hevalump

yeah, this was a pretty detailed little thing, but looking at the tank now with rocks and more plants in instead, i have to admit it did look tacky. Oh well, lesson learnt. :oops:

thanks. We have to be carefull what we listen to off sites on the net cause one site was telling me that 30 degrees is ok!! I thought it was a bit suspect. We usually have the tank at 26, and i increased to 28 last nite...... we will see how things go. I am sure the geophagus is already sidewiping less... or it just might be my imagination..........

also, is 28 a ok temp or could i turn it up more?

Yeah i asked the store when i went in yesterday about scaleless fish, and instead of the recommended 160 drops i put in 140. Although, mr eel was rather lethargic last nite and didnt want to come out of his home (rocks) for dinner.... (actually he looked kind of angry) i will do a water change and this time take out the carbon...... then try again..... would the carbon have removed the all the medication or would i need to take into account that i have put some in already?.

i have raised the temp to 28 degrees, and got some blue stuff from the LFS, cant remember its name..... its in a little bottle...... trying that (although it initially turned my water blue it is now clear again.... has my filter absorbed the medication?.... the bottle said it didnt require the filter to be required.....)

my tank has 5 small (like 5cm) grasses and 4 clumps of medium sized plants..... so its not what i would think as heavy planted.....

is that similar to melacon.... ( I think that is how you spell it....)... can you really put tea tree oil in the tank!? Ive always considered it toxic (well to people anyway) If so what ratios should I use...... I have got my tank on blood worms and the occasional live worm that the eel misses, spirilina discs for the pleco and some fine flakes for the small harlequins so they have a varied diet (the Geophagus really enjoys catching and devouring worms, even though they are too big and he takes half an hour to get one down :-? ) Im going the LFS this arvo to see what they have, as i really would like to just treat the whole tank together without removing plants if possible.... maybe next time ill quarantene my new fish. :oops:

oh, take into consideration that i have a eel in my tank... so any medications that will harm a scaleless fish would be no use to me.

I am convinced that my tank has a infestation of ich as my geophagus is regulary diving down and side swiping himself on the substrate. I also can see tiny white salt like dots on his sides. My Ram has also started side swiping. What products would you recommend for this? Any info you could offer?

I am unsure what fish to get next (ah ha planning ahead) Currently in our 80-90 L we have what is on my signature...... (Take into account that we are going to take the Rasboras out and replace them with something else ) Our eel is small still, and we will when he matures buy him his own tank . I was thinking poss a mate for the dwarf gorami, or another fish similiar to the Geophagus or Ram....... what would you put in. We have another small tank (only about 35 L) which is almost cycled and have no idea what to put in that either. I would love a african cichlid but they just get too big!!

Are there any water conditions or special diets or such which I could use to encourage them to breed? Would they breed in my large tank with other fish or would they require their own tank (limited space so would prefer to keep them in the tank they are in) and are they agressive in protecting their nest? (which would be benefical if they were to keep the other curious fish away) They are in with a small Geophagus (which the male who is smaller dominates) , pleco, gorami and mr eel (hes a small dude.... around 15cm) watching the male ram (who has coloured up amazingly since i have introduced the girly) charging the startled geophagus to keep him away from his female (like the geophagus would even be interested :roll: ) is a real crack up. Definately is strutting around the tank now days. He looked like he was going to explode with excitement when we introduced her, all his fins sticking out and flaring colours...

yeah, i didnt think to look, as i thought seeing the item was intended for a fish tank that it would be fish safe. Consumers sometimes i guess forget to be vigilant in checking the quality of the goods. The shop was very helpful on return, and issued us with a credit and let us take heaps of rocks to replace our eels home. I just cant believe that it was sold in such a state though!! Literally like steak knifes on the inside!! Its kind of like the situation that horse bit manufacturers (the bit is the piece of metal attached to the bridle which is placed in the mouth over the tongue and gums) selling bits with sharp bits where the metal was bonded together, leaving the owner with a animal with a bleeding mouth.

I thought that i should share my experience from this weekend so that even just ONE person might be more careful than I. When i purchased my tank i also purchased a sunken ship ornament, which had half a dozen medium sized holes in the side of the ship for fish to enter and exit when hiding. The other day i noticed my eel was torn to pieces, the top of his back and dorsal fin and one side had large grazes and cuts. I immediately clicked to what could have done this as he spends 99% of his time in this sunken ship, so i took it out of the tank for futher investigation. The inside of this ship, including the inner edge of the enter and exit holes we jagged and sharp, some even had edges that were serated (bad spelling) like a steak knife. After cursing myself for not checking this before the injury happened, i took the item back to the shop which I had got it from and pointed out the shoddy manufacturing and that i felt it was unfit for the purpose in which it was intended. THey kindly took it back. JUST be careful not like me!!

yeah, im gonna stop with the salt to see what happens... the only reason im using a little bit of salt is because our tank is just at the tail end of cycling and i have heard it is good for helping with nitrite poisoning prevention and also to help ward of any sickness........... ill let you know what happens....

ahhh of course, eels are nice and slimey are proberly "meals on wheels" in the eyes of a pleco (or shoudl i say meals on fins)....... good thing eels and pleco cant reproduce together or it would be a rather odd looking concoction

I light we have in the tank is built in (its a aqua one ar620) ..... i add 1 tablespoon per 20 litres as directed on the packet........ they seem to have only begun to brown since i put the salt in...... so that might be the prob...........

My plants are starting to get browns leaves, what could this be caused by? Would too much light (say over 12 hours a day) cause this ( I have bee n having my lights on for about 14 hours a day and havent had any algae problems) .... or aquarium salt (I add a small amount to my water)......... or are they crying out for fertiliser..... they were very healthy up until now and needed a trim back two weeks ago...... any thoughts?

i think we paid under $20 for him so hed most likely be just a joe average common pleco.... funny think about plecos, sometimes he looks like he is frowning at me. Heh heh heh. Our pleco is having a love affair with our eel, he insists on squeezing into the half of the sunken ship eddie is in when the other half is empty!! The eel doesnt mind, i think the pleco is a bit of a bully however as he follows the eel closely then whooshes past and whacks the eel in the head. Hmmm.

HA HA HA HA I think i might just stick to the fish, i dont want to scare the clients away!!! Heh heh, definatley some type of fish with personality.........

whoa that is HUGE pity our office isnt big enough to accomodate such a spectacular tank!! Something more like 300L would be all we could proberly squeeze in......... hey when the weather is hot wherever you live is it tempting to go for a little dip heh heh I dont think the fishies would be impressed one little bit

yeeees that sounds like a good story to tell... and being in a marine orientated office fishies would suit well (tropical freshwater, dont have enough experience for saltwater )....... how many litres would be a good start if we wanted a couple of big beautiful oscars?

has any fish mad people convinced there place of employment to having a work tropical set up? I work in a boat manufacturers office and i think that it would be a really nice thing to have a tank with a couple of large fish (poss a oscar or sim)...... any ideas how to twist the bosses arms? .... or has anyone had experiences with aquariums at their place of work.

being a newbie to tropicals i cant grace you with his latin name..... but have to describe him... hes kinda a browny almost metallicy with lighter gold spots.... is about 7cm from nose to tip.

yeah, i was a little concerned that my pleco shouldnt be eating it. He just acted like a ravenous killing machine and was so hyper.... whatever makes him happy

Hmm, arent plecos suppose to be plant eaters..... im sure my pleco has been eating the blood worms in put in my tank for the eel and other fish..... as soon as the blob of worm sunk to the bottom he got excited and swum fast (the fastest ive ever seen him swim) over and stuck himself onto the spot where they were while franctically sucking away. Also a earth worm escaped from my eels hidey hole and tried to make a get away and my pleco landed on him and when he moved the worm was gone! Is this normal behaviour ? I usually give him a piece of zuchinni every second day or so.... so i would not think he would be starving :-?