nemines

looks like tufa rock to me

Ian, i noticed that you're using an eheim pickup. wat do you think of them; would you recommend them and is it possible to replace the sponge with efhisubstrat pro for example?

awesome johannes, hope they work...mine are almost completely ignored by the cichlids and love to swim up and down the glass, against the current. it'd be interesting to watch them breed when they're older...though i'm not sure which i want to breed more, duboisi or cuckoos.... great pix!

i've read in a fish atlas that cuckoo synos will eat snails, removing their shells and eating the flesh... i recently got three of them for my duboisi tank but haven't really noticed a difference. i think they're either too small or too well fed :lol:

if you can keep duckweed under control it does make a good floating plant...it's been proven to release antibiotics into the water and, based on the colour and size of its leaves, can indicate the quality of the water for growing plants.

for a planted tank 2-4mm gravel is ideal for root growth

the difference between sag and val: sag: the longitudinal veins do not reach the tip. the transversal veins are perpendicular and numerous. val: the longitudinal veins reach the tips. few transversal veins, sometimes at oblique angles.

to get the water clear you could try a flocculant and fine filter wool. just ask at your lfs for water clarifier and get the one for particulates not for "new tank syndrome." use filter wool and keep using carbon and it should hopefully clear the water.

Are the non yellow labidochromis caeruleus available in new zealand, cos their latin name means that they're supposed to be sky blue, as the word for sky in latin is caelum...

if u've got room, you could get a hang on the back filter such as an aquaclear, they're very good and you don't need to take up too much tank space that way...cos it is only a 65L tank. aquaclear 30 or 50 should be fine... or if you wanted to spend the money you could get an eheim cannister filter, 2213, that would be good too. retail they're about $160-180, but im sure you could get a good deal on TradeMe or something......

6.1m long 2m wide and a water level of 0.8m (absolute height= 1.1m) so that's 9,760L volume

Here are some pics i had to scan them from a boook... the guys setting it up...1.2 tonnes of quartz 2-3mm gravel and 25L of Duplarit. of course that was after laying down 54m of undergravel heating cables... it contained over 700 fish when first set up, 20 different species -totally my dream tank

The Dupla aquarium was in one of the founder's house. it was a 10,000L fully planted aquarium which did automatic 500L water changes every day. absolutely amazing tank, but i hate to think how costly it was to maintain and set up.

you could always try...the tank isn't very deep so the light should be quite intense. how many watts is the bulb?

no news yet...i've got three holding females but whether any will go the full duration. i guess time will tell 8)

i've got three eheim auto feeders..they're brilliant and they have a fan to keep the food dry too. can program up to four different feeds per day pellet or flake eheim have also got a new type of feeder with two feeder boxes though i havent tried that one yet

a foot is 30.5cm so it's actually gunna be 6100L u'll get to go diving for maintenance!

depends, wat pressure do you want?

wat sort of fish will you be keeping?

ideally you should quarintine your fish for about a month before adding them to your main aquarium, but this can be a hassle especially if you only have room for one tank...

bristlenose can be added from the start and it is advisable to add algae eating fish as early as possible to get it thoroughly under control before the algae has a chance. however, if you find that the bristlenose really does look in desperate need of food , they do also eat flakes or anything really....

remember, understocking is always better than overstocking!

i would recommend 1cm of fish for every 2litres of water...though you probably could add more if ur filtration is excellent and u r regular with your maintenance...

here is a very good link concering an evaluation of both the eheim 2080 and the FX5 http://biotope.multiply.com/reviews/item/2

got up this morning and found one female with a brood she didn't have last night and another female halfway through spawning...i saw her pick up at least 6eggs and her mouth was bulging already before she picked them up! i think the spawns were triggered by the 60% water change i did on saturday and the feeding of mysis on sunday....... here are some pix i managed to take: if you look carefully you can see the outline of eggs in her throat...though spawning hasn't stopped yet! she can barely close her lips now.....