Caryl

Assuming the fish is still eating well, if it was skinny I would assume some sort of internal bacteria or parasite.

Do the vinegar test on it. With lots of holes like that it will be porous and may leach lime which will raise the pH (good if you have Africans though).

Welcome back Ainz

My son's angels spawn on the filter uplift and ignore anything else he tries to encourage them on to. At least that is an improvement as they started by laying on the heaterstat. Hard boiled eggs anyone? :lol:

Here are some pictures supplied by Camnbron of his 4 foot tank when he had just finished constructing it. This is an excellent pictorial example of how to correctly set up a 4 foot tank. The tank The sump in the cabinet underneath. Note the return pump, and the skimmer. There is also room for more equipment in the future The overflow in the corner of the tank, which allows water to flow down to the sump More pictures of the overflow. The white pipe is called a Durso Pipe. It is designed to allow water to flow from the overflow to the sump, without any gurgling noise, or at least a minimum of noise. There are other outlet pipe systems also, the Durso is one of the most popular.

Ethics go both ways. Although the hobby can certainly have a negative impact it can also be good. There are a number of freshwater fishes that are no longer found in the wild due to the destruction of their habitat and they would no longer exist if it wasn't for hobbyists.

The aeration is important, especially after hatching and before free swimming when the fry all stick together and need extra oxygen.

We had a fish many years ago that was sold as a C dovi but we later worked out it was actually a jaguar cichlid.

Until he recovers. This will stop him being picked on by other fish. It should not take long to cure.

Possibly infectious. How much so depends on how heavily stocked the tank is. Get something from your lfs that says it is for internal parasites.

Plus angels are basically stupid :lol: They may lay 7 or 8 times before they realise the eggs are not meant to be eaten :roll:

Will do so later. Am too busy to hunt it all up at the mo.

No filter is "pointless". Nothing wrong with having both, especially if one develops a fault.

There's a bit more to it than that evil. Send me your plumber's email address and I will send him the instructions. Unless he has at least a limited electirician's ticket though he shouldn't do it. Very easy to burn the house down if you get the maths wrong and insurance will refuse to pay out if the pad isn't made by a qualified electrician. He is right, the thermostat is the hard part. I just used my last one as they are no longer available. I know who has some but he will be unwilling to sell them sa he wants them himself You used to be able to get external thermostats that attached to the outside of the glass (one brand name was Slik Stat, maybe one word) so see if you can find them.

Could be internal parasites

You can grow them up yes but they lose their nutrition value so are not a good choice.

They will be ready to lay again a week later if they are keen enough. Unfertilised eggs will turn white. Eggs will hatch in 36 - 48hrs. Make sure you set up some brine shrimp so they will hatch for the fry to eat once they have consumed their egg sacs.

They obviously have top and bottom swords in their genes.

The filter will be good I think but I do not keep discus. I understood they needed more space than that - even without the extra fish you plan to add. That tank would be too small for clown loaches and that is a lot of bottom dwelling fish listed.

Sounds better. How about getting rid of the platys as well? They will keep dropping fry every 4 - 6 weeks. I know the wcmms will breed but they are smaller.

If you have no room for more fish then let it out of the net and "survival of the fittest". They will graze on fine food particles caught in the plants.

Why the baking soda?

Live bearers, like platys, need a sex ratio of 3 females at least to each male to spread aggression. Otherwise the males will eventually kill her.

I used to hatch BBS in 1kg Marmite or peanut butter jars. Just as good as "poison" bottles

What brains? :lol: