zombieworm

I know from the manager of my LFS that AquaOne is moving from flouro to LEDs. They are in a long flouro-like tube, and will be able to be used in place of the flouros in existing tank setups using T8s. They have been a big hit in Aussie, and are just being trialed for the market here in NZ. Try Animates - that's my LFS where I heard about it.

I have been a lot of trouble with my discus (I think they are going to be one of those fish I just can't keep). I did a 40% water change, then started doing the testing for all my tanks, as I do periodically. All my tanks seem to sit at an annoying level for ammonia, even the one that is heavily planted and minimally stocked. I decided to test the discus tank, even though I had just done a water change, and was shocked at what the ammonia levels were, given that I had just done a 40% water change, and the previous water change had only been a week before. Being the suspicious type, and knowing that there is no way the discus tank had been at almost twice that level before the water change, I decided to test the water straight out of the tap. Our local tap water sits at 0.5 ppm ammonia! I don't have access to any other water source. Any suggestions?

Hmm... since pemba are what I have the most of, guess that will be the type I keep.

They were all purchased as juveniles, and are just starting to get their adult colours now. I am hoping that the aggression levels don't increase with maturity, otherwise I will have to pick one type and rehome the rest. Yeah, I got really confused over the whole pemba bemba thing. One shop said pemba are orange stripe and bemba are red striped, then a different place said it was the other way around. Now they might be the same thing. Guess I'll find out when they all get their colours - lol. I added a pic of my tank to the previous post.

I feed them JBL NovoRift and JBL NovoMalawi, and have recently purchased some Repashy Super Green which is specifically for Tropheus. Fortunately I was aware of the Malawi bloat thing before I set up, so have been really careful and picky about their food. I was told they had to be kept in large groups, but that it didn't matter if they were all the same type or not. Possibly that is true for the Malawi types but not the Tropheus. Everyone I have gotten information from has had the Malawi types like electric yellows etc, but no one I know has ever had Tropheus, so they may have been just assuming it is the same with all Africans. If the only reason not to keep the different types together is because of cross breeding, though, then that isn't an issue for me - I have no interest in breeding any of them. Although I tend to keep pairs of each kind, they aren't male/female pairs. Just two of the same kind for visual effects. I have had the tank for about 6 months now, and so far so good. All the tropheus (and other as well) are healthy and active, with a bit of chasing around, but no real viciousness. Feeding time is a riot - they are like a pack of piranhas of a carcass! It is the only tank I have that does the feeding frenzy thing. I know they require a higher ph than other fish, so I have aragonite sand in the substrate, and got the nice knobbly calcium carbonate rocks for the tank. They love the rocks. What surprised me the most was that they didn't destroy the plants. I was told you can't keep live plants with them because they will decimate them. I put plants in specifically for them to munch on, but they have left the plants alone. All in all I have found them to be a very easy to keep fish so far, and I love sitting and watching them. Ironic really, the four fish I have found the easiest to keep and have never had any problems with - Elephantnose, African Butterfly Fish, Bumblebee Gobies, and Tropheus - are the ones everyone says are hard to keep. Lol. It is the discus I have no end of problems with.

Were they gold rams or electric blue? My local won't stock electric blues because they are expensive but die so readily. Apparently they are a hybrid, and are susceptible to pretty much everything including being looked at the wrong way. When I do the shuffle, I will put the rams into the gourami tank then rather than the other way around.

I don't really know very much about the species name with African cichlid (obviously - lol), this is the first time I have had Africans. I bought a moorii moliro, and was told by someone it was also called a Firecracker, so when a Firecracker came available from somewhere else I bought it, thinking it was a morilo. Going on what you have said, it appears I have one each of a different fish. The duboisi are very definately duboisi, at least I have that right - lol. I have 2 of those. I bought 2 pemba (red stripe?), and decided to buy another 2 as well as 2 bemba, but 1 of each was DOA, so I have 3 pemba and 1 bemba. That's my Tropheus collection at the moment. I am wanting to add 2 yellow stripe/band ones to that. The only other Tanganyika I have are 4 Julidochromis transcriptus. Everything else in the tank is Malawi - 4 damasoni (blue with vertical stripes), 4 electric blue johanni (blue with horizontal stripes), and 2 cobalt blues (blue with no stripes), as well as 3 cuckoos (not blue - lol).

It gets very confusing after a while, as some say it is the duboisi that have the yellow stripe/band (but mine are white) while others say it is the bemba (but mine are orange). That's why I stipulated the stripe/band colour. But yes, Ikola would be the variety of moorii I am after (I have the T. moorii moliro aka "firecracker"). Basically, I already have the white striped one, the orange striped one, and the red striped one, so now I want the one with the yellow stripe/band.

Your honey gourami did fine in with the rams? That would make my tank shuffle so much easier if I could put the Honey Gourami in with the rams!

I have my rams (golden rams) in with cardinals, black neon, bristlenose, striata loaches, chain loaches, and yoyo loaches. The males are territorial and can be aggressive towards each other if their territory is encroached on. I have 4 males though (too young to sex when I bought them), and even though they 'face off' every so often, they have never injured each other, not even nipped or ragged fins.

I am wanting to buy a green male betta.

I totally agree! My neighbour laughs because she complains about all the flies at her place in summer and I complain that there are never enough flies at my place - lol. I run around swatting any flies that come inside, then race over to the tank to drop them in. Originally I only had one, but love him so much that when I got the 400ltr tank, I got another 4 ABF. Their mouths are so enourmous they look like muppets, so all of mine are named after muppets

I originally started off with 12 pea puffers and 8 bb gobies in a large tank, which ended up a total disaster. The puffers waged a bloody war on each other, and the gobies had difficulty finding enough food in the chaos and large sized tank (160 ltr). After a few weeks, I was left with 5 puffers that got along, and 4 bb gobies. A couple weeks later, dispairing over the few tiny fish in a ginourmous tank, and knowing I couldn't put anything else in there with them, I moved the surviving fish into a 21 ltr tank, where they settled into a good little community, and all did very well, although I hardly saw the gobies. They stayed hidden most of the time. Recently I decided to move the gobies into their own tank, and they became very active once on their own. Since they had done fine (in terms of the bioload) in a 21 ltr tank with 5 bioload-heavy puffers, I decided to get another 4 gobies, as I know they like to be in larger groups. So now I have 8. Other than being territorial over their little shell caves, which is mostly in the evenings and at night, they are very sociable with each other. They are all at the bottom in pic because it's feeding time, but during the day they swim all over, from top to bottom. The piece of spiderwood I have in there goes right to the top and then back down, giving good perching, and once the plants get bigger, there will be even more non-bottom-of-the-tank perching areas. 8 seems to be a good number for the 21 ltr tank (its an AquaOne EcoStyle 37). Everyone I've heard from previously seems determined to keep them in a large tank, and what I've been able find in reading seem to encourage that, but mine have done very well in a small tank.

The repashy I ordered arrived today. I got the Bug Pie for the gobies, and man do they love it! They went wild over it, no encouragement necessary. I'll have to be more careful where I drop it though. The piece landed right next to one of the empty apple snail shells, and the "owner" of that shell wasn't too impressed about all the others so close to his cave. He kept popping into the shell to make sure no one else had taken over.

Thanks for the link Ira. The repashy actually looks quite good. Given the number of fish I have, it may be a more economical option. And the fact that it doesn't disintigrate quickly... some of my tanks I have to overfeed to make sure the shy bottom dwellers get fed. A lot gets wasted, as well as making a mess in the tanks. This looks like a really option. Also something new for the turtles. I've ordered a few different ones to try out, will see how it goes. I am going to try hatching brine shrimp as well for the bb gobies, see if they will eat those. Have you tried those, JJ? If so, how did it go? your bbs have really good colouring. Have you converted them to brackish yet? That was one of the reasons I separated them from the pea puffers - I wanted to convert them to brackish.

When would you want to come pick them up? (You do realize I'm in Hastings?)

I'm reorganizing my tanks, to better suited all the inhabitants, so am needing to re-home some of the fish. Sorry I can't ship. There is no set price an any of them, just a whatever you want give. 4x male gold Rams 7x black neon tetras 6 or 7 penguin tetras 6 or 7 glass bloodfins.

Hiya all. I am on the lookout for two tropheus moorii (the dudes with the yellow stripe). I live in Hastings, so they will probably need to be shipped.

Hi Cullum. They are free. You just need to pick them up

Does anyone here have African Butterfly Fish? (That's African Butterfly Fish not the butterfly cichlid). I have 5, and would be interested in other people's experiences with them.

Ok, so it's 2 years since this thread was started, but I have elephantnose fish, and they are doing very well. Does anyone else still have any?

Hiya. What is repashy and where do you get It? I have a group of 4 bb gobies in a 21ltr tank, and they have done very well. Originally I had them in a 21 ltr with 5 pea puffers, they did very well there too, but I decided I wanted to give them their own tank, and they became very active once in their tank. I love the way they "perch" on things. I have a piece of spiderwood in their tank, and they perch on it like a little flock of underwater birds. Mine have lived all their lives on frozen bloodworms, but I would really like to find something else that they will eat, to give them variety, and because it is just unhealthy eating the same thing all the time.

3 wonderful yo-yo loaches free to good home. They are about a year old, around 5 inches long (13cm), and are the best of friends having been together all their lives. They eat very well, and are extremely active. Sadly, they are just way too boisterous for all the other tanks inhabitants. They would need to be picked up, as I can't ship. I can provide a polystyrene box, but you will need to provide a heat pack if it is a long trip. So if you are in Hastings, near Hastings, passing thru Hastings, or know someone passing thru, and would like them, let me know.

Seriously? You want hydra? I have green ones if you are interested (yes, they really are green, and they are definitely hydra). I used to white ones in one of the other tanks, I'll have a closer look, see if I can see any. Let me know if you are still interested.

Any luck so far? Do you ever get down Hawkes Bay way? I have 3 yoyos I would really like to rehome. They are about a year old, and around 5 inches (13cm). They have tons of personality and are a riot to watch, but are just too boisterous for the other tank inhabitants.