suemack

learned the hard way that without frequent w/changes the tank turns toxic really quick - sue

thank you all for yr helpful ideas - had better not try w/out the UGF at present Warren cos :oops: at times my tanks get a little overcrowded - have a very fluctuating population in all my tanks with growing on guppy babies. Frequent feeding and waterchanges seems to give me the best growth rate - was just a bit worried about dead patches in the tank where the plants are - sue

not possible for me - and extremely messy - after about an hour of sweating and swearing and trying to move gravel to one side to the other and put down those little plastic grids AND connect them to each other w/out trapping a fish underneath I gave up - apologised to the fish - raced down to the LFS and got an ordinary UGF - came home - caught the fish - stripped the tank down - installed the thing - put the fish back - apologized to the fish again and collapsed in a heap on the couch - sue

hi - yes I do gravel clean when changing doing w/changes but can't do under planted area w/out uprooting everything - did that once - YUK - is it OK to leave those areas - they won't go rotten or anything? My UGF has those skinny little uplift things that you can't fit anything (hose) down. When I first set the tank up had no UGF and had real problems stabilizing it so put it in - NB - don't listen to local "expert" who tells you that is possible to put in UGF without taking out the fish and stripping down the tank!!!

I need some advice please - have 2 x 10 gall tanks with Aquaclear mini filters, airstones and UGF - 15%-20% water change every 2 to 3 days Both tanks have been running for 2 yrs & don't have any water quality problems - tanks are used for growing on guppy babies tho they have a few permanent residents (old gupps, cories, otos, kuhlis- between the tanks) Can I take UGF out without doing any damage or making the tanks run less efficiently? Reason for asking is that both tanks are planted and there must be a real mess under the plate by now - if not do you have to stip the tank down completely to clean under there - have tried but can't get anything under there- sue

thanks Peter - how big are the tanks you use, do you have gravel and plants in the tanks, how often do you do w/changes and what do you do with the all the surplus babies - I grow all normal babies on and trade in at LFS - even with only 1 major breeder at present (the others all have a few that don't get eaten) that is a lot of babies. Any that have abnormalities I cull - not that there are many

AMAZING - our LFS (of which there are 3) generally only have the standard guppies, angels, loaches, plecos, tetras and gouramis. One has a small selection of cichlids, some marines and even had 4 discus (sad looking ones) recently. On rare occasions they get something different - which is how I got my chocolate gouramis - have never seen anything costing more than $245.00 (pr of bristlenose ? catfish) - can't complain though cos they take all my guppy babies :lol:

nice to meet U 2 bikiegirl - I have a 'fluoro' (LFS description) male - he is not particularly attractive - greyish front, amazing flourescent back end and tail - but throws the most beautiful babies with full fluoro colour - though not all the same colour - I've just put one of his daughters in with him to see what I will get, hopefully more consistancy of colour in the babies and more colour in the females Have kept a male who'se in with an unrelated fem and one daughter. The results may take a while.

Your show tank sounds wonderful bikiegirl - I may have to get rid of the piano. Who do you breed after you've bred father to daughters/ what's the next generation? The guy at our LFS lol at me cos I still have my old guppies - they're all different esp the old girls, they get real bossy. Have found it better to separate the sexes soon as - then the males grow at a better rate - don't waste all that energy chasing girls. You should see them when they get to the LFS and put in with a tank of females !!

it may have to wait until i can get more tanks - and a bigger house to put them in - don't think 2 x 5 g and 2 x 10 g is enough room. BUT in the meantme am having a lot of fun with what I have. How many tanks have you guys got?

thanks Caryl - so should you wear them - I've never had a problem yet and have had my tanks for 3 yrs - hadn't heard there could be a problem till I read it here?

Had problems with my one attempt at linebreeding. Got the most beautiful long finned female from the LFS - she dropped her babies, tried to breed her with one of the males not very successfully (few babies survived, didn't drop often), next tried to breed M & F from that drop. The babies were not brilliant - OK colouring, very sensitive to water quality, changes (when they went to LFS didn't do well, actually most survived a few days and died) I had to constantly outcross and eventually gave up - put into the too difficult file !! Currently have 1 M, 1F guppy in 5 gall tank have beautiful babies which I grow on in male or female 10 gall tanks - then to LFS when old enough (all do well). When my fish are too old to breed they go into the 'tank for the bewildered' the 10 g guppy retirement home. What did I do wrong with my linebreeding 'experiment' please, what should I be doing differently.

no gloves either - actually have never seen gloves with long 'sleeves' only the household variety

hi guys - just wanted to say thanks - there is an amazing amount of knowledge and information when you sit and read through the various postings - even without asking you've come up with a lot of answers - as a newcomer to the forum - thank you

sorry about your loss Ira - sue

Goldie - hi - can you put salt into the tank where the kuhlis are - I haven't as had heard that they were v. sensitive to it? Have used that in other tanks when the guppies have had wounds.

true Chris - ....of course could always get another tank.... trouble is I've run out of room to fit another one (need the kitchen table)..and plugs -sm

:oops: designated hospital tank is full of baby guppies - each time I empty it another batch need somewhere to grow on.

one of the fish in one 10 g had a wound on her side so put some melafix in - says it is safe for invertebrates,biological filter etc but still halved the dose as there are kuhlis in the tank. About 5 mins later noticed all 4 kuhlis swimming rapidly up and down the sides looking as if they wanted to jump out - grabbed the bucket and started to do some large water changes. after 50% they started to settle down. One of them died o/night the rest are looking OK. I'm a water changeoholic and have been lucky that haven't had to medicate anything for a while now - BUT - thought that the malafix woulg be safe!!

---or a television fish tanks are much more interesting!!!!

awesome selection of tanks Tracey - and really interesting fishes to watch. What do you do with the convict babies? friend o mine up here stopped keeping them as she had dreadful problems getting rid of the babies - LFS eventually took them after much moaning - you'd probably have room for one more little tank of guppies - he he - that's how I ended up with more !

takes 2 tis true Pegasus - but how do you tell the sexes of these guys - Rob - have you observed any differences with yours?

about 8 months ago bought a dwarf harihari catfish "Harry" from our LFS - they'd had him a while and he spent his time curled around the base of a plant - for the next month didn''t see much of him - one day when I'd be cleaning he'd be under a rock, the next he'd be hanging among the roots of the water sprite - came to be known as 'dead fish' cos I never saw him move!! Turned out the light one and there was Harry zooming round the tank at a rate of knots Nowadays he rumbles out when I'm feeding esp if it's bloodworms. Doesn't seem to worry the other fish unless they happen to be where his worms are. Cannot find him in any of the books in the library or in any of mine or the LFS including Axelrod Atlas. Anyone know what he is, how big he will grow :oops: (should have asked that before buying), should I hunt for a mate for him, have they been bred in captivity - actually would like to know anything about them - sm

hi Tracey - I too have recently discovered this forum, it's really great to have people you can contact and talk to throughout the country - esp when your friends don't quite understand yr fascination with fishes

thanks Caryl and Rob - doesn't sound like there's a lot of hope of my 2 gouramis ever getting on - thought of taking one back but the 2 that I didn't buy eventually died at the LFS and they really are thriving in my tanks - possibly the combination of rain water, lots of plants, water changes and plenty of food (my babies) :roll: Natural population control I think it's called!