Michaelt

Looking good, I agree, lots in a not huge tank, but you Sid you're saving for the upgrade right? How is Bacon, is bacon a mr or a miss, have you established yet. Imagine, breeding bacon. You'll be ever so popular!

Thanks for the advice guys, I ended up just getting another tank. Not quite the downsizing plan, although its a 400l, so, going to upsize the Africans from the 3 various tanka they are now in, to the single larger tank that is currently doing the 250. I will at least cut down slightly in having two less heaters running and a couple less filters. But the council water bill horrors will continue! Wish me luck, or should I say wish the fish luck.

I vote female, mostly because they always cast some spell to cause photo problems he he he

Hi, I've a query, I need to think about downsizing slightly, from 7 tanks to perhaps three. At this point the largest tank is 450l, with several smaller from 70 to 220. I'm thinking of creating at most three tanks, 1 for Africans, 1 for everyone else, and a smaller as a Q or maternity ward tank. The 450 is the community, it has 1 2400l canister on it, plus a less than smashing internal thing for flow, the cichlids currently have two canisters combined 2400 as well. Anyways, I'm wondering if I can just remove all the plants, wood and fish from the 450 over to the current chichlid tank, and vice versa, so swapping community and Africans around. If I pretty much empty the cichlid tank, then Refill, plant, scape etc will that be ok for community (from platys to discus), OR should I empty everything from both, clean it all and then return, rescale etc. I was thinking of setting up the three canisters to run via a laundry sink whilst all this was happening with treated water. Besides probably sitting in plastic bins for awhile, can anyone forsee any issues with doing this? Thanks Michael Ps. Apologies for any bad typing, iPads suck.

I did think about that, gave it a try infact but the vacuum didn't seem to work terribly well with the restriction to the flow. I might try a large grave, vac before flagging my DIY efforts though

One of those eheim gravel vac pro thingames? Daily cichlid clean up is powering through large volumes of water with the gravel vac idea, so, wondered about these as a way to cut down the amount of water replacements? Did ask on Facebook group, couple of responses but not enough to convince me yet on the 130 price tag? Be great to get local views on these, good, bad, ugly? Thanks in advance. Michael

More on the way ha? The little chap I got off you is doing well, turning out to be an amazing blue colour with those bright blue eyes, very striking! I'm guessing you're hanging onto that breeding pair?

A further welcome from me. Don't forget, in this climate you need a heater year around, not just for the fish but for yourself! Cheers, Michael

True, I think my blue Turk must also be a girl on that basis.... She does the whole shimmy thing all about, and is now sulking rather alot, the two juveniles will I think be awhile off doing the deed, until then I guess it's a lesbian threesome. ( isn't that a tv show somewhere?) lol

Carpe diem

Must be something in the air..... My pigeon nd blue snake pair have been at it again, two batches but both turned white within 24hrs... Now gender unsure blue Turk is attempting to join the soirée..... Without much success. Sadly for the latter, the remaining two "singletons" are both rather young, so I am coming to suspect I have one lesbian couple, one is singleton of unknown gender, nd two adolescents (who will no doubt start banging away soon as younguns seem to do these days). Typing on n iPad sucks, but can't be bothered fixing those typos, hopefully it makes sense. Ps. Any thoughts on how I might break up my suspected lesbians?

Don't forget to post an update on how you find it once up and running. When I was first looking there weren't too many reviews so will help others in the future. Cheers

Bought this from amazon.com about 9 days ago, didn't pay for the fast fast shipping but none the less it arrived in 6 days (impressed). Was initially not sure it would work on Nz power system, but a query on the USA satellite Facebook page was answered promptly confirming it would work on our 240v power, so no issues there. The unit is very slimline, and sits almost directly on the glass, using it on a 900x500x500 tank. The remote is cool, a little bit plastic, but cool anyways. It has a range of preset colour options, rgb adjustment, full spectrum option, customizable colours and 4 memory options to save favorites to. The quality of light is pretty good, I'm no lighting expert so I sharnt pretend to be... I'm sure if you want specifics you can google that stuff. The rain/cloud effects are interesting and the cichlids seem to like them.... Not so convinced about the lightening though. For the price, about 87.00 us, it seems to me to blow similar standards of lighting in Nz out of the water.... Not made of any flimsy plastic, and both the white, blue/rgb LEDs produce light right across the tank despite only having the 24inch (what's that in cms) unit. All in all, when comparing it to other LEDs I'd say this unit is a very classy kit. Not sure how it would go with heavily planted tanks.... But I'm sure there are reviews about that cover that option. Hope this helps, feel free to ask a question if you have one and I'll do my best to answer.

Hey, I've go one of these 404b models. Super quiet, I don't know the state pump volume is right when full of media, but, it still has done a fine job keeping water clear and in check. Easy to start up, attachments are fairly brittle plastic but fine if you handle with care. I've got my stuff with sponges and bio media including purigen, given my discus have taken to spawning on a regular basis I'd guess the fish are happy to. Certainly recommend. A couple of good sellers on trademe, very fast delivery as well, a1trader or pump-planet, both good to deal with.

Well that's prudent, but for now I hope mr hobby pigeon comes to rights. I'm sure with the prospect of some fishy business all shall be well.

You've already answered yr question. He's gay. It's ok, it's not a lifestyle choice, born that way. If you want breeding, tell him you're taking him shopping, or to a musical so he's all calm but excited, them whip him to thepetstore and trade in for a less gay version. Just a suggestion.

Brilliant work, looks great, no doubt there will be an increasing number of happy fish faces peering out from the rockscape soon..... As a matter of interest, how are you finding those lights, I kept looking at em on trademe, but in the end I've ordered some from satellite in the USA.... But pondering beam works for my non mbuna community

My, mine have been doing exactly the same, and again it's a red pigeon and a blue snakeskin. I've pretty much worked out the blue is the female since she appears to be taking first swipes at the horizontal pipe in the tank, with mr pigeon following up the rear (not literally obviously).... They are now on their third go around over about two weeks, first time nothing, second time eggs that went AWOL the day after the deed, this time, more of a slow pragmatic approach it would appear. Likewise mine are in a comm tank with other discus and random others so minimal chance I guess. I did put them in their own tank last week, but they just sulked and looked away whenever I walked past.... Grumpy buggers. Anyways, yep yours seem to be trying it on..... Must be that time of year for discus frisky business :f77:

Bugger, I've just been looking at those on amazon, though was thinking the + model a size up. Whilst lightening effect sounds tacky, I've got one of them Philips living color lamps and it's quite funky for room ambient light so I thought the fush (Nz accent) may like it to :fshi:

:cophot: :nfs: Envy doesn't begin to describe it!

:nfs: Great shots. I'm just starting out, picked up my first mbuna three or four days ago, need to find him some friends as the budget allows. He (or she?) is evidently a cobalt blue, although he/she appears to be rather dark brown to me..... Maybe some friends and things will colour up. But, awesome tank, I can but aspire.

Well I'm keen.... So that would be 3. Talk about an exclusive club :thup:

Good idea, I'm noticing a profound lack of knowledge from the local pet shops lol. Where do I sign up? M

Just a quickie, beyonce and Tina ( one sang survivor and one was one), are doing better. Still enjoying their separate accommodations, swimming about and enjoying a wee stouch now and then. Did meth blue for a few days, plus applied directly as they developed a white cottony fungus, now treating with primafix, and all seems well on the mend, they even chomped on so e bloodworms today. Phew, the storm has passed. Thanks all for your words of wisdom. M