ally07

That's what I've read and heard about too, ox heart is good for bulking fish up. *cue Henward to post a pic of his huuuuge jardini*

Yeah, I know there is an argument against feeding mammalian protein to fish. It's so commonplace yet I don't think I've heard of death by ox heart. I have seen death by mealworm overdose (very disturbing autopsy). I have also read about how feeding prawns might cause long-term health damage to fish. So I'm not sure if not feeding mammalian protein is actually bad or more of a precaution?

Well, my jardini isn't on Aitkens so the carbs don't bother me much.. :lol: Have to say though, protein and fat content are closer than I'd anticipated.. I thought there would have been more of a difference between the two animals.

Hi all After unsuccessfully hunting for ox heart today, I ended up buying pig heart instead. I trimmed the fat and arteries, leaving what looked to be very lean protein. I tested a few chunks on my jardini and he loved it. My question is, is there much difference between ox and pig heart? The pig heart was much less fatty than I thought it would be, and looked similar to an ox heart. I suppose there would be a difference in protein content (beef would be higher?). But other than that, has anyone encountered problems with feeding pig heart? Thanks.

+1 If you have an established colony on enough media in the filter, you really don't need to add any more BB. I used to religiously dose BB in my tank but then I tried stopping and found no difference in water quality/ fish health so I just put that money towards other things (most likely the power bill and more fish lol). But I certainly never had any trouble with 'expired' BB either lol..

Cool, thanks. I always wondered what was inside that 'motor' area haha - mystery solved. Popped by Hollywood today and they reckon it's probably the impeller too, so I'm gonna get it tested tomorrow. At least the problem is being narrowed down and it sounds fixable instead of having to replace the whole FX-5.

Happy New Year all.. After coming back from our holiday, I noticed that my FX-5 had stopped. After taking the impeller out and cleaning it, it ran. Only this time it's very very noisy. It used to be a low hum when it was running but now it's rattling and vibrating so badly that I don't run it to prevent the problem getting worse. I suspect that it might be a problem with the motor that spins the impeller, but I can't open it because of the special screws. Any ideas what the problem could be? Is it something I can fix or do I need to send it for repair? Thanks

Good to hear, but I reckon it would be better if you had 2 trays of media and 1 tray of wool - maybe try it out and see if it still goes? Otherwise, it's just a waste of valuable bio-media capacity since filter wool doesn't hold much bacteria.

Haha, I meant raise the FX-5, but yes, it should still sit at a level lower than the tank. The FX-5 is a gravity-driven canister, so it needs to sit under the tank. I was just worried about the distance going UP rather than DOWN - the water might be slowed by the height of the tank. Your case does sound strange though. I've never tried, but I reckon if I filled all 3 baskets with filter wool, the FX-5 would still go strong - it's the biggest, baddest canister I've ever used lol. At the moment, all the media inside mine is Ceramisub, which finer than sintered glass/ ceramic noodles but I don't have trouble with poor flow. So play around with the type of filter wool you're using before determining if it's a fault with the motor.

Caryl, I take it the Canon is not an entry level model? In our household, my wife uses the 1000D and I use the 50D - if we swapped, we would both complain about the handgrips haha. I think the mid-top level Canons need to fit in more electronics, etc so the overall camera (and thus the grip) are larger. Not that I'm complaining! :thup:

(Sorry, re-posted by accident)

First of all - let's stop all this Nikon talk; it's Canon or go home. :thup: OK, to be fair, they are both top brands and the pros use both. Personally, I have played around with a couple of entry-level Nikons and found the interface a bit annoying. Canon makes it easier to make adjustments to the shutter speed, ISO and aperture (i.e. with fewer clicks and steps), which is handy because you're gonna be changing those A LOT. The Canon 1100D is a good place to start for an absolute beginner (I started with the 1000D), with the next model being more intermediate-level. What I did was start off entry-level and skipped a step. When I got confident with my 1000D, I saved up and got a 50D (awesome camera, the replacement 60D doesn't match up, IMO). However, if you're not keen on spending large on a semi-pro, the intermediate-ranged cameras will suit you just fine. The 1100D usually comes with a two lens package - 125-200(?)mm and a 300-750(?)mm lens (these are all just based on my fuzzy memory). For a beginner, this is more than enough to play with - but I would also recommend getting a PRIME lens. This allows you to take really sharp photos which look very artistic (sharp subject, fuzzy background). The 50mm prime lens is a good starter because it's good value and is affordable. The only 'downside' of the prime is that you can't zoom - you have to move and adjust to get the right shot. You are right about your aperture and shutter speeds. Photography is all about finding a balance of the two. You can theoretically get similar results from a wide aperture/ fast shutter vs a narrow aperture/ slow shutter since it's all based on the amount of light you're letting in. However, by using different 'configurations', you can achieve different photo effects and take shots based on the environment/ circumstances. As for the ISO, the simplest way to describe it is the camera's sensitivity to light. As a rule, try to keep your ISO as low as possible (100) to achieve sharper photos without fuzz or 'noise'. But, since this is not an ideal world, there will be times when you need to raise your ISO (night photography, indoor shots, etc) - but even then, try to increase the lighting and adjust your aperture/ shutter speed before raising the ISO. Nothing ruins a nice clean shot like 'noise' - it's very avoidable. At the end of the day, have fun with it and don't overthink your shots - it can sometimes take the fun out of it. Oh and you might want to sell a kidney and re-mortgage your house because DSLR photography can be an expensive hobby lol.

I know that the previous owner recommended that you fill the bottom basket with filter wool, but that's actually the opposite. When I got my FX-5, the advice I got from the FX-5 guru (see: Henward; fish geek) was to fill up the bottom 2 trays with media and the top with filter wool. Since I didn't want to waste a basket of media, I 3/4 filled the top basket with media and left 1/4 space for wool to catch the fine particles. My FX-5 runs like a rocket, as it were. I would also tend to side with Godly3vil's hpothesis. Based on the photo, it looks like there's quite a distance between the floor and the top of the tank - i.e. the pump has to work very hard to overcome gravity. When you do get the media clogging sorted, might still be a good idea to boost it a little bit to get the pump working at a higher efficiency.

The dove chick was could fit into my wife's palm, so it wasn't very large. In comparison, the wood pigeon chick would have required both my hands cupped together to pick it up (I didn't attempt it, it was so huge lol).. No idea, the lady didn't explain - might've been too early to tell, I'm not sure. The chick was just brown all over, no signs of spots.

Mystery solved! It was a............ Malay dove. After a bit of ringing around, we found a bird shelter and dropped it off. The lady there showed us a wood pigeon chick to compare and it was 4x bigger lol.

All good lol, it just looks really cute. I'm waiting for a call from DOC, so I think that they might be sending someone over to pick it up.

If that's the case then we might just drop it off at the nearest bird rescue centre - I'm guessing they have a vet there?

Photo:

Hi all We found an orphaned chick at the side of the road today and took him home in case a cat came along. We are pretty sure that it is a baby wood pigeon (kereru). It looks a bit ragged but doesn't look injured. We'll be taking it to a vet next week to make sure everything's OK, but we were wondering if it's legal to keep it as a pet?? Thanks in advance.

You just have to be strong when pellet training - your jar is still young so there is a very good chance of success. Henward recently tried to pellet train Brutus, but the fish won (again) lol - you can't teach an old fish new diet tricks apparently. I don't think introducing live food at this stage is a good idea; wait for the jar to accept pellets first. Otherwise, you will be fighting an uphill battle. I'm using "Henward's-Tried-And-Tested-Grow-Your-Jar-Super-Large Diet" - i.e. pellets in the morning and insects in the evening; no pellets = no insects. Strong you must be, young grasshopper. :sage:

To paraphrase Dr Evil... "I've got frickin' arowanas with frickin' lasers on their frickin' heads!!" :nfs:

Jamos, wanna play Hunger Games with our jardinis?? "May the odds be ever in your favour!" :spop:

Go for it. An FX-5 is the best investment I've made for my tank. It will be fine as the sole filter of that tank, no worries.

Nice set-up with the driftwood! How are you liking the bare bottom set up? I recently removed the gravel in my tank because it was trapping A LOT of debris and poo, so it was near impossible to keep the ammonia down. Now that my tank is bare bottomed, clean up is a SNAP! I arranged my wavemaker so all the poo and debris goes into the FX-5 intake. Now I just drain the tank from the FX-5 every week and clean the filters every 2-3 weeks without my arms going into the tank, moving driftwood, stressing the fish. I'm still considering whether or not to put fine sand inside, but to be honest, bare bottom is sooo good haha. One just has to ignore the tank bracing and that it looks a bit 'unnatural'. :thup:

Hands off! I already have dibs on that one lol... Trading in my silver for that jar this Sat.. :lol: