David R

I doubt if you'll see a [real] one without leaving the country. Surely they look close enough to jags at a small size........ :lol:

That sounds good, I'll have to get you to send me some pics of the bracing some time.

Did someone say bass??

Depends how bit a tank you're upgrading to and how far away that is. It sounds like your water is pretty good, so I'd say it'll be fine.

I've already been playing around with that. It says a safety factor of 3.8 is commonly used, but how far from this can you go before it gets dodgy? 2.29 sounds like a lot less than 3.8, but then again I'm not entirely sure what the numbers are actually refering to so I could be way off.... :-?

yeah get at least two more once the other one is better!! The more the merrier with CL's

3' wide, not high. 5'x3'x2', LxWxH Barrie do you think the 30" wide tank would need 15mm for the base, or 12mm? Whats the price difference between normal and toughened glass?

I'm planning a new tank, and I'm trying to decide between 5'x3'x2' (LxWxH) or 6'x30"x24", both work out at almost exactly the same volume. I've got quotes from a couple of reputible tank builders [won't name names], one who says both sizes will be fine in 10mm glass (and said he could go up to 6'x3'x2' in 100mm, just) and the other who has said all three sizes will need to be made from 12mm. I've had a bit of a play around with the glass thickness calculator, but I'm not sure what to make of the results. I've seen plenty of 6'x2'x2' tanks made out of 10mm glass, and my old 5'x2'x2' was made from 10mm, but according to this they're unsafe. Could someone a bit more clued up shed some light on it? I know its logical to go for the 12mm, better safe than sorry etc, but its going to mean a big increase in price and weight, so I don't want to waste money on 12mm if 10mm is enough.

Are they even married?!

I think you'll find this simply comes down to take size. The tank hes in is smaller than the territory he's defending, therefor any fish in the tank is in his territory (and cant get out) so it ends up dead. If you put it in an 8'x4' tank it would probably get along fine with other large fish.

Keeping only one sex would be the obvious answer, unless you can teach them to use contraceptives...

You cant be general with such a broad term, you might as well just say 'fish'.

Its not big enough for cichlids. oh, you were talking about africans? :roll: :lol:

Interesting to hear you two recommend feeding wild caught insects. I've been advised against it by many people as you run the risk of introducing parasites and all sorts of things. Plus the nutritional content won't be as high as captive bred insects that have been fed a good diet.

10mm glass on a 3' tank!? Is it 3'x6'x2' or something?? :lol:

It depends on your idea of community tank. 3' planted tank with tetras? Malawi/tanganyika biotope? 2000L central american cichlid 'community'? It also depends on what kind of cichlid you're talking about. Discus/angels? Apistos/rams? African rift lake? Other africans? Central/south american? Cichlid is far too broad a term to make generalisations about.

WTF? A 14" fish that likes to school in a 4' tank?? They like to swim, and swim fast, 6' tank minimum IMO.

Yeah, it was pretty stiff, and after half a day floating in a bucket of tank water it was still stiff. I think I'm going to have to seperate them, I bought some red eye tetras yesterday to act as dithers and try to encourage the dats out a bit more (its working) but they're not that much smaller than the dats and the ornates [i'm guessing] killed two of them last night!

During a late-night water change one must have jumped out un-noticed, found it on the floor the next morning. Tank is well covered so it couldn't have got out any other way.

How fast did they grow? I just picked up a third one from Origin Aquatics, two of them are a bit on the small side and my two little ornates are starting to look at them like a potential mouthful (even tho they couldn't get them down). I'm worried how the size difference will change over the next few months as the ornates will probably grow faster.

Yeah, 2200x600x600, pretty much counts out clown knives and aros. A big group of dats would be awesome tho!! :lol:

They also don't grow that fast, I've had my biggest one for over 2.5 years and he's around 9". You should get a group of 6-8 to grow out for you big tank!

Google FTW! http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q= ... arch&meta= I dont think a clown knife would be a good idea as the tank is only 2' wide.

I'd feed them at least twice a day if you're trying to fatten them up, the other fish should be fine.

Good choice, uaru's are way cooler than plants!!