patrick

I still have some Pyxichromis orthostoma approx. 2.5". They'll eat anything they can fit in their mouth. Very peaceful fish that'll work with malawi haps.

So the powershift finally happend. The son is now the king of the tank.

Here is a picture of him and you can see that he's been fighting. Very similar looking to his father but slightly bigger. As you can see I have also changed the name from Paralabidochromis chromogynos to Paralabidochromis cf. chromogynos, Zue Island. Apparently these are from Zue Island which means that they are not the same fish as Greenwood originally described. The specimen collected at Zue Island have slightly different dentation.

Thanks everyone

Is the kyoga flameback pictured your main breeder male or the son of your breeder male. Looks fantastic.

The kyoga flameback is the son of the main breeder male. My intention is to keep this young male and continue breeding on him.

Great shots again Patrick.By the way the Rock Kribensis and Dayglows that Loreen picked up that morning made the trip safely to Medicine Hat and are doing very well.One of the dayglow females was holding so i put her in a separate tank and she released about 15 fry a few days ago.Excellent fish and i will be getting in touch with you about another order. Thank you again. Larry.

I am glad to hear that Larry, you are welcome any time

The WB piebald looks awesome

The WB's are definately my favourite, but for some reason the the OB morph is more popular.

Some beautiful fish you have there. Did you get anything else along with the European shipment? What else don't you have?

He he you can view my entire list here:

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showt...45&start=45

Awesome looking fish!

I used to keep Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi. Do the multicolor victoriae have a similar personality to the nicholsi? The nicholsi were very fiesty with some males being little terrors. They were very beautiful little fish though and fun to keep.

The nicholsi grow larger and is more agressive.

Earlier this week I received a shipment from Europe. One of the species was Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae. This little peaceful "dwarf" cichlid can be found in rivers, lakes and swamps all around Lake Victoria. It is absolutely beautiful and does not grow larger than 3 inches. From the looks of it I have 3 males and 7 females. They are still in a quarantine tank, hence that not so ideal substrate, and not much has been going on until today. When the lights came on today there was a lot of action. Males showing off and also what appeared to be spawning behaviour. Sometimes there was two males in the pit, sometimes one male and two females, or even two males and three females!

It's difficult to take pictures in this tank but here you go. Enjoy!

It's time for an update:

Lipochromis sp. "Matumbi Hunter"

Paralabidochromis chromogynos

Paralabidochromis sp. "Redfin Piebald"

Paralabidochromis sp. "Rock Kribensis", Mwanza Gulf

Lithochromis rufus

Neochromis omnicaeruleus

Ptyochromis sp. "Hippo Point Salmon"

Xystichromis sp. "Dayglow"

Xystichromis sp. "Flameback"

Xystichromis sp. "Kyoga Flameback"

Haplochromis sp. "Ruby Green"

Pyxichromis orthostoma

Astatotilapia nubila

Mbipia lutea, Yala swamp

Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae

Haplochromis sp. "broken bar", Mwanza Bay

Haplochromis thereuterion, Senga point

Neochromis rufocaudalis, Saa Nane Island

Astatoreochromis alluaudi

Pundamilia azurea, Ruti island

Astatotilapia latifasciata

Welcome to the forum

I have been doing maintenance and also moved fish around to prepare for new breeding stock so I took the opportunity to measure and photograph some fish.

Paralabidochromis sp. "redfin piebald", OB male 3.5"

Paralabidochromis sp. "redfin piebald", WB male 3"

Xystichromis sp. "dayglow", male 4.5"

A fat Xystichromis sp. "flameback", male 3.5"

Paralabidochromis sp. "rock kribensis", Mwanza gulf male 3.5"

Lipochromis sp. "matumbi hunter", male 3.5"

Astatotilapia latifasciata, female 3.25"

Xystichromis sp. "kyoga flameback". This young male only 2.5" is spawning for the first time. For it's size, the most colorful specimen I have ever seen. This young herbivore has never tasted anything but NLS. This guy is a keeper :smokey:

NLS is probably the most economical food that I have ever used. I feed less than a teaspoon per day in a tank with 15-20 adult fish (3.5'-4.5'), and the growth rate is excellent, fish is extremely healthy and they are constantly spawning. It did take some time getting used to feeding less food. When I feed, the food is usually gone in 10 seconds. I currently have around 150-160 adult fish in my breeding tanks (maybe more) and a pail of NLS last me about 1 year.

you feed less than a teaspoon a day to 15-20 3.5-4.5 foot fish?

i hope that's each atleast!

i hope you mean inches(")

Lol yes inches

NLS is probably the most economical food that I have ever used. I feed less than a teaspoon per day in a tank with 15-20 adult fish (3.5'-4.5'), and the growth rate is excellent, fish is extremely healthy and they are constantly spawning. It did take some time getting used to feeding less food. When I feed, the food is usually gone in 10 seconds. I currently have around 150-160 adult fish in my breeding tanks (maybe more) and a pail of NLS last me about 1 year.

The last time Molino was over at my place, I believe he had a wireless flash that looked really handy.

Canons transmitter along with a flash with built in receiver is great, but a bit expensive.

Thanks for the help. Even just knowing the terminology helps in the search for information. For those of you using this type of product, is two feet of cord enough length for shooting from the bottom of a tank towards the top? Do you find the cord gets in the way? The reason why I am asking is that I saw some wireless units and am wondering if they are worth the extra money for mainly aquatic photography.

The Canon 430EX is a great choice of flash if you shoot alot of pictures with the on-camera flash. Much better results than the built in flash.

But, you can also get a cheap flash and still get great pictures.

Then you will need a hot shoe adapter for both the camera and the flash, and also an extension cord (go with a 10' or 15' cord you will appreciate the extra length). Check with McBain the main store. The sattelite stores may not have it all in stock. You don't need the expensive Canon cords unless you absolutely need the ability to use the E-TTL functions.

I'd go back to BA's and pick up some "Seachem Stability" do a large WC and dose the tank with the Stability for the next week...

I agree. Stability WILL remove the ammonia/nitrite but not immediately. Recommended dosage will turn +2ppm ammonia to Nitrate in less than 12 hours (I tested). Seachem Stability consist of dormant bacteria that when diluted with water become active. I have probably cycled 20 tanks with Stability.

Also, as degrassi said, hide the food!

CORVETTE: I believe that baking soda will prevent methemoglobin from building up but there is a potential side effect with adding anything to the water that raises the PH. Both ammonia and nitrite are much more toxic at higher PH levels.

Welcome to AA Rob

Welcome to the forum

I am looking forward to pictures

The stock list looks good as well. Some chances of crossbreeding ofcourse but I don't think your main goal is breeding anyway. I have never tried mixing the Kyoga flameback with nubila but I think they will work quite nicely together. If they crossbreed then it should be easy to tell.

I can tell you as a police officer that there is NO such law in Alberta. And even if there was, no one would enforce it. Thats just retarded.

Boom :boom:

But what if I were to collect rainwater from Henry's roof

Wow I can't wait to see them !( maybe Patrick can take some pics j/k lol) Where did they come from?

:tongue:

Do you think I have a choice?

Welcome to the forum Ted and Terry

Once a year unless performance decreases. I never touch the biomedia, only the prefilter sponges and all movable parts, hoses etc.

Well for the UG filter i think what i'm going to do is use a filter to PUSH water into the UG filter to keep waste out in the first place and it'll still filter the water. Do you guys think that might work?. Thanks so much for the information on the paint. I'll get my razorblades out after my blister heals from the silicone removal.

Thanks again

Lisa

You can buy razor blade handles in the paint section of the hardware store. Then your less likely to get blisters.

One of these are less than $10 bucks and they use standard blades.

baking soda? Epson salts?

Baking soda increases your carbonate hardness which can help buffer against pH swings. It doesn't make the water softer (general hardness). Mixing tap water with R/O or distilled water would decrease the GH, and baking soda could then help to prevent the pH from becoming too low.

Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, so that would increase your hardness.

Fish stores also market ``water softening pillows''. They use the same ion-exchange principle. One ``recharges'' the pillow by soaking it in a salt water solution, then places it in the tank where the sodium ions are released into the water and replaced by calcium and magnesium ions. After a few hours or days, the pillow (along with the calcium and magnesium) are removed, and the pillow recharged. The pillows sold in stores are too small to work well in practice, and shouldn't be used for the same reason cited above.

This is what household water softeners do on a larger scale. Although the water is technically "softer", you've just added a ton of sodium to the water. Not recommended for people to drink, so I don't think it would be great for fish to live in either. You can get potassium chloride softening salt which is a little better.

Yes no matter what you add to the water to reduce GH, it will increase TDS/conductivity which most likely will have the same effect on the fish as hard water and I imagine a more negative effect on plants (sodium). So in the end you would have a lower GH but a higher KH. I think the only "true" way of making the water softer is diluting it.

Thanks guys

Very nice! What camera/lens set-up are you using and what settings?

Canon Rebel XT with a Canon EF-S 60mm macro, full manual + Canon 430EX flash in manual mode from above. I can't remember the settings exactly but the flash was probably 1/2 power with built in diffuser, ISO 100 and the aparture pretty high to get good depth of field I'd say between f12 and f14. Shutter I never touch when using the flash, it's always at 1/100.

That second pic is pretty phenomenal Patrick. Gotta love it when you get near-perfect shot like that! (I must admit, these cichlids are proving to be a lot harder to photograph than any other fish I have tried).

Thanks Taylor. He was curious about the camera The depth of field gets very short on close ups like that.