Laura

I'm afraid I no longer have the werewithal to defend myself... *sings* "Oh Flower of Scooootlaaaand, when will we see your likes agaaaain!" *hic!* (Sorry for hijacking this thread!).

:lol: *falls over*

And that's a sign for me to stop drinking!!! Must be the extreme close up....yes, that's the reason.... Is that the second time they've spawned recently, or am I going more mad than I think I am? :lol:

Hey, Where in NZ do you live? If you are in the Wellington region, we have a Loricariidae book you can have a look at if you like. However, the sites mentioned (and Google Images) are great resources. (You should be able to pop your location into your profile ). Cheers, Laura

Thanks for sharing, Paul 8) Those GBA's are getting big!

I hope this doesn't come too late, but I'm sure I saw a post by Kim eons ago recommending small, daily water changes and ensuring they have plenty of food in front of them. Let me see if I can find it... ...Aha! http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/yes-ye ... t8603.html I reckon keeping a close eye on water parameters would be all the more important if you need to change the water so frequently, and especially if they are the crapping machines Kim says they are! How are they doing now? Good Luck

Very sorry about the oversized pic :oops: :oops: I'm not the most technical person (and the prize for 'Understatement of the Year' goes to...). I'm ashamed to admit I'm going to have to call on help before I can change it :oops: :lol: .

Hey Caper After checking my Loricariidae book/shopping list, Chong does look an awful lot like a Hypostomus Punctatus. If he is, this is what you have to look forward to... And for an extreme close up of the Monster of the Deep... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/ ... yson01.jpg He's 45cm (including tail) and counting [We attempted to resize the image to something more reasonable, but photobucket wasn't playing nice. So I'll just leave the link in there instead ]

Hate replying to myself, but.... Just done a little more reading, and I definately have three males. I'd just never stumbled across a website which told me how before today . I was a little confused since one of them has an anal fin which is much more rounded than the others, but there's certainly no significant difference in body size between them, and not a hint of amber colouring anywhere on these guys .

I've got three of them - not 100% sure of sex, but I'd guess there were three males. They get a bit snippy with each other from time to time, but there are no real bullies amongst them. It's our three Labidochromis caeruleus that won't quit knocking each other about . Not so bad as to warrant separate tanks, thankfully 8) .

Cheers Dan! He's in a wee tank by himself now. He was not at all impressed by us moving him out, and he's still in a big huff . I've noticed he's beginning to find it a little more difficult to move his mouth, so we're keeping a close eye on what he's eating. If he's unable to chomp through twice his weight in Cichlid Sticks in one go, we'll know something ain't right .

Hey Petey, I think I'd have to give my vote to Fin Rot.... it sounds as though it's in its early stages, which is always a good place to start when treating any problem . This thread has some good advice: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/fin-rot-vt11266.html Hope this helps Laura

Heya Sharn I haven't seen any outward signs of a bacterial/fungal infection yet on either Stripey or the other fish from that community tank (*phew*), although I will be keeping an eye out now that I know it's a possibility. It's good to know I can up the dose of Furan 2 if things get serious.....thanks for your help! Cheers, Laura

On second thoughts, I won't use Furan 2. Although it may be useful if a secondary fungal condition set in, Stripey hasn't developed this so far. Sadly Furan 2, as a fungicide, wouldn't be effective as a viral treatment. Lymphocystis has characteristics of always being present, with periods of laying dormant (like Herpes! ) (I mean er...I've heard :lol: ). But thank you all the same! Laura

Thanks Sharn Is it quite safe to use double doses of Furan 2? I wouldn't be a good Mother if I didn't worry from time to time . Cheers, Laura

Thank you Kim&Dan, that was a very valuable site. We have managed to identify the problem - a rare viral infection called Lymphocystis. This is not usually fatal, but unfortunately there is no cure. The infection can go into remission, however...this explains how he can look as though he's improving for a short time, before it comes back to bite him again (sometimes a whole lot worse). Not happy :evil: . Lymphocystis can be infectious to other fish, and our little guy has been in a community tank with several others for some time now....again, :evil:. There are only two ways of dealing with this problem - separating the infected fish from all others, which we are going to get on to today. The only other option is to destroy the fish, but at this stage he is still very much enjoying life and eating well, so I don't think this is appropriate right now. Sigh....I guess we all get bad fish days every now and then . Thanks again Kim&Dan - being in the know as soon as possible means there's a greater chance of doing something about it . Cheers, Laura

Hey again Lyndyloo I've just spotted Radu's post, and I thought it sounded like his/her sick fishy seems to have some of the same troubles. Does this sound like your platy? If so, there's some good advice there by BlueandKim and Pegasus. I hope she recovers like Radu's fishy! Cheers, Laura

The most common cause of buoyancy problems is swim bladder malfunction, either through over/under inflation or bacterial/viral infection. Before you can diagnose swim bladder problems, it's important to rule out other causes. Does you platy have any swelling around the abdomen? If any of the bits around the swim bladder are swollen, this could lead to pressure on the swim bladder, contributing to loss of equilibrium. It's also worth checking out if your platy is pooping properly. An intestinal blockage could have a similar effect. A few squished (de-shelled) peas could help you out there. If you suspect a bacterial infection, perhaps Melafix would be a good place to start? Otherwise, I'm not sure how you go about treating this problem, sorry. I'm sure others will be able to answer this bit more fully . I do hope she gets well soon! Laura

Yep, I'm only a short step away from visiting the virtual bubble wrap website . Then I'll know I'm beyond help!

You interested then? :lol: Go on, he's a delightful boy. Only pooing outside his litter tray twice a day, he is exceptionally house-trained and wouldn't dream of beating up his sister. Order one today for a 30 day trial, and if he reduces you thighs to ribbons with his claws we'll refund your Angels, and you'll receive this complimentary 10 CD volume of Burt Bacharach's Greatest Hits (not available in any shops). (You get to keep the cat, though). But wait...there's more! Reply to this post within the next 10.3 seconds and we'll throw in a year's supply of duckweed and some online computer game accounts absolutely free!!! ( MA's gonna kill me ). Nah, I love my fat ginger really....if he wasn't around, I'd have no-one to laugh at . How you doing Mystic? I'm recovering from another nose op and I've caught a nasty case of cabin fever . You can probably tell! :lol: Just beore I go, I'd like to try a bouncing pea... :bounce: Tee hee! Cheers, Laura

Angels are a fish I've long been fascinated by, but so far I haven't got off my tush and bought any yet. Of course our tanks are now packed full of plecs and catfish with lovely flowing fins and trailing barbels that an angel would just looove to snack on :roll: . I'm willing to trade an unruly, overweight cat for an extra tank and some angel offspring . Nah, life would be boring without him using my intestines as a trampoline when his biscuits run out at 6 in the morning . Laura

Hey Paul! Glad to hear our critters are all grown up and doing well in their new tank . Cheers Ant....We got really excited about the huge pile of eggs our girl kept stacking on the glass at the time but unfortunately, disaster struck. MA gathered up the eggs into an old cap from an aerosol can, and left it floating in the tank to keep warm while we heated up some old water in an empty tank. Half an hour later, we discovered the cap holding the eggs bobbing upside down in the tank, with nibbled eggs stuck to the sides. Grrr. We knew that most of the eggs fell back into the tank and (most likely) got munched, but we stuck the remainder into the empty tank nonetheless, eaten or not, just to see if anything would happen. After a few good sessions of hard staring at the tank over the next week or two, we couldn't see anything wriggling about so we stopped chucking Liquifry in there, thinking nothing had survived. I don't quite know why I did it, but around a week later I had one last stare and was amazed to find three wrigglies rolling around in some old debris at the bottom of the tank! We've since discovered another four, and they're all starting to plump out - just past the point of looking like nothing but a pair of eyes . There must have been enough green stuff in the water to keep them going while we weren't feeding - and I've heard these fish have to eat loads during their first few days. We were dead chuffed! These fish are great little survivors . Laura

Hey there HandS, First up, apologies for the late resonse . Our bronze corys have laid eggs many times now (we haven't always been able to rescue them!), and I have never seen them eat their eggs. However, I can't say whether this is part of their behaviour, or if it's down to the pesky Neons and Zebra Danios gobbling them first! So I would recommend scooping them up relatively quickly if you want to ensure your numbers. We've never intentionally tried to breed them, they just seem to take it upon themselves to spurt out eggs on a regular basis . So I reckon you won't have any problems there! We've found that when we do a water change, it seems to get them in the mood . I've heard the reason for this is that they get a bit frisky when it rains in their natural environment. :lol: I've often sat and watched them for ages while they lay their eggs - they tend to stick them near the top of the tank (which makes for easy collection with your trusty bank card ), or in places where they can find a little cover from a bit of plant. You probably already know this, but leave a wee bit of time between the eggs being laid and collecting them. I've made the mistake of trying to get them while they were still warm (I wanted to grab them quick before the other fishies started to pick them off) and it all got a bit squishy :oops: . Let us know how you get on. Good luck! Cheers, Laura

Them too! :lol: :lol: Just kidding Laura

It does sound like the best solution for a renewable live food resource. Problem is, their breeding abilities far outweighed our wee fishies' appetites - they weren't picking them off. When MA had a look in the tank this morning he said, in between longs periods of scratching his bites to pieces, there were literally thousands upon thousands of mozzies (not larvae). They'd carpeted the plants on the top of the tank. We couldn't come up with a way we could collect them quickly or efficiently, without ourselves turning into a red lump with teeth. Sorry to those hoping to pick up a few - we simply had to get rid of the things! Laura