Simian

I put fresh Zuchini in twice per day and remove the old stuff at the same time, so I dont think its lack of food. At Blue and Kims suggestion I have split them up into 3 floating ice cream containers so I can monitor them closer and minimise the chance of Bacteria spreading scavanging etc. Dam I'd wish Id thought of floating containers earlier :roll: I have 40 floating in my main BN tank ATM and have separated my dominant male and his new batch of eggs to a completely different tank as a caution. Fingers crossed

When is this ban supposedly taking effect?

Had posted in Catfish section but no replys. I have had about 60 or more BN fry in a 3' tank with a bunch of mature (2 males and 5 females)and assorted juvi BN, the adults are spawning nicely and all was going great. I am doing a 10-20% water change daily and am being meticulous about the water (ehiem 2215 canister filter +a shark internal filter). PH 6.5 Nitrates and nitrites all 0 ammonia 0 The adults have just spawned again so the water must be ok? Approx day 30 I am losing about 10 fry a day atm, not just the runts but even some of the bigger fry of the batch. Am feeding them Zucchini and a few catfish chips, Zucchini is well washed. Any chance they may be getting the bash from some of the adults? This is getting frustrating as they were going so well! How many fry do others lose? is it natural attrition? There were over 100 from this batch but I shifted about 40 to a "green" tank, there seem to be a few losses from that tank but nothing like the losses in my 3' breeding tank.

beware some get really big, red hook pacu not so much, but still substantial

Yeah I did wonder about that, maybe he wants to get jiggy with it so is getting in mating mode. But what can you do about that? he's not really listening to me when I try and explain about the dangers of hybridism

I know what you mean, I used to have to feed my oscar a full shrimp so it took long enough so the others could get a shot a the food, now oscars grown bigger it now it would take a prawn...I give up and just pour loads of food in, my pleco cleans up any mess, good thing I have a big ass filter

I have had about 60 or more BN fry in a 3' tank with a bunch of mature (2 males and 5 females)and assorted juvi BN, the adults are spawning nicely and all was going great. I am doing a 10-20% water change daily and am being meticulous about the water (ehiem 2215 canister filter +a shark internal filter). PH 6.5 Nitrates and nitrites all 0 ammonia 0 The adults have just spawned again so the water must be ok? Approx day 30 I am losing about 10 fry a day atm, not just the runts but even some of the bigger fry of the batch. Am feeding them Zucchini and a few catfish chips, Zucchini is well washed. Any chance they may be getting the bash from some of the adults? This is getting frustrating as they were going so well! How many fry do others lose? is it natural attrition? There were over 100 from this batch but I shifted about 40 to a "green" tank, there seem to be a few losses from that tank but nothing like the losses in my 3' breeding tank.

I am having some issues with my Texas Blue. He used to be the bottom of the pecking order, but now he's in the 5' he's a Nazi :evil: He bashes any fish he see's, except for the Nicaraguans, which are his girlfriends. Its now getting to the point where he's going to do some serious damage very soon. He's agreat looking fish and really dont want to get rid of him, any suggestions? There are plenty of area's for territory, he just thinks he owns the tank. I wondered about putting him in isolation for a week or so and see what happens when I put him back in. Halp

so sorry about your losses

welcome By a red tinted light do you mean it has a pinkish red tinge to the light? if so its possibly a special aquarium tube, post any numbers you see on the tube and we will see what we can find out about it for you. Its a great hobby and you are in the right place, read the stickys in this section and it will point you in the right direction.

Why would you skimp on your heater, it is the single most important piece of equipment in your tank, if your filter stops working, do more water changes until you sort it out. But if your heater fails you either cook your fish or they will get chilled and die. You will get what you pay for.

Just my personal feeling but I'm a big fan of formalin, it nukes the heck outta parasites, as far as how sensitive cardinals are to it, I treated a case of false neon tetra disease with formalin/wite spot cure combo and didn't even lose the infected fish.

Thats good this thread is pretty well flogged out now

now now lets not get sensitive, after all I love New world Cichlids, you just have to look at what fish I keep to see that. Africans are generally more colourful and have more vibrant colours, just stating a fact David. My personal feeling is that Nicaraguans give Africans a good run for their money Its kinda hard to compete against the pics Ryan posted

From the Polypterus website Polypterus appear to be very hardy fish that rarely suffer from disease. Their tough ganoid scales afford them a degree of protection from the sort of injuries that lead to bacterial or fungal infections, and may also make them more resistant to certain parasites. However, newly imported specimens may be suffering from an infection of a freshwater leech, Macrogyrodactylus polypteri that attaches itself to the body of the fish. The fish may try to seek relief by attempting to scratch itself, behaviour often referred to as “flashing†or “flickingâ€. Formalin baths are effective in removing this parasite. Observe fish carefully before purchase. If formalin is sweet, white spot cure will be too.

The other thing to consider would be whether you want a couple of big uns or a lot of little guys. If sticking with your Electric yellows you could go with some Demosani spelling? which would give you yellow and blue, Jewels are a great red colour and really purty (they tend to the mid ph ranges but are pretty tolerant) In my cichlid tank i've gone mainly new world with a texas blue (not quite as big as yr standard Texas), Nicaraguans, an oscar, gold severum and a jeweled Lose the Oscar and the severum and youd be ok I think. i have a male Texas and he thinks the female Nicaraguans are his harem so there is no agression between them, the Jeweled keeps to it self, only real aggression is between Oscar and Tex. The Nicaraguans would make an awesome species tank with rocks and a sandy bottom, they are really pretty for a new world cichlid

We pluck the fur and mix the fur with merino wool and make the best knitware in NZ they are a major pest, they destroy thousands of acres of bush every year and eat our native birds and lizard eggs Even the craziest greenies havnt got any sympathy for the little mongrels And thats just the Poms, you should see what we do to possums

The ventilation systems with heaters will use more power but ultimately will be more effective. As the principle is that it moves the warm dry air from your ceiling into the rrom to force out the moist air, it will only be of use in the evening in winter if you havea heater attached. if your system does not have one it will turn off once your ceiling temp drops below 7-10 deg, which it will at night in winter.

You can tell we are very upset with the questions because we dont answer That's the whole point of the Forum Mate, after all replying to questions is better than actually working..which I should be doing

Oh yeah. Thats why a nice tight lid is a wonderful thing. My 5' drops markedly over the week between water changes, I would guess I lose 10l a week from it, it has to go somewhere.

Im not sure how it compares with CCh water, I will do some tests on it tonight and let you know. I cant remember the exact results but when I first started I spent a fortune trying to bring it up to "suggested" levels but gave up in the end. Ill test my semi planted community tank too and let you know what thats sitting at. My Ph never varies much 6.5-7 so I've not really bothered to check gh/kh for ages. Correct me if I'm wrong here but its only PH fluctuations that are really a problem to the run of the mill planted tank fish, (as long as you are doing regular water changes that is).

Hamilton Water is really soft Skaffen, I've given up trying to keep the levels up, I chucked a few shells in my tank and that buffered it a bit.

A very good question, I used to spend a fortune on it, but am starting to use it less and less. In my 200l ancistrus breeding tank i am doing 20l changes daily without any ager, Im not noticing any difference...but then again I dont have gills. Many people dont use ager. I was doing a job for the Hamilton water treatment station the other day and asked one of teh techs what the chlorine rates were, he said 18ppm. Anyone know how good/bad that is for our feeshes

Mine are New World Cichlids and 1 jewel I feed mine Shrimp once per week Ox heart once per week Cichlid sticks every day (the hard type otherwise Oscar makes 1 hell of a mess) And when I remember/can be bothered I give them some home made frozen food made from veges, prawn bodies (I eat the tails) puréed up and gelatine as a binder.

If you put root heaters in it will circulate the water through the sand, either that or get some koolie loaches