herefishiefishie

What do u mean by that there was a hybrid front in there with them. What made you think that? The fronts you have in NZ will be the same as all the old school fronts in Australia & around the world. Here is an article linked from Brad, any research you do will bring you back to this. This is what I believe NZ fronts to have come from. This is the same story with Electric yellows. All the old school yellows show some variation of colour, form....they don't come with a location name. Then again alot of the old school cichlids don't. Frenchy

If you run both filters together for a while you can. If you added the noodles from the old filter & added these to the new filter, it would jump start the new filter. The problem is there is only ever enough bacteria for the load available in the tank. So if you ever removed the old filter after running the new filter for say a few weeks, then you have a reduction of bacteria & risk a spike anyway. Frenchy

The fry should mostly be 6 bars. Breeding the better looking fish is the better way to go though. {as in the more proper looking} Be a cool display fish all the same. Get people to count the stripes, then wait to the fronnie turns around & ask them if they were sure. Good way to tease kids. 8) Frenchy

Seen that a few times. Joys of cichlids & active species. :roll: I knock to the head is a knock to the head too, no matter what the animal. It will either pull through or it won't. Not much you do except seperate from the others. {like you have done} Frenchy

The usual recommendation is 1W per litre. Resist the temptation to go a higher than needed wattage. If a heater sticks on, boiled fish for dinner. :-? Frenchy

Good point about room/house temp Alan. For me it's a case of the heaters are off, the lids are off & the mesh is on. Dam this Qld sun 8) Frenchy

I am glad that it is mainly a duonopoly here when it comes to importers. They both use scientific names. From doing a stint at a place that imported for a while, it isn't an effort to import proper named cichlids either. I know of one shop here that has its own import room that bought in a new type of cichlid called an "orange peacock". I will try & find the pic. :-? Looks dead set like a reb zeb{pulu point} crossed with an electric yellow. Found it 8) Frenchy

I am #2 vote for dogmatix comment. Frenchy

The reason I say the aren't a maingano is that in the picture, they are different looking to the maingano's that we have here in Aussie. Over here there stripes are much thicker & the front of the head is more rounded. When this comment was posted, you would have to assume{which I hate to do} that this is what they are. Well thats what they are ordered in as. That is a big problem, cichlids should be ordered or bought with scientific names{genus, species & location or variant} Especially with whats available now days. Saves alot of confusion. When shops sell cichlids with fancy names, that can't be found on net or books, you would have to think they are dodgy. Frenchy

I think thats the first time I have seen anyone talk about electras on this forum. The males are stunning when bigger. Nice looking set up with the rocks. Frenchy

Cheers for that. Judging by this pic. I would put good money of these not being maingano. I really like the tank display/set up. The black surrounds make the fish, plants... stand out. Very nice looking shop. Like the juvenile Tropheus duboisi too. I wish they stayed like that with the dots. Look alot cooler than what they do when they are older. Frenchy

:roll: Frenchy

2 x 200W will easy do it Frenchy

Any chance of pics of what came in? Frenchy

I have often thought about going marine. The breeding & parental care of cichlids is pretty cool. Their interactions with each other & me.... Frenchy

I now have my very own copy. I beg to differ on that one. There is a section on microscopic examination. Most of the diseases have good photos of what the fish look like when affected by different diseases. Obviously if you want to see the pathogen, parasite...you will need a microscope. But when you can see the change of colour on a fish, patches, breathing problems, gill damage & the like. It tends to lead you to a particular disease. Frenchy

Sumps are great, go on about them as much as you can. They are the best form of filtration IMO. Guess what the main form of filtration was in the fronnie tank in the story I gave above? :roll: .... So he did have 2 sources of filtration. If you had just that & the canister you will be fine. Frenchy

Set up right the canisters do run well & will airate the tank as mentioned above. Relying on just one filter IMO is a risk. We just had a post on a forum over here of a guy losing a colony of frontosa. What happened was that the high quality suction caps that come with fish products, had given way. The spray bar slipped under the water level. No airation of the water during the day was enough to killl his fish. .... Frenchy

I have only ever kept these as a display, in my American days. Sexing is pretty difficult, not much difference at all.The 2nd size fish could be coming into maturity, either it is trying to encourage the male to breed, or it could be an up & coming male trying to test the water. Here's an article that may be helpful. Has a good section on breeding. http://www.wetpetz.com/surinamensis.htm Frenchy

I ordered a copy. Frenchy

Sumps are better, there are pros & cons. What I would suggest is that you go for a canister filter & an internal filter. An internal will help with circulation & is a better option with airation too. This way you also have a back up, if ... forbid a filter stops, just like the 2 heater suggestion. Also what it also means is that you can load the canister with biological material & one layer of coarse foam. Why? bacteria growth is optimal, & cleaning the canister then becomes a far less frequent job. Bonus! 8) The internal should pic up most of the finer material & as they are easier to clean, who cares if you only have to rinse out a sponge once every week or two. A tank that size will only need 2x 150W heaters. Because of circulation, 2 heaters make no difference in a tank that size. 2 heaters are just a safer option. Just incase one sticks or blows. If a lower voltage heater sticks on, it should take a few hours to heat the water to a dangerous level. If one blows, the other will cover & give enough heat till a new one is bought. {Thats why people should never go for a to high a wattage heater, cooking fish happens} 1W per litre is usually the rule. As for mixing cichlids, I would suss out what you like for a start first, then ask here. Try & resist the urge to impulse buy, that can be a big mistake when buying cichlids. Research goes along way & judging by the posts here over the years there are alot of lfs staff that have little to no idea about cichlids. People like Ryan, Brad, Mystic, Caryl & myself can point out what we think will go with what & we will take into account the size of your tank to. Some lfs are fuelled by greed {I know hard to believe}& may mislead you. Sorry I can't recommend what lfs to see, wrong country for a start :lol: As for brands on equipment, well as stated earlier everyone has there views. From working in lfs's & by going by complaints, returns... If you can go for an ehiem or fluval as a canister, these are a great option, reliable, water in these tends to go throught the media & not round the sides.....& also these 2 brands hardly ever came back. Heaters, well these can vary alot. One thing I have noticed, the thicker the make of heater the better. Jager's & the like. The skinny brand of heaters are cheaper made. Therefore not as reliable{IMO} I have had a few which were good for a year at best. For Internals, well Sonpars are my faviourite. Great value for money. Work really well, come with seperate cartridges....{Don't know if these are available over yonder} One more thing, what you are keeping is the water more than the fish. Can you get you ph, gh & kh tested. Cheers. What you need is a stable ph on the alkaline side. Hope this helps. Frenchy

The lights can be a problem on the units. I know they are meant to be sealed. But from having sold a few & seen a few come back, water still manages to get into the connections. I would get some glass cut. By the way, nice looking set up too, well done. Looks great. Frenchy

. Make that most if not all opinions. An elecric blue is part of the Haplochromis group & an Electric Yellow is part of the mbuna group. A peacock is part of the Aulonocara group. The Aulonocara group are probably the most timid of the Malawi cichlids but can be housed comfortably with electric yellows, some docile mbuna species, eg;acei's & some Lake Tangy cichlids. If you want to keep peacocks, start them first then add others once the peacocks are bigger. Frenchy

That is a Gephyrochromis acei "ngara" White tail. Formerly Pseudotropheus, maybe changing back. :roll: The pic is of one of the girls. The stay black with the white edging around the tails. The black & white reminds me of home :lol: The males get a blue flashing in the heads. Here's the dom male Some info, http://www.wetpetz.com/acei.htm As for demasoni broods, not that big. I get about 12-20 out of one female. Another who dosen't hold so often around 10. Frenchy

Then again that depends on the type of gravel, how often it is gravel is vac & if you have snail problem too, they can turn the gravel over too. Once again, this depends on the type of filter. Some filters hold next to nothing when it comes bacteria. Internal filters with fine foam don't hold much at all. There would be more in the gravel. Which ever way you choose to go, they are varying factors. Just be careful, you will be loosing some bacteria. How much? well that depends, as mentioned above. I would only feed the fish lightly ever 2nd day for a while. Monitor your ammonia, nitrite...levels for a few of weeks. Frenchy