lmsmith

Olly, how is that going to work? Is the whole tank on a lean? If so, how do it stop it from flowing over the sides? The only way to stir up things on the bottom is to either have your overflow intake closer to the bottom (not really an option if you have an overflow sump), to have a powerhead at the bottom stiring it up/more water/air movement close to the bottom, or having some bottom dwellers who stir up the poop. However, if you have an ammonia problem, you'll still have an ammonia problem if you don't remove the poop. You need more biological media, or more flow to your sump. How's your sump set up now?

Good luck with those. They've never been breed in captivity, except in Singapore in 100,000 gallon tanks. There have been a few unsubstantiated reports overseas about people supposedly breeding them, but noones ever seen evidence.

Your best bet is to see what Mr Pleco has available right now. He has some fantastic fish at pretty good prices.

Yup, I just set up a new tank.

I got some really pretty Demasonis on Tuesday, and I haven't seen them eat yet. I'm not too concerned, but I'm going away for the weekend, and need to leave instructions on what to feed. Usually I wouldn't be worried, but they're in a newly cycled tank with no algae growth, so they won't have anything to nibble on. I read they're vegos, what's best for them to eat? They're about 2-3cm, there's 13 of them.

Don't bring up the 'what if's'. The mediator doesn't care. You should highlight that you bought the tanks in good faith that they would work as advertised, and although you got warranty service, you're wary of buying another tank from them as you don't want the same thing to happen. Who are you taking to the disputes tribunal?? The manufacturer, the importer or the shop you got the tank from?

I also think as a starting point you need identify the problem. Until then, increase the water changes, but be really careful about chlorine in the water which could potentially aggravate the problem. There's not much point putting chemicals in the water unless you know what you're treating; it's stressful for the fish and is a big waste of money.

Do you mean like a yellow algae or the water looks yellow and makes the stones look yellow?

They are exceptionally good parents, mine keep the babies in their cave for about 10 days after they're free swimming and then once they release them, they take them back to the cave at night for another week or so. Mystic and the others are right, if there's just a male, he'll be establishing a territory, but if there's a female it's probably breeding behaviour. If you have lots of small spaces for the babies to hide in, some should survive

I've got 14 adults in a 3ft tank, there's 4 pairs in there. I have 4 different lots of babies and 2 lots of eggs right now, and about 100 babies ranging in size from 3cm - <1cm. I haven't seen any get eaten, but I have no doubt that some of the slower ones have been gobbled up.

Nope, that's breeding behaviour. They can breed surprisingly small. If it's staying in the nook, expect it to be about 10 days before they lay, then another 5 - 7 before you see fry.

Go with the ramshorns, the trumpets are really really hard to get rid of and they don't eat so much algae.

You should watch the movie 'Pay it Forward'. It's about this small kid who starts a worldwide movement of people doing random acts of kindness.

If they're in with the parents, they usually don't. If you're worried, keep the tank lights off, as the eggs are sensitive to light.

Yay! They'll probably eat them the first few times, but keep faith in them, eventually they should learn to raise then.

That's a good point. Don't want the thing showing now, do we?

+1. IMO, you're better off just going with the w/c.

Nope, not together. There would be some big, fat, happy puffers! One day, when I get rich . I just don't want to fall into the trap of having my puffers water at 1.040 or something stupid because I topped up wrong or miscalculated. My crappy hydrometer reads fresh water anywhere between 1.000 and 1.006, so I don't really trust it.

On the plus side, using the fx5 would almost double the water volume. It's like having jetboat motor return pump. I think Navarre has the right idea; how about just a normal light bulb?

Aw thanks Mystic, the skimmer's not too urgent, I'm gonna save up for something and just keep the tank really low stocked till then. Hopefully he gets back to me soon.

Yeah it was. I don't think I've ever seen a thinner one, but they've gotta be available. Have you tried ebay? That's the only place I could imagine you'd find them

I don't know why you keep fish, you're obviously not concerned about their welfare if you won't provide good filtration for them! I have some 25w jebo heaters, they're quite small. How small are you looking for? They're about 20cm long, and normal heater thickness.

Thanks for that, of course I'm talking from a completly outside perspective. Something just strikes me wrong about that kid. At the end of the day though, the ends justify the means; if kids out there become more aware about animal rights and welfare, then who cares about the weird kid?

What approximate price range am I looking at?

What I liked about Steve Irwin is that he was so enthusiastic that you couldn't help but feel enthusiastic about whatever he was talking about too. I kinda think Terry and Bindi are in it for the money though. There just isn't that same love that I saw with Steve.