Cap'n

I noticed the lack of info when I had the punks as well. Sorry I can't help with breeding info either, good luck.

Yeah, I figured it would be hard to find any fronts suitable, how large would females have to be before he would even consider them? As far as variants go, I was going to post some pics and see if some experts could indentify. Why do you assume he must be Burundi because of his age? Well, I'm getting the answers I expected. I won't be wasting my many on additional frontosas.

I like the idea of getting another male, but this guy is over a foot long, where am I going to find another, mellow male that size? I don't think he is an exceptionally aggressive fish, or anything. He just got crowded, and to be honest, the living conditions in my friends tank leave a lot to be desired. I'm thinking that he'll have to stay solo, but I'm trying to find out for sure, first.

Welcome. Originally from Parrsboro area, used to live in Halifax. Planning a trip home in the spring, can't wait.

My friend has a big male frontosa which I may inherit if he decides to move. Over the 10 years this fish has spent in his tank (which is too small now) he has killed off all his other frontosa tankmates. He has left all the other inhabitants alone to such a degree that he shares the tank with a breeding group of buescheri. If I get a new, larger tank and stock it with frontosa before I bring the big male over, will he let them live and possibly breed with them? Or should I accept the fact that I will only have one, awesome frontosa specimen in the tank?

I bought some of the same cyps and then again from Chums when they had another tank of small cyps. From the first group of nine two were runts and from the second group of 6 I got two more runts. I don't think it has anything to do with dominance as the only fish who show that behaviour are the adult males against other adult males and breeding females. Glad you posted this Tom, I was wondering about my cyps as well. I have 5 juvies in a grow out tank and all seem to be growing at the same rate. I'm interested to see if the next generation shows the same runt ratio.

I bought a 55gal bare-bones set-up for $500 when I started with SW. I have spent considerably more since then. It can easily become one of those things that you are never really finished with.

You could always go the other route and place the carcass in a container with flesh-eating insects until it came out gleaming white. Would your mom be OK with that?

Go tanganyikan. Frontosas will satisfy the big fish urge and there are lots of compatible medium and small fish to choose from.

Sounds like you need more circulation in the tank. BTW, did lots of fish dissections in school, including one on a doped fish with a beating heart. :heart:

My cyps and leleupi are breeding. Some fry of each in grow-out. No luck with the compressiceps yet.

Agree with BlkWolfe. I've tried a few of the PC's and had the most success with the Coralife's.

Turkey baster works well to push all the accumulated crap out of the dead spots in the rock. I use one to spray all the surfaces of the rocks, in the plants, corals, everywhere there is any build-up. Gets it into the water column for removal with a siphon.

hey fishdude, nice avatar, ... dude

Whoops! Thanks for the correction, Cpt Confused

I found that once my tank was set up really well it was easier to maintain than my FW. The main difference I have found is that you need to think of a SW tank as more of a complete ecosystem that should be able to function pretty much on its own. The ease of keeping detrivores and algae eaters and scavengers really make it quite easy. You just need to get the right balance for your tank and livestock. Oh, and patience. One step at a time.

True, I was just hoping Andy would show off his past masterpiece. "sigh", guess I'll stop trying to have fun online...

Umm... I know a certain someone who put a light in their cannister filter :guns:

Duh! Aliens, of course! :bang1:

I've had my tank for more than five years and have always had what would be considered "substandard" lighting for a SW tank. The most I ever had was a double NO fluorescent fixture plus a couple small power compacts, total about 150 watts over a 55gal. Currently I'm not even using the PC's. Granted they all grow slowly (except the GSP's!) but I have a variety of soft corals and zoanthids. I would assume the recommended level of light would be to keep these and other photosynthetic hitch-hikers on your rock alive. I don't think you need it for the beneficial bacteria to live and perform their cleaning functions. Honestly, with your fish list, I would skip the FOWLR idea and toss a few frags, crabs and snails in there as well. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised with the colourful stuff you can grow and will soon be trading frags with the rest of us. I hesitate to call my tank a reef because it pales in comparison to the astounding tanks I see at reefer's homes, but I do have a bunch of corals I never would have thought possible a few years ago. I'll be setting my first MH up pretty soon, I'll let you know how that changes things.

My words before I could type them. Now, before I get responses saying few fish would remain in a glass cube size ecosystem in the wild, I realize that. But I try to get it as close as I can. No fibre optic caves for me either. :smokey:

Yep. I had three that schooled, then 2 that paired up, then one that kept the other hiding in a corner. It would be nice to have tank large enough for a decent school.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=15 http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm These are the two sites that I find most useful, one for the pretty pictures and brief intro and the other for detailed articles and FAQ's from people in the real world making mistakes like you and me.

That's the best thing either of us have posted so far. :thumbs:

I've heard many times not to feed your fish food made for human consumption. And I know just as many people who do exactly as you did. One variation on your recipe that is common for SW tanks is to combine all the ingredients (squid, mysis, krill, nori, clam, shrimp, etc), freeze slightly, cut into cubes, then bag and freeze solid. I haven't done so yet, but I do pan to. I can't really comment on how safe it is for your freshies, but I do supplement my tanganyikans NLS diet with small samplings of my SW food. All good so far.