Dave+Amy

Checked out the LPS and haven't found any large bags of either dark red (small grain) substrate, does anyone know where to get it from - would like it to be inert, so my pH doesn't change. Thanks

So my female leopard snakeskin has paired off with my male Alenquer (the female has the fatter/bigger/wider breeding tube right?), they'e laid once but I noticed it too late while doing a waterchange... :-? half eggs were dried from water being drained and they ate the rest. How many tanks would I realistically need to breed and raise young Discus? And if I don't want to breed them, would they get more aggressive in my community tank? Do I need to separate the pair? Thanks

ox heart, garlic, spirulina powder, prawns, spinach and fishfood flake to bind it all - I found easy to make and mine love it

Tequila wouldn't touch any veges at all unless you stick it in the corner of his mouth and only then would he happil chew and swallow, convincing Tequila didn't work for the first few months we've had him and still doesn't

there's heaps of breeders on this site or there's always people selling older ones on TM, I'm sure you can still 'bond' with older lizards as long as you spend time with it, when I took over Tequila's recuperation ('cos tbh my partner was semi-useless and I couldn't hold back any further) it took only a few feedings etc for him to realise what I was there for and he was good (ate everything from me) and when my partner took him back he first reused to eat from him lol

yup or you can even get the liquid version from vets easier and less messy than getting white powder everywhere

I don't quarantine my fish, but having said that I don't buy from petshops if I can help it - you notice little things like one of my Pigeonbloods went off food, stayed to a corner, stomach got really caved in but after prazi it came right - if it had just been bullying then it would still be continuing. I just prefer to dose so everyone gets it, the Discus don't show any adverse effects to the prazi either.

that "EPS PREMIUM REPTILE HOME HABITAT" is cheap as chips AND comes with everything assembled so saves you the hassle, we had one 5'X2'X2' terrarium built 10mm glass (including pine stand+hood) that alone set us up $1500? not to mention the cables and lamps etc etc.. Baby beardys are a lot of work and if you don't have the time I suggest you buy an older lizard - live insects you can get through distributors on this site, you can easily put together a locust or cricket breeding contraption (or if you're not that way inclined get the guy who makes that terrarium to build you something that you can breed live insects with). You've got to FORCE your baby beardy veges and get it used to it - my partner spoiled ours from a young age to a point when Tequila flat out refused veges and his bones became decalcified and broke his lower back and now recovered he's a paraplegic.

I regularly Prazi (1st day, 3rd day, 7th day, one month) when I get new plants/fish for my tank etc - to make sure mine don't get worms, once-off wormings don't work and I doubt targets every life cycle stage of these internal parasites

hey tinytawnykitten - I have no space for them in the living room otherwise I would SO eagerly accept your offer, mum would go psyche if there was another filter in the lounge..but if you're looking at selling one I would be keen (when I get back from Aus and have worked a bit that is lol), giving up my fluval..planning on ripping out the undergravel system and fluval's almost had it

hey thanks for the responses - will definately pop down to the electrical store for another growlux tube to see if it fixes the problem -No flourish excell - heard it would melt the val (can't remember from where I heard this.. :-? ) -the Val came from another Discus tank and an African tank so they would've been alright with 30 deg (?) - P44 your sag are spreading, they've adjusted -10,000K growlux lighting (so needs to be changed yearly?)

have never thought about the light tube..how long do light tubes last? Mine's a 10,000k glow-lux which has always worked fabulously and I got it in around Dec or Jan? I haven't used snail-rid worried about the effects on my Discus, but I have Prazi'd my tank..the only med I've used in the last few months.

wow thanks for all the advice and replies! I'll start cutting back now then and tough love it is..might have to drape a sheet over the tank to stop them from giving my evils lol

I'll see if I can limit their feeding down to once per day, mum gets back from work around 10pm so aquarium lights would've gone off by then, just worried about the bullying that's all - since the biggests always gets lions share and the smallest get's what's left, if anything left. I guess granules would be the cleanest way to go

I was going to print out a feeding schedule to stick on the fridge door detailing when and what to feed since there are frozen Discus tucker and frozen bloodworms too, am leaving my mum in charge of my Angel tank (low maintenance THANK THE LORD) and my Discus tank and my dog (both of which are high maintenance). Just wanting to know how much feeding I should cut back if there won't be any wc's done for two weeks? Down to one meal or two meals a day?

Can't help it, I need to know I have every little thing sorted out before I go and back plans etc.. Have only gone away once for 3wks and that was before I got Discus, kept ringing to make sure mum wasn't over feeding my livebearers..came back to find out my 5yo sis had been doing the feeding with everyone in the tank looking like they're about to burst holidays are always a bit unnerving

I feed them 3-4 times a day currently how much do you recommend on cutting back Caryl? I don't want to burden other people to come do waterchanges for me :-? feel quite uneasy knowing someone has gone out of their way to drive to my house and clean my tank for me while I'm enjoying myself on a holiday.. I have 2 external filters running all the time incase one fails, one filtering 1200L/H and the other 400L/H and my tank is 450L..I've always worried about filter failure, I will remind her to keep checking on them incase both fails

mine swim into a pointy bit of my driftwood all the time but you'll find as long as you've got clean water it normally heals just fine..they're really quite tough than what people give them credit for

Hey guys, We are going away for 2wks and have Discus this time round (never left them this long before either), my mum has offered to do the feeding but states she won't do wc's this is a bit of an issue since mine are used to wc's every 2-3days and they demand to be fed a lot and quite often (all 7 line up at top right corner and stare until fed). Have no idea as to how to deal with this? Do people hold back on the feeding leading up to the trip to make it easier or do people do less wc's to get them used to old water ? I'm worried that I'll come back to dead fish with my mother in charge so I need to start prep soon, going away in under two week's time. Thanks

Hey guys, I had a whole backdrop planted full of some Val species (can't remember) but they have now all melted away this is the same with three large tiger lotuses I had..I do waterchanges every 2 days with temp slightly cooler (23-25deg) than tank temp (30deg), I have had added a little bit of prazi as the usual worming treatment (every few months) but have always followed up with big wc's and it's never affected plant growth before. I have fert balls between the Val plants and my sag that I got off Phoenix. I am at a lost at why my plants aren't growing like they used to and why all my val melted...would also like to know which are hardier plants that can handle frequent wc's. Thanks

when Tequila "runs" his hind legs are lifted higher than his tail? and looks like both hind legs have lost a lot of muscle mass - we've had to take all basking logs out and lower the UV light after we found him upside down once from falling off his log

Hey Angie - if it helps Tequila's in the same boat but seems content enough pulling himself around on his front legs (pretty fast too) the downside being we've had to give him more baths than usual cos of his spinal injuries he can't lift his bottom up to poo, we've said only if he goes downhill again then will we consider euthanasing him. Vets didn't think he'd pull through back in july but he's still going strong. Does anyone know if their un-used legs will eventually become so deflated that they will drop off??

my friend's severely allergic to apple cucumbers she has to carry around an epi-pen incase she goes into shock, didn't know of her allergy until she tried it for the first and went into shock lol

My 3foot is 1m tall (taller than wide) so there's more pressure on the glass (my understanding anyway)

a 4foot shouldn't be that bad (glass 10/12mm?) I have a 280L, 3foot tank with 10mm glass for safety just because it's taller than wide. at least you've got your own house Dave's holding me under the "wait until we get our own house line" before I'm allowed a couple of 8footers.... Do what I did to get my 5footer in - waited until mum and stepdad went away for 3 days, moved giant tank into house and fully set it up before she got back pay for your hubby to go fishing or somewhere for the day and get a couple of people to help you