Matthew

I am purchasing some of these soon. They will be my first killies that I have kept. I currently plan to keep six in a 1.5 foot tank *1*1. Any tips on the care of these, and the appropriateness of this tank size would be appreciated. cheers

Let's flood Caryl with chocolate fish. Have you got room in your tanks Caryl?

has anyone bred these? if so any tips appreciated. cheers

just to add regarding the venus fly traps. It will take at least six months to be able to determine whether any experiments worked. keeping a vft alive for 6 months is a miracle let alone experimenting with it.

my five cents added. buy discus that are larger than 2-3cm. at that size they are difficult to keep alive (i know from experience, i lost 4 from my 7). Obviously you will pay more for larger fish, but the survival rate increases dramatically. Alternatively if the two you have now are getting along you could leave it at that, and hope they are a pair.

get a large container, fill with bran flakes, add starter culture of meal worms. Simple. also if you feel like being nice put in a slice of apple or potato. this isn't necessary, the meal worms will still eat and live without it. Just a note when cultures are starting out it often seems as though everything has died. leave your culture and eventually you should see some larvae hatching, and the cycle begins again.

No there really are albino neons, they look pale and of course have pink eyes. normal presentation. not my cup of tea, but each to there own.

Barbs are a reasonably 'nippy' fish, but kept in large groups they seem to focus on one another, establishing their heirarchy. I'm not sure whether eight is sufficient but give it a go. just monitor your other fish, if they start to look ragged (fins nipped etc) i'd look at either removing the barbs or adding more.

Those at the bird barn are definitely red belly pacus. I have seen them myself. I think they have been labelled as "black piranhas" to increase the intrigue.

An internal canister filter obviously takes up more tank space, therefore I would suggest an out of tank filter. Also internal filters are a lot more bother to clean. ultimately the choice is yours but I would recommend an external filter.

I'm convinced that the eggs were devoured rather than tended. might try again tomorrow.

How long before you could see the fry pegasus? My gouramis have bred twice and each time they haven't built a bubble nest. I just notice a swarm of fry on the top of the tank. Makes it difficult to see any fry tails hanging when you don't know where to look. I guess I'm a little fearful that what eggs there were have been disposed of. Oh well thanks for the help pegasus. hopefully I will see some progress tomorrow. Matt

Just curious. For those that have bred pearl gouramis: 1) Did they always blow a bubble nest 2) How long did the eggs take to hatch. Matt

I noticed my pearl gourami this morning gathering up a whole heap of eggs. I guess i'm gonna be a dad again (not sure what number these will be, fish have too many fry at one time to count).

If i am correct in what a heffalump is I think Alan needs to read an A A Milne book

Apologies Peter and Alan. I mixed the names up and asked the wrong person for the fish. Alan if you are happy to supply that is great, otherwise I will liase with Peter. Regards Matt

Alan, I am happy if you are willing to take your choice of fish for me. (this time of the year I don't think I could make a trip to visit). I am not overly concerned what it looks like (ie extra colours) as I am trying to learn a little about guppy genetics by practice. If you are willing let me know and I will PM you my details. Matt

I would like to breed the yellow snakeskin guppie, unfortunately my one died before being placed with the females. If anyone has one male (or more) and is willing to part with him I would appreciate it. Here is a link to a picture http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1071359359 Thanks

what is the egg raft? In my mozzie tank I notice some jelly like substance with what appears to be eggs in it. the eggs look a bit like brine shrimp eggs (obviously not brine shrimp eggs as it is freshwater, and I am not aware of brine shrimp flying - no other way for them to get into my tank) crossed with snail jelly. They float in the water column. I have isolated some to see what they are when they hatch, but if any one knows it would be appreciated. Thanks

what do you do with the plant stalks/runners?

Caryl, do you post the aquarium world directly to members, or does it go via the club president. It's just I haven't got mine yet and i'm kind of sad and envious at the same time. I would like to have my copy ASAP, so I too can sit in the sun and read my magazine.

I recently purchased 2 discus (? blue diamond), they fought (pecking order etc) so I purchased another 2 ( ?pigeon blood) to "spread the load". I however am still left with one fish (the smallest) that is constantly picked on, and so is now in hiding. The biggest fish is about 5cm diameter, the smallest prob 3.5cm. I am feeding the smaller fish by pressing food tablets against the glass which he seems to be eating, so I am not overly concerned with him starving to death. However I would prefer not to feed him this way, and would prefer him integrated into the tank community. Does anyone have any ideas as to how (A) I can give him more confidence (B) I can stop the other one picking on him. Please note it seems to only be the pigeon blood who picks on him. The blue diamonds tend to leave him alone. Thanks in advance

The other option is to dig up some red clay on the side of the road. how's the riccia going

i purchased three after being assured they were peaceful fish. They terrorised my tank and killed a female betta. they also demolished the fins off other fish also. this was in a matter of days. I returned the fish, even though the LFS wouldn't believe the damage they had done they did let me return them (there was some resistance though). never again will I buy them.

I say no to fake plants, but in a breeding tank I have been known to use nylon as a spawning medium. If that is counted as plant you will have to change my vote