matildanz

Yes, clown loaches. I have 9 ranging in size from maybe 10-15cm. Substrate is Daltons with Silica sand on top. It's probably time to renew the Daltons and I'm thinking I'd quite like a darker sand as the white can look a little bright. I don't think it's quite that deep though. There's 3 large pieces of wood with attached java and anubias that they race laps around. I was hoping if I could keep some more swords planted long enough to grow some decent roots then they may just stand a chance! I have added another filter (just for some extra flow) that I'm hoping will keep them otherwise occupied! They're nosier than toddlers..... anything new gets a full investigation and taste test!!

After seeing Adrienne's fantastic tank I've gotten all enthused to tart up my tank. It's becoming quite obvious that if I have any chance of having a planted aquarium AND clowns that there's going to have to be some fakery going on! The brutes have destroyed an entire tank of twisted val and my poor sword is looking very sorry after being dredged up twice and is now weighed down with every fake rock/wood that I could find in the garage at 10pm last night - on the up-side, it's still planted this morning! The only things that has stood up to their brutal onslaught is Java Fern and Anubias Nana, although I'm willing to give live plants another go if anyone can suggest some other hardy plants (even if I have to anchor them down with rocks until they grow some decent roots) I know you guys are all for real plants and in an ideal world I'd much rather have live plants but feel I may as well just throw my money down the toilet and be done with it!! Does anyone know of anywhere that sells good quality, realistic looking artificial/silk plants? Not worried if it's overseas, as long as they're safe for the fish! Cheers guys

Superb! Such a gorgeous tank, I'm just a tad jealous!!

That'll explain why they've systematically bitten through most of sword stems over the course of the last couple of hours!! Thugs the lot of them!!

Went into our local pet shop to get some more fish food to find they'd run out of the sinking pellets my clowns love. I was told that it was fine to feed tropicals on goldfish food. She said that was what they often fed their tropicals on. Crazy talk or are a lot of foods very similar?

:slfg: I'm kind of expecting that to be the result in the end!!

Cheers! :thup:

I have a large Amazon Sword that is outgrowing my small tank. I want to transplant it into my big tank. Problem is the loaches. Historically they're absolute sods at digging things up rather than punching holes in them so I'm hoping if I can anchor it sufficiently, it might just stand a chance! Any suggestions on how to protect it until it gets a good grip on the substrate??

Thanks guys, will hold off on treating the carpet and continue combing her...... good for bonding too If they're keep recurring I'll look at dusting the carpet then. And she is a bit of an acquired taste.... everyone is entitled to their opinion on dogs..... even if they're wrong!! :slfg:

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 7667_n.jpg She's not big She's a smooth coat Griffon (Petit Brabancon) I can't remember what the Vet said she weighed but it certainly wasn't anywhere near 2kg!

We've discovered our new puppy has fleas. Whether she started it all or our two cats have bought them in I don't know but they're here. Cats have been treated but Pixel is only just 11 weeks so too small for anything more than baths and a good going over with a flea comb. Obviously the house needs treating..... and I'm not keen on poison so wondered if anyone had tried DE to kill fleas? I've scoured the internet and it sounds like it's a good solution and I've been using food grade DE on my chickens and coop to kill any mites etc (works brilliantly by the way!). I have 4 tanks ranging from 30 litres to 5 feet all in the vicinity of the probably infestation so moving them all out isn't really an option. Now I don't intend dusting the house madly (it may be food grade but I'm still going to be pretty careful) just a good dusting over the carpet and will confine pup to her pen away from the powder but just wondered if anyone had any better suggestions or ideas. Thanks heaps

Thanks for that I wasn't meaning it to come across as a complaint, it was just out of interest to know if this was normal. I'll try trimming the leaves before they get too tall and see if that helps it 'bush' a bit more. I not sure if I need to fertilize it anymore Jen, the thing is growing like a weed (not that I'm complaining! )

The leaves start to die as soon as they reach the surface of the water. I've searched google and not come across any reference to the leaves being so short lived. Granted my tank would be completely covered if they all lived but I was just wondering if anyone else had found this.

BAD BAD BAD! I dredge dozens out of one of my tanks daily and dump them in the clown tank. I'm not even making a dent in the population so I'm tearing the tank down and removing all the stones that they're breeding in. I swear there are more snails than stones at the moment Am replacing it with Daltons and Silica sand so hopefully the zebras will be able to control the little ones I don't manage to eradicate!

My tiger lotus is growing like a weed, sending up new leaves every few days and reaching the water surface in a week. They open up and sit on the surface for a couple of days (4 at the most) then they sink and die. The original leaves are still alive and apart from the odd hole courtesy of the clowns, they're fine although their stems have stayed relatively short - maybe 15-20cm. Any ideas? Tank is an Aqua One 150 using Aqua One lighting (nothing special). Water parameters are all normal, fish all happy. Thanks

I miss my rats. They were the most personable pets. Given half a chance I'd resurrect the cages but for some reason there are tanks taking up most of the blank walls in the lounge and I'm not sure I trust my two SPCA kitties!

Sod it! That was a day or two ago........ perhaps I was watching reruns..... that's it, reruns!!

Well I adopted two cats from the SPCA last Tuesday - originally called Laverne and Shirley........ The girl at the vet took great delight in telling me that she'd discovered they'd been named after a TV show in the 'olden days'!!! I'm sure it wasn't that long ago that it was on!!

Walked past the tank on yesterday and spied this little orange thing. Turns out to be a Sunset platy baby about 7-8mm long! So far I've found 3. How they managed to survive this long without being seen/eaten I have no idea, I've vacuumed the gravel and done water changes without laying eyes on these little guys until now! The tank is heavily planted which no doubt helped :happy2:

had the day off work, spent it in front of the sewing machine to make Assassins Creed Ezio costume and Sakura from Cardcaptors dress for Armageddon. Taught daughter to sew, and now she's making bows.

The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. Fantastic illustrations and a wicked puzzle! Any of the Mercer Mayer books with the little fuzzy monster.

Thanks Sophia, if there's been any scrapping they've settled their differences now. Looking at the fish in question I could almost tell myself that there's a faint stripe so hopefully you're right :thup:

I saw the end of one episode at some ungodly hour this morning on Discovery, it was only the last 5 minutes and he was in a river somewhere in NZ wearing chainmail feeding eels. I had watched an episode last night with a fresh water ray in Argentina so this wasn't a repeat. Anyone see that episode and know what he was fishing for? I wouldn't have thought our eels would have been notorious enough to be called River Monsters but you never know!!

It looks permanent. Only one is showing the right side and under close observation, there is a pale patch where the stripe should be. There doesn't appear to be any wound or damage and the scales are all intact.

I have two black neons that seem to be losing their green stripes. It has only happened on one side and it isn't the entire stripe - there's just a black space in the middle leaving a bit of green on either edge. If they swim in the right direction, you'd never know there was anything different about them, they eat and swim around like normal - should I be worried about them?