Lush

my blue zebra babies are only 1cm so i have a corner filter specially for babies and it seems to be working fine. could the gravel have anything to do with the nitrate levels? reason i ask is cos there is nothing else in the tank other then babies, filter, heater, coral and some gravel.

no rocks in baby tank, few bits of coral but i move them around when i clean, i am not overfeeding thats why this is a mystery to me as to why its so high. test kit is fairly new only bout a month old, plus i have used test kit on my other tanks which all have normal readings.

The nitrate levels in one of my tanks are way out of wack (real high). i have been doing water changes everyday for the last week and gravel cleaning every second day but still no change to the level of nitrate, its driving me crazy trying to figure out what the cause is and i will be so crushed if i lose another baby. i have 3 blue zebras, 3 lionheads and 2 peacocks (were 3, one died). they are all babies. anyone got any ideas as to what else i could try to fix this problem? blue zebra is holding again so i want to get this this sorted before i strip her and the babies go into the tank.

awesome thanks african, yeah hopefully someone will want him

thanks for clearing up the venting part african, yes i have changed rockwork around quite a few times now but he seems to have taken over the whole bottom of tank, even chases the yellows, my other cobalts are always hiding now cept for food time, whereas before they were always out and a real joy to watch. they were all really happy and lively before, now they dont even come up to greet me when i go near the tank. looks like the best thing to do is for him to go

ok well this is prolly a dum question but was is venting?? well i have four of them, started off with only three and they were happy as but since i added the other one, i've noticed a change in behaviour and they are not out as much as they were, think the new one is male, also in the morn the new one goes quite dark, he is always chasing the others out of there wee spots and has basically claimed the whole bottom rock formations, any ideas on what i should do? maybe get rid of him?

i might have to get another tank, just so i can get the females i need, aw man i already have to many, looks like some of the tropicals will be losing there tanks soon

thanks african, looks like there 2 males for def outta the yellows then, and sorta thort they may be males as they are always going round and round in circles with eachother so that may explain it. as for cobalt hmm well 2 of them have prominant egg dummys and the others only have what sorta looks like them, eg not prominant, so maybe 2 males, 2 females, well heres hoping anyway, dam not being able to sex them til they grown a bit, i want 1 m to at least 3 f outta the yellows and cobalts, may have to buy more cobalts

no how u feel i've been trying to find more dems i've only got 2 so far, they so hard to find

Finally i have my 1st african tank sorted. I would post pics but i cant be bothered doin links etc, would find it much easier to be able to upload straight from comp. oh well thats a bit off topic anywho lol Can anyone tell me how to sex cobalt blue zebras pls, my ones are about 6-7cm+. also how do i tell on the yellows?

found 3 dead on the bottom of tank and i sent the rest to heaven.

goggled cotton mouth but it doesn't look anything like it, however neons do have sum syptoms that have appeared in last 24hrs, rottin fins and loss of colour, looks like they going to have to be put out of their misery. lol herpes from me kissing fish, i dun think so sum how :lol:

i'm guessing no one knows, dam oh well i'll just wait and see what happens with em

Hi i am hoping someone can help me as i have never come across this before, yesterday i noticed one of my neons with what looks like a blister/ bubble bit on the side of its mouth, after checking out the other neons i noticed another one has one to but at the front of its mouth. anyone know what it could possibly be? tried to get a pic but they go and hide.

wow cool u are in chch too, thats a good idea re postage

cool thanks for that, was wondering where and how to pm lol, have replied

awesome thanks for the help, i must say i am so glad i found this forum, everyone is so helpful

thanks african, i will def make sure there is heaps of nooks n crannies, also i do plan on getting a bigger tank in the future, since this will be my 1st cichlid experience i dont want to invest in a bigger tank til i get the hang of the whole cichlid keeping thing. oh just remembered i have a question bout filration, is a hang on the tank filter good enuf to use along with a in tank filter? or is a external filter a must have? or could i get that at a later stage.

thanks ryan, can u give me and idea of how much they are worth? as i am pretty keen to get sum maybe in the next week or so, if i can find em lol

got heaps of rock work, my tank is 91x45x45, would that be ok ?

thats great to hear, i have seen that many people have got fish off them, so i am definitly keen

aw really, are there lots we cant get in nz, dam thats a shame. yeah i would love sum dem's, what are they worth? dam i have to remember to quote lol do they usually do beta in a group of say 10 or so?

thanks for that link, its very helpful

yeah i like the look of the dem's also but i'm guessing that sourcing them could be an issue

awesome thanks guys, i'll go check out the cichlid section and post any questions and stuff in there. i plan on doing as much research as i can before i stock tank, yellows will be going in next week tho, yay tank will finally have sum colour