Boom

Yes, get a paint called Krylon Fusion. Walmart sells it in spray cans. It's aquarium safe and will adhere to plastic. People use it to paint their ugly green (eheim) intakes and tubing. Boom :boom:

Looks good Heather. I think your still gonna have to change the water out at least a few times to get it so it stays stable and not too high before you put fish in. It's alot of water to use, but the cost of losing fish because you didn't do it enough far outweighs that. At least IMO. Can't wait to see it all set up with fish! Boom :boom:

I'd say it's just micro-bubbles. Very very fine bubbles. I imagine you could get some type of stone that produces them. Boom :boom:

Thanks Blake. Boom :boom:

Do you mind sharing where/how/with whom, you did your research into the worms? Thanks. Boom :boom:

Are you kidding? I got 40 kg (88 lbs) bags of sand from SIL for $17. How much cheaper do you want it? Boom :boom:

All my tanks have sand in them, every water change I just stir the sand up, and siphon out all the gunk I can see. You have to be careful of pockets of harmful gas that can get trapped in the sand. Stirring regularly will prevent it. I second the suggestion on buying cheap sand. For me, the risk of not killing whatever may be harmful in lake sand is worse than the few buck I'd save. But thats just me. Boom :boom:

Fantastic pics! I have seen both gret horned and snow owls near my place, as well as a large male bald eagle on occasion. Onlly wish I could get some good pics of them. Boom :boom:

Heather, your stock choices look really good. Some really nice species there. If I did another all male mixed malawi tank, I would do like Neil says, eliminate the mbuna all together except for the elec. yellows, and do only 1 of each species of peacocks and haps. It may be ok to start with 2 of them, but be prepared to weed out the sub-dominant one quickly. Even in the relatively short time I had them all mixed in my 180, I sure noticed that the mbuna were too aggresive and I didn't see very much color out of some of the peacocks. What ever you decide, best of luck and I can't wait to see it. Boom :boom: p.s. your welcome for the stand.....

$39 /month extra? Thats a load of cr@p. I would shop around if I were you, and make sure your current company knows your shopping around. My insurance company covers it all with the general house insurance. Boom :boom:

I agree with both answers you have received. Trying to fix a damaged stand is almost pointless, the bottom board is likely not the only part damaged, just the most visible. It's very likely that the rest of the stand is also particle board and has some less visible but just as detrimental damage. Boom :boom:

Greg, I do beleive the calvus and comp are too big for the fronts to even try. The juli's and the leleupi's on the other hand are a concern. From what I've read, the fronts really slow down in their growing at about 4", which is the approx. size that they are now. That means that they'll slowly grow from here and hopefullt the juli's and leleupi will have some time to "catch up". I've also read that fronts are very lazy eaters. They won't "hunt" unless they need to. So hopefully if I keep them well fed, they'll leave the other fish alone. Of coarse they are still unpredictable animals, and they may just decide one day to have a snack of the littler fish. Boom :boom:

??? Coyote skull??? Clean your computer screen guys, it's a busted old conch shell! It offers good hiding place and the wife likes it, so who am I to argue... Thanks for the compliments guys. And denzkyasia, no I don't have any more fish for sale. Boom :boom:

I've added pics to my 180 post under my sub-forum HERE. Please enjoy. Boom :boom:

I've done what Qattara suggested, but thopposite also works. Just go spend lots of time in front of the tank, just sitting or standing, but not feeding them. They'll learn that you don't always deliver food when your there and get used to someone being there. How long have hey been in that tank? It does take some time for them to get used to people. With the tank I had at work with yellow labs in it, people walked by all the time and it took about 2 or 3 months for them to really start coming out regularly. Boom :boom:

Please see my updates on my sub-forum, last page, HERE Thanks Boom :boom:

Here are some pics with both the daylight and actinic lights on. Boom :boom:

On saturday I picked up my frontosa's and leleupi's from Harold. The fish look fantastic! I spent a couple hours on Friday moving fish around. I took the Calvus and Julidichromis out of the 55 gallon. Then I took all the remaining fish except for the Comprecisseps and Petricolas out of the 180 gallon and put them in the 55. Check my 55 gallon thread to see the updates to that tank. So the current stock of the 180 is this: 11 F1 Cyphotilapia gibberosa (Mpimbwe) 12 Neolamprologus leleupi (firecracker) 4 Julidichromis regani (Karilani Is.) 2 F1 Altolamprologus calvus (congo) 1 W/C Altolamprologus compressiceps (Gold Head) 6 Synodontis petricola Here are some pictures, The first ones are with the actinic light only: Boom :boom:

Interesting. I've heard several times of people keeping 6 or so calvus or compls in a "community tank". Hey Greg, I just got my fronts today, after you see them, you may very well want a Frontosa tank. Boom :boom:

Thanks Harold. Could you PM me the recipe? Boom :boom:

Thanks everyone. Harold, can I ask where you get the whole krill and shrimp? Is it something I can just buy at Superstore or something? Also, do you dig worms out of your garden or do you buy those somewhere too? (Maybe a fishing store? Bait?) Thanks. I read about the "European shrimp mix" and it seems like a good idea, might try it if I can find all the ingredients. Boom :boom:

Just food for thought, will the multipunctatus and petricolas crossbreed? Boom :boom:

Thanks guys. If I did switch to 3mm, it would be a slow switch to see how they did with it. And I'd also throw 1mm in at the same time for other fish. I didn't realize they even made a 2mm pellet? Must be new? I may have to try that as well! Besides NLS, what can I feed the fronts for live or frozen food? Neil, I know you'll say I don't need to. But if I want to, what else is good eatin' for them? I see videos of guys feeding their fronts out of their hand, what are they feeding them? I'm very excited to get them. Boom :boom:

Thanks Neil. Just being sarcastic, in humour of coarse. I didn't expect any one person to be able to know all the answers, but collectively there is an aweful lot of knowledge on THIS forum, I was hoping for some responses. At any rate, so people know, I am getting a group of 11 F1 mpimbwe frontosa, as well as a dozen firecracker leleupi's (2" +), from Harold (Fairdeal). I will add my black calvus pair, and WC golhead Compreciseps to the tank, as well as some Juli's and the syno. petricolas that are already in there. That setup will not likely be succesful for breeding the fronts, which is fine for now, they're not big enough to breed yet anyway. It should make a fantastic display tank! That will give me time to decide if I want to focus on breeding fronts, which if I decide to do, I will remove everything but the fronts, and have a species only tank for that purpose. I decided to NOT go with the adult WC Zaire blues because I do fear that with there being only 2 of them, and no way of knowing how old they are, the current owner might be selling them because they no longer breed and produce fry. Which shuts the door to that option if I decide. I think it'll also be nicer to grow them up, even though the ones I am getting aren't all that small. Rest assured I will be posting pics of the new fish in the 180! Look for it! Here is a question for you though Neil. At what size should I switch to 3mm pellets for the fronts? I'll be feeding them 1mm NLS for now. I still have 3/4 of a bucket of the NLS 1mm, and ideally would like to use that up. The fronts are between 3" to 4.5" when I get them on Saturday. Thanks. Boom :boom:

For what it's worth, I found all my answers for this on another forum. Thanks for all the help everyone! Boom :boom: