aer0

bikerbabe, do you know or have contact details for the seller? if so can you PM to me.

Clown loaches like to hide in spaces you never would have thought existed, its just the way they are... is your ammonia level dropping slowly? if so your nitrite should start spiking (mid cycle) then nitrate... i'd keep up the water changes while this happens, be sure to add prime or similar each time to help that cycle

not yet, just good water... it seems to be going away

vasaline "should" be ok, many people use it on noisy impeller shafts?

Done, Oscar is in one of my 50l tanks now, i took the guppies out and put them in the community tank

100 litres (25%) weekly on a saturday feeding flake mixture and shrimp pallets daily and bloodworms or similar every second day

oscar has gone downhill pretty fast, he has a mould like growth all over his wounded tail and is hiding, wouldn't even come out for bloodworms

yes, i think that might be causing him the stress... although they are the only two fish in 400 liters of water

Oscar update, not a good one either. My wife just went to do the daily feeding and he is not looking good, was hiding in some rockscape in the tank and his tail damage appears to have a mold like growth on it. It may be time to put him to sleep if he is that unwell, ill try get a photo tonight

any suggestions then on a specific substrate that doesnt cost the earth?

any suggestions on where to get coral sand from that doesnt cost the earth?

The other option im testing out on one of my smaller tanks at the moment is to fill the bio media tray of my canister filter with coral rock rubble, my LFS sells broken up dry coral rock, i bought some, smashed it up more with a hammer, rinsed it with tank water at water change time and filled one of my media trays with it. I only installed it last night so ill be testing the tanks PH over the next month to watch how it goes with this setup, the coral rock should act as bio media filtration as well as being naturally high in PH

I just hope he doesn't pick on the other cichlids, I might have to separate him out when he gets too big

Just went to check on them in the garage, oscar is looking ok, swimming around really well playing in the current from the filter outlet (i need to install a spraybar) I fed Fred and Oscar a few shrimp pallets before turning lights out for the night and he hooned over from the other side of the tank to attack one, looks to have eaten it in one shot, im really keen to see this guy pull through

thanks Caryl

Could an admin please separate out them posts relating to my oscar? i'd like to make some updates on him but dont want to keep cluttering up this Convict thread. update on the Oscar, I just did a 25% (100 litre) water change on the tank and spend time time wacting him/or her, the black on the rear fins seems to be fading, he is eating well... bloodworms for breakfast today and he seemed pretty happy to chase them in the current of the filter return like prey then pounce on them.

that entire tank is being installed into the lounge this weekend (currently in garage) It will be decked out with nice substrate and ill be building some rock structures with hiding places

Fred (Convict) is in there too but I watched them for over an hour and they dont go near eatchother... with 400l to themselves they have loads of their own space

26-27, 400 litre tank with two 300w heaters, the second is more for backup and to make sure there is less fluctuation.

thanks Disgustipated, ill see if I can locate some ox heart, otherwise it will be bloodworms, flakes and shrimp pallets i guess. The water is good in the tank, 0 on all three normal fronts

Oh crap I really hope not. Ill go talk to Craig at the LFS tomorrow and get his thoughts. I hope the fish pulls through

in your opinion is he in bad condition? being that he is my first im a bit newbish when it comes to Oscars

at his fins, no idea.. i bought him exactly as you see him there is nothing else in the tank yet. he was in a tank at the LFS with other Cichlids though

We have a few Clown Loaches in our community tank but they are really odd and hide all the time, i thought they were supposed to be quite and active fish? there are a bunch of guppies in the tank too so woudlnt they be out playing with them?

Here he is: not the best photos ever but better than the last one, yes the tank is bare, i still cant find the substrate i want to use and a good source of natural rock to use for hardscaping Also his tankmate, my first oscar