plecs

Great news Catbrat!!! :lol: and once again another great photo! plecs

it is really interesting how the same species of fish seems to vary so much on things like fin nipping! I have seen angels destroy a fighters tail, same with black widows. and i have seen guppies eat a fighters tail. strange huh plecs

No, you cant have a siamese fighter in with Angels!! the angels would have fun though :lol: and yes java fern looks great on driftwood, there are other plants, but there are many others on this site that know more than me so will leave it for them. And as for tetras, I really like cardinals, not dull, and they grow bigger and look nicer than neons, worth the extra $$$$$ i think. A good size school of them looks great!! I also really like congo tetras, penguins in a school, head and tail light....there are way too many to list!! Go to your LFS, see what you like and then come back and ask about them. plecs

I dont like hex tanks, less surface area so you can have less fish. Angels grow pretty big. I wouldn't get black widows with angels, as they tend to be fin nippers. Serpaes are other tetras that can fin nip. as for bottom feeders, some cory's would work well. Make sure you are carful not to overstock, and that you cycle the tank properly and introduce fish slowly! plecs

Are you aware of how big silver sharks get??? plecs

i had a Brazillian puffer in my comm tank, and he nipped fins, mainly of the bottom feeders. I had to sell him (how is he ira?). would certainly not recommend one for a comm tank, but do know people that have done it. plecs

Not a great photo! You dont know how to take a bad photo CatBrat!!! good luck with the breeding plecs

lol jammos! dont blame you for asking! They do look different in the pics. Hope you feel reasurred! plecs

the small GBAs at Animates are about $80 i think. they can order them in for you. plecs

Jammos We can get GBAs in for you, young or adult. they are very cool, but dont come cheap through Animates. i have three here, am hoping i will have a pair, currently looks like i have one male and two females, which is great!!! how are the knife fish?? plecs

keep going with the melafix, it works amazingly on damaged fins! other than that not sure what to suggest. shame about the whitespot on top of it all! plecs

another great photo Catbrat!! hows things with you??? any breeding going on? (i mean with the fish :lol: ) plecs

KM ring around and see who sels them the cheapest and then ask them to order you some in. one supplier has them on the list right now. plecs

lol Ira, yes it does! all fish seem to be fine tonight. plecs

thanks guys. will put the media baskets in the tank as suggested. Am going to get the new clip now, so fingers crossed will be ok. The tank has been set up for about 8 months, so there should be lots of bacteria around. thanks again plecs

thought i would share my nightmare. actually, having read some of the posts here it isnt that bad....but right now feels it! got up this morning and found my rainbow shark dead. as one of my favourite fish i didnt really enjoy that discovery. So, time to clean the tank out. managed to overflow a bucket, then cleaned the ehiem prof filter out, again managed to flood the carpet. then, was closing the filter and the latch part snapped!!!! a few swear words later i composed myself enough to think of what to do now. Thankfully working in an LFS comes in handy, phoned work and i can go in and swap the broken latch for a new one. However, cant do that till later this afternoon as someone is coming to buy some birds (some of you know i'm a bit short of cash right now). so now i'm worried about all the good bacteria. had given the filter a good clean out, and now it is sitting there turned off. Will add loads of cycle, but is there anything else i can do?? will be off for about 4-5 hours in total. I dont have a spare filter i can use, and my other tank has a fitted filter that I can't move. well, heres hoping the day gets better!!!!!! Feel better now i've got it all out!! plecs

awww, ma how sad! sorry to hear that. hope the others are all ok! plecs

in the short term a product called AccuClear will help. It clumps together all the small particles so that the filter can deal with them. It is highly toxic so don't overdose!!!!!!!! in the long term though, i would really go for a good filter. Surely one big external wont use more power than lots of little ones???? plecs

wow, wish i had a spare $600 lying around! so very tempting, wonder what i can sell :lol: plecs

if you are having problems from the tannins there is a really great product called BioChem Zorb, you put it in the filter and it removes the colour staining. works really well in my 4 foot. how long has it been happening? the water being murky i mean? there are a number of products that will help, but not sure whether you want to go the chemical route. and if they are big particles, which is sounds like, then the filters should clear it. so the fish stir the gravel up a lot? assume so as they are cichlids. Go into Animates if you have any problems. Ester there is good on fish. she can tell you about some options. good luck plecs

fish often have a white slime on them when they are being burnt by something. and that would fit with the fact they are fine when you move them into another tank. Do as suggested and clean the tank really well and try again. good luck plecs

great pleco catbrat!!! how are all your others going? plecs

lol, thats funny jude! :lol: well done on the breeding sucess! plecs

I can see why you needed a bigger box! sorry i couldnt help you, but you obviously sorted something! plecs

warm water speeds up a goldfish's metabolism, therefore they grow a lot faster. the downside is they also die earlier. And Jammos, plecos will keep growing, slowly but surely. How are the new caves? plecs