darkangel

The other plants you have include, Staurogyne sp., Sagittaria subulata, Eleocharis sp. japan, Najas guadalupensis, and Nymphaea lotus v. "green". The few pieces of E.sp. japan will have to be planted with tweezers a couple hundred times until it takes hold.

I just read the study a year or two ago. It seems they'd prefer to pair up with a known gene pool than risk poor genetics. Of course, display and courtship still have their play, but the study showed that most kribs paired w. sibs.

I also read the study on kribs, and I have put it to the test. I mixed kribs from 2 seperate bloodlines(1 male and a choice of 6 females), they did pair up after a while but the survival rate of the fry was only 4%. When the fry reached maturity, they looked like kribs but the color was washed out a bit. If they paired up with sibs, the survival rate of the fry was on average 70%, and the coloration was more enhanced. Overall the offspring had a much nicer apperance. The only real problem I had with kribs was the albino's. The males prefer to mate with a regular colored female and vice versa. I had a male albino pair up with a regular colored female and the dominant gene was albino (all fry were born albino).Getting any of them to survive was the hard part (7 attempts and they only made it 1/2 inch).

My experience with severums is, they only get aggressive when breeding. My pairs chased anything in the tank away,(fish,plants,hands and so on) For the most part they look big and mean, but they are babies. I had mine taking pellets from my fingers. They also come in a few varieties (green, gold, red shoulder, and depending on where you go they have them labeled as red streak, red line, or red sotted golds. If you're going with just 2 fish rather than a pair,2 severums and a couple BN plecos would go great in a 55 gal tank. As far as lifespan goes, I've had them from itty bitty tiny fry to full grown in about a year. The longest I kept severums for is about 5 years before selling them.

I have a 6 year old female albino BN that is about 2.5 to 3 inches body length and total length is about 5.5 inches. I've also kept BN plecos with pretty much everything. I even had 2 juvi queen arabesque 1.5 inches long in with africans for a year and a half. I have them in my planted tank now and they are about 3.5 inches in length.

Peat Moss? The same stuff used for reptile humid hides?

I use pond peat in a media bag and stick it in one of the filters. 2 cups in a media bag and my 72 is good for about 2 to 3 months.

It all depends on what cichlids you want to keep. Any S/A or C/A cichlids I have kept had no special treatment to the water. We are on Edmonton water and all I do is treat with prime.

I stopped by Big-Al's today and saw this flowerhorn. Although it is a nice fish, it would not make my to buy list.

I have kept kribs (P.pulcher) with everything from neons to bloodthroats without any problems. It's pretty much hit and miss. If you are going to have a community tank, don't add the kribs first. They are a cichlid but are also a good community fish, and will get aggressive when breeding.

I think a pair of severums might be a bit much for a 55g tank, they get about as long as the tank is wide...

I have never seen adult severums exceed 8 inches. A pair of severums and a couple BN plecos IMO would be fine in a 55 gal tank with good filtration.

With filtration for 300+ gallons and conservative feeding habits, I successfully kept 2 breeding pairs of severums in a 55 gal tank without issues.

many hobbyists don't realize how much effort & time it takes to get a single high quality FH, let alone a masterpiece.

I used to breed FH, I don't know if anyone that I gave them to as feeders grew any of them out, but out of 10,000+ fry not a single one made it passed the crayfish tank. What the crayfish did'nt eat went for a soak in the porcelain whirlpool. I will however go down and check this fish out.

I hope to put together a bit of a bulk order for firing(because that cost money unless someone can donate a kiln for a few days)

Can't donate a kiln, but I do have one for sale. Has a total of about 9 cubic feet of firing space.

Morinville is on Edmonton water and prime seems to be the best choice. The aqua plus IMO is'nt worth the label on the bottle.

I've had rams in with angels and never had any problems. Not sure about the rummies, I had 2 inch angels snack on cardinals and neons, If it can fit in their mouth it will be food.

I have a couple loofah sponges (bought at wally world) that I hollowed out, stitched up one end with fishing line and wrapped them with java moss. Stuck them in behind the plants next to the spraybar I have at the bottom of the tank and the plecos claimed them immedietly. Now that the old man kicked the bucket this morning, I have a pair of wild rams that claimed one of them.

I would keep an eye on him for a few days. I had one doing something similar, then he seemed like he was fine.

This morning when I fed the fish I found him in the front of the tank with a good case of rigermortis (stone cold dead). My guy was about 8 years old.

Planted tanks are actually quite easy if you GO FOR IT from the start. The problem with 'easing into it' is that, if you decide you want to start feedin your few plants (ferts), you'll also feed algae and struggle with keeping it at bay.

From my experience, you'll want to plan for filling the tank w. plants from the get-go, if you want a lush tank with little problem from algae. Your plans for lighting are perfect, but do also plan for a carbon source. Seachem Excel is nice for a 20 gal.

IMO, you should wait for an upcoming auction - you'll get enough plants to fill your tank for the same price, or less, as 5 or 6 plants from the LFS.

When I set up a tank from scratch, this is how I do it (for cheap):

1)add 2-4" of Quickrete Play Sand (from Home Depot - brand is important) or SIL 8 (from Sil Industries)

2)add root tabs where heavy root feeders (Swords, Crypts, Lotus, etc) will be (I have used Tropica, Seachem and 1/4s of Jobe's for palms & ferns with success)

3)fill tank 3/4 with water - add slowly, maybe onto a plate so as to not stir the substrate

4)add plants

- add enough plants so that at least 80% of the footprint is planted

- start with fast-growing plants (swords, val, stems)

- you can replace these in time, but starting with fast-growers will eliminate your need to cycle the tank before adding fish

5)feed your plants

- CO2 is the most important food. 2WPG or more, you'll need to supliment

- I don't like test kits, so I used the Estimative Index method of fertilizing. Some people say 50% WCs each week are too much work, but if you have a hose, it's really easy IMO

6)your tank is safe to add fish

If you skip steps (not enough plants, improper feeding of plants) your chance of algae is greatly increased.

Raj is right about Cabomba - it's a cold-water plant that doesn't do well in tropical tnaks. Limnophila sessiliflora is a good substitute.

Fromone plant geek to another potential plant geek. This is the step by step way to go.

I have alwyas found that it's best to let the stalk flower out of the water;

Unfortunately I can't let the stalks grow out of the water, the tank is totally enclosed with the canopy and the lights are only about 1 inch above the surface. If I leave the access open I will have fish on the floor within minutes or the cat will think he is getting a treat for lunch, even though he's too lazy to scratch his own ears.

My amazon sword plant is doing something I have never seen before. Last week Thursday I noticed it was throwing up a shoot, it is now about 30 inches long. Today I noticed on the first node of the shoot is another shoot about 10 inches long, and the second node has one that is about 6 inches long. Is this plant going to give me baby plants or just throw shoots all through the tank. I have had baby plants from this one before, but I thought this was a bit strange. I know there are a bunch of plant geeks on here that can maybe shed some light on this.

I find that letting the mom hold to full term, will give you fry that are stronger and more on the healthy side.

After all, the people in Africa don't go wading into the lakes to strip the females of fry.

He must have found some viagra, he's back to normal and wanted to join in on the fun of making babies.

I have a wet saw that I use to slice up rocks and tiles, can cut up 1.5 inches thick.If you're ever in Morinville you can swing by and I'll cut them up for you at no cost.

How do you become not the public?

Tell them you belong to a terrorist group. Just kidding.

Like Jason said, buy shares or get a bussiness license.

The last time I bought it at all seasons I got it in dry form, but he did say it would be illeagal to sell to the public in dry form. The government is scared that you might build a bomb with it.

You got all the correct info, but I would use rubbing alcohol to clean the joints before re-siliconing as it will evaporate and less rinsing later. I believe Nick has a post pinned for redoing the silicone on tanks.

I have'nt had cichlids for a bit and I am just slowly getting back in to them. I would say 3 to 5 days for the eggs to hatch and 18 to 28 days before they spit. I did have a yellow lab hold for 32 days once, her head looked like it was ready to explode. I moved her over to a ten gal tank and she puked them out within 5 minutes, and wanted nothing more to do with them (except maybe lunch).Congrats on the spawns, hope this helps.