Sammy

Good Evening, Took some pictures of the New w/c "ngara" flametail male. There not the best but atleast show the fish. Here is one of the holding female (Took him less them 48 hours to do his buisness). On a side note here is what those female TR'S are looking like today. Cheers, Sammy

Good evening, Ive been eyeing the w/c flametails that came in last week from owc and had to go and buy another male for the group of females I have. I couldnt wait for the little ones to grow out (6-8) months I figure to be big even for these females. Will post some pics soon. Oh, already have a female holding in less then 48 hours of introducing the male. Thanks again for your help guys. Sammy

Good Evening, The first picture was taken a few days after buying him from the store(That was about 9 months ago. He never really grew any more after I got him. I think he was an old fish, he died a couple months ago have had him in the freezer since. (Wife thinks im crazy).He actually died the day after spawning with 1 of the females. I paid 60 bucks for him. They did have pond raised a few times prior to the posted w/c shipment. He could have been left overs from one of those . Come to think of it the same store has more in right now that i heard were w/c and they were selling for a 100 each male. Sammy

Thanks a bunch Kyle. With this species of fish I have noticed a variety of ways the colors blend on them, even within the same region/area of the lake thats going by all the photos in books and cd's that I have viewed. I have a couple more pics here for you to look at. These ones are newer but the pic quality is not the greatest. Male1 Male2 Male3 Male4 I believe these are in order of age from older to newest pictures. He was about 4.5" Full grown too I suspect. Thanks again, Sammy

here are a couple more pics Flametail Flametail2 Thanks again. Sammy

Good Day, I have been reading alot of intresting post here and on other forums about Fish breeding and w/c's and now I am alittle concerned about a couple of my fish. So I am looking for some thoughts on these pics. The reason is I got these from an oldworldexotic shipment awhile back and was told they were wild caughts and I sold 5 of the fry from them as f1's at the last ACE auction. They look good to me and I trust the source but I guess anything is possible. Male Females The ones i took to the auction were the first batch of fry I had recieved from them.(took 4 months to get them to breed) heh. The little ones still dont show any color but should by early may. And i dont wont to advertise f1 if there is a possiblity they are not and thats what concerns me. . I did do alittle check on the OWC site and it did show W/C flametails came in 3 weeks before they arrived in edmonton. I know there is a few people here that have experience with these fish Aulonocara stuartgranti "Ngara" Any input would be appreciated. Cheers, Sammy

Good day, I was not bothered by the price nor the quality, I was just really looking forward to getting 2 females as advertised. Thats it thats all no worries. It was a honest mistake however, I am alittle shocked that the little bugger charged me quadruple for the fish. Oh well. Anyone have some females avalible. Sammy.

Thanks RD and Degrassi for the quick reply and for the compliments about the Male. Its too bad they both look like that cause I was sold these as Being 2 x F1 female Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwanee Reef). That were left from a group that died in a heater accident. I was suspicious about their sex the day after getting them in thier new home. I started sending pms to the person/s that they came from. And again was told that they were f1 and should be feamales. First I dont have any experience raising females of these speices but I could tell in 24 hours that something wasnt right. Its funny how when you go to buy a fish, the person you are buying them from knows everything about them ie..(heater accident/left over females from the group) then when an issue arrises all of a sudden I find out they came from someone elses or that they were sexed and bagged by someone else. BUNCH OF CRAP in my books. Anyways dont judge a seller by their forum status or by the amount of post they make in these forums cause it mean s*#t. Anyways rant is done and Ive got 2 2.5" MALE Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwanee Reef) for sale. And once again I am looking for females. I paid $10 each and dont care if I get my money back as long as someone will get them out of here for me as I dont have Room for males. Sammy

Good Day, I have been dying to breed out my male Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwanee Reef) for some time now, so I finally was able to get some females sent up from Calgary during the ACE auction. Now I have never raised any females of this speices so I havent witnessed the changes they go through while growing up. But from everything I have read and learned about them, the females should not look like this. Maybe someone here can help me determined if these are females or males.?? Here is the male Ive been wanting to breed for some time. Any feedback would be appricated. Thanks, Sammy

RD, Im getting a stiffy over here, Sweet coloring in them discus. I cant wait to see what it does for my already nice looking stock of fish.

Thanks again guys, I think the storm has passed and things are looking a lot better. I have read possibly 50 articles and posts about bloat over the last year and have found many different views on the subject. I have read Konings books and have his CD's and found them very informing and so far the most reliable. My fish over this time of illness did match some of the described signs of bloat but, lacked others which I found to be the most obvious signs. Examples are, they would all come out to eat and were displaying full coloration all the time with no heavy breathing or other obvious signs however, they seemed slower then usually like they had smoked a fat Joint or something . In fact, some of the smaller fish were starting to show more color then ever before. As for the size increase I mentioned in the last post they all seemed to rapidly grow over the course of the week which I thought was normal since I had moved them to the larger tank 6 weeks earlier and downsized the number of fish during the transfer. So, you can see where my distress calls came from. lol I wanted to start treating the whole tank for Bloat but was not overly convinced. I'm still leaning towards the krill being my downfall and again I have read bloat is not necessarly caused by feeding or over feeding your fish. All said and done I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and continue with small water changes over the next couple days to get the melafix out. By the way the melafix was introuduced as a precaution for some mild scratches on one of the wild caughts and didn't want it to turn into something else. The day after the melafix was in was when I noticed the other poop going down, that's where the question about Melafix came in. Once again you guys have been a great help and I thank you. I will update tomorrow. Sammy

Good evening, Thank you all for the quick replies, I found every reply to be good solid info. :beer: RD, I had my concerns about the krill the first time I gave it to them months ago when one of the fish (who did not die) became ill right afterwards. He would still come up for food but, eat only a little then just hover around in the tank. I dont know if this is a bad thing but the krill was a door prize at one of the ACE meetings. :boxed: It may very well have been frozen before I got it and I have put in the freezer myself after getting it thawed . The krll hit the garbage after reading the reply. dunl, Thanks for the link Great info in that post.. I also upped the salts in the tank a couple days ago. I will continue tonight as well. In that post you linked to, it mentions that after introducing new fish others could get sick for up to 6 weeks after? That was very intresting info to learn. I have added 2 new fish in the last 6 weeks plus I transfered my fish to the 90 gallon 6 weeks ago. 50gal of tankwater, substrate, decor and filter media was also transfered over. So the thought of maybe my test kit is wacked out and my system never kicked in right away was haunting me, I've been anal about the water since transfering over (at least thats what the wife says) But I have tested again and all water parameters are fine. As of right now the fish look amazingly well and the couple fish that looked like they beefed up seem to have settled down and came begging when I got home. After all of this I think i'll keep their diet simple and be alot more careful putting new fish in the tank. Again thanks for the help its greatly appreciated. Will update tomorrow. Sammy

Good morning, I recently have had a little problem in the main tank that I cant figure out. First, about 6 days ago I found a Hap cf. with signs of bloat, by then it was too late (he died in a hospital tank 2 days later) and the same day he died another fish in the show tank died with no visible signs of anything (I did notice him got alittle darker in color the day before and he had seemed to have doubled in size) Then yesterday I found another fish dead. Oh before I forget, I started adding melafix to the main tank when the first 2 died. I have noticed some of my other fish are looking like their bodies were getting thicker and not in the bellies either, their whole shape seemed to get larger. I thought nothing of them getting bigger till this morning when I noticed the fish all seemed back to normal size no more swelling. My fish seemed to be subdued during this time of sickness, not the usual beggers that they have been. Until this morning when they looked better with no visual swelling. I have heard many different stories about bloat and have really never experienced it at this level if in fact thats what it is. One last note, I normally feed my fish HBH super veggie flake daily with brine shrimp once per week and about 10 days ago I chopped up some freeze dried krill. Thought that may have been my problem at first cause thats the only tank to get the krill. So my first question would be can bloat affect the fishes entire boady mass? 2. Does a cocktail of Melafix and permafix cause your fish to swell? 3. What the F**K is going on in my tank? Any help would be appreciated Sammy P.S- Unless my test kit is bad, all water perameters have been fine (ph, nitrate, amonia and nitrite)

Howdy, I thought there would be some feedback on them beauties. Anyways here is the link to a site that they are from. Some very intresting finds there. http://www.oceans.gov.au/norfanz/library.htm Sammy

I was sent an email today with some intresting fish photos in it and Id thought I would share with you. http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/New%20Finds/crab.jpg http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/Ne...s/fangtooth.jpg http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/Ne...hatchetfish.jpg http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/Ne...lizard_fish.jpg ^^^^^ I want a couple of these to put into a tank. ^^^^^ http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/Ne...ickly_shark.jpg http://www3.telus.net/ISOPlanetCOD/Fish/Ne..._gulper_eel.jpg Hope you enjoy them. Sammy

Thanks RD that is reassuring to hear that info, From everything I have gathered about OWC, its a solid reputable place. Only wish I could order direct from there . Sammy

Here is a pic of my RedShoulder from Oldworldexotic which was listed as W/C. Looks like it maybe but not sure if they are raised on shore or not. In this pic he was in the tank less then 24 hours, still alittle dark. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1402 Sammy he is the hardest fish I have to catch on camera

M_L, I remmeber seeing your fish and it looks very similar (Aulonocara hansbaenschi)aka Red Shoulder or red Flush depending on the region they are from the coloring may vary. But they do have a light blue color underneath while maturing. Happy Holidays Sammy

If I were to guess I would say its a Red Shoulder /Ruby cross that still is maturing. But Thats just a quess. Hope that helps Sammy

Smokey, I believe his Wife is still running the Angel Breeding room. Funny you should ask, She asked me if I was intrested in taken it over or new of anyone else you maybe intrested. Not sure Im ready for that yet . Im having to much fun with Malawi cichlids right now. Sammy.

Good Evening, Finally got that system up and running and have a recent picture from 2:00pm this afternoon. J-Rock, I paided $300 for the Tank, Cabinet and matching planter box. The cabinet has a built in electrical outlet system with light control for the dual 48" florescent fixture and the Canister filter which he threw in for $75 (Fluval 403) works like a charm . The only reason I got the deal of the century was because he was cleaning house and I guess I was in the right place at the right time. I dont think he builds them for people this cheap . From what I understand is this was his first attempt at building a complete fish cabinet. Hope you enjoy. Sammy

Thanks for the compliments, I guess thats why we post them pictures;) or to get peoples general feedback. The "L" shape piece is a matching planter box for flowers or.... if it was up to me (but its not) Id fill it up with some small koi . As for the full cabinet on the leftside of the tank, The cabinet was made finished on all sides so you could use it as a room divider. J-Rock, Im not sure if Wayne is building custom stands by order or not but i will find out for you. This I believe he built for himself and had running in his home for some time, and the new one he built for himself is for a 150+ gal bowfront. Wow! what a piece of work that one is. Sammy

Morning all, Just thought Id share my newest addition to the house, The new Show tank. I have added some pictures of both tanks, however the 65 tall will be heading down to the fish room. I love it!, and its not even Christmas yet New setup Original Main tank. Both together. I cant wait to finish up work today and get cracking at that Bad boy. Special thanks to Wayne S for the custom stand he built, and the great deal I got on it. Amazing work! Thanks a bunch Wayne and Family. Sammy

I guess Pseudotropheus spec. Elongatus "Mpanga"

Morning, I must agree thats going to be a nice fish, and I dont have nothing really against OBs at all I just think that ones that look like fish soup should stay at the home or store there were made in. lol Sammy