Warren

It seems they have all sorts of temperaments. I know someone with a few of a similar size that are very placid. Most articles you read about Pacu state they grow to compliment the tank size. Once they hit 200mm+ they do slow down in growth rate. Maybe because they are normally not aggressive they have evolved to grow fast to maximise their survival rate in the wild.

You probably won't find anything to keep the plants down that the fish won't upset. If you do then the plant probably won't like it. Best measures to stop Jurupari's digging up plants is to move the plants or Jurupari's.

Eheim is more expensive because its better. If you want long-term reliability and zero maintenance (other than cleaning) go with Eheim. I've had several Eheim's and several Fluval's. I'll never buy a Fluval again...

Didn't say they were mature, just big. I've seen 5 month old Discus that are 100mm diameter. This is easily young adult size.

Sounds about right. They will probably still grow a quite a bit yet. How much and how often do you feed them and what type of food? Most Discus take 1.5 to 2 years to reach adult size. Some grow faster, some slower. Keep in mind that ones that grow big in 4-5 months are fed 5-9 times a day. You are doing waterchanges big enough for pretty good growth rates.

Discus are cool fish and very easy to keep. There seems to be some strange myth behind keeping them for no good reason. I've kept well over 40 Discus as display fish in the last 8 years. I have lost only 4. One jumped out before I knew they jumped. One got stuck under a rock. Two did the panic and smash into something thing Discus are well know for. Of the first 2 dozen I bought, I sold 23 to mates after about 2 years, - got tired of Red Turquoise! (one jumped out). The next dozen or so lived for 7-8 years before dying from old age (I didn't have all of them for the whole 8 years,- got most at 3-4 years old). I'm now on set 3, all of which are 1-1.5 years old. There have also been the many I've bought and sold as my tastes have changed + the ones I've bred.

Barbecue anyone?

Of course they cool. Removing thermal energy from a mass is a pretty good definition of cooling. The heatsink required is not that big (approx 150 x 150 x 200mm) with a 150mm fan running at 50% spped will do it. The heatsink mentioned will dissipate 600W with 30'C rise so no worries, - no heat spreader required either. Heatsinks are not a problem. They are readily available for well over 10kW with 40'C rise. The peltier is not used as a space heater in winter. By reversing the polarity on the peltier it works to heat the tank by drawing energy out of the air and adding it to the electrical input energy. You just need to make sure the heatsink is outside so it does not cool the room.

Me too. Best you buy a box of chocolate fish as people are going to be queing up for them soon... 8)

Nemo Found!!! http://community.webshots.com/photo/909 ... 5669gWjVLf

Firstly, Nitrates are not harmless. They are less toxic than ammonia and nitrite but still noxic. Long term exposure to high nitrate levels usually causes organ failure in many fish. Some fish are more sensitive than others. Some planted tanks if lightly stocked have very low nitrate levels. In fact the level has to be quite low to grow plants without algae problems. Discus are a good example of fish that release hormones into the water. These hormones inhibit growth. If a bunch of baby Discus are left alone in a tank with very few water changes they grow very slowly (especially if there are adults present). Most good Discus breeders do 90% water changes twice a day. This helps makes the Discus grow to full size in 4-5 months. Check out this article: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/aquarium-conditions.0.html

Here are a couple of DIY options but they require a little technical knowledge. 300L is quite a lot to cool using ice. I have trouble keping my 1200L tank at 28'C in summer. It easily gets up to 34'C if left alone. Right now its at 30'C because we've had a hot week. Summer is not even here yet. It takes 25 bags of ice to cool the tank from 32'C down to 28'C. I used to use the water I feed to my RO unit to ccol the tank. I plumbed in a stainless steel coil of tube that sat in the trickle filter. It worked as a simple heat exchanger. Now I've moved and the RO is not suitably placed to pumb in anymore. I'm now looking at using Peltier devices to cool the tank. The peltier devices will be mounted to an aluminium block with a stainless steel tube running through it. A heatsink and fan mounted to the other side of the peltier's will get rid of the heat. Water from the tank will circulate through the stainless tube to get cooled. I calculated 300W of peltiers will be required in the peak of summer to keep the tank at 27-28'C. You would need a similar sized system (maybe only 200W) as your temperate differential is much bigger. It will cost about $500 to make this system. Its still a lot cheaper than importing a chiller, but not cheap. The other great feature is in winter the polarity can be reversed on the peltier and used as a heater. The bonus here is you get a 2:1 heat ratio, ie 300W electrical energy in, 600W heat energy out (approx). How Peltiers work: Essentially a peltier has two sides usually made from a ceramic material. One side gets hot when you pass electric current through it and the other side gets cold. If you change the polarity then the sides that get hot and cold swap.

Oops, just looking at the photo again it looks like you actually have 3 braces. Still go with 200mm minimum width.

Jeez that was lucky! Looks like the strip along the front and back is only about 50mm wide and 6mm thick! That’s why the glass has let go. It needs to be replaced with a single 100mm wide strip a minimum of 10mm thick. You could go to a 50mm and a 75mm joined together with the 75mm on top. The front to back braces look about 100mm wide. These should be 200mm. 2 braces are ok if you use the thickness mentioned. A 200mm wide piece at each end should also be used. Due to the overlap of the 100mm front and back strip and the 200mm front to back strip you will have an area 100x200mm overlapped and full of new silicone. It will take several weeks for this to fully cure. You may want to look at using a 2 pack silicone just for this area as it will cure in 24 hours to 100% strength. Don’t worry, this type of failure is not due to the tank being unlevel. It is purely due to the tension on the front to back brace. An unlevel problem usually causes the bottom to crack or one of the long side panels (front or back). The sides seldom crack unless they are made from thinner glass. What are the exact overall dimensions of the tank?

Wait until the plants start producing roots at leat 50mm long. Carefully break the plant off the runner. You should find 2 plants at each node, 1 each side of the the runner. Use your fingernail to gently break the plant off. Do not try to pull it off using the leaves as it will break off leaving the base and roots behind.

Paul, It looks similar to osiris but the leaf is not quite the right shape. Can Ech osiris cross with other swords? Its also lacking the red that osiris has but that colud be due to lighting and iron levels.

Paul should know, he's only been growing aquatic plants forever. I do exactly as Paul says and it works really well. If I want more plants I also replant the bottom part of the plant. It then branches 2 or 3 times and creates new stems. Sure the tank looks crappy for 1 week until its grown 300-400mm - enough to harvest and throw the bottom part of the plant away. This way you can triple the number of plants you have in a couple of weeks.

If you move the Barbs, Redtail Shark (very bad with Discus), Electric Yellows and Kribs out Discus will be fine. With a tank this size you could happily keep about 6 Discus. Get them all at once as Discus develop a pecking order and more is better so no one gets picked on too much. Blue Rams are nice fish but there is a very good reason why they die in community tanks. The Rams have a very strong breeding drive. They will pair-off and try to breed very easily. In most community tanks the breeding is usually unsuccessful. The male fish kills the female in response then in turn sulks and dies a week or two later. Most people find it difficult to keep Rams alive for more than six months.

Sounds like a classic case of someone calling a fish a 'Common Name' when they haven't the faintest idea what it really is. There are several types: Colossoma bidens, Piaractus brachypomus and Colossoma macropomum. Piaractus brachypomus is the smallest of the three growing to only about 450mm in large aquariums (200-300mm normally). As the name Colossoma indicates the other two grow very large (up to 2000mm in the wild). The name in itself is a warning, Colossoma and Macropomum both indicate 'very big'. I had 4 of these fish that I purchased as Red Pacu with the scientific name displayed on the label also, - a credit to the pet shop. It turned out however that the importer or overseas distributor sent the wrong fish as was soon discovered. Six months after purchasing the fish they were 300mm long - they grow very fast. They have huge appetites too. Both a friend and myself had very bad experiences with Pacu. They are supposed to be very peaceful, but our fish attacked other fish and ate them. I lost 2 adult Nicaraguan's (170mm and 180mm size). I didn't see the first one disappear, it was just gone when I got home (no trace at all). The next day I lost a Surinamensis and all I found was a small piece of fin. The following day I was sitting watching TV when I heard a thumping in the tank. The 4 Pacu were attacking the other Nicaraguan. I didn't even get the chance to get a net to try to save it. In less than 30 seconds the 4 Pacu ate the whole Nicaraguan (bar a few little bits and pieces). Luckily I had a spare 400L tank. The Pacu were transferred to it. Now my Oscars and Surinamensis were safe. I rang Rob at the aquarium and told him, 'I have 4 Pacu about 300mm long, do you want them? If you don't we're having barbecued Pacu for dinner'. Lucky for the Pacu Rob wanted them. They are now happy residents of the National Aquarium of NZ. They're in with the two Pacu they already had. Now, they are peaceful and get on really well with the other fish in their tank, so a happy ending. The biggest warning I have for you about these fish is their size. You will need 750L per adult fish. So, if you want more than one you will need quite a big tank. I purchased 4 originally because the reading I'd done about the fish I thought I'd purchased said they would grow 200-300mm max. The tank I had for them was 1200L, big enough for the small Pacu species but far too small for the larger ones. This all happened over 2 years ago. The 4 Pacu are now approx. 500mm long and are fast catching up in size to the ones the aquarium already had.

I have sympathy. Alan, I know of several people who have lost large Arowana's despite having very good covers on the tank. They are natural jumpers, its how they catch their food if its not already in the river. One of my friends recently came home to smashed 6mm glass inside the tank and Arowana lying on the floor. It only takes an insect to land on the cover glass and they will have a go at it. This was a very big fish and it managed to break the glass.

No worries. You'll have to setup an overflow system. Just make sure the wet/dry filter has the capacity for all the tanks. You may also get away with only 1 heater - depending on how fast the water flow is. Make sure the overflow system is bullet-proof however. I had 22 tanks setup on this style of filtration. It only takes 1 tank to block up and water goes everywhere. Luckily I never had a full blockage so the system kept running, just a slow trickle onto the floor. Good luck.

Geez, at that price you'd expect them to grow up into a Discus! Cool looking fish. Pitty it doesn't go with my Amazon theme... I like the rare fish 8)

Hi Alan, It later so here goes. Gary not at meeting, sorry no update. I'll ring Gary tomorrow to see if any available. Will let you know... W.

Hi Alan, I'm going to a club meeting in a few minutes. I'll ask Gary if he's still got some he wants to part with. Let you know later. W.

There is an Aquarium in Manly too, can't remember it's name. It's pretty good too. I'll vouch for the Sydney Aquarium too, - its really good. If you are going north of Brisbane (up the Sunshine Coast), about half way to Noosa is a very good Public Aquarium too. Here is the address info for the 2 places I've still got cards from: Aquariums in Paradise 27-28 Warehouse Rd off (The Brickworks) Ferry Rd Southport Ph 5591 7311 Aquariums in Paradise is round the back of the main warehouse and can't bee seen from the road (Ferry Rd) On your way to Ferry Rd, there are several other Aquarium Shops. If you approach Ferry Rd from the Road next to Australia Fair. This takes you directly to Ferry Rd. There is a pretty good Aquarium shop about half way down. Between Ferry Rd and Warehouse Rd there are a couple of small side streets. There are a couple of Aquarium shops there too. Aquarium World (someone stolen the name of our magazine!) 3 Pittwater Rd (on the corner of Pitwater Rd and Raglan St) Manly Ph 9977 1758 Open 7 Days Have fun! Watch out for speed camera's!