KM

Yip Eric, that's my girl. Or was my girl I should say! she looks like a very proud mum :lol:

It is a toughy. I had my severums for years, and they were fine, then I lost all 3 to bloat in a short space of time. Perhaps they are only affected as older fish???? Maybe it is a bacterial infection of the gut, that is not helped by certain foods? Darn fish, if we knew how to help them, we would! Pity about your giraffe, they are some of the best africans ever!

Hi Polgara I lost all of my severums and one of my Oscars to bloat, which was very very upsetting! Turns out that it can be induced by the food. I only feed floating pellets, and this is not good for severums. I have not had a problem with my other oscar, so perhaps it is a weakness that only some fish have. Still, may pay to have a look at what you are feeding them.

It sounds like your goldfish had parasite problems to me. Clamping the fins, and the redness you described are all good symptoms. I kept goldfish for many years, and I found that a lot of them have terrible parasite problems, maybe it is because many are raised in outdoor ponds initially. I found an excellent book by a Japanese Professor who specialises in goldfish and koi, and his remedy works really well. What you want to do is buy some potassium permanganate - you can get this from any pharmacy. You mix some crystals with water out of the tank in a bucket. You want it to be a light clear purple/pink colour, you don't want it to be too strong, otherwise it will strip the scales right off the fish and kill them. You can leave the fish in this solution for a few hours. I have also added salt to this solution (which makes it go a more greeny/yellow colour, and left goldfish in it for a few days (no feeding) with just an air bubble. This has worked wonders for me, on both goldfish and tropicals. It is also really good for fungal infections! Good luck.

Hard to say, but they should be all right as long as there isn't a female to fight over, and as long as they have enough territory of their own. My jags live with an oscar, 2 convicts, a redhead, a flowerhorn, a pleco and a large leporanos - and they are all fine. I don't feed live food either, which helps a lot! I don't know about a 4 foot tank, depends how many litres it holds and how big your jags are. My tank is only 4 foot, but then it is deep and wide as well. Will be interested to knowhow you get on. I just love my jags! :lol:

Oscars are really intelligent fish, and you never can tell. I have had a few Oscars over the years, I have had to re-home two of them because he/she didn't like anyone, and the other because he/she was so placid that everyone kept picking on the poor thing. The one I have at the moment is happy with everyone else in the the tanks (a few convicts, a jaguar, a jack dempsey, large leporanos, redhead, small flowerhorn and a pleco) - but he attacks me! You will probably need to see how you go, and if things don't settle down, you may need to look at moving some of them. Good luck!

Hi everyone. Right, here is the deal. I am moving into my new home this weekend (first home actually!), and I'm now at the stage where I would like to try my hand at my first ever marine tank. I have been keeping cichlids (discus and large s.american fish) for over 5 years now. I have a lovely square tank, just over 200litres, and I want to turn this into a very simple marine tank, and I really want to start with a maroon clown. Could some of you with with lots of marine experience please give me advice on what I need (easy fish, equipment and so on) Now, I'm not a technical guru, so just go easy on me!! :lol: I will need to be running this tank with an external canister filter, so go ahead, tell me what I need to do next.....

Has anyone seen any golden nugget plecos in any LFS in the Auckland area recently??? Am on the look out for at least two Please let me know if you if you!

I have had glowlights before, they are awesome! Hollywood fishfarm in Mt Roskill have quite a few of them in stock at the moment Go crazy! :lol:

Discus are a lot easier to keep than most people think. They do require certain water conditions, which are easy enough to achieve. I only do weekly ater changes of about 15%, and my discus are happy enough to be laying eggs. So no problems there! My discus don't get RO water, they get water that has been sitting in a container for at least a week with some ph down...and that's about it.

Bird barn can be disappointing, but every once in a while they have a jewel or two! It's on the Western motorway, take the lincoln rd off-ramp, turn left at the top, and it's about 2 or 3 km further, at an intersection and it's on the right. Hope that helps!

Hey Alan That is really awesome of you. Have read Jack's book, and he keeps his fry food recipe in the dark! It seems that the eggs didn't have anough airflow, so they haven't hatched. Would be quite a time consuming exercise if they did hatch! May be one day though.

Thanks for that Luke I have never actually removed eggs from parents before, I agree it is best to follow the natural process. In this case, it just wasn't possible though. The parents will be in their own tank soon, so hopefully that will help!

I have had to seperate my discus eggs from their parents (they are in a community tank, and the parents are more interested in socialising than looking after the eggs! ) Does anyone know how to make up a suitable food for baby discus? I know that many breeders overseas remove the eggs and raise the fry completely independently of the parents. It certainly wasn't something I have been keen on doing, but you have to try I suppose! Any help this front would be most appreciated!

I have recently had to treat a tank for white spot, and I have two clown loaches in the tank, and they responded very well to the blue circle medication. Loaches seem to be one of the first fish in a tank to respond to any changes (consciousor not) and so they are often the first to get white spot and so they are good indicators of a potential problem in a tank.