JJWooble

Sorry to hear about your Koura, I've always wanted to try keeping one, they seem like awesome little dudes. Overfiltration is never really a problem unless you want to keep something that prefers low flow, which isn't the case from the sounds of your stock list I would suggest in regard to your bottom dwellers (kuhli loaches and corys) that you get more than 3 of each, as in numbers below ~5-6 they tend to be inactive, hide a lot and you'll probably never see them. Try and get as many as you can, and maybe choose one over the other-- e.g. 10 kuhli loaches would be so happy and far more active, or the same in corys. Also be careful not to get a large sized cory for the tank-- maybe go for some of the smaller species, e.g. panda, pygmy, as opposed to going for the bronze/emerald/peppered corys, as they can get quite big and therefore have less space to swim around. With your schooling fish, its a personal thing, but I prefer having one big group as opposed to two smaller ones-- so 20 neons as opposed to 10 neons and 5 rummys. That said, they are both really cool fish, and would probably be fine in groups of five or more, so that's entirely down to you For low tech plants-- swords, dwarf sag, indian fern, java moss, java ferns, ambulia and anubias all grow well for me in low tech tanks. Maybe have the ambulia at the back, with pieces of driftwood and java fern/anubias/java moss attached in the middle, and dwarf sag as a carpet plant along the bottom?

So worming the tank went well, lost one little guy but he was the worst of the three skinny ones Everyone else appears to be fine now Newest addition yesterday was this little guy; my Indian green spiny eel. He's an awesome little character, very active after lights out and spends his day buried up to his neck in the sand He also ate a shrimp pellet last night. I am absolutely loving having him in the tank. :happy2:

Have picked up some Prazi, and will dose accordingly, hopefully it will help the little guys thanks for that advice Picked up some silica sand whilst I was there, which I'll wash and put in the 210 tonight. Also have been emailing a few glass companies to get lids cut for my 210, so hopefully will hear back from those soon.

Haha, me too. Can't wait to get to scaping the 210 litre, just haven't managed to find the right bits of driftwood/rocks yet. The blackwater will have much the same scape as it does now, just with more swimming room, the plants a bit more organized (as the corys in there are breeding, I keep removing and replacing the xmas moss which makes it a little untidy..) and maybe a few stones. Hmmm, good idea-- I will treat them with Prazi next time I can go grab some from the store. Guessing that as they are not eating, it would be better for me to dose the tank as opposed to just soaking their feed in it? I will get back to you re: red whiptails in the next few weeks-- would be very interested

So my /planned/ stock list for my current 'projects' will hopefully be as follows; 210 litre community 20 Rummy nose tetra 10 Silver Hatchetfish ~20 Sterbai corydoras 4-5 Red Whiptail Catfish 1 Indian Banded Gourami 1 Bristlenose pleco 1 Indian Green Spiny eel (Macronagthus pancalus) Blackwater tank (60-70 litres when I upgrade) 8-10 pygmy corydoras 10 ember tetra ~6 chocolate gourami 19 litre 1 Dwarf Puffer Fish Are there any possible problems with these combinations of fish?

Finally actually tested my 210 litre tank 3 or 4 days ago, and turns out it was cycled-- no ammonia or nitrites present, despite getting 'fed' daily, and a heck of a lot of nitrate I did a big water change, then another....Then on the 10th, as it was my birthday, my partner bought me 10 rummy nose tetra and 10 ember tetra :dnc1: Loving these little guys, so active in the tank. The embers will be moving onto the dwarf puffer tank once that has cycled properly to finish QT on them whilst maturing the biological filtration of the tank in preparation for the DPF, and then into my blackwater tank with the pygmy cories. The Rummy nose tetra were not /meant/ to be a part of my 200 litre tank stock list (had settled on glowlight danios after seeing how active they were in Alexyay's tank) buuuut when I was in the store their cute colour patterns got the better of me and I went for them instead Very happy with my choice, although three of them appear to be somewhat skinny/not eating too much/not shoaling properly with the group. Any ideas what it could be--- bad genetics, parasites? They don't seem to have any other symptoms. One of the embers also isn't fully 'orange' but acts otherwise normally-- could this just be natural colour variation or something else? Yesterday, I added a male bristlenose and two sterbai corys (thanks Jasonnz!). There was /some/ drama with getting them home as I got lost....and then one of the corys popped their bag, leading to water going everywhere and a quick detour to raid the nearest person's tupperware drawer. No drama once home however; they seem to be doing well, looking forward to expanding the school of sterbais to around 20 over the coming weeks, and the BN has taken up residence in a piece of driftwood I have been doing daily 25% water changes on the tank, as well as daily testing, just as a safeguard for water quality. Parameters seem good for now-- no ammonia or nitrite has shown since I added the new fish, nitrates are sitting around 10-20... Although it is very hard to tell what /exactly/ the nitrates are with the API test kit as the colour range between 10-20 is really difficult to differentiate :an!gry Next few things to do with this tank: - secure the lids, as I only have two at the moment which only partially cover the aquarium... a /bit/ of an issue if I'm wanting to keep hatchet fish and an eel. Going to have to look at getting glass cut so it fits around the filter input/output snugly also. - adding a prefilter sponge to the filter intake to prevent an eel escape & improve mechanical filtration - adding substrate-- will either be getting it on the 30th when I go to my favourite beach, or (more likely) my patience will run out and I'll get some from a local beach or just buy some silica sand. - planting and getting the hardscape done - adding in caves/tubes/other hiding places for the eel/bottom dwellers - adding the rest of the stock gradually - painting in the background (probably will go for just plain black as it seems to look really good on my other tanks) - getting an LED lighting unit

Awesome sticky-- just wondering what the recommended tank base dimensions would be? Always loved the idea of having two.

My 19 litre DPF tank is almost cycled, very exciting Planning on using it as a qt for 10 or so ember tetra temporarily once cycled, those will then go into my blackwater tank, and then I will get the puffer for this tank. I've set up a pond/ramshorn snail colony in my frog tank, which seems to be growing nicely. Hoping that there will be a decent population by the time I get the puffer. Had some issues with filtration for a bit-- the HOB I used didn't have a inlet basket over the end of it, so kept getting blocked. Fortunately I found the missing piece, and it is now running smoothly. Lighting is just one of those smaller LED units, heater a 25W. Plants-- twisted val, anubias and christmas moss. I tried to make it quite a densely planted area so that the future puff has plenty of places to explore, hide etc. tho I imagine it will make the ember tetra a nuisance to catch out of it Any thoughts/suggestions on how to improve on anything?

Thanks Alex More baby photos lol... two decided to hang out on the sponge filter when I got home, so much closer to the surface for photos they seem to come out more in the evening. Their little barbels look too big for them and its adorable Hard to tell how many there are, or what my fry survival rate is like. Definitely at least 20 of various sizes, but I suspect there's more hiding up in the christmas moss or around the filter. Parents haven't bred for the last few days either, so this might be the lot of them for now.

This was the video I posted before I found the first lot of eggs; it doesn't show them placing eggs, but their behaviour was way more active than they tended to be previously, and you can clearly see the female (larger one) being flanked by the males (smaller ones?). I think in total I have 2-3 females and 5-6 males.

They're awesome wee fish, really enjoying raising them so far Anybody got any idea as to how long the parents will continue to spawn for (seem to be doing it every 3-4 days at the moment, usually after a water change and rain)?

So I got this tank off an FNZAS member a while back, and have finally decided what to do with it. It sat on the floor as a fry tank to 5 siamese fighting fish for a few months; But I've since moved out the fighter fry, added plants... ...but not yet substrate, a filter (brand new Fluval 306 :dnc1: ) and a nice looking stand I started the cycling process 2 or 3 weeks ago My main reason for getting a bigger tank was that /most/ of the fish I had fallen in love with required something of this size. Previously, all my tanks have been 75 litres and under, so this is a big step up for me, and one I'm really excited about. Stocklist that I'm planning on so far; Large school of glowlight danios School of around ~10 silver or marbled hatchetfish 1 male, 2 female thicklip gourami Large school of corydoras, probably sterbai or bronze 4-5 red whiptail catfish 1 half banded spiny eel I like the look of larger schools of fish, and so decided to have only a few larger schools as opposed to lots of smaller ones The eel, whiptails and the hatchets in particular are fish that I have wanted to keep for a long time now Scape will be sand substrate (probably white or an off-white colour), with driftwood, smooth rocks, and plenty of plants that do ok in low tech tanks, as I will be mainly relying on sunlight from the window for lighting, and will not be investing in a CO2 system at this stage, tho I will probably look into ferts for my sword plants. Not sure about the specifics of what the tank will /look/ like as I am yet to settle on rocks/driftwood and I find that usually decides the scape for me. Next few steps before it is finished cycling will be to remove the rest of the background on the back of the tank, put in substrate and start planting and looking for bits of driftwood/rock. Then, once it is cycled, I will start by getting the glowlight danio school first. I will also be using the tank temporarily as a grow out for whatever pygmy corydora fry I manage to raise. Then, once they are sold off, I will slowly start stocking the tank with other fish on my stock list

Haha, I was writing this up last night and didn't get time to talk about the fry. After separating them out, I grabbed the first thing I could think of, which was a marina breeder box; this attaches to the outside of the tank and has an air pump which pushes water up and through the box, which I thought was awesome. Worked great until they hatched; out of 40, I only had 2 eggs fungus, and the fry on their first few days did great, feeding almost immediately on microworms, whatever was growing on the christmas moss they had in there with them, and a few fragments of algae wafers. I did keep finding a few in the main tank, though, and figured that they were being swept out through the outtake because the rather gentle flow in the box was too much for them. After watching 2 or three of them take a slide down the breeder box outlet, I sewed a sponge to the top of the outlet to try and prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, this did keep them in, but the sponge was sewed unevenly; the fry wouldn't get out of the outlet, but were getting pushed into a corner of the sponge, crowded in there and unable to get out, and died. I think I lost at least 10 before I noticed this. I then moved them to a 10 litre bucket with a (handily) cycled filter left over from my Siamese Fighting Fish spawn and a heater set to 24. I tossed in a large number of fry, and have been putting in new batches of eggs as they turn up. I now have at least 6 'large' fry which have just reached about a week and a half old, then 3 or 4 different smaller sizes of fry, including about 30 or 40 that hatched yesterday (photos are of the largest fry, they have awesome juvie patterns on them, 5 bands/ 'spots' that go down their bodies. Can already see their little barbels and pectoral fins, and the large ones occasionally do a circuit round the top of the bucket) They seem to be doing well, I'm pretty upset about loosing the first lot, but the corys appear to be continuing to breed so hopefully I will get a good number of fry yet Still feeding on microworm, crushed flake and algae wafers I do 20-30% daily water changes Plans so far is to grow them out in the 10 litre bucket, then they will graduate to a 50 litre container until my 200 litre tank is cycled. Then, I will grow them out to a reasonable size in the 200 litre, put a number in with the adults and then sell off the rest

Just a small log on my Pygmy corydoras who recently decided to start breeding for me :f77: Small post as an intro; I've had them for a few months now, a group of 9 or so, originally as fish to be kept alongside one of my male Siamese Fighting fish, but loved them so much that I wanted to breed them. The male betta was moved to another tank, the corys had the 40 litre tank to themselves, and I started trying to get them to breed by feeding them on live foods such as microworms and BBS as well as novotab, flake and algae wafers. Water temperature was lowered to 24 degrees and I then would do 25% cold water changes 3x a week, with no results. They were in a set up that /had/ tannins in it, but was mostly rocks and heavy planting with reasonably high light. I eventually gave up on trying to breed them for a while, but pretty much continued on with the same water change/feeding schedule, just not feeding live foods as often. Recently, however, I decided to change the tank to a blackwater tank-- in went a large piece of driftwood, the plants were mostly removed bar a small amount of christmas moss and a cyperus heferi, riparium plants were added, and the high lights were swapped for a cheap low light lamp. Instantly, I noticed that they had become more active, particularly in the mornings around 8-11 am. Excited that they were more active, and not at all suspecting they were breeding, I took a video and posted it on a fishkeeping group on Facebook-- someone suggested that they were breeding as the video showed a larger female being flanked by 3-4 males and it possibly looked like they were doing the "T" position at times such as was described in breeding logs that I had read. That afternoon, I checked the tank with a torch, and was delighted to discover eggs all over the cyperus heferi, christmas moss, hanging roots from riparium vegetation and the driftwood. I gathered up the eggs and they have been spawning regularly ever since :nilly:

I'm by no means an expert but maybe if you've got a spare one, you could try putting a heater in and bumping the water temperature in there up to 22-23 degrees so that its not too cold for him to morph? I also found that mine preferred to munch on algae wafers as opposed to flake/oxygen weed (they were offered both also, along with duckweed and novotab) so might be a good idea? Also heard of people feeding them lettuce that had been boiled, frozen and then thawed again but personally found the algae wafers to be much easier.

I have seen some 'red ramshorns' for sale in some of the animates in my area, but these seem to be, as mentioned above, the ones that grow quite large. I have quite a few of these ones now, originally got them off a friend as found them quite cute. They reproduce quite readily, and my largest ones atm are about the size of a 20 cent coin. I also have the smaller 'ramshorns' in another of my tanks. These seem to get outcompeted a bit by bladder snails/malaysian trumpet snails so rarely see too many of them unless I'm purposely looking for them lol. Main way I distinguish between the two is just by waiting to see how big they grow as the larger type grows quite quickly I personally don't consider either a problem, as so far both types only really seemed to eat algae/uneaten fish food/other waste and leave my plants well alone

sorry its looking dubious- I had a bit of a look through that members posts and it was a bit If you do end up needing any fish picked up in Aucks tho, flick me a pm-- I recently got my restricted so am keen for any excuse to drive around :lol: I haven't heard of this shop in New Lynn before :-?

Hey, I'd be more than happy to pick them up and drop them off at HFF for you would just depend on the day as to whether I can do it or not Let me know Jamie

Nice tank I've noticed mine like to hang out up high near the light-- basking I suppose-- and use most of the wood and rocks that I have in the tank, but then will quickly plop back into the water to hide if something scares them. So I'd guess that if you put more wood in there then they would use it From what I have read they are equally good at swimming and climbing. In terms of the water I just have the water, no filter at the moment, up to 15 cms high in the tank and then have rocks and sand piled up in a corner plus a large basking rock to use as their land I will add a small filter (it /says/ its meant for 10 litres but is reasonably powerful) to increase water circulation/mechanical and biological filtration once the rest of my tadpoles have turned (they don't seem to appreciate the flow). At the moment I have a lot of plants in the water-- pothos, acorus, peace lily, duckweed, syngonium-- which seem to help keep the quality decent. I also do 50% water changes 3-4x a week-- you wouldn't need to do it this much, I'm mainly doing it to keep the water quality good for the tadpoles, they produce a lot of waste and are messy eaters lol. The ice cream container looks like it would work well

Oooo is that a flamingo plant behind the spider plant? How well does it tend to do and how far is it submerged?

Ah ok, then yeah, if you've been having troubles with it emptying I'd say either something is blocking the water flow in the filter compartment or the water level isn't high enough

The tad tank Currently still under construction a bit, but almost there- just waiting for the tadpoles to change so I can lower the water level and add in some mosses on the 'land' section

Last compartment as in the last compartment that the betta goes in or the last compartment where the filter pump is? I don't have problems with either compartment draining out unless doing a 50% or more water change and then the pump running too fast for the water to drain back, water level isn't a problem otherwise

Do pygmy corydoras count? :lol: I'm in line for any baby red whiptails that Alex breeds :bggrn:

Got my boys in these duo and trio tanks, was wondering how I could improve filtration? Currently is set up as I bought it-- large sponges (I'm guessing for mechanical & biological filtration?) and a small amount of ball things (biological?)... I also added in some acorus in the smaller tank and peace lily and acorus in the larger. Am wondering what I can do in the way of improving my filtration on both, (mechanical and biological) as I'm guessing I could do a lot with the space I have for it? I'm looking for suggestions for ideal media, how much of each kind I should have in the tank, etc. Flow is an issue as my bettas can't have too high a flow in the tank, but also because the pump isn't too powerful I can't have too much stuff blocking up the back and slowing the flow too much. Thanks https://scontent-a-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1509250_786503714720819_2071600365527120891_n.jpg?oh=7500952b24abceb3410b4f8f90f49233&oe=55032919 https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1513770_786503781387479_5177342221815327387_n.jpg?oh=c817cb52efe18a79583d51e654612a2a&oe=552E6AEE&__gda__=1429465255_61ab0dda4a498f0541183ba5607348ad https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10888381_786503828054141_1733983754984612657_n.jpg?oh=1e347e83000fabeab7ba1a807e53296d&oe=552BA711&__gda__=1430496205_7350c59d8466e748a8776f8acdd630f1 https://scontent-b-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1908165_786503924720798_3070170479276325629_n.jpg?oh=f04c93daa65ee2105a037ca5f7dc96bc&oe=54FE29C4 https://scontent-b-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10885534_786504008054123_7019524329491018861_n.jpg?oh=e6f9feb06006dc913370aeab208a7e59&oe=552FFECD