Caryl

I know some people get the black polythene (from farm supply stores) that farmers use for their dams.

I agree with Ian and wonder if there is something decomposing under the filter plate.

I have bred fish over the years but never tried breeding nets :lol:

She is using fish - goldfish.

Nice driftwood. If I may make a suggestion, I would move the left (as you look at it) end of the driftwood back a bit (if you can) and/or swing the right end a little more to the front so it is on a bit of an angle. Make the tank look a little deeper.

When you buy a test kit you use a sample of half the little test tubes provided so you only need a small amount to take to the lfs. Got any old film canisters? Half fill one of them and it will be plenty. What sort of gravel do you have? When we first started fish keeping we chose a lovely deep reddish aquarium gravel from the garden centre (don't have any lfs here). Our pH kept going up to 8.0 and we couldn't work out why. Turned out the gravel was meant for Afrikan set-ups and was designed to raise the pH! The shop assistants had no idea :roll: A high pH is better than one that is going up and down like yours is as a result of all the water changes.

Is it eating and pooing? Otherwise, since it is just the belly area, I would first suggest constipation.

Hmm, yes I didn't leave my Africans more than 3 days without food.

Nice fish (if you like that sort :lol: ) Good pics too.

Is that what they call blanketweed? The bane of ponds?

How long will you be away for each trip? If you have a well established, well planted, well filtered, not overstocked tank you can leave them (depending on species) for up to 10 days without food. I do this to mine (gouramis, barbs, tetras, hoplos, BNs, loaches, rasboras) with no problem at all.

They are a gorgeous fish. Do they come in a wide range of colours and/or do they change colour depending on surroundings?

Look at it this way - you will be able to get wet and wild on your anniversary

A lot more plant will help the angel feel more secure and hopefully perk up a bit.

Sometimes one or more of mine is patchy and other times not :roll: Doesn't seem to be related to anything as far as I can see

How well planted is it? Provide a lot of plant cover and see if that helps

We're supposed to clean the shower? :lol:

Is it possible it is being harrassed by the other angel?

In what way do you mean "easier"? If you have an established filter on another tank to use in the new one, and the fish load in the new one is similar, you can just add the fish as it will already be cycled.

I never took it as a criticism of the article Barrie, I took it as a helpful tip and good feedback. People need to know these things and if one thing is considered better than another, by a professional who knows, then we need to hear about it. Thanks for bringing it to our attention 8) A lot of people swear by credit cards, especially for getting off those hard green dot algae bits.

I have received the following comment from barrie after he read my article in the Aug Aquarium World about using the scrapers from the $2 Shop for cleaning aquarium glass... "as a glazier, the hard scrapers that you show in the AW mag bring me more business than storms do every year. Whereas scrapers are needed at times, the razor blade with a hard back are far better (and a lot cheaper) as the type that you have shown are far too strong and scratch the glass very easily." I am not sure what he means by 'blades with hard backs' so will wait for a reply. I have been using these scrapers for years with no problems but am careful not to get gravel or sand under them or they will scratch - but then, so would anything! Look forward to a fuller explanation please Barrie and maybe pics if you have them. What do the rest of you use?

They are not the same as mosquito fish so don't let those common names confuse you. I have only ever heard them referred to as leopardfish.

Leopardfish fry will eat finely crushed flake food. They will survive with the adults if there is plenty of fine leaved plant for them to shelter in. Mine were never as prolific eaters of fry as guppies or other livebearers.

Take half the media from the existing filter and swap it for half the media in the new filter. Half fill the new tank with water from the other tank (if you want) as well. Not a lot of good bacteria in the water itself though.

Whereas I drop cucumber in and leave it for days. They eat the main bit overnight then the skin slowly disintegrates as they nibble at it. Never lost a fish doing this yet.