hevalump

Awesum tank fishy_t. How many litres is your tank? Also what sort of rocks have you used and where did you source them? Ive got the common flat light grey ones found in most shops but yours do look more natural. Im thinking of also going for the black background, as a little research on overseas sites and i have found they do make the tanks look deeper (as in deep dark lake) and seem to make colours on fish appear richer. Also has anyone found a good "blue" light. Ive heard that if you switch the lights this also brings our the colour. (Phew)

My tank which i have recently converted to african is looking a bit boring. Base is aragonite, with 4-5 caves and the standard rock wall backing paper. Im looking for some ideas to make is a little more interesting to look at while still keeping to a african friendly enviroment. Is it worth while putting any type of plants or would they just be up rooted and/or eaten. Any one out there with a attractive african display tank got any ideas or pics?

Bought 2 pair of Johannis on tuesday and of course been watching them alot, the female concerns me a little, although she is eating( dashing like a mad thing out of cave to snatch bloodworms) , shes sulking in the caves alot ( this could be that the pair is in the tank alone and they might need a dither fish) on close observation ive noticed tiny black dots around bottom of her head. Im wondering whether it is just speckling of markings as they arent red or fluffy or being rubbed. Or could i just be a over protective mum?

not my favourite fish, my partner wanted one cause it looks like a "snapper"......... our blue acara gives the geophagus a bit of a hard time, nothing too vicious, but only when he comes to the front of the tank..... invading the acaras territory i guess. Actually, im surprised to how mild our acara is, he only chases the geophagus, and none of the fish who are alot smaller !! The Kribs(who are small) even keep him in line

just the common surnemenis (or however you spell it) variety.

i have one of those ar620 which have two lights.... i usually leave at least one of them on for 6 hours and it has soft natural light most of the rest of the day... maybe it isnt enough, so i will increase my artifical light and see what happens

:-? I will be moving house in the next 4 weeks, and need advise on how to transport my fish, tank, plants and rocks etc. Currently have a 80L tank with about 10 or so plants, about 15 medium flat rocks, and fish as per signature Smaller tank isnt such a problem, but i want to be able to make is as stress free, quick and easy. What is the best way to do it, i will like to keep my water by collecting it in large buckets and taking with me....

:lol: inhale heh heh heh

question: why do you have to lower the water level?

My plants do not seem to be doing well, some have brown smudges on the edges of the leaves, or poor colouration, or just dont look that great. I have a plant food, but am hesitating to put it in as it might not be a deficiency and adding more of something might just make it worse. Otherwise, the plants are growing well, any ideas?

I would like something to put into my breeding tank. I know this may be a problem as the algae eater might just eat any eggs that could be laid. Its a small tank, 35L, with two rams, and i think a pleco would grow too fast for it. Is there any thing that will stay reasonably small and clean my tank?

interesting nite again, i was about to hand feed mr eel a earth worm, when of the kribs came up begging for a worm, so i gave him one, and he took off across the tank, pursued by his female, past mr eel who was sticking his head out of the gravel in antisapation of his meal. Mr eel shot out, stole the worm from the mouth of the krib, and munched on it happily, while poor old mr krib sat frozen staring thinking most likely "what the HELL was THAT!!". I have never seen mr eel take a interest in the fish before, but then again, they usually dont have his dinner hanging out of their gobs!! I havent told you guys about our new gourami either, we got him on sunday from hollywoods, and on the way home we had a car crash, so while we were down at the cop shop and stuff, poor fish was sittting in his bag for like 2 hours!! I got him home, and the water was ICY cold, but he survived. I have named him crash. Crash and our Geophagus are constantly sizing eachother up, chasing eachother in turn, and facing off. Its rather amusing, as i always considered gouramis meek in nature, but not this guy!! He guards the food when i put it in in and flares up at poor geophagus

yeah, the albany branch is a good one, new, spaced out and with the usual hollywood standard. They have two HUGE blue tounge lizards there in a cool display stand..... my not so local LFS

mr eel ate 8 worms from my hand last night, so hes getting better, has taken him a while to get less suspicious, but he hasnt got the stage when he will come to my hand. I was doing a water change last nite and the bubbles were going into his cave, he was getting excited about the bubbles and wiggling about

yes, me and couple of other westies are in the midst of beginning a club, actually caryl, have you any advise. I am up to the stage now where i have drafted up a newsletter, and am putting up some flyers in the LFS in the area to get some more people......... i would like to put this first newsletter out then once our mail list numbers reach at least 10-15 THEN start having meetings etc etc (as i doubt it would work with only the three of us!!)....

just wanting to share eel experiences with anyone who owns a eel. I have a "Gold batik eel", and have had him about, say a month maybe, he is about 18-20cm and getting less shy slowly, He spends most his time buried in the gravel with his head protruding ( i can hear him at night when the lights are out wriggling through it) , or lurking in his cave watching everyone else swim from the darkness. He will take earthworms from my fingers, but only when he is sure its ok and if he is REALLY hungry, and watches suspiciously with beady little eyes. I have never seen him eat any of the bloodworms i put in, but i have been told he might be coming out at night scavenging them from the floor. He has never bothered anyone else in the tank, not even the juvenile cockatoo cichlid who is 3cm... and he is having a love affair with the pleco who sucks the slime off him on a regular basis. Has anyone got a eel similar, or have tips for taming the beast, or making it less shy. I havent seen him SWIMMING since the last time i moved his cave about, which was like 2 weeks ago.

i persisted with the rams, and now they like their little tank. Well, the little dude does, because he has his female all to himself and the gold ram cant steal her from across the room. Heh heh.

the rams where in there about 4-5 days, but just hung motionless in the corner by the filter and only budged at feeding time. The Kribs only lasted ONE NIGHT. (I felt bad for them). Its weird how they recognised the main tank as soon as i put them back in. Smart Buggers. I could try planting the breeding tank out a little more and adding a dither fish or two in and try again. There is only one weedy looking plant, it might make them feel a little safer with more plants and some fearless little fishies I guess im just a bit soft.......

I had a breeding tank set up for my rams, but after putting them in, they sulked in the corner looking very cross. I put them back in the main tank and they took off almost smiling. Then i tried putting my kribs in, they just sulked in the flower pot. So back they went, and immediately went and skipped up to the rams and all of them went zooming. I have now come to the conclusion that my fish love eachother too much, and its almost like they have formed a little family (and just like any other family they squabble)....... so i have a empty tank. Its a small tank, about 35L tops. So i want something small to go in. I dont like bettas or any of the teeny tiny schooling fish.

Had laugh last night. Three interesting things. I think my pleco is DEFINATLEY in love with the Eel. Mr Eel was poking his head out of the gravel, watching me suspiciously as he does, when Pleco came cruising over, and plonked down the Mr Eels head and started sucking furiously, all i could see was half of Mr eels head with his eyes peering our looking a bit stunned. Then mr eel streched himself half out of the hole, mr pleco started munching on his body, and mr eel was twisting his body around looking like he was in heaven. WEIRD. Then pleco must have got a bit rough as eel shot back into his hole. I had to laugh at those two. The next thing was i moved my male and female ram back out of the breeding tank into the community tank (they were sulking in the breeding tank looking sad). As soon as i did, they both coloured up and darted around the tank chasing the gold ram, the female ram flaring her dorsal fin..... then the love birds starting doing a little dance, Little dude (male ram) turned yellow and went all stiff and shaky as they were side by side nose to tail, nipping then circling then shaking. Most amusing. Do you reacon they might want to lay some eggs. My Krib I have only had in the tank less than a week are also doing little dances. The female vibrates and kind of reminds me of a mobile phone on vibrate mode left to ring on a table top. Ha ha ha.

i really need to get numbers of possible interested parties, so i can get an idea if there is enough demand for a club, :lol: hmmm...... it would be great if the three of us could sort of be the "guts" to starting it up, i dont know about the logo idea matt..... itd be pretty funny though!!... heh heh heh i might just draw some stuff up and email them to you, and you can email some to me or whatever.... at this stage i am just collating ideas and willing people , so spread the word that its a "work in progress" and muster interest.

the first step i would imagine would be to design a newsletter to post to all interested parties...... has anyone got any suggestions for a logo/icon thingee? By setting up a west auckland club i would not want to "steal" people from other larger clubs, just offer a smaller, more local fish community which people can turn to for help, ideas, swapping fish and plants, just generally offering support and meeting say once a month for group excursions, tank crawls, just the general stuff.... just on a more local scale.

then should us westies get our butts into gear and sort something out, collate west auckland fish keepers details and start organising something!! Any west aucklander interested in having a local club please email me details (ie email address, ph numbers, fish details, anything relevant) or if anyone wants to do the dirty work as in setting up venues, newsletters, [email protected]

update - i now have a pair of these little fish, they are in my community tank and doing fine, no agression at this point, but if they start laying then i guess things might just change. The Geophagus who is twice their size is scared of them!!. They are only young, but the female has coloured up and her belly is a intense pink. Marlon my partner said he saw her doing a little tail wagging dance in front of the male......... are they big enough to breed at the size they are? which is like 6cm!!

What are suitable tank mates for Kribs? I have heard that they could be called "community" fish when they are not paired up for breeding, but they are suppose to be ok with some other dwarf cichlids and anything else that is fast enough to keep out of harms way. Do they bother plecos? :-? I wouldnt mind a pair in my community tank, but if they would be too aggressive i would have to put them in our other tank. I intend to build add on another cave to the cave eddie occupys to give them a retreat. The only other fish in our tank that is a dominant personality would be our geophagus, but he submits to our docile natured gorami!! :roll: (actually , he just annoys the rams, especially the female, definately doesnt like her, then mr ram comes screaming up flaring himself up trying to defend her and the geophagus goes "BLAH" and lurches forward at him and little mr ram scoots off in the direction from which he came... rather amusing :lol: )