - thousands of them. He then shoos her away and looks after the nest and the hatching young. Best to remove the female at this stage. He picks the young up and spits them back into the bubbles if they drop out. Once he stops spitting them back and starts swallowing them its time to move him out as well.... The babies need green water and infusoria, which is pretty easy and also serves to hide them from each other LOL. When bigger they will eat anything really, I used to put some big daphnia in and they ate all the babies as they popped out. However they will not grow at the same rate and as I said above its difficult if you do not sort them according to size every week or two. They will just keep eating each other. They will breed in a cold water tank - no problems.