David R

Unless your loaches are 20cm+ I'd say no. Even then I wouldn't risk a 20cm+ CL with a fish that has a reputation for turning nasty and destroying tankmates.

I doubt it'll be a S. formosus/Asian Aro, I'd say its definately an australian aro of some description (I'm not very clued up on the finer points of identifying which one), either S. jardini or S. leichardti. Maybe post a couple of pics of it here and someone will be able to ID it for you.

+1, I want a pet fish rather than a pretty picture. 8)

Depends on the size and aggression of the other fish, and the size of the uarus. I'd say if they're close to full grown it should be ok. If the jewels or convicts are breeding it could be trouble, but in a tank that size everyone should have room for their territories. What are the dimensions?

Forget all the 1" per Gallon B.S, if your nitrares/nitrites/amonia are good, everyone is getting along and the fish have room to turn around then your stocking level is probably fine. Just look at some of the 'Japanese Style' tanks, has anyone ever tried calculating the cubic inch per gallon of a crazy "overstocked" tank like that? Its probably waaay "overstocked" yet the fish always look beautiful and healthy.

How big is the tank and what else is in it? Maybe adding some other large semi-aggressive fish would help spread the aggression, rather than it being one-on-one.

Thats the best idea, I'd say keep a couple of males as they get bigger and have better fins etc.

Whats gravel? I just suck the poo off the bare bottom! :lol: When I had sand I usually tried to vacuum the full depth of it, although I only use a very thin layer as I'm not trying to grow plants.

Sounds good to me, thats what I do with my big dat and ornate, some days they're hungry, some days they're not.

So where did they get the idea that it was 500 years old from?? :-?

You cant link to images hosted by MFK because they don't have .jpg on the end of them. Just post a link to the thread. The eel should grow quickly, they eat like pigs! I miss my 18" one

I'd be inclined to not make it so deep. Anything much over 2' high is going to be a PITA to clean etc.

Did you buy the big one from Rotorua on TradeMe?? I dont think you need to keep it bare, just keep in mind the size, speed and power of the fish when choosing decorations. They need a lot of open swimming space, and make sure there's nothing to sharp or pointy they can injure themselves on if they get a fright.

Not sure about gold, but I had a 10cm pink male who would dominate my 3' tank, and have a go at everything in there. I moved him to his own 3' tank, and the cat would sit in front of the tank while he charged the glass and flared his gills at her! Awesome fish!! :lol:

Cool, thanks!! *starts dreaming of huge wide tanks* :lol:

On that note, how much is this affected by the width of the tank, ie how much water there is behind the pannel? For example, I was looking at getting a 6'x3'widex2'h tank made, how much more would the extra width stress the front/back pannels compaired to a standard 6'x2'x2' tank? No extra height, but a 50% increase in volume.

As long as your intake is under water and you're not stiring up a sandy substrate that could get sucked in then I'd just leave it running.

Cool! How big is it??

Not just long, wide too! Should be hitting 2' in a few years with a good diet. Congrats, they're cool fish!!

That shouldn't happen anyway if you've only got a thin layer and you regularly syphon it. I just use my right hand to slightly squeeze/kink the hose to reduce the flow so it doesnt suck the sand up, you could probably experiment and find the right sized pipe which would flow less water and not suck up the sand. I'd rate it about as easy to clean as gravel, its good with large fish as the big poos just sit on top, making them easy to suck out. Another thing to watch out for is filters. Make sure it cant get sucked into your filters by using a sponge over the intake and/or having it as high as possible.

They certainly have deceptively large mouths!! I look at the size of my big ones compaired to my clown loaches and worry, but no problems so far [touch wood]. I guess he's well fed and lazy!

Most fish shops should be able to get them in, AFAIK we only get the Indo dats here.

Their status as an endangered species has nothing to do with captive bred ones, or how commonly available they are in the hobby, its about their numbers in habitat.

They can call it what they like, its still just a silver aro. There are only two south american species, Osteoglossum bichirrosum and O. ferrari.

Heh, I'm in the same boat. I actually went out and impule-bought a silver seems how I'll never be spending $2k on an asian and I've not seen a black for sale for years!! Gannet there's no such thing as amazon red, just silver and black (and the occasional black silver). Yound silvers do have red-ish fins, but it fades as they grow.