David R

No it doesn't, it only refers to the species plecostomus (which is written with a lower-case p), not the whole genus Hypostomus. I think you are confusing the use of the name "plecostomus" as a common name for anything resembling a suckermouth catfish, where as the list refers to the actual species Hypostomus plecostomus. Thats not quite how it works. If it is not already on the list, but you can provide evidence of it already being kept here (before a certain date I think) then you can go thru a lengthy process to add it to the list so it may be imported. You can't just turn up at customs with an old pic of it in someones tank and say "yeah I know its on the list but my cousins brothers best friend has had one for years".

How is that very open? Hypostomus plecostomus only refers to one species, Hypostomus = genus (family), plecostomus = species. http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/specie ... ies_id=580

My MDF stand has about 5 thick coats of undercoat and three layers of satin black sprayed over the top. I haven't had any problems with water being spilled on it, but when the sump flooded and it was sitting on damp carpet it swelled a bit around the edges. I certainly wouldn't trust it for a big tank (not as structural material anyway). They are also heavy, my MDF stand for my 4' weighs more than the tank made of 10mm glass does!

According to Wiki; The common discus (Symphysodon aequifasciatus), the Heckel discus (Symphysodon discus), and a new species which has been named Symphysodon tarzoo. I guess there's actually three species! :lol:

I'm not that keen on them after building two myself. I recently had my sump overflow and the base of the stand has swollen up so I can't put the doors back on (lucky it has a 4x2 frame inside for structural support). Next time I'll go for 4x2 or steel with MDF panels to close it in.

There are actually two species of discus.

The little ones are ok for killing algae in the water, but won't do much to stop things like whitespot. Having "gin-clear" water is important if you want to take decent photos, you could try find some filter pads/socks that go down to 50 microns if you want to get rid of fine particles, or use a product that makes them stick together so the coarser filter wool can catch them.

:oops: I hope its not implied swearing!

A much better version of Internet Explorer that has nothing to do with Microsoft!

The discus may not be hybrids, rather just selectively bred lines. This is a good reason for using Latin names instead of common names. If you took a batch of Symphysodon discus fry and selectively bred two different looks for several generations, they will still both be Symphysodon discus unless you interbreed them with another species. For example, you could call them Symphysodon discus 'Stripey' and Symphysodon discus 'Plain'. If you crossed a 'Plain' with a 'Stripey' the fry would still be Symphysodon discus, in the same way that if an Asian and European person have a child it is still Homo sapiens. All the different colour strains of asian arowana are still Scleropages formosus. But getting back to the original question, you could hybridise cories, but one would have to ask why? You could possibly do it to satisfy your own curiosity, but unless you came up with something very worth-while (ie with some quality far superior to any individual species) I would suggest keeping the hybrids to yourself. As Ryan suggested, diluting species is something we should try to avoid if MAF are considering further restrictions on the border. If one of your hybrids looked a lot like C. sterbai an unsuspecting person may breed it to their C. sterbai and then on-sell the fry as C. sterbai not knowing they aren't true.

Haha that was a good episode eh! Wouldn't the pumice be a PITA to wash and get clean? I paid about $55 a box for the bioballs from HFF, I'd rather do that than spend hours scrubbing pumice! :lol:

Mozilla Firefox has a pop-up blocker you can download and install.

How big is the pumice? It may start out with a high surface area, but unless your mechanical filtration is 100% perfect it will get clogged up over time with fine particles and lose a lot of the surface area. I always use bioballs in my sumps, they work well and are easy to clean if needed (maybe once every 12-18+ months I'll take them out and give them a rince in a bucket of tank water).

I was going to but didn't sort it out in time and ended up having an ingrown toenail removed instead. Did Richard go down Smidey?

Hmm, cat tastes better, but there's usually more meat on dogs... We have one cat, and I'd like a dog when we own our own house.

I agree with Naz and Foxglove, for some reason a lot of people here seem to use the word "cichlid(s)" when talking about African rift lake cichlids, as if there are no other cichlids. Eg; "I'm setting up a 4' cichlid tank, what should I put in it?". They are talking about a rift lake biotope, yet they have used the word cichlid ignoring the fact that it also covers riverine african cichlids, central and south american cichlids (from dwarfs to monsters) and the few species from asia. I think subject lines in general on this forum [not just Cichlids] need to be made more specific, I hate seeing topics like "Help needed" or "tank for sale" etc and often don't even bother with them.

How bad is the crack in the base? You could possibly leave the old base in there and put the new piece of glass on top of it, would be stronger and easier (and heavier).

If you get a male swordtail they'll probably bread and the live young would make good life food for the other fish. Mosquito larvae or water boatmen are another option.

Name: David (well duh...) Age: 27 on the 13th of may Colour: any Interests: fish, cars/motorsport, mountain biking, Music: punk/grunge/rock/the beatles

That tank looks great! The bricks could have been dumped into the lake by someone living there, (although they probably wouldn't have been stacked so neatly) so maybe not entirely un-natural?

Don't take this personally or anything, I really feel for you losing your job, but why should a privately owned company have to consult with 'the union' over where it does business? At the end of the day F&P are just doing what the NZ consumer does, taking their business to whoever can offer the lowest price.

So you've never lost a fish Mystic? Never come home and found that new addition was a little small to go in with the aro? Never had a usually peaceful fish turn and beat the snot out of one of his tankmates? Wow, I look up to you, oh what it must be like to be a "good fishkeeper". I find that pretty insulting, that you're implying that myself, henward, the people I'm about to quote, and at least one other person on this site are not good fish keepers. :evil: Here's five pages of people recommending dats as tankmates for knife fish. 600g with several large (up to 18")dats and a clown knife. Then again, its a bare bottom tank which is cruel and unfair to the fish, look at how unhappy they are....

Hah, talk about coincidence, I just finished reading this thread on MFK: How We Moved Our 5 Foot Arapima Certainly not impossible with the right equipment and planning.

How much do you earn?? :lol: Anyway, I've said my 0.02c on the subject, and like most things, its my thoughts/opinion, not fact. Back to the pics of the tank!!

The guy I bought my old 40cm fire eel off had two together, grown out from juveniles. Its generally said that they don't get on and may fight, but it could be worth a try, it wouldn't be the first time fish have broken the rules...