MrEd

Just bought 5 also but am having trouble getting them to eat any great volumes. They certainly are not pigs when it comes to eating and peck away at the odd white worm and then nibble slowly and then move onto the next morsal. My Black Widows on the other hand are like Piranah darting around and swallowing everything that comes in range and even my Rams are far more ravenous feeders. I cleaned the tank and they dissapeared for a day but are starting to come out again ... scare easily. What was their favourite food Banaro as my Daphnia numbers are running low?

Parents are outwardly free of any defects. They get a diet of Daphnia flakes and micro worms and I've just started adding a few drops of multi-vitamin to the microworm culture figuring rightfully or wrongfully it will be carried on to the fish? They don't like tubifex or Whiteworms but will go fruitfly maggots from time to time most of my fish seem to prefer the maggots to the flies for some reason .... texture? As for percentage probably 10%.

Cheers for your offer there Matt .... Fry on a Bender ... you don't watch Futurama by chance? Our LFS seems to have a good supply of dead and dying fish with a beut collection of skeletons in the turtle tank and gold fish laying motionless on the bottom with others bum up looking like they need a dose of peas to get a little movement happening! A dead Pleco and another skeleton in the display tank also .... not a good look and doesn't inspire confidence to buy !

Leopards actually! Is this common with them?

I seem to be getting more and more spine deformities in my fry and wondered if it was genetic caused from too much inbreeding or is it just an odds thing and will occur anyway? ... or dietary deficiency?

Did you read the link Caryl? It just mentioned them as "Potential Pests" and my comment was based on that link, though that admitingly was probably in warmer waters! Sorry to get your heckels up! 6 months ago I was given 8 and I now have more than 50 (and I'm not counting them) which seems like fairly quick breeding considering half were males.

What is so wrong with having live tubifex worms wriggling in the gravel? I have been purposfuly feeding an excess of them for my Kuhlis?

Thanks for that caserole! They sound like a potential Gambosia .... anyone from DOC on this forum???? I don't think that pic does them justice and I'm quite happy to take some pics wilson but I don't have a web page to put them on! The males, as in all life forms, are the best looking! ..... any females on this forum???? .... DOH!

I have about 50 (mostly young) in a 3 foot tank at the moment and want to know a bit more about them. I see White Clouds got a nice article written on them but there isn't much info on the net on Leopards .... maybe I need to use that Latin name? Where are they native to and what temp is needed to keep them breeding? I did notice when it got cold I had a lot of very young die off so put a heater in the tank set to 20 deg. C and haven't lost one since ... maybe coincidence? I also was considering selecting out the best coloured (spotted) and only breeding them ... any merit in this? Cheers

Thanks everyone for the advice. I boiled the media for 10 minutes no salt added then microwaved it to partly dry it, followed by placing it in a couple of trays and putting in the sun to dry totally. Then washed the parts in a saturation point salt solution where it stopped disolving in hot water. I let it cool and added the plastics and sponges. I will buy some benificial bacteria culture and soak the media (fill the canister) in a solution of that when putting it together to use, figuring the dry media will suck up the bacteria better than wet. I think I've used a bit of all the ideas and thanks for everyones 50 cents worth! Cheers

Do you feed yours on yeast as I'm wondering if this is the cause? Cheers

Hi all. I've been feeding out some Daphnia and noticed some, not just the old ones, are covered in fungal filaments! Is this normal for Daphnia at this time of year? I feed the Dahhnia on yeast at the moment and am wondering if this is the cause, or is it the fading light, and if it is harmful to my fish? Cheers

Ahh yes boiling .... a good idea. The sound of salt to clean the other bits is probably the best if it works well as then I don't have to worry about flushing killer chemicals out of everything! Cheers and thanks for your help!

I just bought a 2nd hand Eheim and wondered how to approach the problem of setting it up. I am currently running a Resun (useless piece of something unpleasant that sticks to your shoe) and needs replacing and intended to use most of the bacteria charged media where I can. How do I treat (clean) the Eheim as far as avoiding the possible introdction of parasites and disease .... or am I being paranoid. :-? I know alot of people who got out of fish and sold off all there gear because of nasties in the tank killing their fish and they had enough!

I need a new bag, impeller and seal. Is it worth fixing up? Thanks everyone for the info!

Hi all. I have bought a second hand Diatom filter XL and am having trouble sourcing parts and when I contacted the manufacturer (USA) they don't seem to willing to help out as they only sell to retailers. Any suggestions as I hope I haven't bought a lemon. Broadlands only have impellers! The other thing these filters used to be the bees knees but is the technology obsolete?