HummingBird

Yeah there're definitely some out there. They're not even that great plecs though, they hide most of the time.

Some buckets have measurements on the side.

Hey purple, if you're into hillstream loaches you might want to check out Jansens Botany at the moment. We've got some, I'm not sure of the species, they're not borneo suckers though. They're much bigger.

yeah, or just a turtle calcium block. That's what I used to use in the filter when I used to have snail only tanks (And yes...I've had snails tanks for ramshorns and apple snails before. They rocked.)

Looking good Michael, how many liters is it? and what are you going to keep in it?

Ah right...he's a sneaky one, that Wok.

Don't joke Wok, when my parents first moved here from Canada they went to an event that said "bring a plate" so they did, literally. It's not an international colloquialism obviously

Snails really aren't that much of a problem really. They eat leftover food and algae, so if you have a snail explosion it's really just a symptom of something else, likely overfeeding. The only time snails are really a problem is when there's a sudden abundance of food for them, their population explodes, then their food runs out and they all die, resulting in a massive release of ammonia. But having a few snails in your tank to take care of algae or missed food is a good thing IMO, I have ramshorn populations in all of my tanks (intentionally, too). The only snails I don't like myself are malaysian trumpet snails, because they're live bearing and they reproduce so fast (although some people value them in plants with a sand substrate because they burrow and prevent the sand becoming anaerobic). Obviously though your egg patches won't be from them.

Apple snails eat everything they can. One time when I had them in a fry tank to produce infusoria one of them actually latched onto a free swimming baby and ate it.

Yeah Oscars grow really, really quickly. The Oscar in my 490L tank is still a juvenile, I bought him two months ago and he's grown a heck of a lot in that time, he's 11cm now. I didn't measure him when I bought him but I got the smallest Oscar in the store's tank, and they were the normal size you buy Oscars at. Check out "my tanks" for pics of him, unfortunately there isn't much for scale in the pictures.

Depends on the dimensions of your tank, but yeah they can get pretty big.

Sort of unusual, you asking us to stay "on subject" when this wasn't even your topic in the first place, and your post asking if anyone had any tubifex was in itself straying from the original subject. Not that I mind straying off subject I've never had live tubifex, but a lot of fish books that I've got mention them a lot. They sound a lot similar to Daphnia in their culturing requirements, in that they need a small amount of decomposition present at all times - it sounds like they require some sort of fecal matter in the mix to thrive though. At least that what the Encyclopedia of Live Foods makes it sound like. A quote from there: "For all practical purposes, tubificids cannot be reared in quantities large enough to make it worthwhile. The author has had sustaining populations in alligator tanks and snail tanks indoors, but even those did not produce enough worms to make this worthwhile for that purpose. Collecting outdoors throughout the year is really easy enough to making culturing unnecessary." It goes on to mention that culturing is at least possible though, and that "The author maintained large numbers of tubifex in a concrete springwater box for several years with a three inch bottom composed of nothing but cottonseed meal." How did you used to culture yours, Phil?

Wikipedia is god. As for live food though, I feed Daphnia, mossie larvae and bloodworms (the latter two grow unintentionally in my daphnia ponds.) Doesn't really apply to killies, but I also feed my Oscar crickets, centipedes and anything else small enough to fit in his mouth.

Maybe you're nitrite test kit has expired? Or has been swapped with your nitrate? heh.

16 degrees is fine. About the zuchini you were feeding them, how long did you leave it in for? Often bottom feeders won't get interested in it till it softens up, which can sometimes take half a day or more.

It's not snails or fish - I've had it happen in tanks without either. If it's fungal, it's not a visible fungus.

In my experience some are a lighter brown than others, maybe this is just something that happens as they get older (just a guess). How cold is the tank getting? They come from pretty cool waters naturally

I'm with you re: chlorine Mr Pleco, I never use any water conditioner when I change the water on my tanks, it comes straight out of the hose and I've never had any problems.

Got any pics of them that you could post, Milet?

A way to make fish easier to catch is to feed them from a net as well - I do this when I feed live food a couple times a week. This way the fish are used to the net and even swim into it sometimes

Yeah, a three foot is definitely too small for even one Oscar. I've got a single Oscar in a 490L tank with a tiger datnoid and a couple of full sized SAE's.

I'm interested in seeing how this turns out. Are you using a bacterial additive like TLC or Cycle?

You can get frozen tadpole tucker from your lfs.

Have one (preferably big) net stationary and use another net to chase the fish into it. Works perfectly.

or you could just use a lead weight.