the-obstacle

Not sure what they SHOULD be bred at but mine are happily laying at 26 degrees. When I add 20% cold water the temp drops to about 23/23.5 and then comes back up. edit: almost like there's a heater in the tank... :roll:

Swap the neons for more rummynose or swap rummynose for more neons? Have a nice big school of a single fish for a great effect.

bah haa haa! he's a tv character? That's awesome...

That'll be heaps. Yeah, they'll be dropping the eggs on the underside of leaves or around the stems near the substrate. The best thing to look for is the little dance they do just after the water change, then you know it's on

Ahh cool, I was wondering if you had yours in the same tank. I've taken your lead and finally gotten around to getting the river stones to cover the sand for the planted area so the fry have somewhere to hide. I haven't had any survivors since I added the tetra and angels to the tank but I'm hoping this way there are at least a few from each spawn that get left alone long enough to get to wriggler stage. Yeah, it looks like a cloud of dust going into the tank when you add a whole frozen block to a tank but I found the wrigglers went through 1 block in a week or so. I just thawed it in a cup in the fridge with a bit of tank water and used a dropper to put a couple of drops in the tank 3-4 times a day. At the moment HFF have it labelled as daphnia in the freezer at Mt Albert but it's definitely not. I haven't the heart to tell them.

I've always rolled the eggs off glass or moved the plant that seems to have the most eggs attached. The only time I've actively bred them I put them in a breeding trap and fed rotifers and crushed flake after the eggs sacks were consumed. In the 700L the pandas have spawned at least 4 times and I've got about 8 babies swimming around now. I don't think it'll last as I added angels last week. The angels days are already numbered.

Yep, perfectly normal. Clearly a fan of fast running water.

Either you just called me henward or you can tell the future. I'd like to think you can predict the future - got any hot lotto tips?

It's a large area they're developing. That'll be why they decided to keep the 3m long tank they had on trademe then.

or if you're planning to add another 2 x 15 fish in schools why not add 30 more harlequins instead?

For me it's the ability to turn over a lot of water without it seeming like there's a raging torrent in the tank. I guess that comes down to large spray bars and intakes and the ability to position the outlets to create the right amount of flow in the right direction. I'd also like something that can handle a LOT of bio media but always after the water has been totally polished. In a sump I'd like to do something like - wide sponge -> dense sponge -> filter wool -> 50 micron filter bag -> filter wool -> as a polishing tower (the filter bags will do the most polishing but the sponge/foam before the bags will stop them from clogging up after 2 days). Then just a massive amount of submerged media then into a relevantly sized pump with large output pipes so as not to 'jet' back into the tank. Also maybe an inline heater and co2 reactor could be put in the sump or at least in the mix.

I found a way to slow them down - add angels and tetra to the tank. The pandas are breeding right now and the damn angels are following them picking the eggs off the plants.

Sorry to hear. I had a panda die last night with a damaged pectoral fin that was fluffy to the base too. It sucks big time. Good luck with the rest of them. I found it's fairly easy to get them breeding. Some good live food and a 20% cold water change in the evening gets the pandas going for it.

Added the reactor this evening. Tomorrow will be it's first use. I look forward to seeing if it makes any difference. I ran out of plug space for an air stone for overnight so I'll have to re-think that one. Might just point one of the spray bars up to get a wave going for a few days.

Thanks, I'm really stoked with the darkened front half of the tank. I'll have to actually cut the ply to shape soon but for now it works. Ahh thanks! the oxygen saturation thing makes sense. I've been considering adding a small air stone for overnight just to see if it makes any different as I'm really not getting any surface agitation at the moment. I wonder if that'll help with oxy saturation too? Can't hurt to try I guess. I need more power boards and timers :roll:

So I got the pressurised co2 hooked up today. I've got it coming on 1 hour before lights and going off 1 hour before lights. I've been half dosing the micros every 2nd day and adding the salts and macros but I'm just not getting any pearling. I'm running 2 drops per second but I'm diffusing it through an internal powerhead while I wait for the pvc cement to dry on the co2 reactor. The algae is dying off, except for a lot of grey dust but I need to clean out the cannisters, and it's not pearling either (thank god). I'm running a 4 hour photo period until the algae is gone but this doesn't seem to be enough to trigger any pearling. I'm getting some amazing growth from the swords - 1-3 new leaves a week - but still no pearling from anything. Have I stuffed up somewhere or should I wait a few more days of regular co2? I don't trust my drop checker as it shows my co2 is at bad levels even when I've had the DIY co2 off for a few days. I suspect I need to make some proper base fluid instead of trusting the 'just add tank water' instructions from the translated instructions.

the problem with using the cannisters to pump back to the tank (if that's what I'm reading in the diagram) is that they don't have the syphon support to get back up to tank height like they would if they were taking watter from tank level and returning it to that level. You'll find that while it'll work the output of the cannisters will be a lot lower because they're having to work a lot harder to get the water up to the head height. Essentially the pumps will be sucking the water as well as pushing it up where as in a syphon setup the water naturally falls into the cannister and then helps the pump (in a way) push it back up by replacing whatever it moves. I hope that makes sense, it does in my head. I think your idea will work but not as effectively as you might be hoping for.

Nicely done! Have you got the bio noodles on top of bio balls? If so you'll want to swap them over so the bio balls are on top as they handle a wet/dry setup better than noodles which should be submerged at all times if possible.

You've got a bit of a wait on your hands. Give it 3 weeks at least. The water should clear up in a few days.

What's the PH? maybe the resin needs a few rinses to settle down?

Updated tank shot. Heaps more twisted val. Now have 10 or so swords - all different flavours. Some chain sword and this freaky pond plant that I'm hoping will survive but I've got my doubts. Most of the plants that had black leaves now have green leaves only and they're really starting to rocket. I pick up my charged co2 extinguisher on Monday so I'm hoping I can get a bit more growth with a bit better co2 insertion. Oh, I've also shaded the front half of the tank with a sheet of ply which I will ultimately line with poly if my experiment works. The fish are heaps happier having a shady place to hang out while the halides are on and if anything they've all become more active because of it. Other than that it's just a waiting game.

are these any help? I can send you the originals. It's hard to get a good shot with my little camera.

Started getting hair algae in the stones in the front half of the tank so I put a roof over the front half. Instant happy fish! :thup:

Hobsonville - top of the north western motorway / greenhithe area.

I'll see if I can get some clear photos of the staghorn in mine now.