Laura

Oooooh! pretty! :bounce:

Huge thank you to all who organised and fund-raised for the conference - Alan and I had a great time. The only thing in many years I've got up at 5:30am for .

Thank you Caryl, Mystic and Kevin for all the pics 8). Alan and I only went along to the Conference and dinner on the Saturday, so it's good to flick through all the ones taken on the days we missed. Love the one of Eddie's arm being savaged by a pond full of swordtails and guppies . Is there any way of burning/burying out at sea all those taken of me? :lol: Ugh. I forget how swollen I am sometimes. I've recently had my face operated on (with another op due some time soon), and the Doc says the swelling will be there for another 12-18 months. I don't look obviously like I've been operated on....I just have very chubby cheeks and a nose big enough to obliterate a village . Casserole's fishroom is impressive! It sounds like it must have been a challenge to take some of those pics in the lower tanks, but it was worth it. And the colours on those Dwarf Cichlids are stunning. Cheers, Laura

Yep, your common garden terracotta pots will do just fine. Couldn't agree more with fishboi; rinsing stuff before it goes in your tank is a very good habit to get into. We (Modern Angl and I) are still waging war on leeches which came in gravel we bought to set up our first ever tank around a year and a half ago. We washed it with lukewarm water because, being new to it all, we didn't consider that we'd need to kill off any bugs. We only took account of dirt/foreign bodies and potential contaminants. We boil all our gravel now, and have been lucky enough to find a couple of gouramies and a fire eel that like to make dinner out of leeches . Leeches don't live on the fish or do any harm to them - they're just really, really annoying! A pain in the tush if you get them on you, too. (don't mind me, I'm in a silly mood today). References to drugs removed. Mod Bill.

Congrats on your breedings, Tim and Paul! Wow, I've never seen apple snail eggs before. I can't get over how vibrantly coloured they are. We have three apple snails which are all growing at an amazing rate. They're all roughly the size of a small(ish) plum...sort of....um, I'm sorry, I can't think of another analogy that isn't rude :lol:

I do hope your pond's leaky problems are solved soon. It must be getting very frustrating to say the least. Or...perhaps it's sabotage, so you get to console the distraught landscapers? Aha! Just kidding . Your pond looks incredible and even though getting it there has been anything but straightforward, all the blood, sweat and buckets of tears will be worth it .

Since there isn't a slack-jawed drooling icon, all that I have left to say is . I'd be interested in knowing which plants you used too - most of the time I still can't tell by looking at them :oops: .

Cool CatBrat, I see where you're coming from and I have to agree now you've pointed that out! He was such a challenge to identify. I had it narrowed down to L201, L048 or L082; I went with L082 due to its distinctive dorsal fin in particular. Hehe, I was wondering what that was! Go on, tell us the story.....

Oops, I forgot to post a link: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/lo ... /445_F.PHP

After much scouring, staring, agonising and more staring, I reckon it has to be an L082 - Opal Pleco (Ancistrinae gen. sp.). Comparisons of the dorsal fin and mouth in particular were what swung it for me. The markings, eye and pectoral fins also seemed to line up with the L082 better than any other comparisons I'd made. It's a beautiful beastie. Oh well, best be off....things to do, groups of heavies to break into Faran's house to organise..... .

Nooo! So sorry to hear that, Caper. Have some comfort in the fact you gave him your best, and gave him a chance your LFS wasn't able/willing to give him. Laura

Holy Crap! If they don't believe your symptoms were the result of hanging over a water feature containing bleach, what do they think happened to you? I'm glad they treated you well while you were there, but your body underwent a lot of trauma - to not have any kind of follow-up on symptoms so serious is odd :-? . If they are convinced there is another reason, then it's only fair they address further questions - such as whether this could happen again or the potential for long term effects. I don't mean to be a scaremonger, however. I'm positive they wouldn't let you go without being confident you aren't in any danger. It just sucks that they've left you wondering, that's all. Take care, Frenchy, keep well .

Or, if you find you become attached to him, you can just get yourself a really really big tank! . Think of all the pretty fishes you could have! . I might be wrong, but I have a feeling he's a Common Plec - and they do become pretty sizeable eventually. They do seem to be a bit lighter when they are young. When we first bought Dyson, he was lighter than he is today. He darkened up once he had settled into his tank, too. And like Sharn said, perhaps there are subtle differences in the cats available up your way. I'm guessing your LFS was a bit vague over what kind of plec he is? It'd be good to know how big he grows for certain - although I think he is going to be a biggie . They do take a wee while to grow that big, though - so there's plenty of time to start planning for that 6 foot tank now! Go on, you know you want to! :lol:

Our common plec doesn't really bother much about algae in the tank (like a lot of common plecs), but goes crazy over algae discs. Our BN's do much more to earn their keep, but we do have the occasional battle against tank water that looks like diluted pea soup :-? . He loves peas and savages courgette within minutes .

Yep, what you said . Dyson is approx. 45cm long, including tail. His growth rate is slowing now, but we know he's still only half way there 8) . We moved him from his 4' tank to a 6' one roughly 6-8 months ago. We have couple of plecs that are eventually going to reach a decent size. Our first priority when we buy a new home is to check out what kind of support the flooring has - it's going to have to hold one hell of a lot of water one day .