Duncan7

I havnt tested the water and havnt for years, its always seemed ok, the tank (4 foot) is well established running a good sump and a decent canister, not overstocked at all, possibly under if anything, the clown loaches are happy as is the other inhabitants, (angels, convict, JD), i would assume the cichlids would be the more robust of the two. Just got a load of live daphnia today, he is chowing down on that Will look out for the frozen mysis shrimp and see if i can find any. The more reading i do on the net, the more it crops up that they are often picky. I guess ill just have to keep mixing it up, im sure everyone will benifit from added variety in the diet. Thanks for the help. Duncan.

Any suggestions for a good food then?

No not losing weight or wasting away yet, only had him a month or so, just a small 2.5-3 inch specimen. wouldnt expect him to reject bloodworms tho. Just reading on net that they can be picky eaters, need a varied diet... just have to try a few different things i guess. To have a pair would be so cool! Such awesome fish, just so slow growing! (even worse when they go off their food!)

Has anybody else noticed this? Ive kept a couple now and they seem to be one of the fussiest cichlids ive had. The latest one, which is similar to prev, started off eating as many blood worms as he could, now cant really be bothered with them... Now normally this wouldnt worry me but he doesnt eat cichlid sticks or sinking hikari gold either, doesnt look at prawn or the occas peice of beef heart... Had him eating flakes a while ago and i think he would again, but that was in a separate tank and where he is now has an overflow and the flakes would just shoot over that, so would rather avoid them. I know that they are slow growing, but do they have growth spurts or times when they dont eat so much? Has anyone else noticed similar behaviour in theirs? Any suggestions for another food to try? TIA Duncan

Yeah that was me, did you decide it was a sen in the end, it coloured up a bit and the pics i saw of it after i sold it to you kinda looked a bit like a palmas... or a derivitive thereof...?

I saw that auction , I wanted the del really aswell but figured they would both probably be fine with my two ornates anyway so was happy to buy both, but forgot about the auction closing and thus not bidding in the end, they sold for a pretty reasonable price, much less than i thought they would...

Your males probably have sexually matured and are now looking to set up a decent territory to hold in the hope of breeding. Adding a female to the two males would probably make the situation worse as the new couple will look to breed, thus increasing the amount of agression towards the less dominant male and possibly your other fish aswell, depending on number of tankmates and size of tank. Separating the fish permanantly will work, removing the dominant male for awhile and then reintroducing him as stated ubove, may work to disrupt the territory, however in my experience the dominant male will still be the aggressor even once returned. I would think hard about introducing a female and having a pair of them trying to breed in a community tank... Best option would be to take the dominant male out and give him a new tank and a female... Leave the less dominant guy in the community tank.

Delhezis will grow slower than the ornates, and obviously not as big in the end. Id suggest getting your del to a substantial size... if not full grown before mixing with your ornates (I assumed that was yor intention).

Sorry, is there none in auckland? think the one i got was a ramdom drop off.

Thread revival! Anyone thought of using the small paintball 9 oz co2 cylinders? Too small? Incorrect thread on top to accept regulator fittings? Would they be similar to the soda streem ones? They are both readily available for a small price... Does anyone know how much a small bottle from a gas company is worth and about how much to fill? Cheers.

It was $15 but its not there any more sorry, he was just too cool! HFF both mt roskil and albany seem to have them available on a regular basis

He may struggle to get food with those guys... mine do with the dats ive got. i often feed after lights out when the dats are sleepy.

My dats dont seem outwardly agressive, but they can definately hold their own if they are being hastled and will have a go back. I assume you were thinking of going for those two up in auckland... Id say buy them and ill have them if they dont work out... actually that is a bad idea cause then id need atleast a 6 foot tank! Yeah have been not very active on the forum of late, well not really an active poster anyway, more of a watcher... fish have taken a bit of a back seat of late which is a shame, but just had other stuff on.

My Dats are fine in with the 2 polys ive got, mind you the smallest dat is probably 15cm now. Have lost full grown convicts and a ?12cm green terror... Blaming the polys for that tho Dats seem pretty sweet once established.

My two large royals love brocoli stalk, they wernt too fussed on courgette.

Most of those jars that came in a while back ended up on TM at about half the price they sold for originally... Some people got some nice deals. Buy now or wait, if you wait you may miss out altogether, or you may get a bargain. Guess Mark is ok, hes pretty much the end of the line for the big fish in nz, its just a matter of time before they end up in tga

This could definately be the case for me... interesting.

Ive got two GBA here and one looks like your one with a few whispies, but the other has massive bristles like the common BN... I was kinda hoping that mine with the short bristles was a female and would breed but they are about 12cm total lengh now and nothing has happened yet... Guess they are both boys. Stink.

lol, sux bro, how much for a ticket on the fail boat? is it true that it only sails on tues and thursdays to your place? brightwater ftw!

Yeah ive seen it too, pretty sure its an AT.

Looking to have a stand (or cabinate) built, can anybody suggest someone in hamilton? Probably out of 4x2? Maybe consider steel. Have had a bit of a search and the general message was to pm Swampy... Have pm'd swampy and didnt get a reply, it doesnt look like he has been active on the forum for a while. Doesnt need to be flash, just strong atm, would be looking to enclose it all to be a cabinte at a later stage with compartments and a hood etc Thanks Duncan

Snap! Slow typing haha.

They have a bank account setup already (below), was on page 5 or something. Great news on the 4 weeks, its not long but hopefully enough! you are both amazing people and i really cant express what im feeling in words, you have touched so many people and helped hundreds, probably thousands, of animals since the beginning. Fingers crossed, all my best wishes and thoughts are with you, Duncan. Hope nobody minds me posting this up again..

Im trying!

Yeah i love them aswell, would go nicly with the two smaller ornates im looking after. The dat would look good with my trio too!