Foxjxa

Oh dear. Well I hope she stays a she and keeps playing submissive. :-? Hasn't even nipped back at the boy so far.

Just managed to get a few more pictures. The colour is definitely off in the last one, (just thought it might be helpful to see the shape of her fins), but her fins really are tinged with orange, and her body is now a nice yellowy-grey in comparison to the male. Goodness knows what my boy's trying to do then. He's gone quite loopy, but at least he's not chasing her around the tank any more!

Sorry, those are the best I could manage, I'll try again later tonight. I'm almost positive she's a she now though, (or maybe a very submissive male with different preferences), as I left for work once she'd found a nice hidey-hole where the male couldn't get to her, now that I'm home they seem to have worked out their issues. She's now following him around for the most part, and he keeps flaring and then scooting next to her, or just turning around to make sure she's still there. Do the males pick the spawning site and try and coax the female in or what happens there? 'Cos it looks like he's picked out a spot already while she's still trying to get used to the new environment!

This is my second Apisto. Ever. Consider me the newest of newbies when it comes to them. Just got this girl today, she came in as a female double red agassizi in her own special bag, but she seems too 'red' and my male Agassizi is acting like a right jerk, (flaring at and harassing behaviour), since I put her in the tank, so I'm not so sure. Can anyone please confirm the gender for me? Apologies in advance about the poor photo quality. Here's one of her hiding from the male in my tank, (with a nosey kuhli). Since the last picture she's paled considerably, (no thanks to Mr Agassizi), and is trying to explore the tank while keeping out of sight. Her caudal fin is quite rounded, but then so is the males... :dunno:

Yes. Timothy. :roey: I've already found an empty little ramshorn shell, so maybe the kuhlis are eating the really small ones? I've never had snail issues with kuhlis in a tank, though I've only ever had ramshorn and malaysian trumpet snails. Edit -- Timothy is a JERK! Just added another agassizi to the tank, (suspected female), and as soon as he saw her he started harassing her. She might have to chill in the guppy breeder for a while if he doesn't calm down soon.

Start with 15 and see how it looks? I can never judge how heavily stocked a tank is/will be until I actually see the fish swimming around and how much space they have.

Thank phoenix44 and waterlogged for all the plants, my little jungle is growing! Several small ramshorn snails hitched a ride on some of waterlogged's plants and I only just noticed they're very brown and not as red as the ones I usually see. Pretty cool to watch though. The colours in the photo below seem really washed out to me, as the fern the snail's chilling on is a bright green in real life. And another average shot of Mr. Agassizi, otherwise known as Timothy. :roey: He gets along with everyone in the tank now, even the little scarlet badis who seemed positive that the newbie was out to get him, the oto's in particular like to try and swim along with him.

So long as you're not adding ice too. Should be fine, but if you're really worried then do it slowly so the heater has time to warm up the new water before the next bucket is added.

I figure rain is pretty much cold(ish) everywhere, so I don't worry about doing water changes using cold water. Some of my fish seem to like swimming through the stream of cold water as I'm adding it, too. Cycle won't take out or neutralise any chemicals, to my knowledge, what you're after is something like Aqua Plus or Stress Coat. Sometimes I add a bit of Aqua Plus to the bucket of new water before I add it, sometimes I don't, sometimes I add it to the tank after I've finished a water change. I've never had any problems with nasties in my tap water, even though the pH comes out quite low. Personally, I'd avoid using the hot tap for water changes, as it's too easy to accidentally add water that is 'too hot' and end up with cooked fish. Cold water changes also seems to encourage breeding behaviour in some species?

Agreed, that bottom one especially makes me cringe. Aren't those Arapima? They get HUGE!

:slfg: That was me!! And no, it was not fun at all! I almost decided to take the log out and biff it, but Lefty the crayfish was in danger of being squashed if I disturbed the large rocks too much at the time... So it stays, for now. I hate mould. On another note, there were a bunch of families following me around asking questions about all the fishies yesterday, it was good fun! Especially when one of the little dudes had a go at hand-feeding the mudfish and squealed when it took the food. Heh. They also seemed to enjoy the locusts, yay!

Thank you, I'll give you a text sometime tomorrow. No more gravel yet, I'm hesitant to pay shipping for more gravel, it seems silly! But that's what I get for not ordering lots in the first place...

Woops, I didn't even notice Yertle was missing an eye in those first few photos! :oops: Sounds like she taught you a lot over the years. I had no idea shell deformities due to small tank size could be so bad. So much to learn...

How long can a turtle live in a small tank before their shell starts to deform? Yertle's story made me tear up a bit, but at least the vet is able to help other turtles in similar states now. :tears:

Sorry, haven't added any native snails as yet - I'm not even sure if Stella's seen any whilst out and about on her hunting trips? There aren't public feedings everyday, yet, as both the other keeper and I are usually only around after hours on weekdays. However, Saturdays and Sundays I'm starting to host public feedings starting at 3pm for the mudfish and native fish aquariums. Today I'll be testing out little locusts on the mudfish along with their usual food. You're more than welcome to come along and join in if you're interested. :happy2:

I won't say no to free plants. :slfg: I'll 'trade' you - you can come hand-feed the mudfish and natives at Te Manawa sometime, haha, it's fun! Thanks for the comments guys, it's really neat watching everything grow day by day. The indian fern I got from waterlogged is particularly neat to watch and very fast growing.

No idea what it cost, but I know I'm glad I wasn't the one forking up for it! The fishies are really settling in now, with Lefty the koura always putting on a show at feeding time. It's so neat to watch! :happy2:

Yes, your "King Kuhli" always has an escort - the smaller kuhils seem to really like him - and he's darkened up nicely now as well. I hope he makes little kuhli babies with one of them!! Thanks again. Is the one still in store really small and pale or is it the larger one? I was debating going back and getting another, and I'm a total sucker for lonely fish. Edit - Just found this interesting tidbit about female Dario dario: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/anabantids/elusive-female-scarlet-badis-dario-20540/

Updated picture taken this evening: The newest inhabitant: And a fuzzy shot of some five banded barbs: I'm having some trouble figuring out how to make the huge open space at the front of the tank less empty looking without adding so many plants I won't be able to see the fish. :-? Might have to try and follow the 'golden rule' after all. The barbs are still getting used to the big scary giants moving about on the other side of the glass and are usually hanging out behind the plants at the back, but they are colouring up nicely. As of today the tank houses: - 6 Kuhli loaches - 3 Otocinclus - 6 Five banded barbs - 1 Scarlet badis - 1 Apistomgramma agassizi

At a glance I'd worry that'd be too much fish and, as Fruju mentioned, too many cichlids. But you could start small and re-asses the situation as time goes on, (say, once you've got 10 neons, 2 rams and the cories?). Otherwise it looks like you've picked some pretty fish, (though I'm not usually a neon fan), and perhaps you could look at some killies for the top layer if you cut a few of the other fishies out? Darker substrate is supposed to help bring out brighter colours in fish, I think. I look forward to seeing this tank! 8)

I'm afraid I don't know who made the tank or where, but the lovely people from MTI installed it and set up the lovely sump room for us! The acrylic is very thick, definitely closer to 30mm I'd say. I'll have to re-measure it as I've forgotten the exact numbers, but it's ~3.5m along it's longest point, (The part with the most rocks), ~2.5m along the shorter point, (The bit with sand and plants), about a metre wide and maybe just over a metre tall. There's a lot of maybes there. Regardless, I keep getting asked when I'm going to go for a swim in it. :digH: Edit - I'd put 300mm as well :oops:

Love that last photo of Minnie! What a little cutie. :love:

If more people even googled "turtle care" before walking into a pet store, they'd be able to tell if a sales person knew what they were on about or not to start with. Better yet, by doing some research before hand they might stumble upon some turtle rescuers and choose to adopt instead.

Nah uh! You must watch in horror as I haphazardly arrange and plant my tank. :happy2:

@Mel - Yeap, the leafies have moved out, to be replaced by teeny tiny fishies instead. It's weird. @Artem - That's a very helpful little article, and I see what you mean. I am quite tempted to make that one bit of wood a focal point but... nah. I just want to create some neat environments for the fish and see what sort of plants I can grow and how well. Might try and follow the golden rule later on if my plants take off. Using a little bit of accu-clear, patience and new sponge in the filter, the tank water is now clear as day. Success! I'll post an updated photo tomorrow after I've added more plants. I also added 3 otocinclus today and they seem to be settling in well.