David R

Mystic your experiences don't equal hard fact. Just because mixing a knife with dats didn't work for you doesn't mean it will never work. There are many many people keeping knife fish (and all manner of things) with large datnoids, hell the probably even cross paths in habitat. In this case it didn't work out, possibly because of a big size difference between the knife and the dats, which is why I suggested Bjorns CK as its 40cm+ and already living happily with a couple of large datnoids (unless he's sold them already). People always try to define fishkeeping with rules, XX inches of fish per gallon, must have 10x turnover for filtration, can't mix this with that, etc etc. These are not set in concrete, in fact there are usually so many exceptions its a stretch to even call them rough guidelines. What works for one person might not work for another, all you can do is try it and be prepared to pick up the pieces when it doesn't work.

Yeah it sucks eh, just seems to come out of nowhere some times. I lost a 14cm clown loach last time, and three 10-12cm ones the time before than, after which I decided spending a couple of hundred on a good UV sterilizer was a worth-while investment.

I only lost 1 out of 9 CL's with my heavy dosing reigeme, thats what HFF recommended I did. Some medicines are harsher than others, which is why I used the tonic sparingly. My silicone is still blue though.

She aint pretty! I often wonder if the name had anything to do with the fact that Rolf Jansens wife is called Helen.... :lol: Ian is right on the money, look at the habitat of the fish. Tinfoil barbs and bala sharks are going to need plenty of swimming space, big lazy pleco's don't need so much. I've seen video's of 5' Arapimas being kept in shallow pools, some would say its cruel, but check out this video of them in habitat:

:roll: What was he keeping the knife with again?? Seems how you've got such psychic powers to predict what will and won't work perhaps you could share next weeks lotto numbers with us? :lol:

MFK has a Cichlids forum, for general cichlid discussion, along with six sub-forums; African Rift Lake Cichlids, African Riverine & Madagascar, Central and South American Cichlids, Peacock Bass, Crenicichla (Pike Cichlids), Angel Fish & Discus. They also have nearly 36000 members! :roll:

What did you increase the temperature to? A half-dose isn't going to do much, I dosed mine daily with the 'Blue Circle Whitespot Cure', along with doing a 30% water change daily before dosing. Try the 'Tonic' whitespot cure, its supposed to be a bit stronger, I did a full dose every 3 days, along with a 30-40% water change before dosing. You could also add salt, and a UV steriliser can help kill the tomites when they're in the water.

How big is it? If you can boil it then I'd suggest you do that. If its too big to boil them soak it for a day or two in a weak bleach solution, then for another month or three with regular water changes. I'm glad they dropped our new recycling bins off two months early, they're prefect for soaking big bits of wood!!

Fully, something flexible like an arowana, or something inactive like a bichir would generally be alright in any tank thats wide enough for them to turn around in. For the GG, just have a look at Helens tank at HFF, its not really that wide, just wide enough to turn around in. Wider would be better tho, they're not really flexible...

How big was the knife henward? Perhaps you could buy Bjorns big CK to replace it

18 years old and Sweedish? I like the sound of that!!

Why would you want to separate cichlids from lake Nicaragua from other central american cichlids?? Seems how there's a lot of people keen on rift lake cichlids perhaps it could be split into rift lake and other cichlids, but there's not really that many posts to make it worth while IMO.

I'd be happy with any of them!!! One day I'll make it to Tauranga and come visit...

Sadly, I'd say you're the minority these days. Unfortunately most people don't have the luxury of being able to afford/justify paying more for kiwi made stuff [due to political reasons that I am not allowed to go into] so we're going to see this kinda thing happening more and more often...

:oops: back on-topic I guess...

BURGERFUEL!!!! KFC's hot and spicy is pretty good tho. Oporto, Nando's and Wendys are all better than the 3 listed in the OP, but I guess they're mostly aucklanders luxuries...

Great, they've also put more money into bureaucrats and other frivolous wastes than past governments. Wouldn't it be nice if they put some money into health, education and infrastructure as well?

You'd think so, but as Pipa said on Breakfast this morning for the last 15 years NZers have been shopping with their wallet and going for the lowest over-all price rather than going for the locally made or the best service etc. Its pretty hard to be pissed off at F&P for packing up and moving overseas when the last time you bought a major appliance you waited until there was a sale, went around every major retailer getting them to beat each others quotes and bought the lowest-priced item with no thought for where it came from and how it effected the local economy. Hands up how many people didn't actually do that, and instead researched which retailers were most NZ owned and operated, went along to them and said "HI, I'd like to buy a NZ-made fridge that has a good energy-efficiency rating, regardless of price". :roll: I don't blame them for moving overseas, and I can't see why this country would even bother trying to compete with China or India for cheap labour. Do we really want more big industry/manufacturing plants in our "clean green" country? There are so many other things we can do that those countries can't (based on our geographic isolation, GE-free clean green reputation etc), so shouldn't we focus on those instead?

Strange, considering that they come from soft, acidic (sometimes even bordering on blackwater) streams and rivers. This article is quite interesting, written from a loach-fanatic's perspective rather than an african cichlid fanatic. I guess it just helps prove my point that while some people are fanatical about replicating the exact water conditions of the fishes natural habitat it is by no means essential for their health, and having a consistant pH is far better than having it jumping up and down while you try to get it to within 0.02 of the average pH of the specific location of lake tanganyika your fish come from.

Hmm, 5 1' tall tanks, 4" timber plus at least a 6" gap to allow maintanence (more would be better) is going to be over 9' tall. Back to the drawing board unless you've got tall ceilings and like cleaning tanks on a ladder....

Spotted catfish could be a pictus?? Probably best to have a look throuhg a book to find the proper names for the fish, rather than us taking blind stabs in the dark.

If that happens I'll torch the beehive and move to the US or UK!! Did you look at the price of fish over there? Apparently the large/oddballs are really expensive (think several hundred for a silver aro or redtailed cat!), at least they have some cool natives tho.

Ambidextrous +1 :lol: I eat left handed, but do most things right handed so I'll go in the right team! Left: 1 Right: 1

So people stress out about africans being kept at lower pH, but are happy to put clown loaches or cories in high pH? :-? I'd suggest keeping the pH between 7.5 and 8 if you're got asian or south americans for the clean up crew. In reality it could probably be lower still and the africans will be fine and everyone will be happier.

Silicone in some fine mesh in the gap?