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No -I'm here no worries. I was just out fishing- got some nice Kingi's on 'live baits'.

As with Ryan- it is a slightly unusual mix but can see no reason why it can't work. I too have kept rainbows with africans and they do Ok in a group. Make sure the Kribs have plenty of cover/shelter If you keep groups of the different cichlids then they can tend to mix among themselves. You can always have a rogue individual that can come along and upset the cart-so keep that in mind. I have seen similar set ups on other forums where they have mild American cichlid like firemouths and or loaches in the mix. Other fast moving and larger schoolers like columbian tetras would also work. I think if you focus on water quality and consistency a fairly neutral PH will be fine for all your fish .

how valid and current is this info

So when is a fish a fish. I just stripped a Red Empress after 8 days looking for Cuckoo syno fry. There were no syno fry so I fed the eggs/fry back to tank. Murderer? :dunno: Even worse I was using Empress as a Surrogate Mother without even a mention of a contract. Now I'm freaking she's going to go for custody of the syno fry. :facepalm:

Yeah -the first heating bill for a 4000ltr 'pond thing' is going make Goldfish look pretty good. Get some shubs, fantails etc-at least they will be seen and have some interaction with people and the whole project will have some "shelf" life. Turtles too- but could be expensive to set up

I like your set up 'beets' and agree about 'sticking it out'. I'd be tempted to leave Dems and yellows to grow out- I'd personally add more yellows to get to 10. Yes- funny with the Rusty's. I could hardly give them away when I had them- they would be a good addition to a set up like yours- maybe hang out for some of Matto's. I would be weary of Aurora- I think they would just take over and be out of balance with others, and eventually be 'out of scale' too. Never had albino socolofi, so not sure of them. I'd be tempted to fill the top area with more peacocks and mild haps. I think a few more of those species would be good for tank balance and keep the existing ones occupied. Something like Maleri gold or a nice Dragonsblood could give you the orange you're after. So could a kadango Have you got another shot of your Baenschi- head looks quite 'jakeish' in that one. I love Giraffes but if they are going to go may as well be sooner than later. Lumpheads are cool and real characters. I only got rid of mine as they squabbled too much with my syno's. As with ryan- I think you can stock that sized tank quite heavily, especially when fish are young and weed out things to get the right dynamic over time. I'll be weeding out a few young male hap/peacocks that i'd be raising for my male tank and that are excess to needs soon. if you are interested PM me.

Hi blackjack. Sorry to hear of your losses. with all the experience available no-one seems to have asked some obvious questions like- Do you know the names/species of the fish you or do you have photo's? Do you still have them -can you post pics? Seems the diagnosis has -ironically enough- been reached with very little information. 24hrs from healthy fish to dead and dying suggests that there could well be other reasons. Do you know the types of fish you already had? How compatible are those species with the new ones? As David has noted in a very 'wikipedia way' the diverse range of cichlids means they have a diverse range compatibility. We often think of African cichlids from the 'Rift Valley lakes' and many of these are not compatible with each other even if they come from the same lake- and even less so if they are from other parts of Africa. I think we fellow forumers can be more helpful to you if you let us know what sort of fish you have, what fish you got and what sort of fish you would like to get, as well as things like tank size etc.

That is an awesome reef display alright! Port Waikato- the view is probably even better outside

Awesome! I had some a few years back and they are lovely fish Not only is it good to see them around again- even better that this time they may be here to stay with your efforts- good luck with them.

I think the issue with the L46 is when someone breeds them and looks to sell direct rather than through a wholesaler or retailer, and in reality it would only be retailers or wholesalers that would ever make money out of a NZ Bred L46, but I wonder if money-try reward is the heart of any of the breeding attempts. They may not get to the $40-$60 mark like L270, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got to the $150 mark in a generation or two if breeding colonies are well managed. There are obviously a number of people with breeding colonies of L46 out there of varying ages, so supply could easily outstrip demand should all or some of these people succeed in breeding. The market here for 'top shelf' fish ihas proofed itself limited. I guess the only unknown influencing factor is the potential to export I think the comparison to Fronts is valid and has merit. The $ amounts may be different but I think the % drop over time could well have similarities. I would agree that numbers and difficulty in breeding would alter the curve if the dollar value were the same. With the chance of at least another breeding setup succeeding the numbers of fish will increase incrementally over time and the current price (1/2 that of a yr ago) will no doubt lead to more breeding colonies set up, and hopefully the knowledge of successful breeding being shared, so creating a cycle. The Person who forked out the $200 per Front and sold fry for $100 is ultimately the key to them being $10-15 Lets hope that is the case with L46. The difficulty of breeding will come down to individual breeders for sure, and the ones that aren't successful will not be part of the program -Obviously. But I for one hope there are enough L46 in the country now to establish them for good in NZ this time around and move the cost well below its current mark.

Hopefully they bring in Spilonotus while their at it. A nice 'Royal' would be a welcome addition to my tank for sure Nice mix Likoma- do you plan stocking them as juvies

Hi Synos are pretty resilient so it should heal by itself. You could try salts which wont do much or something like 'melafix' which in correct doses shouldn't bother the Discus. How do you think it happened-does the Featherfin have a decent hidey hole big enough to hide away? It is not uncommon for synos to burn themselves on heaters also as they try to hide behind them.

Congrats. Most people use larger haps as host fish like Giraffes,electras, red empresses etc so reason for more fry as larger mouths. Feed something like shrimp tabs. Growth rate is amazing.

WHAT!!! No Barry White! Doomed to fail :lol:

Can be anything from very short time up to days. I've see. Mature proven females go into cave-have a wee wriggle with male and out in an hr Younger/inexperienced fish could take a lot more persuasion and this can often be the most precarious time for them.

stop all feeding during the power outage or anything that may stretch bio of the tank. 20% water change of similar temp to what is in tanks if you have facility to heat water- toss buckets in and let that be aeration. Battery air pump would be handy I think IRA is spot on with his scenario. I have generator as with kiwi plymouth but wouldn't bother for anything less than 12 hrs. My advice would be not too do anything drastic during the outage- look to preserve a bit of heat but keeping heat with no filtration/ water circulation will only draw on the O2 reserves. the fish will 'hibernate' to a degree and you will be amazed how well healthy fish will cope. obviously this time of year is better than June where ambient temp will accelerate temp drop. Always pays to have some Methylene blue to add to tanks afterwards with letting the temp come up slowly and then passed normal temp a degree or two. Just may help with stress related things like whitespot. Most power outages are less than 24 hrs and i think well maintained tanks can endure that easily enough.

one week back on NLS after 3 weeks off No blue light with these shots-

Isn't it about context. In my 'eyes' ( the beholder) the tank is "teeny weeny" for the use we were discussing. I think that my control on the way my comments may be construed is only manageble to a point surely

I take your point Sunbird. My comment was to make a point. If I offended then I apologise. I am aware of the definition of nano as I was merely using it as a descriptive term in relation to this scenario But i would say there have been nothing but informative and supportive posts in this thread. As for tank sizes. I have tanks ranging from 20ltr to over 600ltr. The key is that each of these is suitable for certain uses and if not then experience has taught me problems WILL occur. We can only make suggestions, but as I wrote in earlier post it is fish_tank0311's prerogative at end of day.

Brichardi are Neolamprologus-same genus and general beahaviour as leleupi. Again- i am perplexed by your need to make what is in all essence a ' single species nano' tank into a community tank, and your view that a species only tank with such lovely and timid fish would be 'Boring' with tankmates that would be appropriate and suit the set up. with all the riches the internet supplies our hobby I would strongly suggest Wikipedia is not one of them.

I've had 6 spawns since changing things/water changes on monday. E yellows, chilumba and ruby peacock. red Empress and Electra( will halt them) and my two lonely dems have held a truce long enough to make life 8) This is a good time for seasonal breeders like pleco's IMO. Just had good barometric changes along with equinox and ambient temp rising. Feed hard, water change with temp rise and they'll go.

A subdominant fish knows what it is, and will behave accordingly. A leleupi with faded colour hovering up in a corner is not good when its natural behavoiur would be to be on the bottom amongst rocks. I would suggest it knows the score if it ventures south. This already- and we aren't even talking breeding behaviour yet. I bet when you know you are being watched for 10mins or so fish_tank0311 you are on best behavoiur. Then the car pulls out of garage and 'it all on" try setting video on remate timer and see what they do when your'e not there. HFF have said they'd take them back but if one is relly banged up they might baulk. And sorry mate- but simple truth is- if you want a community set up you need to think more about the very first criteria to make that happen-ie: a tank suitable for that setup. I hope it works out and you get it sorted before the 'almost guaranteed losses' occcur. PS: I think Ryan is offering you a couple of resolutions and endeavouring to solve problems before they occur. I hope the somewhat obtuse tone to your reply is a misread on my part.

Again- I presume all this is not happening in a 2ft cube SethG.

But the point is whether a 2 ft cube will allow the shellies to avoid the behaviour of the leleupi. I can see that both could coexist in a tank big enough wheret their territories can remain seperate. Neos like to make a home and defend it- they aren't marauders in my experience so it does come down to space which is lacking in this situation. I think too we need to differentiate between what is adequate, good and ideal. It is a sliding scale - as fish mature, and can be the difference between a long happy existence Vs survival

End of the day it's gonna be your call. I do think you need to take your tank size into consideration with any choices and the success of the mix as fish get older. You are looking at nice fish which aren't cheap. A few losses could end up costing more than a upgrade of tank :-? Not really many other option in Shellies dept