Finbert

I've been using a 1.5 - 2x dose of Excel and my spiral vals are doing just fine. But I have a lot of very hungry plants, so my guess is that the excel gets taken up quickly enough that it doesn't stay at that high concentration for very long.

I've never done SW so I don't know what corals need, but with the incandescent hood, you can use compact fluorescent bulbs instead of the incandescent ones, and get a fair amount of light in there. I have a heavily planted FW 10g with two 15W CF bulbs, and it's doing great. I'm pretty sure there are more powerful CF bulbs available as well.

Wouldn't that be great! When I tryed keeping them they always died at that size so I could keep lots. Hahhaha. Oh thats wrong isn't it? Awe poor things lol. Yeah making dwarf angels would be great. If you don't like the angels you have now, why don't you try and trade them in and get ones that you really like, or try and sell them on here. I personally like the blushing angels myself, and everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Trouble is, I do like the angels I have, I just want more. And more. When I'm rich and have a house with a fish room, I'll have a big tank for collecting different kinds of angels, but for now I have to look, sigh wistfully, and move on.

Wouldn't that be great!

I've got a 55 with 4 angels - 2 albino pearlscale (that I got practically free because they're not quite perfect) and 2 blushing silvery ones. Plus a bunch of tetras (colombians and cardinals) and various cleanup fish (julii cories, BNP, ect) I'd say it's overstocked, except that I've never seen nitrates go over 10ppm (lots of thirsty plants) and nobody seems to be getting in anybody's face, and nobody is getting sick. But definitely no room for any more angels. The irony is, I got the first two - the albino pearlscales - just to get my mom in law to shut up already, because she was going on about how great they are and I have to get some. I didn't think I even liked angelfish. and now...

I should never have gotten angels for my first-ever big (to me) tank back in November. I love the ones I have - they're pretty, smart, fun to watch, and interested in interacting with me. The trouble is, after getting them, I keep seeing other colour varieties and wanting them very badly because they're so pretty too, but there is simply not room in the tank I have and I promised my partner no new tanks for quite a while. Plus there's not really room in my apartment for another tank big enough for angels to be happy in. Waah.

He's beautiful! If he were a dress, I would totally wear him to my brother's upcoming wedding.

Could there be something living in there that you don't know about? For example, do you have breeding pairs of some kind of carnivorous nocturnal/well-camouflaged species, and could an egg have gotten in there and hatched? (It's the no trace of bodies that has me thinking along this tack)

Thanks for the advice! If I start another plant tank, that's probably what I'll do, but I was able to buy a plug-in fixture for less than I would have paid for the ceiling one, so it's not an issue for now. :-) It doesn't really matter if it catches on fire. It will eventually fall into the tank and the water will put it out. :smokey: haha, that sucks since water can sometimes worsen an electric fire.

The one I have doesn't go white, but if it gets unplugged you have to reset it to whatever you had before. If it's just off because of the light sensor, it stays at the previous setting. I guess that would work if it turned on when the main tank lights went off. Of course, if the room lights were on, it would go off again. This one isn't a night light though, it's an actual light bulb that screws into a regular socket.

It does have a setting where you can select a single color (red, green or blue). I will have to have another look... thanks for the heads up.. I have one of those, got it at Mall Wart. It has a button on the base and you can have any of a number of single colours, flashing multicolour, or fading through multicolour. The one thing I don't like is that it always comes on white, and then you have to press the button until it does what you want.

Does it bother the fish to have the sun come on at 6AM and the lights on til 11, or do they still get enough down-time? (If they don't mind, I'm going to have to do that, because as it is, I generally miss the lights-on time being out and about.)

Nice! When it fills in, it's going to be spectacular. I had to pet your adorable pleco with my mouse pointer.

Makes sense. After all, humans get positional asphyxia so why wouldn't fish. And I guess if something was pressing on her gills or operculum (look, I learned a new word!) that could do it. And she's still doing fine, so I think the crisis, if there ever was one, is over.

I have zero experience with saltwater and am sympathetic about your concern for your critter, but I feel the need to point out that out of context, sounds like it would make a good B-Movie.

Thanks! She seemed just fine this morning. Hungry and grumpy. I'm not up on my fish physiology - what would have caused her to suffocate? Being upside down? Just having to hold still? In any case, I'm glad I got home when I did.

That would serve her right.

When I came home yesterday, one of my two dominant angelfish was wedged between a plant and the wall, about 45 degrees from totally upside down. I shone a light at her and waved my hands and she didn't look, and in fact nothing was moving at all, not even her gills. I got ready to have a good cry and scoop her out, but when I touched her with the net, she started moving. She floated kindof disoriented for about 30sec, and then she swam away. She's seemed fine ever since. While she was looking dead, I got a good look at her, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. No lumps, bumps, swelling, spots, redness, or anything. I tested the water, and it was within normal parameters. 0Ammonia, 0NitrIte, 10NitrAte, pH between 7.6 and 7.8, which is about what it comes from the tap last time I tested my tap water. All the other fish seemed just fine. The only other oddities I've noticed in Bellonna is that (1)over the weekend she was a lot grouchier than usual - she's normally kindof bad-tempered, but she was being a right raging b!@#%, chasing not only the smaller angels, but also my otos and my new BN plecos, and just not letting up with the chasing. She was even threatening Azariel, her special friend and co-dominant. (2) Every couple hours, she comes to the surface and gulps five or six times. Recent changes in her environment: A week ago I rearranged the plants, because she and Azariel had claimed everything to the left of my big sword plant, which was half the tank - now what's to the left of the sword is more like a quarter of the tank. Plus this weekend I got two BN plecos. So far all I've done is a small water change, and I'm watching closely. Should I be worrying, and if so, is there anything else I should be doing? Thanks!

Yeah no kidding. I also participate on a political/activist message board, and no way in heck would I offer to be a mod. Thank you mods! We love* you! *but not THAT way :-)

oops, posted in wrong thread

I haven't had that experience with Excel and vals - I use lots and my vals are just fine.

Last time I was there (which was quite a while ago) they had a few teeny-tiny species - Galaxy Rasboras, and Brigittae Rasboras. I've promised myself no new tanks for quite a while, but still... WANT!

I've had my angels for about six months now. They all started out about the same - bodies somewhere between quarter and loonie size, not counting tails. Two of them have paired up and become the dominant couple, and they have at least doubled, maybe tripled in size. They chase the others and get to eat more, so the other two have increased in size by 50% and maybe 10%. I'm distracting the big ones and then hand-feeding the little ones NLS floating pellets, hoping they'll catch up in growth.

I don't know why it took me this long to notice: Isn't there another organization called AA around?

Poor girl. And no way of doing the Heimlich maneuver on her either. What I really hope is that by some miracle she manages to spit it out, but short of that, I hope her passing is quick and the store doesn't hassle about a refund/replacement.