quack Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 hey, #1 ive just brought a new jack dempcey and hes really small, my other one will eat him without a problem. so i have set up a 70l tank with a aqua clear 500 hob filter and heater. now i also have a blue acara in there to that is a bit biger that i would like to grow out too. how can i get them to grow really fast. i have been changing 2 buckets of water every secound day. is this a good idea, what is a good temp for this and what would be the best food of growth rate in these little guys? is the 70l tank to small to make them grow fast? they are about 5-7cm. #2 is there any way to sex oscars? i have read that when they get really full from scoffing there faces in the male there gutt will stick out funnyer from his sex orgains? is this tru? #3 is it possible to "de sex" convicts? i really would like to have a m and f in my tank but they just about allways have eggs/babys and are really agro. #4 can you get this in nz http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... trate.html or http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... atrix.html i have asked out my lfs but they are useless and carnt get anything. #5 i brought 2 kenyi a couple of months off trademe, they are quite small still about 6cm. when i got them i asked if they could be m/f and they said that would be fine, but they are both still blue is there anyway that they can be sexed before they have coloured up? and how big should they be untill they start to colour up if male? any help would be good thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 You don't need either of those products mentioned in #4. Nitrifying and Nitrafying bacteria grow on any sort of filter material (and, indeed, any material at all). The water changes that you do remove Nitrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Cant really help with much of that.. If you want your fish to grow faster feed more good food and do alot of water changes so that sounds spot on.. I dont think you can desex fish best bet is to have only one sex in one tank.. And with you Kenyi the only way I can think about sexing them is venting them.. I haven't had kenyi but would think at 6cm there should be some indication in size/aggression/colour if one was a male and the other a female. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 yeah but im trying to reduce the matinance on my tanks as water changes are rather effort based on 7 tanks and dont they have far more surface area on them, therefor more area for bacteria? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Yes but why would you need more bacteria? Your tanks don't sound like they have a problem converting ammonia to nitrite, and nitrate to ammonia, at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted August 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 its for my new tank thats not setup yet http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/americ ... 14627.html the fish list is slowly growing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted August 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 wow just had a look at your 4ft Cichlids tank HummingBird nice do you have trouble with the plants and the o's. ryanjury, one of them is a bit bigger than the other one and one displays its blue strips more offten than the other one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameron Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 hay, i do a water change ever two days too but only 15 liters and fish are growning real fast and they take long as to grow and feed them 3 times a day and feed them shrimp twice a week hope this can help and the fish are 5 leleupi 8 brichardi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 If you are that keen, as Cameron said. Also try & find a Seachem product called Purigen. Its a synthetic adsorbent, that is easily replenished so its only a one off outlay. It removes impurities out of your water & polishes the water too, making it crystal clear. I use this on some of my tanks. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 i have always known JD's as some of the slower growers (compared to oscars for example). i have also read a bit about them being picky to start eating once theyve been moved but once you find their fav foods you wont be able to stop em eating :lol: for now add some extra hiding holes and let him settle in, drop some food over his way too. the higher the temp the higher the metabolism which means youll need to feed more but id just let them grow naturally. keeping the water clean, and feeding good nutritious foods will help with their growth. i am unsure what the 'ideal' temp is for JD's but would assume 26-27? sexing oscars is a very difficult thing to do bar seeing them do their business. venting is possible but should only be done by pros as its very stressful. there are theories about looking at their vents, one sex will have a vent that looks like oO, the other will have OO (cant remember which though). external features arent very reliable when it comes to sexing sadly. and thats all i can help with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 thanks for all the help. JD's eating just about anything i have tryed feeding him so far is the 70l tank going to stunt him in anyway? herefishiefishie, yes i use purgien in all of my big tanks and love it. it makes the water so much clearer and keeps it that way i would recommend it to all! the only problem is that it exhausts a lot faster than what it says(probally due to me over feeding tho) only lasts about 1-2 months also a bit of a pain to regenerate it as none of the shops around here stock prime is there any other way to do it? use bleach and then leave it in the sun for a few days to let the bleach evaporate?? ive just ordered 2x 250ml purgien for my new big tank 8) so is there anyway of telling if my kenyis are goin to turn male? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 an interesting thing i read recently was about a person (cant remember his name for the life of me now, some famous fish dude, i can try find it if anyones real curious) did an experiment, he had a 75 gal tank and put X amount of oscars in (cant remember amount but it worked out they had 5gal of room each) he massive daily water changes (at least 100% i think)and they all grew wonderfully and his theory was it isnt always room that stunts a fish, its poor water quality, these oscars had very little room, hardly enough to turn around but all grew perfectly. just thought id mention that as i beleived (along with many others) that the tank size was the biggest contributer to stunting but more room is better just because its easier to keep bio load wise. JD's get about 25cm or so, depends on the dimensions if it would be ok long term, you might be pushing it bioload wise and might have to do twice weekly w/c's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted August 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 nah hes just going in there to grow because if i put him in my big tank with my other fish theyll eat him thanks, that is what i wanted to know about tank size and stunting so is stunting permanent?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 generally yes, but there is many levels on how bad it could be. i have seen fish that look stunted come back out of it so im not sure i think he will be fine in the 70L until hes around half the width assuming water quality is fine, you could keep him in there longer but its always nice to give fish some extra fin space when possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 Regenerate with any netraliser that dosent have slime coat products. eg; aloe vera. Try & find a product that only has sodium hyroxymethane in it. {I think thats the right name} Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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