firestorm

Yes very nice jaguar. I would love to know how big he is as well

Yes I know, I asked Christian today about them....he didn't tell me a price but he did say they were pricey Beautiful rays though!!! And your rays are still pretty:)

Tonight I was doing a test, just to see what the different pH's are of tap water, boiled tap water and distilled water. I will be hooking up my RO system as soon as I can get it put together, which apparently has no pH which distilled is supposed to neither. So I wanted to see how much tap water I will have to add to the ratio of RO/DI water. I put 1 part distilled into 10 parts tap. When I was testing the pH of all 3 the tap water had a pH of about 7.7, the boiled water had a pH of about 7.8 and the distilled water read to be about 8.0 pH, and my mix of 1:10 of distilled to tap had a reading still of around 7.7. Now my question is, isn't the pH of distilled water supposed to be very low to nothing? I used our hagen pH test kit to get the results. How am I supposed to figure out the ratio of tap to RO water, if our kit is reading the levels like this. I don't understand why the pH should be higher in these, when we have done research and everywhere we have looked it has always said that RO and distilled water have a very low to no pH, and that boiled tap water should also have a lower pH. Since the KH is very low to none at all in distilled and RO water, there should also be a low to no pH reading for them. So am I doing something wrong to get these results? How much would a pH meter cost me so I can have more accurate results? I am going to have to delay my experiment to figuring out what ratio I will need to get a softer lower pH water for my fish. Yes I know most of the time we are told not to mess around with these things, and that our fish can live in our water where we live, but when it comes to breeding certain types of fish, it is usually required to try and lower the levels of pH and KH to get them to spawn. Our KH is around 120. I do not want to use straight RO water, for one it can be costly to do so, and I also want to avoid using chemicals to put back in the water to raise the levels to where I want them. So I have also read that by using a ratio of tap to RO will usually let me avoid doing so. Any experts or anyone with experience in using this equipment? and what do you do to get your desired levels? Thanks alot, any helpful information would be very much appreciated.

Sorry guys, I should have PM'd him to let him know I may be interested. As for costs I would also go to pet/fish shops and find out the cost of their types of natural stone ornaments. Being that I honestly would charge slightly less than retail, but certainly not expecting to get them for an absolute rediculously low price. There was a very good suggestion made as well to try and sell them at an auction, or see about opening your own little business account on ebay. Depends on whether ebay would be worth it or not though. Great ideas though, maybe starting your own little business like alot of people who live in texas and sell the texas holey rock If there is a demand there will be money made.

Yesterday I had purchased a WC S. Jurupari. I have been reading much info on them, but have not been able to find out what ratio works best if I were to have more than one. I currently have a male, and was wanting to possibly breed them and was going to purchase a female in the next week if possible. Are they like most SA cichlids that require just a pair? Or will they need at least 2-3 females in the ratio for breeding. Thanks and all the positive feedback and any suggestions would be great Edit: I would also like to know what kinds of other SA's I can keep them with. I know they are omnivores and can eat smaller fish, so any larger ones that works well? Right now he is in my 90 gallon along with other SA's like angels, discus, rams, blue acaras etc. I will be moving the discus into their own tank shortly, but the rest are staying. Can the jurupari's live with discus? I know they like similar diets and have similar temperaments towards fish outside their species. But I am not sure if I could put him in the same tank as the discus, any help would be very useful, since this is my first time having the jurupari's, and online doesn't often offer all the advice and info I am looking for. Thanks!!!

Yeah I am not 100% sure, but they both were very deep red when they were laying eggs, and it was hard to tell which one was which. But I honestly think that one is the female because it was the one that looked fat before they did the egg laying, and it looked as though it was the one laying the eggs.

We were at golds today but didn't see any discus formula for the NLS, I asked Denis and he said they usually don't sell it because they don't get alot of people buying it. They have some wonderful discus in there now, which are still in quarantine. haha I am so bad, they have some very nice snowflake discus they just got in, and some others like some blue diamond discus as well. I am so tempted, but I know I need to wait until I get that other tank. Now I had another question for you guys. Would other fish like Satanoperca jurupari's get along with them or would they not? Denis also has some wild caughts of these guys and they are just so gorgeous. Thanks. Caressa

Good looking rays you have there. Since I know almost nothing about them, what are the black ones with white spots called? They have some at river front and they are absolutely stunning.

We have a black ghost knife fish and a pictus catfish that are always hiding in the same cave. Is this normal? I would think that one would kick the other out, but they seem like buddies and are always hiding with each other. We have seen no signs of them having any wounds or anything, so I don't think the catfish is beating on the BGK. Do the pictus tend to be aggressive at all? The catfish is about 5 1/2" and the BGK is about 5".

Yes having no filtration will limit the types of algae eaters you can get. Ottos would go great with bettas, but they won't do well without filtration. The only other thing would be shrimp or snails....though my male betta ate some of the smaller snails I was trying to grow for food for my puffers so you will want to get a snail or shrimp that will be big enough they cannot eat. And be sure to provide a little hiding place for the shrimp if you go that route, since they may need a place to retreat and love to hide.

Often times the kribensis can be housed with SA/CA cichlids, and I find often the females are more colorful than the males. If you have only females you won't see as much of a problem with aggression. But the only disadvantage is that they only grow to be about 4" and may not do well with fish that grow big enough to eat them. I am not 100% sure if they are compatible with the ones you have, but I would say you should look into it.

Sorry to hear about your tank. Yeah I was very surprised that the jewels didn't stick up for their eggs against the auratus as much. I hate when people tell you they can't be in a tank of more aggressive fish, since they can be extremely aggressive when spawning themselves. We had them in our 90 gallon with many other aggressive fish and they survived just fine. We removed them for now and they are in our 25 gallon. But we will probably be moving them back in when we get another tank to house some of the others we currently have in there. We are having the same problem with our convicts....no one wants the babies, so we may have to resort to feeding them to our oscars.

So then it seems it took your guys a while to spawn too. I guess once they do it for the first time, they start to do it on a regular basis. I will probably take more pictures in a few days to show the progress in growth. Still feeding them Baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes 4 times a day. They seem to be much more active in the last couple of days, and they all seem to swim as a school. I hope to have at least 25 of them that will survive until they are a good size. So how often do yours spawn? sounds like almost once a month. The fry is about 5 or 6 days old now.

Do you have a picture of it for us to see? Would love to see it

Here is a Milwaukee Waterproof pH Tester They are quite expensive, but I guess when you are having to test pH all the time in the long run you will save money. Thanks for the link!! Sam you were smart to get one used

Last time I was at golds I didn't see the discus formula, but I will check again next time I am in. I have started to buy all of my food from golds because of their prices, and they have good quality foods usually. I am just melting the frozen BW right now and am going to soak the tetra color in it for a couple of minutes. I guess I should start worrying once it goes beyond 2 weeks. You are right.

Thanks tammy, right now I have about 4 ghost shrimp, they seem to do quite a good job with eating leftovers. And they hide so well none of the fish ever really bother them. I will check into them for when I move my discus. I will try with the food like you did, I just don't want the one to starve, he is still not eating and he hides more than the others. But another of our discus when we first got him he hid all the time, and wouldn't eat for quite some time. It is the only discus left from the first 3 we bought, and he now comes over to the glass if I am close. So I am hoping the same might go for this one. Right now we have the wardleys spirulina wafers which don't last as long, the discus don't really like it but my africans do I will try and pick up a jar of the NLS wafers this weekend. I am looking for the NLS discus formula but I haven't seen it in any stores, I can only find it online. I just want to avoid paying more because of shipping. Do you know of any stores you have seen carry it? I wish Pisces carried the NLS if they did that would be one place I would look since they usually have a larger variety of things like that.

I have not used more than 2 kinds of test kits, so I can't speak for some. But I like the API quite a bit. I just don't like it because the nitrate test involves so many steps. We have also tried the Nutrafin ones and seem fine with it.

Great info sam, and for the price it is worth it. I wonder if they will have it at a home hardware in calgary....if they carry it there they should have it here as well. And thanks dark angel for the info about the size of tanks it is good for. So is this stuff good for gluing rocks and such together for decorations in your aquarium?

I might be interested once I see some of the final products. Looks very nice, and why bother paying a fortune for decorations when you can pick up some river rocks, or stones from a supplier for cheap and make your own. Great project

Wow great information there RDFISHGUY. You brought back all my memories of biology 30....but the genetics were always so confusing. Good thing someone remembered it This should definitely be stickied so that others will be able to find out the differences between different types of coloration disorders.

Yes we do have extra aeration happening, and all the fish seem to be breathing normal with the higher temps. We have not lost a fish yet due to having to have it higher, which is also great they have been able to withstand it. I actually have some tetra color here we had bought before trying the NLS, so would this do for now? They didn't really seem to eat that either so I will try and soak those in the blood worms tonight. Thanks again.

Yeah it is never a good idea to keep the carbon in unless removing meds. There is really no other purpose they have. Instead of putting extra foam in, depending on the type of it. We use the sponge that is used for our aquaclear, then we have a layer of the bio max, and then on top of all of that we use the filter floss, since it is light and can easily be thrown away when it gets dirty, besides it picks up all the smaller particles that the other sponge does not.

I would have to say a cobalt hybrid too. But he is a very beautiful fish otherwise. For only 6 bucks who cares if you get a nice looking fish. I guess it is only important to have pure breds for when you are breeding

I think in a few months we will try for the pressurized system. Thanks i'll take a look at a welding store, I can also price out a mig welder while I am there for my dad lol, I want to practice my welding skills, and someday make my own metal aquarium stand.