David R

Tomorrow will be the end of a very long wait for me to get my hands on a fish I've wanted to keep for years; the black arowana. In 2001 I sold my 5' set up, along with the nearly 2' black aro I had, as I was moving out of home and I wasn't prepared to go through the hassles of moving such a large set up around flats. The aro was also getting close to the limits of the tank for the tank and I wasn't in a position to upgrade to anything larger. Since then I've always wanted another, but only saw them for sale once in ~2003 (IIRC), and at the time I wasn't set up to keep big fish. Over the past 3-4 years I've had several conversations with Dave and Levon about the distinct absence of the species from our shops, and made them aware that I would love to keep one again should they ever become available again. About 9 weeks ago, the day after I had sold my green aro to make room for a large dedicated south american tank, I got a phonecall from Dave saying that he'd managed to source some and they'd be on their way within a week or so. Perfect timing! They arrived in store yesterday, and I'll be picking mine up on Friday morning. I'd like to thank Hollywood for the great service they have provided me over the years, and for sourcing this fish for me. This is a perfect example of why its so important to support stores who have the best interests of the hobby at heart.

They're cute little fish alright, was looking at them today at HFF. One day I'll set up a little cube tank for something like this...

Thats what I was suggesting this morning (via text, not on here) just using screws instead of nails so its easier to remove later on.

Plan B looks better. IMO going for 4 1200x30x30 tanks with a divider in the middle would be a better option than the two tanks, less likely to sag in the middle.

:roll: cool, clowns love still water with loads of C02 like in planted tanks, they love plants too, mine even destroy anubius. :roll: and small ones will be good, that way you can stunt them at a smaller size so they'll stay the right size for your tank for longer :roll: :roll: :roll:

maybe he had a vasectomy without telling anyone?

I spent three years selling stuff on trademe for my employer and a $1 reserve is actually a very good strategy if you're confident there will be interest in the item. If you set a reserve then you are essentially saying "thats what I think it is worth, anything more than that is a bonus". A $1 reserve catches more peoples attention, doesn't set any precedents about the value, and often creates a bidding war because once people bid on it they become attached and get a feeling of ownership and are more inclined to keep bidding. The most important thing to do is make sure it ends at a time when most people are going to be free to watch the auction close and put in the last minute bids.

Call the doctors at Advanced Medical Institute? Play Barry White? Seems like a strange question, how sure are you that it is a fertility issue? Are they laying and [trying to] fertilise the eggs but they are still not viable? Do you think its the male or female that has the problem?

If you don't want to sell them how about adding another 6-8 and saving up for a 6' tank?

Thats a great shot of the bgk! Could have taken the algae magnet off the front for the full tank shot though...

Go around the building stores asking for cover sheets and/or damaged ones. Other than that 25mm 1200x2400 sheets are about $25 IIRC.

Have a read of BikBoks whitespot thread in the disease forum, the water losing the colour is normal, and IMO you're better off doing more frequent water changes and more frequent dosing than the instructions recommend.

:lol: Yeah I know its not quite the same thing, from a breeders point of view it would be sad if somewhere along the lines the females were being thinned out. Although with fish like this where the females are going to be drab and not as easy to sell it could be justified, the shops would be equally frustrated with the opposite scenario if they order 20 $50+ fish and end up with half of them [or more] being drab boring things that they can't sell. I've never looked at any fish as an investment that should return me some money, for me its always been a hobby and not a business. I know its not the same for everyone and there is nothing wrong with that... I always thought that was your stance, so I was a little surprised at that post I replied to. I'm not going to get into the whole debate about the ethics of breeding and selling fish as its been done to death and everyone has different opinions. And I'm not sure what to make about the tropheus/aro comparison thing. TBH I'm glad oddballs and other fish that require a bit of care [eg tropheus] are often expensive. Call me an elitist, a rich prick, whatever, but IMO it helps weed out the wanna-bes from the true enthusiasts who are going to do a good job of keeping them. I'm not sure if you're going to be selling tropheus fry for $2 a piece any time soon, but have a think about how much care someone is going to put into keeping something that has cost them less than an icecream....

Are you in it for the money or for the fish? Different values I guess, perhaps you african cichlid guys need to branch out into oddballs so you get used to blowing $50+ on fish you have zero chance of breeding....

Sadly [for you] the option of selling them is probably the best one, if you are not prepared to house them properly. Clown Loaches are probably one of the most commonly mistreated fish in the hobby IMO, probably second only to goldfish in sheer numbers. How many of the thousands of 1"ers sold in shops every year end up in 6' tanks growing to 10-12" and living out their potentially long lives?

110L tank isn't suitable for clowns for anything more than a [very] temporary home, and two certainly isn't an ideal number to be keeping. They are active fish that can grow to 12", live for 20+ years and need at the very least 4' of length to stretch their fins in, even when "medium" sized. I know it 'can' be done, but you can also keep a goldfish in a bowl... I'll second what P44 said; sell the clowns and buy a group of fish you can adequately house in your tank, like dwarf chain loaches.

No african?? I'd say if you want to improve its colour get it onto pellets.

Be very careful with holes that they can jam themselves in. I had a 3' long log that was hollow through the middle with a few entry/exit points along its length, and initially it was a great home for the clowns but as they grey and the school increased in number I found that they were jamming themselves in to the point where they were getting badly scratched and the ones that went in first couldn't get out until the ones at the back decided they wanted to get out. It was a mission trying to get them all out when I decided to remove the wood! They have been known to wedge themselves so tightly they get stuck and die, so I'd be very cautious about the holes in your driftwood. Either block them up or bore them out so they can't all get stuck.

They aren't all going to be at exactly the same stage, so I'd continue treatment constantly rather than try to time it with spots appearing/disappearing. If you haven't seen spots on the fish in the main tank them IMO stick with salt, increased temperature and frequent water changes unless you notice them getting worse. I've had fish that flash randomly, it could be many different things, I wouldn't take it as a sure sign of whitespot.

Seen it done before, they both like warm soft water. My only concern would be mixing larger loaches with small timid discus. Once the discus have a bit of size on them and are settled and eating and will compete for food then it should work fine, but if the shy juvi discus have to compete with the boisterous loaches you might have trouble getting them enough food.

*sigh* what kind of cichlids? dwarf apistos? tropheus? oscars? kribs? peacocks? angels?

Have you actually seen any infected fish in the main tank since removing the pleco? I'd be inclined to increase the temp to 30C just to speed up the cycle, and maybe add an extra airstone or two.

I'm still trying to figure out what "inbreed wimo space" is, given that I am apparently a waste of it.... :-?

Keep the temp up, add salt and keep up the big regular water changes.

I noticed one of the ones at HFF Mt Roskill had considerably more colourful fins than the others, will be interesting to see how they turn out!