fishy-fish

Happy belated birthday! I hope you can stretch it out and get a birthday week. That's how our family roll

5 fish bit the pavement. Not a nice thing to do. &c:ry My only consolation is that I inherited these fish in a purchase, rather than breeding them from careless fish keeping. It does make me more aware of the need for single species tanks, especially for zebra species. I am half way through a weekend project, building a 200L tank. Not sure what it's going to house, but I think it will be single species for sure. Thanks everybody for sharing your two cents :thup:

Thanks for the feedback smidey. I too value preserving pure species lines (as best as poss) so I have reluctantly decided to euthanise these fish. RIP hyrbids.

I've had them for 5-6mths now. I have 5 of them. I observe them on a regular basis and this seems to be new. I could be wrong, but I know there was no markings at the time of purchase. So it's definitely something that has developed over time/age.

those priveledged fish don't know how lucky they are! :love:

OK, so I feel like I'm bringing a knife to a gun fight with all you pro photographers with your flash SLRs :smln: But I managed to grab a couple of half way decent (for me) photos with my little "point and shoot" of my Metriaclima Gresheiki. These two studs are now 7mths old and around 8-9cm. Saldy there father past away over christmas mysteriously. He was an awesome specimen. Long may his lineage continue! I currently have 3 ladies holding at the mo so fingers crossed

I just noticed this today. One of my GBA's has a dark brownish/black spot on its back. None of the others have any such markings and I think its new as I haven't noticed it before. Is this a disease or maybe burn mark? They do like to clean the algae of the heater so I'm wondering if this one got burnt. Any ideas? Here's a pic

Hey all, I have a bit of an ethical delemna. About 8 months ago I purchased a complete african set up - a 6ft tank + about 40 fish. Amoungst the fish were a breeding pair of red top ice blues along with 4-5 juvenilles, or so I thought. As they grew, there shape and colouring wasn't right and became obvious to me that these were hybrid fish. They adult pair did eventually breed and there offspring are fantastic and only confirmed that these other fish were not red tops as I now have 20 beautiful 8cm plus specimans to compare them too. The "hybrid" red tops are almost reaching full adult size and are starting to show signs of breeding which I certainly don't want. Plus they are getting territorial and upseting the tank harmony. I have offered them to local fish keepers for free but no one wants them. So here in lies my dilemna. Is it ethical to euthanize these fish? :dunno: I know this is a tricky question to answer for some. I just don't see another option. :tears: Any thoughts/opions totally welcomed. :cofn: Thanks all.

cheers for the heads up. I see you breed corys. Have you had any luck breeding c.schwartzi?

Really helpful. Thanks mate! :thup:

I have 6 adult schwartz cory and I am keen on some breeding advice. I have them in there own 60L tank. Water temp around 26-27. Not sure of sexes but havn't had a good look. Do I need a spawning mop? I have heard this is a difficult species of cory to breed in captivity. So am I wasting my time? Any advice would be awesome!

Smidey, do you have the 2.2kg 2mm sinking pellet? If so how much?

Nice looking set up. Looking forward to seeing it stocked I vote africans :thup:

I just watched an auction close on trademe for a Lyretail Brichardi breeding group of 6 adults and 3 groups of fry they'd produced (30+ fry), and they all sold for $50. It was a $1 reserve from a pet store. I don't know a lot about this species, but that seemed pretty cheap. Is this not a popular species for hobbiests? From what I can gather, they are quite peaceful and I think quite beautiful dispite their basic colour. So whats the story with these tangs? Did someone just get a ripping great deal or are they the "convicts" of the tang world?

well tropheus, share the love!! :slfg: Seriously though, do you breed them?

all the johannii's have moved to the coromandel! :slfg:

yes please ryan. can you PM their details? Ta mate

speaking of red empress.... who on here breeds them? I'm might be keen to get my hands on some

The fish in the first photo is my male and yes, he only has horizontal lines.

Yeah I'm interested to see how this group colour up too. Looks like I have a 5m 4f split. I will take the best female(s) and attempt to breed with my adult male from the first photo as he is an excellent example of the species. Hopefully soon I'll be selling hundreds of these guys too

From the name... red top ice blues. Definitely more powder blue and orange than red and blue

Photo of my dom male. Sorry pic quality is poor, but you get the idea.

How about blue and red? I happen to have some for sale...

I have a group of 9 johannis and my dominent male is starting to colour up and get his blue. Pretty excited about the prospect of breeding these guys. It seems like a breed that has dropped off the map here in NZ. I inherited a single adult male when I purchased a complete tank set up and he quickly became my favourite fish. It took months to find someone who had johanni fry for sale and it was my hunt for more of these fish that made me realise they are pretty scarce now. Fingers crossed I can successfully breed from my group. Are any of you african fishkeepers interested in getting your hands on some of these? Here's my male I inherited. His name is Sherlock Photo of website of male and female. The adult female is yellow and the male is blue

I'll "chip" in my two cents... Go for a fine substrate so the fish can dig and move it around as well as one that buffers your PH. Fine grade marble chip and coral sand are great options. I use 1mm marble chip and silica sand in my tanks. The silica sand tank requires PH buffers to be added and is so fine that it gets into the filtration. It does look the business though and the fish move it around which is great for them. The marble chip looks awesome but it does discolour and requires gravel vaccing so cleaning is a bit more involved. Having said all that, if money was no problem, I would go coral sand all day long!