David R

If you're having a working bee try to give a few weeks notice and I'll see if I can come down.

I was thinking of a single male convict when I recommended the species. But, once again, the OP has failed to give us enough details. What kind of filtration will the tank be running and what are the dimensions? If its a 100L tall hex tank then I withdraw all my recommendations. Do you really want a breeding pair of cichlids that produce copious amounts of fry that you will soon be struggling to house or give away? The answer you get is only as good as the question you ask. Perhaps I should write an article about how to write a post or ask a question.... :lol:

Any chance of burning a copy of the DVD??

Inch for inch you can't beat convicts for attitude. Could also keep keyholes, or apistos, or sajica (i've got two females for sale, but I'm in Auckland).

I'm not sure how its any worse than people buying jags/oscars etc for small tanks, but again I don't think price will help that. The only thing that will stop that is educated LFS staff, and breeders not selling to big chain-stores with [generally] clueless staff. I guess people are still a bit precious about them because they're still "new". :lol:

Unless you have live corals or a heavily planted tank then the lights are purely cosmetic. The fish would probably be happier with out them.

Don't think that a high price makes them go to a good home. Look at how many arowanas, fire eels, knife fish, beardies etc end up in the hands of unsuspecting/uneducated people....

Depends on your idea of 'reasonable price' I guess. IMO they're over-priced. The value is high simply because they are new and there are a lot of people wanting to keep them (myself included) and not many people breeding them. Give it 2-3-5 years and they'll be in every LFS in the country for >$20 for juvi's, IMO.

I'm fully lost eh. 1. The term 'cichlid' covers such a broad range of fish it is impossible to make generalisations about them.* 2. Are you getting lionheads or bolivian rams or what? Or have you already got them? 3. Why on earth is this thread in the T&E forum when you're not selling anything? 4. You need to be way more specific with your questions and the information you give if you want people to be of any real help. Your first post doesn't even make sense. Don't take this personally or anything, I just get tired of people asking such vague questions that are nearly impossible to answer safely. If you are asking if lionheads will be alright with your "community fish" then you need to tell us the size of the tank, what fish are in it, whats filtering it, and what the water is like before we can even begin to answer the question. Otherwise its really just a stab in the dark... * obviously there are generalisations that can be made about all cichlids, which is why they are all in the family Cichlidae. Those generalisations are only morphological though, and their requirements and behaviour in aquaria couldn't be more varied.

Define community? I take it you aren't talking about a 1000L tank with a community of large central american cichlids?

How much did the media dry out? Probably best just to leave it running and keep a close eye on the water parameters.

That does look like a trye Texas (not a carpinte), is Snookie back from the UK yet? A pic of it as an adult would confirm.

While we're dreaming.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_okdpMQt6OU *sigh*

Get some clown loaches, they'll be fat in no time!! :lol:

LOL how could I forget about Nic's, especially with their name! I guess thats about it then...

I was just waiting for a huge arowana to swim thru the middle scoffing down tetras.... :lol: Cool tank tho, rummy noses looked great in such a big school!

Just wondering what we get in the way of Central American cichlids (not south!). I've seen; Jaguar Parachromis Managuensis Red devil/midas Amphilophus labiatus/citrinellus Convict Amatitlania nigrofasciata Jack Dempsey Rocio octofasciata Firemouth Thorichthys meeki Redhead Vieja synspila T-bar Archocentrus sajica Carpinte Herichthys carpinte (sold as Texas cichlid) Salvini Amphilophus salvini Nicaraguense Hypsophrys nicaraguensis Am I missing anything? I seem to recall Mystic had something similar to a redhead (possibly another species of Veija) but can't recall its name. I've had a look at The List and found the following, which are allowed but I've never seen for sale; Blue eyed cichlid Archocentrus spilurus (called 'Black Acara' on The List) Texas cichlid Herichthys cyanoguttatus Cuban Cichlid Nandopsis tetracanthus Red Terror Amphilophus festae (yeah they're south american, but I'm going to lump them in here anyway!!) So are there others available that I've missed? And if anyone knows of cubans here then I'd love to know about it! 8)

Some of the fish shops might not be in much of a better situation though. Times are tough in retail, and specialist stores (like smaller locally owned LFS) will be feeling it. Perhaps in some of the bigger chain stores like Animates (not sure how keen they would be though!).

Nobody is born an expert.... Buying a flowerhorn isn't a mistake either. They're cool fish! Random hybrids aren't really good for the hobby though, from any perspective. Unless you are selectively breeding to create something that is an improvement on nature (eg some of the big amazingly coloured flowerhorns you can get over-seas) or something totally different (eg blood parrots) then there's not much point in keeping them. I would separate the parents (or just keep culling the fry) but maybe grow a few out to see how they turn out just to satisfy your own curiosity.

You could keep some of the fry to grow up if you have space, but don't sell them or take them to the fish shops. I don't think you'd get any improvement by crossing a FH with a red devil, although you could cross it with a texas cichlid to get some nice blue colour into them. The FH's I've seen for sale here have been so dull and boring compared to all the overseas ones I've seen. I'd rather just have a trimac....

Asian supermarkets FTW. I get mine from silver bell in Panmure, usually around $12 for a 1kg bag. I don't usually bother, one day I'll try to make my own frozen food with beef heart, greens, garlic etc, but for now I just buy the packet stuff.

Perhaps you could tell us about a bit more the tank? What model is it? How big is it? What kind of motor and weaponry it has? How much use its had, any front-line action? Are any of the original crew still in it? etc. Simply saying "a tank" could cover hundreds of different vehicles.

No. There could be all sorts of harmful chemicals inside a tank (especially a german one!) and I wouldn't recommend putting any fish in a tank. They probably couldn't drive it anyway. I would suggest keeping it in an aquarium.

It could have been living in the gills of the fish and something has stressed them enough to weaken their immune systems and give the whitespot a chance to attack. Whitespot is just part of keeping clowns, the best thing you can do is try to minimise the risk but keeping the water clean, warm and well aerated, and keep the fish happy in a good-sized group with plenty of hiding spots. Running a good UV steriliser can help, but isn't essential.

Sounds like whitespot to me, plus a fungal infection. Put the temp up to 29-30, increase the aeration, treat with salt and/or a whitespot cure like "wunder tonic". If you're keeping loaches you should always keep it on hand!