Adrienne

You really need to tell us what fish you are talking about Sometimes fry are born with black spots, sometimes they develop as the fish matures, and sometimes it depends what you are feeding the fish on.

Peppering develops on discus which have the pigeon blood in them when the discus tries to blend into the background of the tanks. The less dark areas you have i.e. black background, dark areas, the less peppering there will be on the fish. They are not born with it, they just carry the genetics for it to develop.

Water change routine depends on what you want them to do and how big they are? Young small discus and breeding needs to be daily water changes and big ones. Bigger discus in planted tanks - 2 50% changes per week is what I do or more if I think the tank is not looking as good as it can. Low pH Not pristine for older bigger fish but as with all fish the best you can possibly get.

I use bleach, leave the tank to soak for twenty four hours and then a good wipe down, rinse out very well and leave in the sun to dry and neutralise any bleach left. Salt does just as well I believe.

mine are in a 120 X45 X 45cm tank - about 240 litres I think - you can get them made for about $90 up here and they are very well made. Well braced and 4 lids. If you want one of my pair they will be going cheap. I don't need this many fry.

Oooooh Jarren B - dat was norty of you :lol:

Great pic Caryl - I grabbed my camera and both batteries are flat :evil: If you can't see the line as in the photo don't purchase it no matter what you are told.

repeatedly produce without a male for over 8 months.

Would be lovely to come down Caryl but you should have seen the tanty my daughter threw when she found out I was not going to be here for her birthday (she was born on Queens Birthday weekend). So unfortunately conference is not going to happen. However my husband is going to the Sci Con conference in Nelson in July so maybe I might be able to come with him if its actually during the holidays and not the last week of term. If so I will rent a car and come over to blenheim to catch up with a few friends.

Having never owned one of more than 23 litres the only comment I can make is that I have read many times of owners having to add an extra cannister filter of some sort to increase the filtration. If its a little tank I would think about what you are putting in it as I know some fish with larger fins and tails struggle with the current that overhead trickle filters can put out and end up sucked into the powerhead pumping the water up to the filter.

I am so so glad humans can't :lol:

You have a very nice looking tank Caryl. I've seen it a few times in photos and it always looks great.

A flying fox is not an SAE but a blackline flying fox is. The difference is that with a true SAE (otherwise known as the blackline flying fox) is that the blackline extends right through the body and through the tail. If you can't see the black line in the tail then no matter what anyone tells you it is not the true SAE. I purchased three supposedly of these last year and I couldn't see the line on one of them. True to the end, this one is not the SAE and while it mixes and mingles with the other two it doesn't contribute to the tank cleaning much at all. In saying this, now mine are about 10cm long, they would rather eat the fish food and only really use the plants and driftwood as resting places for their great bulging bellys.

thats just :lol:

My sterbais tend to stay under cover until the evenings when the place quietens down and then they are out in groups playing around and scooting around the tank.

Agreed - they are very nice little fish.

Well they have spawned again (2 pairs again this time). No more space so I guess they will have to remain in the big tank where eventually they will become dinner. I do the bolivian rams easy to keep but I do not find the blue or gold rams easy to keep (in fact I can't keep them alive at all). Atm I still have about 50 fry from the first lot and about 200 fry from the last lot I siphoned off so thats enough. I don't have any more stand space and I don't have time for any more tanks atm. I currently have 5 tanks of newly hatched fighter fry to look after as well.

If you think the microworms are revolting now, wait until the mix starts to go off. Good to hear the bbs hatched. Sad to hear about your fish. Are the others all okay?

The ammonia reading being up and then down indicates a spike which shows that your tank is cycling. I would tend to think that given the fact that you are doing daily waterchanges that is why the readings have gone back down so yes you probably do need to test the nitrites still but not daily, every few days until you are sure they are okay. In general by the time you have reached the end of the first month cycling should be completed. An ammonia spike may have done some gill damage to some of your fish which if only a short sharp small spike will not necessarily show immediately. The other thing to realise is that not all fish you purchase will 1. be healthy 2. cope with the stress of a new tank. Sometimes for no reason you can work out a perfectly healthy looking fish can just pretty much drop dead. Brine shrimp can take up to 48 hrs to hatch, but generally start at about 20 -24 hours. Do you have microworms (grown in like a porridge/yeast mix) or whiteworms? With microworms I just harvest using a tooth pick to scrape them off the sides of the container once they start to move up towards the lid.

Typical NZ post - they said '1-3 days'. No matter what it looks like when it arrives plant it as it will pick up quite quickly I hope and if it does not I will send you some more.

Thanks Ron - they all seem okay today.

No you can't have it :lol: I have spawns from the black green male (top left) and the pink plakat male atm. Nearly all of the others I have sold in the last week.

Yes one does start and then most of the others join in. Since I posted I have done another water change of about 45% and cleaned out of the fx5. They have stayed down since and happily eaten their dinner as well so it will be interesting to see what they are like tomorrow. I had forgotten about the way discus sulk so you may well be right :roll:

I actually think you have done very well. With regards to the tank spiking - have you actually had ammonia readings. If so and if they have gone away then you should be okay. My suggestion is that if the fish is still at the top I would water change daily for a few more days and then cut it down to once every two days for about 10 days and then extend it out a little more although fish will benefit from a couple of changes a week. Do tests at each change and once everything is clear for a couple of weeks just test when you think something might be wrong. The reason I was wondering about your location is that I am in Epsom and I am having trouble with my big tank which has been running for over two years. In the last few days my discus have been up at the top of the tank, yet I am running an airline and all readings are fine. In my other tanks I have a slimy white algae which shows up within 12 hrs of a tank being set up. I am wondering if something has been added to the water here. In saying that I did another 250 litre water change today and at this stage they have come down to mid tank level.

Have the plants arrived yet Joe? If not and they don't get there until Monday even if they look a bit sad plant them any way. The smaller ones will most certainly take off and look good quickly but not sure about the red plant - give it a try anyway if it has the look you want.