nemines

Hmmm, well i didn't win big wednesday so i guess i'll settle for the royal whiptails then :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

just curious... I'm looking to get a pair of a cool, mini pleco to try and breed. either that or royal whiptails... anybody had luck with the zebra? i remember seeing some at HFF aaaages ago but they weren't for sale...

have you been injecting extra CO2 into the tank? that might make them grow a bit faster...get the old global warming effect going there!

How long did it take you to catch 200 shrimp?? cool setup ...i dream of setting up a river biotype with a huge overflow at one end and heeeeaps of current coming from the other end....if only it were legal to keep trout...they're so colourful!

your generalisation is pretty much spot on ryan I nearly always stripped my females, so i can't be sure how good the fry are at avoiding death.... Stripping allows you do to a stock take of how many fry you have and it means that your female can take as few as 2-3 weeks to recover before spawning again. However, sometimes they do 'trickle breed' with only a few eggs which allows the females to kind of eat around the eggs so it is kinda hard to tell which to strip...When i stripped one female i thought i should check the rest, just to be sure...she had 12 wrigglers but another had 3 fully free-swimming spotty dubs in her throat! she probably would have released them eventually but i had cuckoo syno's, rainbowfish and probably a few hungry duboisi....Though, when they were breeding and the female failed to pick up an egg at the first turn, the male did pick them up and wait for her to lay another before spitting it out so she could pick it up!! not sure about how he would react to fry tho :roll:

200 F (93 C) shouldn't cook away too many nutrients, in some cases eg carrots, cooking can enhance the vitamins...the recipe says this warmth is needed to help it bind together.... still, fish eat stuff raw in the wild so why not replicate that? :roll:

yep, when i had my duboisi it took them a few times to get it right...eventually i learnt to strip them after about 13 days (temp at 26 C) and then raise the wrigglers in a large plastic container pegged to the parents' tank with an airstone, meth blue and patience (when moving the eggs/wrigglers don't let them come into contact with air, use a dip-tube or large straw to move them about, i found that worked best for me). Hope this helps

looks good :bounce: ...any particular reason for using aragonite in the substrate? what's your pH like?

yeah as said above, for oxygen, plants are the best as they release it in its dissolved form with bubbles only noticeable once maximum oxygen saturation has taken place. In regard to Navarre's tank, it can be done but for optimum plant growth (unless growing pond-type plants) water movement is essential around the leaves to help them exchange nutrients and waste with the water column. If you are using CO2 then surface agitation should be minimalised and a surface skimmer can be installed to help keep the surface free of dust etc. All about finding what works best for you though!

u're welcome...should be cyrtocara moorii sorry.

blue dolphin....cyrtocara moori

an inch from the top of the tank is standard, you wouldn't want to make it too easy for fish to jump and if the water was right up against the glass, it wouldn't be good for oxygen exchange...if you don't want to see the gap, a hood could be an option....but it all comes down to what works best for you at the end of the day

pleco chips are also good, the fish can just graze on them and they're extra high in fibre!

yeah those fish are awesomely colourful!! i think the lighting plays a very important role in determining what colours really stand out....when i edited that photo of yours all i did was change the light balance

personally, i think it has been photoshopped.... here you go ryan, yours is fantastic!!!

yeah tank pic!! how's the CO2 going now?

looks pretty good. hope your stand is strong enough!

ooops just saw that it's already been mentioned by limnophila :oops:

is that a touch of ambulia in the background?

your julies would probs appreciate some shrimp or high protein foods...but delivering it to them alone might be difficult...however, i did used to feed freeze-dried tubifex to my tropheus once a fortnight mixed with green foods...but as far as i'm aware bloodworms are a definite NO for your demonsoni and yellows.

indian fern would be good as a floating plant...it sucks up heaps of nutrients and i think has been proven to release natural antibiotics....

wicked rose!!! there, i'v gone and made it 74 :lol:

I definitely wouldn't mix keyholes with convicts and jewels, they would get hammered ...150L isn't very big and the standard rule is 1cm of fish to 2L of water...Also, American cichlids aren't like Mbuna or Tropheus in that overcrowding would just lead to undue stress and a lot of fighting.... what are the dimensions of your tank? surface area is key for overcrowding and territory size. just proceed with caution

you can get adapters with 5 way valves....whatever works for you though...

PROVIDED the plants stay healthy and grow, otherwise the bio load will increase as the plants break down. as mentioned a filter and frequent small water changes will be your best bet 8)