Chazza404

eels are awesome ive got a tyre track in a planted with 7ish pH, and would like to get a fire eel too which id thought about trying in an african tank. Most eels in the market are from various parts of asia so they're used to a neutral pH, i'm unsure of acclimitising them havn't really seen any articles about it but its probably possible iirc theres a malawi eel I cant remember the name at the moment but its used to the high pH bit bland looking tho mainly brown etc ill find out a bit more and try get back about it tonight

Why not have them all the following is from an article on cichlid forums (my favourite african site :lol: ) you might like to have a read of this article on clown loaches in the african aquarium, http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/clown_loach.php "Although research outside of the cichlid community indicates that clowns prefer soft water with a pH no higher than 7.5 – many cichlid keepers will vehemently deny that opinion." the author also goes on to say she slowly acclimitised her clown loaches up to a high pH 8+ I'm planning on having my clowns in my large african tank when its running and going by this method, awesome fish really cute you'll love em hope that helps

Ive heard of skunk loaches to be eye eaters not so much clowns and theyre pretty peaceful in my experience, they don't have teeth but do have a barb type thing behind their eye which they can use to nip ya so doubt it was a bite

terracotta pots raise pH? i use both and they work fine, you can give them a scrub and pour some boiling water over it before you put it in your tank which will kill any nasties etc ive come across some hollow pieces of driftwood which were nice sized and gives them something to munch on; turns out mine (old pic) is the most popular type of wood in my catfish tank ^^ damn things have stripped it and eaten right through one side

I was watching this and other arowana videos last night on youtube came across the monster fish keepers one which was of a half doz red arowanas in a tank and they were dropping some live fish in man those small ones were jetting around all were eaten though was good fun for the arowanas i bet

Duno i cant see it either i think its broked, really nice front on pic there MarkLB :bounce:

I've found it can take them a bit of time to acclimatise to a new tank and also time if pH buffered etc, Some people plant into a ceramic pot with gravel or an aquatic mix type in it so the plant can grow easier in african tanks

Ive got a school of 10 and they get up to all kinds of mischief, including hovering vertically or all trying to swim up this corner of the tank, i hand feed them as well and they shovel along the surface eating up flake so theyre not really shy

get 12+ people to stand in one spot and jump up and down? :lol:

So i've finally gotten around to putting up some pictures of a few of my tanks since my camera has arrived. There's a few more pictures for each tank so click the links for more if you like or even the link in my signature, heres a few samples: 200L Planted Community Full Tank Shot Pictus, BN, GBA and Yoyo loach in back Tyre Track Eel Fish list: Loach Clown Yoyo Other Kuhlii Cichlid Angel Kribensis Catfish Port Hoplo Pictus Chocolate Albino Plec Bristlenose GBA Other Tyre Track Eel --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 125L Peacock The Gang Dominant Male Fish List: Cichlid Aulonocara Hansbaenschi "Red Shoulder" Catfish Bristlenose --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80L African Full Tank Shot Side Shot Fish List: Cichlid Electric Yellows Kenyi (Metriaclima lombardoi) NB: Originally when I bought the 'blue' fish I was under the assumption they were Pseudotropheus Demasoni (that's what I bought them as) that had weak bars but now am pretty sure they're Kenyi. Catfish Bristlenose --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plans for future I have a 356L tank sitting in my garage waiting for me to take it to have the bottom fixed (was cracked during moving from a friends), after I get that resolved and save up some money i'll look into setting that up with my peacocks and some E Yellows possibly some catfish (Port Hops or Pictus) or even Clown Loaches. The Planted Community I'd like to get a better lighting system and organise my DIY co2 better so that there's no BBA And to start backtracking in terms of tanks running so I have 4 or so specialised display tanks and shut down my smaller tanks. Any comments or feedback very welcome, thanks for checking this out Also thanks to the local wellingtonians, people from KMAC, and this forum who have helped me with any questions or getting started in this awesome hobby

lol the port hoplos are tough theyll be fine females possibly larger and thicker in shape; sexing pictus doesnt really matter that much since they've never been bred in captivity as far as i know cept maybe in germany they get up to some crazy stuff :L

theres some pics up in my signature but ill try throw some up tonight in cichlid forums for my peacock and e yellow tanks etc

Yup definately a pictus congrats

Ok cool, pictus have a shiny metal looking skin with the black spots on it, the pectoral and dorsal fins have the spines which look like a white plastic bone on the leading edge and yea about 6 whiskers differing in length, pictus can differ in behaviour some people find theyre one of the most active fish in their tanks other that theyre a bit reclusive i got two as they can be more comfortable in groups but after one died from CO2 poisoning the other became quite active swimming up and down the sides of the tank still likes to sit in his own corner most of the time they can be predatory as well if hungry mine ended up eating 21 neons and then took a bite out of a female blue ram usually i only find this if they go without food for a night or so, but theyre cool fish to watch and i find them to be quite the individuals

hmm from what ive seen pet stores usually charge more for pictus than synodontis i got mine for $50 each this is a pic of a pictus they basically all look the same cept for some geopgraphical differences affecting their spots layout, theyve got sharp spines on pectoral and dorsal fins which can hurt too as Jammos said its really up to your judgement or if you could put up a pic that'd help i.d it even more, if it turns out to be a syno u should ask your pet store about it in case they over charged you, hope that helps

badbuzz wont be able to make it this time got a birthday thing on, ill try for next month tho have fun

Looking good man nice job, makes me want a dedicated room

looks pretty cool :lol:

lol that is awesome

Just one male in there and he seems pretty peaceful towards the other fish havn't seen any aggression, who knows maybe just bad luck

Ive got a few kribs which i got off Spidersweb before he left (thanks ) and had them in their own tank till the heater stopped working and then moved them into my main planted tank. Anyways the other day i saw one of the females lurking around the bottom by some driftwood not really moving, it died later that day, the following day after i had come home from work i found another dead female floating on the surface and today another female about to die (almost white and was upside down sucked to side of the filter pipe). From what I can see the symptoms are heavy breathing, hanging round surface or bottom by themselves, loss of balance (not staying upright) and don't seem to be using anything other than pectoral fins for movement. The only other thing to occur recently in this tank is a female blue ram with an eye swelling possibly infection or scratching (moved to quarantine tank for time being will put up pics when possible), ive tested all parameters and theyre fine and constant for this tank: pH 6.8/6.9, ammonia nitrite nitrate all 0, slightly hard GH. Any thoughts would be appreciated, hmm mystery fish deaths for the loss

afaik tyre tracks are basically the same as fire eels in terms of other eels as tank mates, i got got a 12cm tyre track hes so cute :lol:

u sure that wasnt for P.E. trying to get you to exercise

Black Wooden hood or just glass panels

heres a DIY guide for UG jets :lol: :lol: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ug_jets.php