me love fishy

all sounds pretty good, the only thing I would suggest is that you try and match the temperature of the water. I just keep the bucket beside the sink and put my hand in the bucket and then under the water until the temperature feels the same or close to it. I always find sucking up the crap from the stones quite satisfying when gravel vacuuming

If you are worried about your pH you can test it, if you don't have a tester kit take it to a pet shop and they can test it for you. Keep an eye on your other fish in the tank (if you have any) see if they are behaving strangely. If your water is fine and other fish are okay then it might just be because they are spawning I've seen my angels do that when they are spawning though.

could it possibly be some type of worm or parasite?

Of course Davidb, they can have all the fun they want and probably do when the lights go out I meant I don't have tanks set up for the sole purpose of breeding and I don't encourage it so if they do and the fries survive its a minor miracle really, since I have angels in that tank that will eat the fries if spotted (but only if covered with chicken salt!). I couldn't handle having a whole lot of bubbas in my tank as I have nowhere to put them. But one or two fries is always cool and fun to watch them grow up to be wedges. (Sorry Caryl, couldn't resist)

Never had any major spills myself. Once i was doing a gravel siphon and the tube came disconnected from the plunging thing you stick in the gravel, flicked around and water sprayed everywhere including right across my face. That's probably my worst, not really in contention but it makes me laugh when I look back at it now

I was totally surprised this morning to discover a new bubba in my tank. It is a serpae tetra, I saw it when I was feeding my fishies, it was trying to eat some of the pellets I dropped in. It is about 5mm long or so. I didn't even know they were breeding and any breeding in my tank is totally random as I don't buy fish to breed on purpose. So lets hope it survives!! I have had a colombian tetra born in that tank and survive and it is still alive now, so its possible. I was totally gobsmacked when I saw it

I have bogwood from the lfs and I just soaked it in the bath for a couple of weeks, renewing the water every few days. It still leaked tannins a little but after awhile with regular water changes it disappears. IMHO I would avoid putting chemicals in your water to get rid of the colouring, since the colouration does not harm your fish in any way.

its interesting you spend all this money on a pure bred that is supposed to be ultra friendly but not etc or spend $50 at the SPCA to get an intelligent lovely cat. I personally prefer moggies to purebreds, I think they have nicer personalities and they don't have problems from inbreeding that purebreds can have. but each to their own, and everyone loves their own babies (or should that be bubbas Caryl)

Awesome photo Rozski I thought ragdolls were supposed to be ultra-friendly?

We have four cats. Einstein, Preacher, Trinity and Neo. I will try and post pics soon.

Hate to be ignorant but are Geos Cichlids? Tank looks cool btw

i'd probably just buy a new one, even if it's a cheapie, until you can afford a decent one.

I've seen them at Critter Kingdom on Stanmore Road.

And get some algae eaters

I have three masterpet single 30W fluro lights with reflectors for my 4 ft tank. I can't fit anymore lights in unless I made them up myself, but not my forte so I'll just stick to pre-made ones. I found it a bit frustating to find the right ones as some of the premade lights are too high and won't fit under the hood.

I have a bristlenose plec and he is good at eating algae especially off driftwood. I also have a golden algae eater and between them they keep the algae at bay mostly. I do have some brown spots on my java fern but I don't think that is algae, I think they just get like that when the leaves get old, but I don't mind it, it adds character to the tank.

Good luck with your tank. I would definitely add your plants and driftwood. You may still get a bit of tannins coming out of your wood over time, but don't worry about it, it doesn't harm your fish it just turns the water a bit brown and after a few weeks of doing regular water changes it will lessen the brown colour anyway. IMO I would check your water in another 4-5 days after adding plants and driftwood and do a 20-30% water change just before adding any fish. All the best with it all, good on you for asking questions before risking the lives of any fishies

Is that an "eye" or an "aye" Caryl Thanks for the great thread guys (and yes to me every person is included in the term "guys", just like bubbas are fry and fishies are fish). The English language is really a conglomeration of a variety of languages, we steal so many words from everyone else, so maybe text language is just another variation and some of it will stay with us. Hope I spelt the big words right.

I like a mix of driftwood and some ornaments. In my 4 ft tank I kind of set it up like a flooded jungle type thing so I have driftwood and also a fake croc, two easter island statues and a broken jug. In my little 60litre tank I have a castle. Both tanks have plants and I really have a disliking for fake plants. I have small schools of tetras etc and then medium sized fish like angels and gouramis. Tried discus once but they died and I found them to be very timid, so opted for angels instead, cheaper and they are more active.

I bought an aquarium ornament from there, got it home put it in the tank and a piece snapped off it, not through anything I had done, it must've been cracked or weakened already. So I took it back with the receipt and the pricetag and they would not exchange it, they blamed me and said how do they know I didn't drop it and then bring it back and then made excuses about how they would have to talk to the supplier etc so I would have to wait until they talked to the supplier and see what they said and tried to take it off me. I said no my contract was with you not the supplier and I didn't break it and you can see I only bought it yesterday I want a refund and they wouldn't do it, so I took my broken ornament left the shop and vowed never ever to go back there and I never have. Very bad way to treat customers!!!

Personally I would avoid that shop like the plague, have had a real bad experience there.

Its possible this fish was born with something wrong with it and has only shown up as it got bigger. I had a neon tetra that has a "bend" in it once and it got more deformed as it got older and then died.

I have two angels that spawn regularly but always end up eating the eggs. I am wondering if I have two females, but I am not worried about getting fry from them as I have no intention of breeding.

I gravel vac every two weeks, but am currently trying to grow more ground cover plants so I don't have to

I have an Eheim and its quiet too. I think most cannister type filters are really quiet. It's the bloody airpump in my tank that makes all the noise, silentflo it isn't! :evil: