cichlidkid

yes or they will go crazy, they love to dig and if you dont have a substrate they will always see that other midas who wants to infringe on their territory

natural small pebbles with black latex paint painted on the back of the tank (ouside) with an aquarium/plant bulb from canadian tire and an aquaglow.

she died thanks kevin, my water change schedule is great, 1/3 every 5 days. I went down to petland the other day and spent about 20 minuts with the master test kit, nothing wrong at all. Jay, what do you mean about my feeding habits? neither of my festaes had seen an african in months. but seriously, 5 hikari gold pellets twice a day. and the occasional cube of "cichlid snack" but I havent fed that in a while. the wierd thing is both went from normal to on death's doorstep in a span of hours. I dont know what it is, there is no visable signs of anything, it just looks like someone smacked em over the head. And then bang, lifeless could anyone give me any insight? I have lost my 2 favorite fish to this and it sucks.

yea, has anyone heard of anything that does this? my best guess it it is some kind of nurological desiese.

she has the same symptoms as the male did, she feels hard, no slimecoat, weird head color. the only difference is she never when twitchy except she never jumped out of the tank or cracked her head. this blows

excactly

that being said I dont feed my fish feeders on a regular basis, only about once a month, and then I quarantene them and feed them the highest quality food possible (gutloading). feeding feeders straight from the store can be deadly as they ofter carry fungus or ich or parisites and a bunch of other good stuff.

no I dont starve my fish. and call me a bad person or whatever. I dont give a flying f&%# about fish that are going to be eaten. who the hell said I feed them large fish? thats gross, I dont want fish bits floating around the aquarium. In the wild salvini will eat fish that will fit in their mouth. oh and as for quick and and painless for little fish, are you aware of how ca cichlids eat? the right size feeder will have the tip of its tail sticking out. the rest of it is being grinded an munched by the teeth-like things in the cichlid's throut. my festae was sucking on my umbee for about 5 minuts before I pulled the umbee out and uthanized it.

excelent score tim, I have been looking for some nice rays for ever, they are alway so expensive

10" green terrors are good as well

I like watching my salvini stalk and take down feeders, its quite a thing to see. so im a bad person now. oh and by the way, I dont really respect fish that are going to be food, feeders that go into ponds are a different story. Think about it, when someone is Executed they are often dehumanized, called an animal and such. it is easier see something get eaten or killed if you dehumanize and dont care about it. So why in gods name would I want to think of a fish that is going to be brutaly chomped as a "little person" NOTE: this is not to say that I handle feeders rough, customers dont like that.

thanks for letting me know first buddy :eh: its a celebration none the less

thanks tim, ill check it out. EDIT: lol, never noticed your new sig

yea Im just really put off right now. I think I will either take a break and sell off all but my favorites or start right up again fresh with a bunch new fish (And my fm festae of course). kinda feeling weird towards fish right now so I dont really know (but mark I would seriously like you to check into that for me, you have got to admit, a tank like that would be killer). Thanks allot kevin, I will certainly think about it

there is no way I caused any extra damage, I have damn sergon hands, very steady and besides I didnt push on anything just gently felt the very serface to see if there was any wierd pieces sticking out. I think he was out cold by then becuase he didnt so much as twitch

Male festae died he was my favorite fish and by far the most beautifull festae I have ever seen, way better looking than my female, he was truly amazing. I think I might quit

he is dead, his head (except for around the gills) went all black and dead feeling and his eyes clouded over. stupid fish

he is pushing 9 inches, a male festae that big has considerable mass and strength, not good when it is going crazy

most of it is from this morning im hoping he didnt break his skull, I was feeling it and it seems alright I tested the water this morning and it is great, and it damn well should be. these fish ( the pair of them) get a 40% water change every week and have a fluval 404 and 2 ac 500's running on the tank (90g) I dimmed the lights in the room and took one of the bulbs out of the balasts and he seems to be doing better

probably not so good

yea but they are big craters all over from crashing into stuff. maybe there used to be craters, what are you reffering to, hith?

okay, my favorite fish, the male festae has been freaking out. I dont really know how to describe it other than freaking out (like getting poor color, spazing out and crashing into stuff then floating funny and then doing it again sometimes twitching and spiriling) he has been doing this this summer and that led to him jumping out of the tank. for about a week after he was all messed up like this but then he was perfectly fine, it even looked like he was going to breed. But latly he has gone back into his freaking out phase. I have taken all rocks and driftwood out of my tank as well as the heater so he cant hurt himself anymore. nothing has changed, tank perameters are all perfect temp is 81 (bit high but it shouldnt be too bad) any idea whats happening to my fish? any cure? please help! if he dies or gets seriously messed up so I halfto put him down I might give up on fish. I think it may be caused by my light or something, I thought about covering up the tank for a few days. think that would help?

true, on my festae tank I have a 404 and 2 ac 500's it works out great, every week I clean an aquaclear (rotating them of course) maintenence with the aquaclears is easy and I dont have to be too worried about the bacteria because I just leave it sit and check on it about every month. im a big fan of over filtering tanks using canister filters as well as a couple hang-ons for polish-up

kevin, give me a day or two and ill get you pics of mine

I wanna see some pics of my babies