David R

I doubt it, not with the ceramic heat lamp going. They wouldn't get any colder than sand or bare glass would they?

Wow! That looks every bit as good as any planted tank. On a slight side-track, how old/big do fronts have to be before you can sex them?

I have a friend in the US who regularly catches all sorts of stuff in the canals in Florida. Last time he got a huge plec and some beautiful salvini's. Has previously caught jags, red devils etc.

Nice set up!! The tiles look really good!

Would be good, but not so good for those who are incapable of working out the volume of a tank.

The new additions They've got some growing to do! (the bag makes them look bigger, they would be like noodles to the big one!! HFF Had senegals of the same size for $38, was so tempted to get a few to grow up with these guys... :lol:

Oops, it was the best one I could find :lol:

Scientific name: Polypterus ornatipinnis (Boulenger, 1902) Common name(s): Ornate bichir Origin: Central and East Africa: Congo river basin, Lake Tanganyika Max reported size (TL): 600mm (24") Description: The striking black and yellow patterning of this species extends into the fins, making for a very attractively patterned bichir. The head has a finely reticulated pattern. 9-11 dorsal spines present. Comments: This is the largest of the protuding upper jaw species of Polypterus. And another I'd love to keep but haven't seen here; http://imageevent.com/codomo/polypterus ... endlicheri Scientific name: Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri (Heckel, 1847) Common name(s): Saddled bichir, Red bichir Origin: Nigeria, Lake Chad, White Nile Max reported size (TL): 750mm (30") Description: Irregular vertical bands are present along the sides of the fish, which do not extend fully onto the ventral surface, which is a uniform whitish-yellow colour. Black spots are present on the head, body and caudal fin. Prominent lower jaw is longer than the upper jaw. 11-15 dorsal finlets.

Surely when they went into the pet store they must have seen bigger tanks, heck even most of the fish they bought would have come from a larger tank. It may seem large to them, but even a non fish geek would have seen enough bigger tanks to realise its not 'large'. :-?

Did the box say "Live Plants"?? I send plants on a regular basis from work, and the courier has told us that "Live Plants" with an arrow showing which way up they should be gets them special treatment. We use Parcel Express and haven't had any real problems.

The bucket I use to do my water changes is 20L :roll: :roll: :roll:

At least they didn't release arowanas or big cichlids, although it would be kinda cool....

True. Wouldn't help with the filters either. *goes off to trademe to look for a generator*

Damn, sucks you had to lose such a cool fish!!! My parents in whangaqrei still haven't got power, luck they don't have fish. I'm going to invest in a gas heater to keep the house/fish warm in cases like this. I've heated water on the fire in the past during long power cuts, but I wouldn't want to stay up for 36 hours straight doing it!!

I've seen africans with plants before, I kept mine with vals and java fern and had no problems.

Well I'm down to one big loach left The whitespot seems to have cleared up, gave it another water change and dose this morning just to make sure. The temp will stay at 27-28C for good, just to be on the safe side. How long should I wait just to make sure before adding more fish? I'm guessing the big loach will be a bit lonely, so I want to get some more ASAP.

:lol: Getting out of line there eh!! Afrikan; Duncan and I have known each other for years and the comment was in no way offensive! I know you're just doing your job tho...

This is something I won't say very often... Don't go for a sump if your main goal is a planted tank with a small fish population. If you're going to have big fish, or a heavily stocked tank then a sump is the only way to go.

For the first time in my ~8 years of fish keeping I tested my amonia, nitrate and nitrite. All were undetectible, so I guess that hasn't got anything to do with it. Does anyone else think the blue White Spot Cure stuff is useless?? It didn't seem to help much this time round, even tho the bottle says one dose is usually enough. :roll:

...in an established tank, where no new fish have been added for over 2 months, regular water changes have been carried out, and nothing (as far as I can tell) has changed??? I am currently battling [by far] the worst case of white spot I have ever experienced. It has claimed one big uaru, 3 out of 4 clown loaches (~4-5") and a small geo surinamensis. On the bright side, the P. palmas seems completely unphased and unaffected and is as fat and happy as ever. Since noticing it the temp has been turned up to 28C, salt added (not at full strength), 25-35% water changes every 24-36 hours, and regular dosing with that horrible blue White Spot Cure. The tank is a 3'x18"x18", its only been running for about 3 months but was set up using the two established canister filters from my 4' tank, and 2/3 'old' water from the 4'er, so it should have been well cycled. Despite all this, the fish seem to be struggling to shake it, and I'm getting more and more depressed. Other than new fish introducing it, what else can cause such a sudden outbreak of white spot? And does anyone have an accurate measure of how much of that blue White Spot Cure to use, rather than "2 drops per litre"? I measured 100 drops to be about 7.5ml, which would treat 50L of water. Even the big 1L industrial-sized package still only says "2 drops per litre". Rant over.

Agreed. However AFAIK a large portion of beardies natural habitat consists of rock and hard compacted dirt/sand, not loose sand.

Haha you can talk!! Buy my palmas, you need it to conmplete your set!

Only the three ornates 8)

I'd go for 120lx60wx50h.

Let me know if they're not ornates, black and white could be delhezi? or in my dreams endlicherii.... :lol: