Bilbo

That was the case for us as well. The eggs looked all fungused up and dead and then hundreds of tiny tails moving around. Watch your fingers Phill these guys mean business when protecting them.

Sound like a broken record here but. Blue circle whitespot cure. I treated a planted tank a few months ago and no problems

As purist I like wild colours of almost all fish including discus but trying to get the general public to favor a lightblue/mudyellow version of a cockatoo in favor of a tripple red or a brown discus over a albino yellow snakeskin, for example, just doesnt happen. How far do we take the purebred argument? Is a new colour change ok as long as the shape stays the same or are longer fins ok too, perhaps a slightly stockier body as well just to make a small change? as so on it goes before to long the tiny changes from cross breeding and line breeding change a severum or midas into a parrot

That is a good article Stella, loads of good info in there. I still recomend Blue Circle Whitespot cure. Nothing better anywhere. Forget salts and all that other stuff, just get this product, quite simply it works.

I caught my discus laying last night, up until then I would have bet that the one laying the eggs was a male :-). Checked this morning and 3 white and the rest lovely pink colour. I dont expect much to come of it because they are both very young but I might be able to confirm a pair in a few days if I steal 1/2 some.

Just make it as per the recipe on the bag, minus the salt. sprinkly the yeast lightly over the top. No set amount just not heaps. For large batches I make 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/4 cup water in microwave for 2 minutes. It makes a 1cm layer on the bottom of an icecream container. Then 1/2 tsp yeast.

I must be well over dosing then. I have been using 5 - 10mls per day on 250ltr tank. Also taking into account that the 250ltr will probably only have 180ish in it after taking out the 3cm not quite full and gravel, rocks and wood. I better reduce the amount I use.

I guess you are talking about the Parrot cichlid? If the loach is medium to large at at least 15cm it should be ok. Loaches have nasty spines on them so if the parrot tries to eat a small loach it may choke on it. I am not a huge fan of the parrots but they are definitely interesting and fun to watch, quite intelligent too. Can get aggressive as they get bigger.

Just to clarify. The heater should be submurged up to the rubber top at the least. Usually they have a line on them. If the thermostat is out of the water you wont get an accurate reading and all it takes is a cold draft above the water line to fry everything. But back to... Welcome fishlover2009, good to have you on board. Sounds like you have alot going on so would be great to see some pictures.

I havent tried tea bags for ages and never found they did much more than make the water dark, didnt seem to lower pH or decreace hardness. Tea also has fluoride and caffeine and a bunch of other stuff in it. I doubt they are in quantities high enough to do any harm but why use a tea bag when peat is about 1/100th of the price.

Don’t adjust your pH levels unless you plan on doing a huge supply of water and being stuck doing it forever. It won’t make any difference anyway unless you are breeding them. Discus need consistency and cleanliness so if your tap is good then use that.

Grab a good handful of clean dead brown oak leaves and put them in a pot full of cooled boiled water or filtered rain water for a day, then put the pot on the stove and boil them for 10 - 15 minutes. pour through a coffee filter. Can also use Peat or Indian almond leaves.

I was a huge sook when my eldest had her first day at school. 2 years ago now and I can still remember feeling like the the world was about to end. I know all will go well. For you :-) Dear World: I bequeath to you today one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two brown eyes....and a happy laugh that ripples all day long..and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sun when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well. She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning...and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine. Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say "Goodbye" and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse. Now she'll learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school-bells...and deadlines...and she'll learn to giggle..and gossip...and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy 'cross the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry. No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn and kiss lilac blooms in the morning dew. No, now she'll worry about those important things..like grades and which dress to wear and whose best friends is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And now she'll find new heroes. For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and mother and friend. Now she'll learn to share her worship with her teachers..which is only right. But no longer will I be the smartest woman in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time...she'll learn what it means to be a member of the group..with all its privileges and its disadvantages too. She'll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud...or kiss dogs..or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms..or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in the summer. Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to becoming a woman. So, world, I bequeath to you today one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two brown eyes...and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well.

Congrats so far and very best of luck. Pleased that it has made it this far and I was proven wrong :-) keep us updated and when he comes right put a detailed step by step of how you did it.

Sounds like a great setup to me. The cardinals should be a nice splash of colour

Good idea to perhaps start a homemade recipes thread?

From that description I would say callamanus as well. 4+ is quite bad and may have done a fair bit of damage already. Aviverm should clear it up. Very best of luck with this one. I have lost a heap of fish to this before I learned what it was and how to fix it. Ryans info above is right on the money, saved me writing it :-)

Mine eat twice a day but the 2nd time is an extended feeding that can last 2- 3 hours :-). If they are still hungry they get more and my biggest one is always still hungry. He looks like a beach ball and is a total bully around food. Colourbits and a 1cm cube of BH mix in the morning. Bloodworms and a 1cm cube of BH mix when I get home and then flake and then white or grindal worms and more BH mix and cut up redworms..... The 5pm feeding has been known to last on and off till 9pm lol. 50% water change once a week on a wednesday night and a 75% on Saturday. I dont feed them on Saturdays.

I use rope twice as long as the longest hose with a knot in the middle with a rag tied to it. Not really pretty but it works great.

None that I will admit to while I am at work lol. Hope your day and job gets better :-) If you are milking than I guess you are talking about some horrific time in the morning. Thats plenty good enough excuse to make a minor mistake.

I was going to say vinagar too for cleaning up the hard water marks. Soak a piece of news paper and lie it flat on the glass. Wait an hour or so and then remove and wipe clean. I like the baking soda idea and I must try the "Oates Clean" Enviro General Purpose Cloth.

When my brother had his reping job he was filling 100 ltrs a week from it.

Our water is awful. Very high in Calcium and Lime. (Descale the normal jug at least once a fortnight) So I use 200ltr plastic barrels with either demin water when I can get it or 2 stage filtered rain water. Got the drums from a meat processing plant and a milk treatment plant. Had to wash them out heaps before I used them though. The biggest problem at the moment is doing a 50% water change in a 29c tank with 10c water... Roll on summer :-)

As above. 2 weeks is not cycling a tank. It a token gesture at best however I am not the greatest at tank cycling either and have never had a problem. Temp up to 32 during entire treatment. Metro by itself first. 400mg per 40 - 50 ltrs every day with 50 - 100% water changes every day for a week. Then perhaps levamisole in for 2 days without a water change and then back to 50 - 100% every day. Feed something that they will almost definately eat like small cut up live earthworms or frozen bloodworms. The bacterial problem will need to be sorted out but 1st priority is to get rid of its internal problems. I am sorry to say though that I would be very suprised if that one comes through. Hopefully the picture looks worse than it really is.

Orange are yuk, so are the yellows, creams and brick-reds. I am a wild discus fan also especially the wild browns. Turqs and blues are ok too as long as they arent the spraypainted looking solid powder blue ones.