Luke*

wow great work david. looking awesome!!! that's one beefy big tank. the width is certainly impressive. like the woody-biotype look ay i couldn't see all the pics cos on dial up speed but your sump looks really good. is that an overflow plumbed at the end in case something goes wrong? i assume it'll lead to a drain? lemons are really nice tetras. hate to see them be an aro snack

NIIIIICE! and who said all discus are the same colour?! haha. sweet big tank. great job on growing them out..so big, healthy, and robust.. no wonder they're pairing up! are you going to set up some pairs after completing the aquascape? re the driftwood.. recently i heard of someone getting a bunch on the north island east coast and an older local maori came out and went off at them furiously and they had to throw it back. seems very stupid because i'm sure there's nothing in the law preventing it.

try contact him again.. often people read an email, forget about it, think they've replied, get busy, etc. i heard a stat that about 50% of actual businesses don't even reply to people when they email in. crazy.. but definitely happens. re the silicone.. perhaps it wasn't allowed enough time to set or there was an inconsistency in the seal that gradually wore away under pressure.

looking great ant! good to see you still rocking the awesome aquascapes. remember my red lotus? always did well under metal hallides. but i reckon cos you have red in the back left that any more red will jig-saw it up too much. how about a uruguayensis sword?

haha cool.. cheers for the post and pics

recently bought a 200w jager from HFF and it's going awesome! holding the temp really well accurately which i've never found with the aqua ones i had previously. also these have a feature where if they run dry, they'll automatically turn off.. that puts my mind at ease overnight/while away. definitely worth it

don't worry about it dude. always happens like flosty said. you'll get the alpha and the runt, and the others somewhere in the middle. just the pecking order way for these cichlids. but yes i agree, do more water changes to remove more of the growth inhibiting hormone

cool! it's really exciting breeding discus. so if you're dedicated.. for sure give it a go you'll love it

1) more than likely they'll have peppering. discus in general are considered more desirable if they have very little peppering. 2) depends if they've actually raised fry properly, from egg to wriggler to free swimming; because then you know you can sell on the juveniles in a few months. if not, well, eventually hopefully they will.. but who knows? most good pairs are around the $400-500 mark

DIY may be ok due to lower amounts but i'd be careful.. i was running a heavily planted 300L tank and overnight all the O2 got used up and the pH went very low. I did have a very effective CO2 diffuser that i made myself using a powerhead though..

back from the dead

talk about a half-cast. lookin really good ant. nice big tank ay bro. yea go to the metal hallides!! go the discus! you could always sell the pair dude

same for DIY yes.. it's because the resulting carbonic acid lowers the pH.. as the plants don't use it at night, it can swing low and also use up the O2 in the water. you can use a buffer to stop pH crashes.. such as baking soda

haha yea ant

i just put it all dry in a stocking, tie it up, then put it in the tank. it has sunk and works away nicely giving a light tannin colour. it's not 'really' dark though. yea you can just boil how much you want to get the desired effect otherwise.

yeah i run some in a stocking with my fish. i love the more natural tinged look you get. the fish love it and it softens the water too

hi discusguru.. good to see you haha

yummy! yes let's go on a discus hunt in the amazon.. sounds great

probably the problem.. not enough food and they're much better on tetra colour bits, JBL novo bits, or hikari discus bio-gold as opposed to flake. get them some daphnia, brine shrimp (live or frozen), and whiteworms too. you should see some improvement. increasing water changes to daily will also help

ughhhhhhhh this is awful! very very sad.. hopefully some good news comes soon for everyone incl the animals

laid* goodluck. the eggs actually take 4 days to hatch so don't start over too soon if you don't see anything

yea sometimes they pair up before one year old.. should say "are my discus spawning??" as 'are' indicates plural, 'is' indicates singular.. as it's a pair = plural takes two to tango

think you meant zealous?

alan i believe the costs have been talked about to some degree.. with potentially up to half frozen for 'sampling'.. what the hell?! sounds like a concentration camp. not sure what the current stat is on it though. henward.. lol you want wolf (aka dovii) cichlid in nz??????? hahaha the ruling most aggressive cichlid of all.. i'm sure maf would love that one (imagine them thinking of a 75cm one in the nz wild.. which of course they seem to think is all rather feasible? lol)

you could add a couple more of the same size for now..150L isn't exactly a small tank. 25% change daily is better for growth.. 50% daily even better...and so on.. bare bottom is better too if you want big show quality beefy ones at adulthood..