me love fishy

A question regarding cannister filters, I have an eheim cannister which I think is a 2217 (can't remember now) I have had my tank running for about a year with this filter with ceramic noodles and also the little pumice type stones, should I be using sponge as well? I haven't had any probs with fish dying or anything and I only clean out the filter once every 6 weeks or so, but I do a partial water change and grav vac every two weeks, I have a four foot tank. When I set it up the guy at the lfs said it wasn't necessary to put wool or sponge in it, but just wondered how you guys run yours and any thoughts you had.

sorry to hear Caryl I've had a heater malfunction before and lost my plec that I was really fond of. Felt like a bad mummy! On the brighter side it does give you a chance to restock with some fish you've really wanted but haven't had room for

thanks blue, I will be hunting for these types of plants, I also went onto a website and it said that Java Moss grows with low light, and on this website it says that it is available often so I will see what I can find.

Hi guys I have a four foot tank which is deeper than normal about 2.5 to 3 foot deep, which means that most of the plants I am going to be able to grow without beefing up the lighting will be low light plants. I currently have two 40watt flouro bulbs in this tank and I am kind of considering putting another one in (if it fits), but I don't want to have to do this if its not necessary. So I am wondering if anyone has tips on what are the best plants for low light growth. At the moment plants that do well in my tank are java ferns and an amazon sword, plus I have vallis which seems to do okay and a crypt plant which does okay. My aim is to get more plants to cover the bottom of the tank so I don't have to use a gravel vac, or at least to give more coverage in my tank. Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Thanks Freshwest. I will definitely think about adding another fluoro, I get good growth from Java ferns and I have an amazon sword that enjoys the low light, but sadly any grass type plants seem to die. do you have any more photos of your tank? would love to see them

Wow what a fantastic tank. Any tips for growing plants that cover the bottom of the tank using flouro lights, I can't afford metal halide ones, but would love to have more coverage over the gravel of my tank so I don't have to use a gravel vac.

You could be right Sharn, but I have bought guppies from a variety of petshops over the years and I've just never had much luck with them, they can be beautiful fishies, but I just tend to stick to other fish I have more luck with now. It's not even that they all got dropsy, sometimes I have no idea why they have died, just got up in the morning to feed them and there is a floater in the tank, or they have gone crazy swimming around really quick and then just dropped dead, so instead of replacing them all the time which was a bit depressing and starting to get expensive, I just decided to go with something else. Thanks for the advice though.

good plan Peanuts Hope you get your fish back in okay. When I moved my fish back in from the temporary tank I had over christmas they almost sighed in relief as the temporary tank was only 2 ft and their normal one is 4ft, my angels celebrated by spawning, but then ate their eggs. anyway best of luck for the next bit

How are your fishies now peanuts? No losses I hope. How long till you get your tank back?

I have given up on guppies, I just find they are too suseptible to disease, compared to with alot of other fish I have. I have heard there is more risk for them due to inbreeding, but don't know how true this is, but if so that could explain it maybe, not sure about danios.

Hi Peanut I had a similar dilemma just before christmas and I am happy to say I didn't lose a single fish over the whole thing, after catching them and moving them to a smaller temporary tank and then moving them back again a few weeks later, so here's hoping your fishies will be okay too. Keep us posted on your progress.

good to hear Peteypleco, happy fishkeeping

Really nice Plecs Catbrat, hope you have luck with breeding!

Just before christmas I had a leak in my 4 foot tank, luckily the glass didn't pop out, but it was leaking near the bottom in one corner. After doing a major panic, I called the LFS where I got it from, who were really good. They sent their tank man around who said he would strip it and reseal it all for nothing since I had only had it about 8 months. And gave me a two foot temporary tank. I was worried about my fishies and I don't like catching them as I am afraid I am going to hurt them. But once I had removed all decorations and plants it was fairly easy with two nets. I now have my 4 foot tank back and over the whole process I didn't lose a single fish, my angels even decided it was time to spawn once they got back into the 4 footer.

Thanks for the feedback lmk, that solves the mystery. I will keep an eye out in the next few weeks. Its kind of cool that they want to spawn, but to be honest I could do without the hassle, so not too worried if the same thing happens again.

well I went home to check on my fish eggs and they were all gone, every single one! so still not completely sure it was my angels, but they were still hanging around the area. It was almost like I had imagined it, except I have photographic evidence. Oh well, I will wait and see if it happens again sometime.

thanks for the info Lyndyloo. I will check on them when I get home. I have a small breeding tank that I might be able to put them in, but it is really small, not completely sure I want too many to survive anyway as then i will have to do something with them, but that's a bit down the track yet. I will keep you posted, might even be able to send through some pics now that we have joined the 21st century and got a digital camera.

hi guys I have some eggs on one of my filter tubes, which I just discovered yesterday and think it might be my angels spawning as they are kind of guarding it, but not eating them. The eggs are reddish at the moment, but I did notice this morning some were going whitish (don't know if that means they are dead or not). Do they sound like Angelfish spawn? Do you have to feed them special food when they hatch out? I notice you guys talked about brine shrimp and microworms, do you buy microworms frozen from LFS? How long does it take to go from egg stage to hatching stage? Sorry lots of questions, I am really excited about it, not sure what I am going to do with them all at this stage, but there is some room for a couple in my tank.

thanks for that Dally, maybe I should get heaps more plants then and save myself the hassle of the gravel vac !! Only prob is I am a weirdo and like to watch the dirt and stuff go up the tube :lol:

Great looking tanks Apisto. Just a dumb question, how do you keep your tanks so clean, I mean with so much foliage you wouldn't be able to vacuum the gravel, do you have an undergravel filter, or does it keep really clean because you have so many plants. :-? I use a gravel vac but often displace small plants accidentally and was wondering what you do.

Interesting reading as now I know that I have exactly the same fish as you Evinkinevil. I like him, he isn't too aggressive just a bit feisty at times when anyone gets close and he is fun to watch he likes to dig in the stones. I also have a golden CAE and a bristlenose in my other tank ( a four foot ) and they get along okay, they mostly leave each other alone and the bristlenose usually ends up with the spirulina disc. The golden CAE only chases other yellow fish, especially my golden rams, but it is only brief and I guess the tank is big enough for them to have their own space most of the time. I don't have a problem with either of mine and the first guy "whistle" lives in a small 60 litre tank with neons and a siamese fighter and no probs really. He often steels the show from the fighter with his stone digging antics actually!

i have a very good feeling its the decor because the smell coming off it stinks and is the same smell my fish brought into another tank after i caonverted them when about 10 of my neons died overnight!! How old is the decor? Do you think it could be breaking down? If you really think it is the decor I would remove it and also replace your filter sponge if you think that is also infected with the smell. I wouldn't like to suggest any particular products to use to get rid of bacteria, as you aren't completely sure what it is that is causing the problem, the only thing I would otherwise suggest is to do a partial water change once you have removed the decor and filter sponge and put in some melafix. I hope that helps and your fishies get better.

I feel your pain Morgie, when I first started with my little tank I had lots of fish deaths and felt like a failure, but you learn through experience and it will get better, it is the best way to learn in a way (shame about the fish that die though) cos then you know what to do/not to do next time. Sharn sounds right about the ammonia spike with the smell if that is the kind of smell you are getting. If it is then I would do a couple of small water changes say 20% for the next few days and test your water to make sure the ammonia is gone. If not and you are worried about the decor take it out and replace it, or soak it in boiling water to kill any bacteria on it (if you know it is decor that is okay to have in your tank). Is the decor from your LFS? Cos you have to be careful putting things in your tank that aren't, they may not be safe for your fishies. All the best, I hope your fishies are getting better.

Good point Tanksman, bogwood definitely makes the water more acidic. I used to have the same problem in my 60L tank as I had bogwood for my plec, it was never too much of a problem though and as long as it didn't get too acidic, most fish were fine. I would just recommend doing 25% water changes everyday until it gets closer to 7 and then just monitor it every few days to make sure it doesn't creep up too much, but if your fish don't look sick I wouldn't worry about having the perfect PH, different fish prefer different levels of PH anyway. Happy fishkeeping

the only other thing I can think of is if you have decorations that it could hide in, check in there to see if it has died in there, sometimes I have had a fish die and not been able to find it until I move things round, why they can't just die and lie in an obvious place is beyond me, would make things easier. :lol: