Midas

Not sure if that is a good idea Ira. If the bending is due to some kind of disease (e.g. TB) rather than a genetic problem, the disease may pass on to the Oscar if he eats them. Personally I wouldn't risk feeding them to the Oscar.

Sorry Alan can't help you with finding a male Blue-eye. So no one knows who owns the Crenicichla lepidota above?

Palmy does have two different types of water supply. One is from the local underground bores and the other is from the dam catchment up in the ranges (Turitea dam). The bore water has a pH around 8.0 (GH about 100ppm), while the water from the treatment station at the dam has a lower pH around 7.5 (GH about 30ppm). When I used to live in Palmy I got the council to send me typical analysis for the different water sources. This included pH, hardness, typical contaminant levels etc (I still have copies). Once the chlorine is removed from the water both sources are ok for fish (nitrates and phosphates were even quite low if I remember right). The southern side of Palmy seems to be on the dam water while the northern side seems to have bore water (some places can get either depending on water demand). I found the easiest way to make the water safe was like Daniel said, just to put it through a carbon filter. The water can be used straight away then without having to have some sort of intermediate storage. Intermediate storage can be a pain once you start having to deal with a moderate amount of water (ie hundreds of litres) as the water needs to be double handled (also if you are using dechlorinating products this can get expensive). An inline carbon filter can be hooked up to the tap and the water sent straight into the tank in one step. For general use this would be fine. If you were keeping Discus, the filtered dam water would probably work really well (its about the right hardness and being soft the pH doesn't take much to drop down below 7). However the bore water could be used too, you would just have to be a bit more careful about the amount of water changed at once, too much and the pH could go higher than you want, smaller more frquent water changes could help avoid this. Incidently Wet Pets is on the bore water.

Last time I looked on the fish list there was a Crenicichla species of some sort on the allowable list. I'll have to have another look. Given that your're looking for a male, I guess you've only got the one? Would be cool if we could get some more of these in the country.

Does anyone know the owners of the Pike cichlid (female Crenicichla lepidota?) and the Blue-eyed cichlid that were at the fish show? Just curious to see where/ how they got hold of them from (especially the Pike cichlid - cool looking fish - see photo below). i.e. this fish:

I use potting mix for mine and it works fine.

Either way, for a tank setup, ideally you would have a fairly big tank (at least 4ft) with plenty of rocks (and hiding spaces amoungst the rocks). Also water should be alkaline (probably should at least be above pH 7.5, many people say higher at pH >8 ) and hard rather than soft (gh >100ppm CaCO3 - although many people say higher). With stocking levels it is generally recommended to overcrowd slightly so that fish find it difficult to establish territories which helps reduce aggression - this type of fish can be quite aggro otherwise.

Doesn't really look like a socolofi to me. I would have said it is Maylandia (formerly Pseudotropheus) zebra (of which there are several colour variations). Photo says Pseudotropheus elongatus but this dosen't really look right either. These types of African (ie Maylandia/ Pseudotropheus types) are always hard to tell apart. Also seems to be a few crosses around which doesn't make it any easier.

Hang on a minute, weren't you the one who wanted to crossbreed gambusia, leopard fish, and guppies? Not exactly what I would call leaving nature to it's own devices. Mutations do happen as part of nature, its just that the mutation normally imparts some disadvantage to the mutant hence they don't survive in the wild. On the very rare occassions that the mutation is beneficial the mutant is likely to be more successful and the mutant characteristic is likely to spread through the entire population (evolution). In a fish tank its the fish owner that has usually the final say on what is successful or not, e.g. if the owner thinks a mutation is 'cute' that mutation is likely to be successful (especially if the descision is made to breed the mutant to make more 'cute' fish). Crossbreeding on the other hand would not happen under normal circumstances in the wild, as several mates of the same species are normally available for an animal to choose from.

My Hydor inline heater is now no longer operational. The element pad looks as though it has burnt out (brown patch near one of the terminals) for no apparent reason. Tank temp got down to 18 degrees before I noticed, fish seem ok now though. Won't be buying another one of these again, 9 months isn't really good enough. I mentioned this to the lfs where I brought a replacement heater from and they said that they have a lot of complaints/faults with inline heaters. How long have other people with inline heaters managed to get them to last for?

LB - can you post a link to a pic of the fish you mean?

Its just a mutation, probably brought about by a recessive gene (too much inbreeding etc). Its most likely that someone would have been breeding them and found some fry with this trait and then selectively breed these mutants. There are several fish out there for sale that have this trait, ballon kissing gouramis seem quite common at lfs's. I have come across this "ballon" trait in convicts that I have breed before too (found one fry that had it out of a total of about 100 fry).

male cobalt gouramis should be much brighter in colour than the females. The females should look quite dull in comparison.

just acidic, didn't you ever learn about acids and bases?

The bird wormer that comes in a tube, doesn't get you that much active ingredient (tetramisole - (which is a isomer of levamisole)) for the cost of it. If you are going to mix it up with food make sure that all the fish eat it. The worst affected fish will probably eat the least (as they will be the ones that feel the least like eating). I find it much easier to put it in the water. If you can get some levamisole I would still recommend that this is the way to go. Much less stress on the fish than removing them etc, and much easier too. Also levamisole drench should be soluble in water. Levamisole itself is soluble, however I have read that it is best to make sure your tank has a neutral tio acidic ph in order for the levamisole hydrochloride to dissociate properly.

You will need 3 grams of levamisole for 200L (15 ppm = 15mg/L, therefore 200 * 15mg/l = 3000mg = 3g), thats assuming you can get hold of the active ingredient (ie pure levamisole as opposed to in a drench etc). Otherwise you will have to work out how much drench to use to give you 3 grams of levamisole. Also read this thread for a bit more info: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=281

I have one of these fish too. I had thought that it was M. splendida australis, although there are many colour variations within this sub species. It was sold as a 'Red Tailed Rainbow' which I agree with Rob is probably something a wholesaler has come up with. Here is my fish: Compare that with this fish: Which is taken from this website: http://www.australianrainbowfish.com/australian_fish/australian_fishes_index.htm

Melanotaenia praecox actually come from Indonesia so they shouldn't be technically called 'Australian' neon dwarf rainbows. They are normally just called neon dwarf rainbows, so yes Ballistic it is the same fish. We bred these recently without doing anything special. Just kept and heated the water from water changes (including the detris picked up with the gravel vac) and transfered the fry that appeared over the next week from that water into a raising tank. Hardest part is feeding them as the fry are very small. I tried a few different things including very finely ground up dry food, commercial fry food, green water etc until they were big enough to eat brine shrimp.

who do we let know if we want to come to the dinner?

Oh that is really interesting. We have never recieved a card in the 2 1/2 years that we have been in a club.

have you tried? http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm

You can by Chlorine test kits at some lfs.

you have a poodle?? that explains a lot! :lol:

Just because they aren't easy to sell doesn't mean that they are not a great fish to own. They are much more exciting then most 'popular' fish and make great 'pet' fish, intelligent and interactive with their owners. Many Red Devil owners refer to them as aquatic dogs due to their behaviour. Most people however seem to prefer a tank full of brightly coloured fish brainlessly swiming around. Although this can look appealing it doesn't take long for the novelty to wear off, wouldn't you much rather have fish that you can have some fun with? Red Devils get a bad rep because people don't understand them and try to house them with unsuitable tank mates (or in tanks that are too small). This added to the fact that most people don't see the attraction of pet fish results in the market for Red Devils (and also other fish of similar size/behaviour) being consequently small.

cool, thanks Warren