wandj

I have changed my mind about what I am keeping in my 300gal. It used to have a mix of Central Americans and Africans. I had Red Zebras, Redhead Cichlid, Jack Demspeys, Venustus, Jewel Cichlids and the Green kind, Yellow Labs, some plecos, and my extra Jalo Reef Africans. There was never any aggression put out by anyone. I did have some of the Jewels dissappear but I have had one in there that has not died or has any signs of frayed fins, etc. None of the fish look beat up or harrassed. I want to keep the Redhead because she (I think) is quite docile (even though she is full grown at a foot) and keep Africans as the other residents. I am going to take out the Jewel and the Green Jewels. I also have a lone Red Zebra that will be going to Big Als too. Now, I have 2 Jack Dempseys in there that are about 6-7 inches. They do not pick on each other or on any other fish. Because they have been showing stellar behaviour towards fish half their size, is ok to keep them? Or do you recommend I take them out? I just don't want them to cause havoc in the future even though they have been model residents so far. I didn't want to take them out if it was not necessary. So should they stay or should they go? I also plan on putting one species of African Peacock in this tank.

I have never had Convicts or any other rock-laying fish before, but I read in a mag that you could just pick up the rock and move it to a small nursery tank. Do not expose the eggs to air if you can. This is not because the parents won't do a good job defending them, but for ease of catching the little buggers when you want them out of your 65gal. I don't know how much you want to disturb your main tank or how hard it would be to catch them in there, but it would be much easier if they were in a 20gal with easier-to-remove decor.

Hi. This is a pic of my wild dom Jalo male. The pic was taken by his owners in the states before they were shipped to me. It is beautiful photography. I took a pic of him too. You will see that it is the same fish but you will have a laugh at my camera skill. Here is the pro shot: Ok, here is my shot: Gina got one of the large juvie F1 males (and some fry) and I hope he turns out just like his Dad. But it takes a long time for them to reach this stage of coloration.

I'm from out of town. Can someone plz give the address to this place? How long has it been here? Oh, never mind. I just saw the addy at the bottom of his first post.

Ok, aside from a couple of ppl here I am going to sell a few fry to now, I will wait until they start showing color before I take them in. This is going to change my strategy quite a bit as I thought I could grow them in a 20gal and take them in when it got too crowded. I think I am going to strip out my 300gal of some nasty fish so I can use it as a grow-out tank. If I mix any in there, they will be species that will not breed together....like Lethrinops and Placidochromis, etc. So tomorrow I plan on trying to catch a couple of Jack Dempseys, a couple of adult Venustus, and 6 Red Zebras. (Oh yes, and another call to BA to make sure it's ok with them) I will still have my big Redheaded Cichlid but it is too much to take on in one day. Thanks everybody.

It's quite possible the eggs are not fertilized. I had a Peacock in a tank by herself and she self-spawned held eggs for a few days. I made her spit because I knew they would be infertile. You can let her hold them for awhile and see what happens.

I'll tell you what I did when my Yellow Lab was holding. First I had to catch her out of a 300gal tank. (Not fun, needed my beau to man the other half of the tank). I caught her and did NOT lift her out of the water in the net. I placed a bowl under her so that she was submersed the whole time (to limit stress). It may not be a big deal to do it this way, your call. I put her in a 20gal tank with some ABN plecos. She didn't like them. She was trying to chase them. I used a tank divider and all was fine. She spit and I fed her a few days before I put her back in the big tank. (She is holding again right now actually) Her fry are about 3/4 of an inch, all the same size, and always chubby. Eating and doing very well. Call me lazy, but I feel the best way is to give the femals a quiet, secluded tank of her own or use a tank divider. Leave them in peace and they really appreciate having a cave to hide in. This is important as they are too stressed out and freak out if you come around and they have no where to go. (Depends on the species) I just don't have the time or tumblers to mess with making them spit, etc. Good luck.

Whatcha selling?

I have a couple of large batches of fry I plan on selling to Big Als. I am going to the city on June 6 (I live far away) so I was wondering if now is a good time to take my fish in or if I should wait till they are bigger. They are all about one inch, more or less. They were "spit" on April 12. Would I get more money if I waited until they were 1.5 inches or 2 inches? I don't go to Edmonton often, just wondering if I should hang onto them for one extra month. (Water quality is not a problem as they get fresh water 24/7, but they will end up being a bit crowded)

Sammy's wife is selling a male right now I think.

Now that a lot more stores are carrying NLS, which source has the best prices?

Just curious, is there any change these "dithers" like Giant Danios will harass breeders (eat eggs) or go after newly-spit fry?

I could pretend I'm a really experienced fish-keeper and say "no I haven't", but I'm being honest when I say I don't even know what a leopoldi is. It's a type of ray?

I'm glad you're back. Keep in mind, I am sure most of us have had a major setback or loss of some kind and many have been tempted to throw in the towel. Always give it a week before you make a final decision regarding leaving this hobby or any hobby. I find the joys of watching my little fry swim around out-weigh any loss I've had....plus those become forgotten over time. I hope your new ray flourishes and you don't experience any more problems. You've had your share. Good luck.

I had a Rainbowfish swimming around with a Pygmy cory cat stuck in its mouth once. I decided to remove it. I knew that the catfish had very sharp spines and the pec fins were going to act like barbs trying to pull it out. (the Pygmy was in there head first) I got my surgical tweezers and canola oil as a lubricant. It took a little bit of tugging and twisting, but I finally got the cat out. I don't think there was much damage, but the Rainbow was severly stressed out. It was swimming upside down, etc and I thought it was going to die of shock. After a day, it was swimming normally but it took a LONG time for it to eat. It was like it couldn't smell or it didn't know there was food in the tank. What I mean is, is it would swim around looking like it was trying to find something to eat, but even if some food hit it in the nose, it couldn't find it. About 3 weeks to a month, it finally was able to eat. It fully recovered. BYW, I read in a book that if this happens, you should CUT off the spines or fins of the fish in the mouth of the affected fish to minimize damage.

Gee, how history repeats itself. LOL I got some Ruby's from Calgary as well one time and they hopped through 4 tanks. I lost one as well, but I think it was shipping stress as it looked like a bacterial infection. I'm sorry I have no idea what could be wrong with yours. If someone had an idea, they would say so. Could be you have a very unique case.

All albino animals should have red eyes. At least, that is what my Bio teacher told me.

I have four now. I just lost one a few days ago. I think old age. (One that went on a hunger strike earlier). The others still doing very well.

I am on well water and we tried the water softener thing. Don't bother. Your fish will be healthier with hard/alkaline water as opposed to water with Na+ in it. I mean, Ca2+ and Mg2+ are healther for them compared to Na+. I did have my fish in softened water and they did not seem to be bothered by it. I also have them in my raw tap water right now and they also do not seem to be bothered by it. I think the key is to make sure the water chemistry is stable. Right now, our $3000 water softener is not even hooked up right now. And then I made the terrible mistake of switching to KCl salt for the softener and I lost a lot of fish. They did not state on the bag that this type of salt was poisonous for fish. That was why I disconnected the damn thing. So now I keep all my fish in my regular tap. And I also keep Discus with not ill effects. RO is the best way to go in regards to "softening" your water.

It all depends on the amount of waste in your tank. I have an XP2 and a Fluval 304 both on a 55gal tank and I found that when I went to clean them, it was hardly worth the effort as they were not dirty enough to go through the hassle. So my canisters have not been cleaned in over 2 months. I give the tank a water change every second day though. (All depends on your maintenance, fish load, filtration, etc) Just go by how dirty your filter is. If they are not very dirty, you can extend the time. Just keep your water changes up.

Thanks everyone. I am going to take the best care of them as I can. They are in tanks with fresh water going in 24/7 so I can get away with more feeding and such than tanks that do not have a constant fresh water system. Before the time that they are ready to go, I will notify their departure date here on the forum before they go to a pet store. (I don't seem to have enough tanks to keep them all)

Yay! I have had a lot of my Malawis's holding but they always seem to eat their eggs before term. Mostly the Peacocks that are quite young. Well, I just mentioned on another thread that I paid big bucks to have some fish sent to me from the U.S.A awhile ago and they are 2M/2F wild Placidochromis sp "Jalo Reef". I also have 3 F1 juvies I bought at the same time but they are much too young. I also got some Lethrinops sp "Mbasi Creek" shipped in that same shipment. I got 8 young fish, looks like 4M/4F. Well, I noticed 2 Lethrinops and 2 Jalo's were holding so I transferred them to nursery tanks. I knew they were very close to spitting because I could see the little fish's eyes through the skin of their throats. I put the 2 Lethrinops in a 20gal and the 2 Jalo's in a 20 gal. Well, within 30 minutes, one of the Jalos spit. (This all occured on April 10). Lots of fry, maybe 35 or more. Then, I noticed that evening that one of the Lethrinops spit too. About 16-20 fry. A few days ago, the other Lethrinops spit. Now, for a time, they fry would retreat back into mommy's mouth, so it's hard to determine a "spit" date. The other Jalo finally spit yesterday (April 19). I was getting worried because she was starting to look a little skinny and I thought she was holding too long. She had about the same number of fry as the other Jalo. I am so excited! I know this is a bit off topic, but I am also getting quite a few eggs of my new w/c Aldolfi corys. I had trouble with the eggs getting fungus and I don't know if I should remove the eggs because I heard Cory's might eat them. I gave them another water change and added a lot of decor to the tank last night. This morning, I saw 3 eggs on the glass facing me. (I have no idea how many there might be elsewhere) I guess spring is here!

I had some. Most of mine suffered from eye problems. Not popeye, just bulging eyes. It could not be cured. They are also prone to dropsy.. Believe it or not, even though mine had eyes that looked like they were going to explode out of their heads, they still had voracious appetites. BUT, of the 4 months or so I had them, they did not grow at all. It was not a water quality issue as they were getting large water changes daily (well water case anyone has any misconceptions) but they still did not do well. Whereas my regular Jacks grew like crazy and never got sick. (You may go back and read all my posts on my Blues) And, I also reported in a post here a long time ago, I saw the remaining Blues that still had not been sold at BA's, about 5 fish, and they looked much worse than mine. So this was not a problem seen just in my tanks. Go for it if you want and let us know how they fair with you.

I agree with MW. Do NOT add acid! In my earlier days, I tried that. Lets say you add some acid and get your pH from 8.4 to 7.0. You say "yay" right? Well, in about 2 days, like MW said, your kH (buffering capicity) will overcome the acid and your pH will swing right back up to 8.4. This is very hard on the fish. Enough to kill them. AND, say you add more acid because you are scratching your head and try to lower it again. The same thing will happen. And all you're doing is swinging your pH and chemically overloading your tank. (There is a word for that....help me someone). Lets say you stop playing around and add normal water. You will see that your fish will die of shock because their bodies are already stressed out from pH swings, and now shock. Darn, what's the word? Anyway, don't do it unless you know what you're doing. I have similar water to yours. I found you end up with great water if you add about half RO to half well, or about 2/3 RO to 1/3 well. And then try to keep the ratios the same with every water change. This would require lots of fussing around.

I suppose you could break all they rules like me and keep Discus, fancy plecos, German Blue Rams and Cardinal tetras in my kind of water: pH 8.5 GH 220ppm KH 310ppm 2 of my Discus were wild and they look just as good as the captives. I only had one Discus go on a hunger strike once but I brought him back with live Blackworms, but that is not a water chemistry issue as they other Discus will eat everything including flake. (Discus are strange) I have had my Rams for almost a year and not lost a single one. None have ever been sick. My Cardinals, well, I discovered they are getting slowly picked off by my big Discus. It happens. I haven't lost a fancy pleco since I tried messing around with the water chemistry. If I leave it alone, I don't have any problems. A few days ago, I noticed my Red Turqouise Discus was looking "dark". Instead of throwing meds in the water, I did a water change every second day to see if that was the problem. It was. I suppose he wanted more fresh water than the regular schedule I was doing. He is back to looking gorgeous. Pick out what you will from my comments above, but I found messing with the water chemistry bit me in the butt, unless you do it very carefully. I feel water quality is the most important factor. I also bought some common guppies from the pet store a while back. They did very well in my water. Most are sick when you buy them. I lost a few out of every batch when I bought them; the most common thing I saw was jelly-like poo. I think you have to watch for bacterial infections. Once they make it out of quarantine, they should be very hardy. I had them breeding like rabbits. I ended up giving them all away. PPl might jump on me for exposing some species to unnatural water chemistry, but I saw no difference in their behavior when I had them in the correct water as opposed to incorrect. (When I first set up my Discus tank they were in RO supplemented water, but I found it was a big hassle to try to get enought RO all the time, so eventually I let them be in my regular tap. I see no differene). My male Rams chase and challenge each other no matter what water they are in. You may just want to keep some hardy fish that like your water chemistry. I have switched most of my tanks to Malawi Peacocks.