Luke*

Interesting...thanks for that. Does anyone know exactly how territorial they get? Or can everyone only afford one at best?

Ello welcome aboard L. I'm L too. Okay you be L1 I'll be L2. Good to hear you're getting back in to it, I fear the addiction would also bring me back if I ever sold up

thanks Rogan, they originated from the discusguru himself and I've raised them up since with daily water changes/oxheart etc. evil_elmo that's no good. Yes you can buy methylene blue straight from the shop, well here you can anyway. 1% and it's 50ml, pretty cheap as well. I can always send you some down if you wanna dc me. What was your filtration like? Discus will do that if the ammonia levels get too high. If I was you I'd treat the parents for flukes using 40% formalin or potassium permanganate (should be able to get this from a chemist but you might need to ring around), in both cases you have to be extremely careful with the dosages. Simplydiscus.com has more info.

Thanks evilknieval69.. pm'd

You can work it out by the difference between your KH and pH. I also made a DIY bubble counter.

Thanks man. Yeah from what I've read overseas it's pretty unheard of. Although I think Gannet told me someone in NZ use to breed them but there wasn't much of a market. How big do they have to be before they'll breed? Mine's about 12cm

Dead right and in that order of importance. And some plants are root feeders, meaning you should get those fertiliser balls to push under the substrate for them. Most swords are like that and most stem plants are leaf feeders (so you can just add the fert to the water)

Only thing is methylene blue will stain the tank (and eggs?!) and might freak the fish out a bit. I love the plants as they help remove toxins and makes it look more natural. Hopefully they are more relaxed with them in too. But, if it is a problem with fry getting lost and being unable to find the parents I'll remove them. That's a real bummer evil_elmo what happened? Did the parents eat them? What kind of discus are they?

Does anyone know if the various L numbers with regard to golden nuggets will readily spawn with one another? Or does small spot have to go with small spot? I assume they interbreed.

thanks notorious yep I know the locals eat them... such a waste. They taste quite leathery and it's an acquired taste. Pirranhas taste a lot better, at least at first. Yup Brian check out this beauty out of the wild: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=5820

But to answer the question, 6.8-7.4 is what is recommended http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/anaba ... /betta.htm. As mentioned a stable pH is the most important thing though. Someone was asking recently about a betta peat product that supposedly replicates their natural environment, so I assumed they would like it naturally on the acidic side of things

No CO2 dissipates also raising the pH

uhh... I'm sure you meant laterally compressed Candy... Yes you must join is, it's awesome. They have a lot of social behaviours that you don't see in a lot of other fish. It's like watching a silent film. Bear in mind you should really have at least 5 discus so that they feel comfortable.

Thanks guys. True I could put a potted sword in but I've managed to do some dicing around with the heaters and it's all worked out. Some eggs are looking dark now but doesn't look like it will be a huge batch. I use as many plants as possible to help reduce toxins in the water. Pretty stoked cuz these two are the roundest and best coloured melons I've got. Yeah you can usually get formalin on the shelf at your LFS, it's pretty cheap. Vets can get a stronger concentration of it (others can get that stuff off the shelf e.g in America)

I agree with Ant. If you're worried about setting up MH and the heat etc, also bear in mind you'd need at least two to cover a 6ft tank, then t5s would be a better option. T5s have smaller tubes than t8s (normal sized fluorescent tubes that most people have and you see in the ceilings of buildings). T5s give out more wattage too so they're better for plants than t8s.

You're learning Mystic!!

I found hairgrass never took off for me, don't know I had a 400W MH over it too. Anyway, for comparison, here's my glosso lawn:

Thanks guys, wouldn't have been possible without you Ronnie So I cleaned out the tank and removed all the great spawning architecture I had provided and added some formalin to the tank to help prevent egg fungus. I see a couple have fungused hopefully no more will (shot of the whole tank for comparison)

I call him nuggy (nugg-ee) Well this site says 20cm http://www.fishforever.co.uk/goldnuggetpleco.html, this site says 35cm http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Scobinancistrus.html, and this site says 20-30cm http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?what= ... g=2&id=218 :roll: There are three types of gold nugget plecos: L081 - small spots L085/L018 - medium spots L177 - large spot and this depends on what part of the river you find them in

Hehe Glow in the dark?

Thanks a lot, it use to live here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/meet-t ... 17127.html

Thanks HandS. Yes I found out that they are quite easy to breed.. woohoo The females are fuller in the belley than the males as you can see in the pic

Gotta love him, if it is a him. Pity my large discus think anything going in to the tank is food. His gold tail was just too tasty looking. It's growing back slowly and they're use to him now.

Yo-u I know that davidb. Reread the above. I was replying to his question To clarify, he meant what three letter word can you remove two letters from and it still have the same meaning.

Ahh lol I counted 13 in the second shot but yes you're right there is a reflection there cuz that's one kinda bright looking and so is the reflection. So it must be 12 in the pic but altogether..........there's 16. Nice work TimTam22! First guess too. I'll send you some plants if you pay postage, got a lil hygro spare after trimming up the tank yesterday. Actually you can see the plant in the photos, it's greener than that but the lights weren't on