darkangel

You might have a bit of trouble breeding that pair. The one on the right looks like a low grade male. Most female flowerhorns have a black stripe covering the lower portion of the dorsal fin from front to back. You will also need a piece of slate under the divider, and put in a small fountain pump on the males side of the tank pushing water over to the female side. Lots of live food and water changes on a daily basis. If you are successful, out of 500+ eggs you may get 2 - 3 good looking fish, but you won't find out what they look like until they hit the 2 inch mark. Good luck.

Val, this might be a shot in the dark, but I had a similar problem with an old fluval 303. After tearing it apart more than a dozen times and checking everything,and getting ready to take it to the range for some target practice, I decided to take it apart one more time and run some air through the hoses. That was when I found that the rigid U tube for the intake had a hair line crack in it just outside of the tank and was sucking in air. Replaced the U tube and have'nt had a problem since, except that I have to give it a good b*#@h slap to get it going when I clean it. Hope this helps.

Thanks Jason, They're still staying close to the shell and chasing the calvus away. There is only the 5 fish in a 55gal. I wanted to take this tank down, but will wait a week or two now and see what comes of it.

I picked up a pair of F-1 gold heads at the Edmonton auction. Yesterday I noticed that one of them has taken up residence in a shell and the larger of the 2 is gaurding the area. I think that they may be a little on the young side to be spawning as 1 of them is only 2in. TL and the one in the shell is 1.5in. TL. In any case I have removed all other fish except for a trio of F-1 Zambian black calvus. This is the first time I have tried these fish, so I'm not sure of the size they start to spawn at. Could it be a true spawn or a practice run.

Unfortunately after the CAS auction my plans for my little 240 gal have been changed against my free will. It will no longer be a wild South American tank, It has become an African tank. So far I have 2 bn and 1 L-88 pleco. I also have a featherfin cat, But I don't think that is enough of a clean up crew. The foot print of the tank is 8ft X 2ft. Any suggestions on types and/or numbers are welcome.

Thanks for the replies. It's still in the works and I'm trying out different ideas and alternatives.

I was thinking 2 for the fish load in the tank. After all, you can never overfilter.

I have decided to go with an FX-5 maybe 2 on my 240, But would like to try and plumb it into the overflows as the intake and have the output plumbed to a spraybar. I was thinking of filling the overflows with bio-balls and puting a piece of sponge on top for a pre-filter before the water goes into the filter. Can this or will it work, or am I asking for trouble. Tank stock list (I'm hoping I can get them, trying for all wild) 6 X Altum angels, 8 X Red hook silver dollars, 4 X Red streak gold severums, 12 X laser orange cories, and a few plecos to be decided on later.

yay! but omg Val, you sure are up early! lol. see everybody there! It's not that early. In my house that would be considered a sleepin.

I think I'm going to stick with my original plan, only file 13 the silver dollars and put a bunch of plants in.

I like your idea Jason. I also like the idea of option 2 and 3 (planted S.A.), the only thing wrong with that is I would have to leave out the silver dollars (It would be like adding a dozen rabbits to your veggie garden). However I could sub the silver dollars for large tetras as mentioned. I had a brackish tank about 25 yrs ago, but stocking options were very limited at that time. After doing some research on brackish tanks of today, the level of brackish I was looking into is only a few points from full salt, so why not go all the way. As far as cost goes, I think I may start with a tank about half that size first.

I am finally planning on setting this little guy up soon, and am looking for some opinions. Tank is 240 gallons (96L X 24W X 25H) Filtration is either 2xFX-5s or a 60 or 70 gal sump Lighting, between metal halides and T-5s I have enough lighting to pound 7 to 8 watts per gal into this puppy Substrate and decor to be decided on. My options are 1. Reef tank, I'm thinking a bit pricy and too much work, and may not be a good idea with the long hours I put in. 2. Planted community tank (small fish), A lot of work but a good option. 3. South American, 4x altum angels, 6-8 red hook silver dollars, 4x red streak gold sevs, 12x red or orange laser cories, and a half dozen plecos (not sure what kind) All opinions (good or bad) are welcome as well as other possible options.

Kribs go very well in a community tank with the fish you allready have. Very hardy and not too aggressive. Put a small cave or pile of rocks in the corner of the tank, a good mature pair, and you should have babies every 2 - 3 weeks.

Thanks Rudy.

Anyone know when and where the first ACE meeting for this season is.

DA: so you just let the female lay on the bottom of the tank near the divider?? She would lay her eggs on the slate beside the divider and the male would fertilize from the other side.

Yes he did, that is the reason for the fountain pump on the males side pointing at the center of the egg crate. I had to keep them separated all the time or they would beat the crap out of each other. Almost lost the female 3 times. Out of a 1000+ eggs only about half got fertilized, and survival rate was about 25% of that. After culling them out maybe 4 to 5 would actually make it.

When I was breeding my pair, I had an eggcrate divider with rocks (big ones) on both sides to hold it in place. A piece of flat slate under the divider, and a small fountain pump on the males side to create a current over to the female side. Water temp at a steady 82 degrees,50% water changes every second day, lots of live food and I would get 300-500 fry every month. As far as age and size go, my female was 4 inches and the male was about 2.5 inches when they started breeding. A little caution, DO NOT stick your hand in the tank or let any house hold pets around the tank when they have fry. I had one episode where the male (at 4") broke through a 1/4 inch glass top and took down a full grown cat that decided to take a nap on the tank, (the fish won)cat lived too.

My grandson got one about 3 years ago at 2 inches, he is now a good solid 8 inches. I have it housed in a 25 gal tank with a couple pieces of moss covered driftwood and a few other plants in the tank. I have fed this guy nothing but NLS 3mm sinking pellets and the occasional white cloud minnow. I had 30 in with him (now 8), but with the odd and long hours I work he never goes hungry. I keep the temp in the tank between 72 and 74 and he likes it, 20% W/C weekly (any more and he gets stressed for a day or two) They also prefer very low light.

I have a 50 gal that had severe hard water stains and the only thing that took it off was liquid jewelers ruge,an air polisher set at 35psi(at the polisher, not the compressor) with a sheep wool buffing pad, and about 6 hours. It's still not all gone, but it sure takes out minor scratches very well.

You did'nt get the snail from me. The only snails I have are MTS in the cichlid tank at the wifes office. The tanks I have at home I can't get a snail to live for more than a few days (water is too soft and ph is too low, shells disintegrate very quick).

Nice flowerhorn, and it is a boy. You can try and find a lady for him, but you will need a eggcrate divider held in place by a lot of large heavy rocks. even with that it would be wise to check on the tank 2 to3 times a day to make sure the divider is still in place. You can get successful spawnings with the divider in place.

Melafix and pima fix can do more damage to anabantids than good. It can damage the labyrinth organ. I would do at least 75% water change daily for about a week and see what happens. Fresh clean water and a balanced diet are the key to healthy/disease free fish.

I run my Co2 at 6 bbls/sec 24/7 in a 72 fully planted jungle with 220 total watts of light and use a Co2 indicator. In the morning it's a little high and the cardinals are still alive, but within an hour or two all you can see is millions of little bubbles on the plants and fine threads of bubbles making thier way to the surface.