Joe

Hey your back :bounce: :thup: Nice little tank there Personally I would go tropical - get a heater, ditch the minnows and put some nice plants in there and some Danio margaritatus You could have a nice wee group of about 10 or so in there quite happily. Or you could get some Boraras briggitae. Just my opinion though. If you want to keep it coldwater that's fine

Awesome! Apart from the ric in the photo do you have any other different species/colours?

Cool I love the ricordea :thup: How much did all those cost?

Photos pleases? :bounce: I love zoas!

Yep that sounds good :thup: Nah you don't need to add compost. In fact I've never heard of this idea but it would probably be way too rich and cause lots of problems. For a breeding tank you really don't want to complicate things. Just use JBL Clay Balls under the plants, and you can use liquid fertilisers like Seachem's Flourish line. Also remember that when the fish breed you will have lots of growing fry which will add a lot of ammonia and nutrients into the water through their poo. So you don't really need a nutitious substrate, just a few JBL balls if you want.

Wow awesome photos Looking forward to more :bounce:

Wow that's such an amazing photo Brilliant work :thup:

Found him (I think) :happy2:

I did a water change on the tank and then acclimatised the fish for over an hour. They are swimming around and are looking very happy. I don't think it was the fact that I had stripped and cleaned the tank etc - I've done this in the past with other fish and I have had no problems. I think it was pH shock from the few extra leaves. They must be pretty potent. Also osmotic stress was probably involved too. I had saved a lot of the old tank water (which was already full of tannins from the old leaves) so this combined with the new leaves plus a few extra than last time is most likely the culprit. This would have been quite a shock for the fish. Thanks guys for your help Everything is good at the moment.

You can use plain dark fine gravel which you can buy from John at Organism. I used a slightly coarser grade (can't remember where I got it) but John's stuff is nicer. But dark stuff is what you want - the fish show their colours much more nicely. You want the tank to be densely planted. Things like Limnophila sessiliflora (Ambulia), Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas Moss), Microsorum pteropus (Java fern and varieties), Hygrophila polysperma (Dwarf Green Hygro), Hygrophila difformis (Water Wisteria) and Cryptocorynes are all ideal. Use a wide variety of plants. The ones that do well in your tank will take over. If you want them to do better use JBL Root Balls in the substrate (espescially under root plants like swords and Crypts) and you could also use liquid fertilisers if you want to. Seachem's Flourish line is great. For the fish to spawn, furnish the tank with some nice pieces of wood (and you can grow Java Fern and Christmas Moss on the wood). Redwood Aquatics (which is across the road from Willowbank) has a great selection of wood. Also you can use pieces of slate. Don't use artificial ornaments - they look grose and tacky. You don't need aeration. I never aerate my tanks. I only use aeration on my blackworm setup (which I didn't have at the time I bred my Laetacrara curviceps). You want a wee bit of water movement. Gentle circulation is important so the tank doesn't become stagnant in areas. Use good filtration. Personally I would buy a Fluval 305 or an Eheim Classic 2213 or 2215. Also they come with good filter media. The stock AR620 filtration isn't really going to do anything. I am not really a big fan of built-in filters or internal filters. Canisters are the way to go, espcially for raising cichlids. Keep the temp around 24-26, with slightly soft to neutral water (pH 6-7). Don't bother with dither fish. My pair were in a 90x30x30cm tank and just about killed them all! Dither fish aren't necessary for these guys at all, and IMO you would just be spending money unnecessarily.

Awesome thanks They spent the night in the bag. So I think I used too much oak leaves because they looked much happier when I put them in the bag which was diluted with the other tank's water. I will do a waterchange on their tank and check the pH and then acclimatise them

They really weren't looking good - I decided to put them in a bag in the other tank with around 60% of their water and about 40% of the other water. The bag is open and I just have the edge pegged to the glass so it doesn't tip over. I don't have the top folded over or anything like that. Was this a good move?

I decided to redo the Apistogramma trifasciata tank because it was very dirty. I started yesterday. The fish were put in a very large bucket (probably about 60L or something) and I ran the filter and heater on it. I drained most of the water from the tank. The fish stayed in the bucket over night. Today I cleaned the gravel, removed all the old leaves, and scrubbed the wood as well as removing all the rest of the water and the gunk on the bottom of the tank. I fed the fish this morning in the bucket and they were fine and happy. Once the gravel had been cleaned I put it back in the tank as well as the wood. I then boiled up some more oak leaves (more than last time, but not too much) and I started filling the tank with tap water and the water from the boiled leaves and I added the leaves. I kept checking the thermometer to make sure that the temp was OK. I then replaced the filter and the heater and turned those on. I then put most of the water in the trifasciata bucket into the tank. I checked the temp, caught the fish and put them in. I then added a cap of API Melafix and API Pimafix (it says that if you do stuff that could stress the fish out to add some, and I find that it works OK for me). I had a shower and then came back to check the tank afterwards. The fish were looking very sad and were at the top of the tank right by the wood in the corner. They weren't really gasping and they were still colourful. I removed the wood, the leaves and then went to catch the fish but the halide went off because its on a timer so I have to wait for it to cool down so I can turn it back on again. I was going to catch the fish and put them in the other tank in a net breeder. Have I done anything wrong here? Is it a good idea to put them in the other tank in a net breeder? Also I collected leaves on the ground, not on a tree or attached to any fallen branches. Please help. I need to deal with this ASAP. Thanks Joe

Dude that is a really good price! And honestly if you buy from John you won't be dissapointed - his stuff is always healthy and good quality. The L. curviceps are also a lot hardier than Apistos too. Apistos are what I would call expensive - I bought two pairs of trifasciata last year for $90.00 a pair! Plus I had to pay shipping, and just to top it off they died a couple of months later :facepalm: The ones I have at the moment were bred by Danval and they are offspring from the same import. They are very healthy and are doing well so fingers crossed for some fry

Haha I'm loving these frog photos He's so cute!

Wow I like the red one

Organism Limited 397 Ilam Rd Ilam Christchurch 8053 03-351 3001

How much are they at Aqua World? The one here is $100.

I got 7.

I saw one of these today at the pet shop :happy1: Synchiropus ocellatus. This is one of the coolest little reef fish I have ever seen :love: !drool:

You could ask John at Organism if he can get some in for you. He has the best customer service and cares for his fish extremely well, and they are all healthy and good quality. Laetacara curviceps are such a cool wee fish. Mine spawned randomly - I just noticed a whole heap of eggs one day, and left them to it. I didn't have to do a thing. It was just a small 80L community tank which had lush plant growth, dark gravel and I used tap water. It was soo cool watching them herding the fry around. I feed the fry on powdered flake a couple of times a day. Live food would be much better though. Sadly I no longer have them as I had a columnaris outbreak a few months later and I lost all the fish in that tank. Currently I have Apistos. IMO trifasciata are the best - they're really small and very colourful and active. If you do decide to try Apistos after you have gotten a bit of experience I highly recommend A. trifasciata.

Excellent photos !drool: They're such cute little froggies :love:

Mmm... I don't quite like this layout... I think your best one was the original "jungle" layout you did on that really long thread! It was awesome :thup:

Laetacara curviceps would be your best bet. They were the first cichlid I bred when I was 10 or 11, and I managed to sell quite a few fish, and I made around $200. There were 100's of fry. I wish that I had had a larger grow out tank. Apistos are best left for those who have already had experience with breeding Kribs or L. curviceps or something like that, as there aren't many in NZ and they really need to be bred by somebody who has the time, room and knows exactly what they're doing.

Yes please do :bounce: