hovmoller

Unless you find a way to genetically engineer a new generation of clowns to grow faster I don't think you can grow them quicker than that... Sounds like you are already doing the best anyone could do.. What's up with this need for instant gratification Henward? Just let nature take its time and it'll get there... ONE STAR!!!! YEEEHAAAA!!! :bounce:

Yeah go native Josh! Find a nice piece of new zealand driftwood. Think of all the diesel used and C02 produced by getting a piece of wood from a malaysian swamp to your aquarium. Just trying to appeal to your environmental side

Sorry thought you meant the one that goes in the oven that you put a bread on after you take it out of the oven.. What kind of bread tray are you thinking of?

When you inhale a lung full of very old canister filter air so your breath smells like bad aquarium water the whole day but it was totally worth it to get it going

Hmm.. not a bad idea but aren't they made of chromed steel usually? Wouldn't want to put that with my fish Come on kiwi ingenuity.. help me find the right mesh

So there is still a chance for a beer then? I remember the stuff you are talking about David but haven't seen it since secondary school back in Denmark, hehe. I also saw it in a video on cichlidforum where he used it in an african setup under the sand to place rocks on. Anyway the mesh I had in mind would ideally be 20x20mm openings, innert synthetic stuff and sort of soft so fish don't hurt themselves on it.. been looking around but can't seem to find my dream mesh.. any ideas anyone?

I bought some cheap (<$1) dark brown ceramic bathroom tiles, drilled a hole in the middle and fixed driftwood to it with a stainless steel screw. It's heavy so will weigh down any piece of wood and another benefit is that you can position the wood in any crazy angle you want.. Just remember to place the tile on a thin layer of sand/gravel on the bottom otherwise the screw head will put pressure on the bottom pane of glass = very bad!!

So it can be done.. that's good to hear.. As far as I have read it is very common for altifrons to include "aggresion" in their courtship behavior but as you say if I'd had a bunch of them he could have directed some of that aggresion towards the group and not just his female.. In my case it does not look like typical cichlid territorial aggresion but more the type to be expected in courtship.. but he just goes on and on and on and on...... if he could just get it in his head that this is the only female around and he needs to start treating her better! Can you remember where you saw that article David? would love to see what kind of net/mesh he used..

Seeding doubt in the 11th hour... don't torture the poor guy! Geos are great fish!.. and yes they might disagree with the current scape but thats part of the fun of having geos.. to see how they like their scaping done!

That's a good idea and I saw that in the same book as well.. Very useful for species where there is a big difference in size between male/female eg. Jewel cichlids.. The difference in the profile of each fish is not that big though... and I would have to cut an exact oval shape for her body... but then he might get stuck there and if the female grows a bit she would not be able to fit through anymore... It's a 600x600mm cross section of tank so would be a big piece of acrylic too!

I have a large altifrons pair that have spawned several times but have always eaten the young. I have recently had to separate them due to the male beating up on the female. She spent a month in recovery and when introduced back to the male he once again beat her nearly to death this time in only one day.. I separated them again, the female lost nearly all of her tail to infections. She is now well again, tail fully healed and she is in great condition. In the meantime the male has grown bigger and stronger as well! I am almost too scared of just putting her back with the male and getting her beat up again so I was thinking of a sort of tank divider that would let smaller tetras swim through but prevent the male from beating on her.. Would then situated some rockwork along HER side of the net and hope that they are able to court each other through the divider.. enough so that she would lay her eggs on the rocks and he would attempt to fertilize them from just beside on the other side of the net. (perhaps with water current from his to her side? If succesful then just let her raise the fry.. Anyone out there with experience in this?? I have read about it where it has been used for aggresive african cichlids.. Hope someone has some great ideas of technique and material for divider?? Have looked around bunnings etc. but have not found any net/mesh that would let tetras through but stop Geos.. Thanks!

Yes I was planning to get new bio noodles.. but if this was some kind of awesome innert medie then why buy new.. But if i'm not sure what it is it will be replaced.. thanks

Hehe.. It was absolutely chock full of old rotten "carp".. so didn't feel like tasting it. Now after I have washed it thoroughly it doesn't smell of anything.

The filter was full of it.. No other medium in there!

Just bought a canister filter that had this stuff inside.. I don't know what it is or if the filter has been used for fresh or salt water.. Anyone know what this is?

Dennis I have a rio 125 where I just removed the hood and replaced it with 2 glass lids that fit snuggly in the groove already on the tank.. looks very good. The I have 240V Spotlights mounted on the ceiling shinning down into the tank with LED spots from TM.. they are a bit expensive but final usage is 9w!!! that is for a tank with no plants of course.

Brilliant if you don't mind paying for something you are not getting.. but yes in Dennis case he is probably not paying the powerbill.. Anywho.. I also wanted to shade my juwel a bit in a previous setup and did so with duckweed.. I am a big fan of duckweed but at full cover it really tends to make everything in the tank look green!.. everything sort of blends together.

That's the most silly thing I've read in a while.. Paying for a 54w tube on with the only purpose of blinding you when you open the lid! I've tried to take out a tube of my juwel hood but it needs both plugged in to work :-?

Agree with Land lubber.. You can pick up a 'like new' superb eheim filter on TM for not much $$$ About tannins.. the wood would add a bit but just try it out and if you don't like it don't continue..

Good work and good luck.. I'm sure it'll be a stunning tank!

Thanks Disco Dan.. The wood is not new.. has been in there for a year and has only recently started doing it. Plecos seem not to care which piece of wood they are sucking on. Removing it and killing any fungus is not possible since it is mounted on a ceramic tile that is placed UNDER the clay plant substrate (imagine the mess that would make!!) I would like to think that it can not be poor water quality either. I do 50% WC every 2 weeks and have 150% filtration (according to aqadvisor) It really seem very harmless it's just anoying that the tank looks like the haunted mansion after every water change. I am just really curious to what exactly causes this..

Thanks Dennis.. Yeah somehow I don't think it's a mid oceanic ridge white smoker but it's a nice parallel.. I soaked & boiled the wood before using it and the funny thing is that I have now had it in there for about a year and it has only just started doing it recently.. Someone on here suggested a fungus living in the wood that would then be triggered to "spore" at waterchange..

This is a follow up to a previous post.. I now managed to get it on video, youtube link below: (sorry a bit long but if you fast forward it gets pretty crazy) Has anyone seen this before? / knows what it is? It happens at every waterchange when I am about half way on the refill.. like clockwork.. "Smoke" then clumps together and sticks to everything..

The reason I asked the "pile of sand" question is that Geos (at least the ones I have) seem to really like digging down beside something to the point where they meet the glass. I think a good rule for hardscaping for geos is to build up something that will stand sturdy even if there was no substrate. My guess is that when they get a big older and start courtship the will dig a nice large pit down beside your driftwood and then it might fall over. Then again you can always rearrange a bit when they get older.

Sorry another question.. Is the driftwood on top of a big pile of sand?