David R

If they are breeding then you shouldnt even try keep them with other fish in anything but an enormous tank (like really big, 6'+). If you've got a male and a female they will be breeding, so unless you somehow got lucky and got 15 males or 15 females then there will be trouble as they pair off. Actually, there will probably be trouble anyway unless you've got a big tank for them

I've got fine 'grit' as a substrate in my 4' tank, works well but I don't have plants. My bigger fish stir it up sometimes so filter intakes should be located as close to the surface as possible. The only other problem is that it's hard to gravel syphon, but I find most of the sh!t just sits on top of it so if you're careful you can suck most of it up without disturbing the grit.

Don't forget some cory catfish!! Plenty of different species, easy to look after and great for small tanks.

The best way to get a pair would be to get 6-10 juviniles, preferably from a few different places to increase the genetic variation, and let them do their thing naturally. That tends to be a bit 'safer' than putting two fish together and hoping they do their thing..

All the otehr bichirs they had still seem fine, it would be strange for the 3 ornates to die and the senegals and palmas to be fine... :-?

I hope not!!!! They looked healthy last time I was in there...

Just wondering if anyone on here got one of the three Ornate's Hollywoon Mt Roskill had for sale?? I was bugging them about selling me one for ages, then I went in today and they had all gone! I'm insanely jealous of whoever got them......

I'm no help with the knife fish, but I've kept a fire eel before. They do take a while to get confident enough to eat, but when they do you'll wish they hadnt!! Mine loved bloodworms and refused to eat anything else [5 cubes a day when it was about 14"], but I've also seen them eat shrimp. They're really easy to hand-feed, and IMO it's the best way to make sure theyre getting food especially with other fish in the tank. Good luck!!

Looking good Jason!! Yours must be lazy, my palmas doesnt sit still long enough for a photo like that!!

I'd have to agree with Jason and say you should get a birchir [but I would say that ] hollywood in Mt Roskill still had a few left last weekend. Tiger dats make great companions for them, but might get a bit big depending on the width of the tank. There's plenty of cool cichlids and other fish around the 6-18" mark that'd be great in a semi-aggressive community tank that size.

I would also like an answer to that question as I've just bought a small one ($25, same price as the featherfins). Also what sort of size do they usually reach in aquariums?

The easiest way is to have a hole drilled in the back of the tank, then the water flows out and down a pipe to the trickle filter set up underneath the tank. Probably the best bet is to go into a big fish shop and ask them to show you. As for the hole in the tank, if it doesnt already have one you should be able to find someone who can do it for you, otherwise there are some funny overflow box things you could look into, I dont know much about them as they seem like a complicated way of doing an easy job and there's a lot more that can go wrong with one...

I've seen them in australia, even in the wild when we were at post douglas (well thats what they looked like anyway), but I wasnt aware they were available in new zealand. I'd love to get my hands on a smaller one....

http://www.trademe.co.nz/structure/auct ... d=26928888 I didnt realise these were available in new zealand! Has anyone else seen/kept one here?

For a tank that size I wouldnt go for anything short of an overflow and sump/trickle filter set-up, especially with big messy catfish. Filtration can be incresaed/improved by adding more media and/or incresaed waterflow, all the heaters are out of the tank [no ugly power cords!] there's plenty of airation, and theyre so much easier to clean than canisters. There is no way in hell I'd spend $1400 on two big canisters when a sump set-up would do the same [if not better] job, cost half the amount and be way easier to clean.

Texas/dempsey hybrid?? Looks too tall for a dempsey but the face looks a bit long for a texas... :-?

Yeah he kept some of his colour, could easily tell the difference from a silver aro. This is the only photo I have of it, I think it was around 16" at the time. Where do the auckland zoo keep the aro? I havent been there for a while but dont recall seeing any big tanks...

Thats another reason I'd go for a black aro over a silver, they tend to stay smaller. Mine grey from 6" to 22-23" in just over two years, being housed in a 5'x2'x2' tank. I'd say at the very least you'd want something about 6-7' long and 3' wide to house one perminantly, they are active fish and need space to swim unlike some other large fish. I loved my arowana, and will some day keep another one [definately another black one] but that wont be until I can commit to a huge tank for it...

Doesnt dragon-fish usually refer to asian arowanas?? (then you can add another 0 to the price you quoted and double it) $120 sounds about right for an arowana, I'd rather pay extra for a black one if you can find one. 3.5" is pretty small, make sure it doesnt have the egg sac still attached and is eating well before you buyit.

My marbled bichir and leopard ctenopoma is about as odball as it gets for me. In the past I've kept a black arowana, fire eel and a few other "different" fish. And that website has some amazing people with some amazing fish! 33" A. gigas, large african arowana in the background Looks over-crowded? thats only the 4' wide end of the tank.....

Are you hell-bent on lake malawi cichlids, or just africans in general? I'm probably going to be getting rid of some of my tanganyikan cichlids soon, I have 5 leilupi, 4 birchardi and 2 duboisi I'll be looking to sell. How big is the tank and what will be filtering it?? those are the two detemining factors of how many fish you can keep in there. *edit* DOH! I just saw where you live......

Hollywood have more bichirs in stock!!!!! They have P. palmas, P. delhezi and P. senegalensis. I brought a palmas [marbled bichir] today, might try post some pics up soon...

Thats still not big enough to keep a pair of cons with other fish. I've heard or a pair of adult cons claiming 4' of a 6' tank for their territory, and there tankmates included a blackbelt cichlid, oscar and a jack dempsy, all adults!! If you want to keep breeding the cons then find a cheap 3' tank for them and put a mix of other fish in the 4'.

Hehe join the que, I left my name and number nearly 2 months ago

Could be a bad idea, how big is your tank? IMO if you want a pair of cons then you really need to have them in their own tank. If you want to keep cons with other fish then just keep males...