Snowman

Hope that works for you Ballistic, tempted to do the same if i had somewhere else to put the fish and time to do it, may not be any other option though.

Didn't get a chance to get a test kit, we have been in this place for 8 mths and had the guppy prob for the last 3 odd weeks, no other fish are showing any signs of poisoning, that includes GBA from fry to adults, several types of loaches, swords, angels, rams , ottos, normal b/nose and platties, the taps get a lot of flow daily.

Curiosity got the better of me after not seeing any fry yet, so i very slowly lifted up his cave (chopper) and had a look inside and yay could see about 20 fry without looking to hard, so now i know they are alive it will be interesting to see how many survive the maurauding mouths of the other fish. I've got a 40ltr with 6 mid size platties in so they will probably go in there but don't want to take them off dad to soon, thinking Tues-Wed which will give me time to adjust water to suit.

Thanks Scalare, thats one thing i haven't tested for. It's up to 150-160 now so the tank is looking a lot more spacious, took out a lot of the water sprite so i could find the dead ones to avoid pollution. I have bought from a few different people and LFS's to try and avoid the inbreeding but of course there is no way to ensure they mate with the new ones (wish i had that much tank space). Think i'll call down to LFS and pick up a copper test kit to check that out. If it is excess copper in the water how do you remedy that?

Not to sure if they would breed in a 20ltr tank, thats quite small and i don't think they would feel secure enough to lay, i would use the big tank for them to breed and for him to look after the eggs and only move the fry once thay are free swimming. I may be wrong but they are fairly large fish and would think they would pollute a 20ltr quite quick.

I bought a couple of Yo-Yo's around 5cm for about $15 ea so for a 10cm one, that is good value. They seem to get on well with Striata and Queen loaches. Going to have a 4ft loach tank soon as they have great character and are a few types available, be weary of the Burmese Tiger Loach as one a mate bought chased the heck out of his clown loaches, it's now in a 450ltr with Severums, Jewels, Convicts and a couple of Oscars and even thought it is a lot smaller than these still gets a lot of respect for some reason.

The attachment hose output thingy (other wise known as a spray bar :lol: )can be in or out of the water depending on how much you want to aerate the water i have mine sitting about 5mm below the surface to create a current but not disrupt the water to much, have a try of both and see what the fish and you prefer.

Hi Caper, personally i wouldn't have to many so they can all get a bit of algae, if it was me i would have 4-6, could have less which would give them more algae per fish or more if your feeding them. I like the Ottopus bit :lol:

That should be fine, its the males duty to look after the fry so you could put her back in the fry tank just after you find eggs. It's definetly a buzz watching the little eggs attempting to swim not long after they hatch. Good luck : -)>

Wonders how you stumbled across this ??????? :lol: :lol:

I would think the tank must look like rush hour in Auckland, nose to tail fishies :lol: , surprising the nitrate is that low with so many fish producing waste, how heavily planted is it? Maybe more plants will use some of the nutrients the algae are feeding on, pity he's not in Auck, could get the Ambulia going for free. A UV light would sort the waterborne algae but it would be better to sort out what is causing it.

Does the male go into the rock formation? If he does that should do the trick. Should be ok in the main tank, he will fan (to prevent fungus) the eggs for about 5 days and once hatched he tries to keep them in the cave for about 5 more days, just be weary the other fish don't annoy the fry when they do emerge as they are quite small and not very good swimmers. Once the fry start emerging from the cave you could put them in the fry tank, when you first see them they may look like eggs with eyes and a tail, you wont need to feed them until the egg has gone as they feed from the egg sac.

Hi Penejane, sounds like your boy would be close to breeding size, basically you'll need a female (surprise surprise LOL) and something to act as a cave for the male to hide in, my normal b/nose have laid eggs in a helicopter and gold b/nose in a ship. I like ornaments as they have a couple of entry holes to help with water circulation, you want something that the male and female can fit in but not to big, they prefer to be cosy in their cave. Only problem with most caves is you can't see inside so you don't know when they have laid eggs. I've been lucky in that they have spawned where i can see the eggs. I found it best having a species tank as when the GBA eggs hatched even small swordtails were picking at the fry. Still waiting to see what comes out from the normal b/nose in my community tank but i doubt any will survive the angels and loaches. Hope this helps : -)>

Pretty cool, instead of a desk top tank have a tank top desk LOL Not exactly cheap, wouldn't be to hard to make if your handy with wood. Good way of saving space and fitting in more tanks :lol:

Misnoma, if your out south let me know i've got spare air stones. : -)>

Hi Gretal, have you checked the water parameters e.g ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? When was the last time you did a water change? It wouldn't hurt to do a 20% water change which will dilute any harmfull chemical build ups, even say 10 ltrs and again in two days. Dont worry to much as i doubt there is anyone who hasn't lost a fish, i know when i first started i thought it would be easy but it is far more complicated than many think, don't give up and i'm sure you will find it very rewarding as most of us have. Good luck and perservere

Fingers crossed, thanks Simon, only prob is a couple of queen and a couple of angelicious loaches trying to get in underneath without Mr b/nose seeing them oh and a 6+ " clown loach that is not scared of Mr b/nose, hopefully he/she cant get past my fortifications LOL

Mmmm hadn't thought of that, got a couple of bits i can pilfer from other tanks that will help. Noticed the loaches having a dig around almost trying to get in from underneath but dont want to push it into the substrate as there may be fry underneath. But will put bits around to discourage them. Thanks all

Ok the eggs have hatched and i now have eggs with tails and eyes, dads doing his best to keep them safe inside ,1 tried to escape and not sure what happened to it. Is it a good idea to leave a light on for dad to see to defend them or is this just going to enable the angels to see the fry? By the way the angels are fully grown around 80-90mm high excluding finnage.

A uv light would work great but you will have to batter them first LOL Seriously a uv light will kill your fish pretty quickly, imagine your self being under a tanning light for 12 hrs, uv lights kill germs which are living organisms so will do the same for your fish, a red or maybe a blue bulb would compliment a white light bringing out the colours.

If you are looking for something to do with the culled fry get a white worm culture, they seem to thrive on dead guppies.

I get green algae build uo on things in my guppy tank, my fix is to put them in the GBA tank for a day and they do an awesome job of cleaning it, normal b/nose would do just as well, has Mystic still got a few b/nose to try in the tank?

Do you have any other fish in the tank? Is it just the guppies that are dying? How many have died out of how many and over what period?

The tank looks great, looks like it's been setup for ages, fish look cool as well.

Awesome, seems like the day for egg laying, can't help you with info but can wish you luck.