firestorm

Hahaha, yeah and I got to see them too. Well if you ever need another male I have one I need to get rid of JK. Or you can always swap your male with mine, different strains and maybe he wont be as horny :rofl:

She looks beautiful to me. Next time you have nitrite problems add some aquarium salts instead of prime. It is supposed to help detoxify nitrite and nitrate. I dont know what it is, but normally I dont like albino fish......but I find albino oscars to be absolutely stunning

If shes not eating like a pig, she might be stressed or not feeling well. I found with mine they always grab at the food as if it was running out.

Thats why you cant always overlook the chain stores I always wander through petsmarts fish when I get crickets just to see what they have, and I have gotten some nice fish from there before.

He is a nice looking one, and is pretty young I assume (as I know nothing about that species lol)

He definitely looks stunted in growth, hence the nice hump on his back. As for coloring my JD goes from dark to light as well. Dark colors in fish often mean they are stressed. Who is he in with, and what size of tank.

Good to know I ordered some hairgrass from April before, very healthy and in good shape. I don't think she gets a whole lot of plants in though does she?

I don't think the white stuff is harmful. I have seen it before in aquariums and it seems to wipe right off, kinda like a white slime is that right?

Don't know about the java ferns, could be higher levels of ammonia.

Many sellers like Aquaticmagic are international sellers, he even sells his stuff on ebay. I believe they know how to ship here, as I am sure they have sent alot of stuff over here considering they are a big seller on aquabid. Some of the small time sellers are ones I think you should be more careful around, although we never know about them until we try them out. I am all in for supporting the people who are willing to ship to us, even those within Canada.

very interesting.

how many of you use dirt as part of your substrate?

I use well rinsed flourite red and am thinking maybe I should add dirt underneath. I want prolific plant growth.

I don't use peat because I don't like the mess it can make. You shouldn't need peat or soil underneath of fluorite, I don't think it will make that much of a difference since fluorite contains most nutrients.

Gorgeous. I have always loved blue diamonds for some reason.

So sorry to hear that, it always sucks to lose a favorite

I just ordered some plants off Aquamagic. They are in malaysia but offer free shipping internationally for plants, not sure about other items. Boo on the americans who won't ship here. For plants all they have to do is put on the box aquarium supplies or something, as long as they don't put live plants or live fish right on the package it should clear customs grrr. I want to try and do an order for live fish on there (from US), found out the seller I want to buy from has a good reputation and does ship to Canada yay.

It's not just that they think you will be making bombs out of it. KNO3 is an explosive material and you need a special liscence to transport larger quantities. Which is probably why most places don't sell very large amounts at a time. And I hope if you are buying bulk like that, that you are keeping it outside in your shed or garage and not in your house. Have you ever checked any garden centers for the stuff? I myself go to quikgrow here in Calgary, but have never bought that large of a quantity.

Don't worry Anne Marie, I will be aging my shrimp water soon once I get my almonds leaves. Aging water not only removes chlorine, but it can also be good for aging water if you soften your water because then you can add your almond leaves or peat and soften it before adding it to your aquarium (otherwise you might be in for a large pH change). But when aging water you must use something to keep the water oxygenated otherwise the water will go stale and there won't be any oxygen left in the water by the time you go to use it. Many people also use heaters so the temp is the same as in the tank.

All of mine are kept on clothes. I have found the petcetera and the elite pumps are pretty noisy as well. Fluvals are ok, but I still like the Renas, very silent. They might be more expensive but it's worth it.

I wish I had the room to age my water, but those who have seen my house would understand how that is impossible lol (I barely have enough room for all my tanks). I try to do all of my water changes within 2 days on the weekend, so that's alot of water. If I was changing a few each night then yeah it could be possible, but I don't have the energy on weeknights. Although aging water for my smaller tanks is no problem, but what's the difference of using a small squirt of prime and saving the hassle. I agree that aging your water can be good, but not suitable for all.

My rotala indica does the same thing, I always find the leaves floating on the surface. All I do is pick them out, or I often leave them and eventually they either settle and I suck them up during a wc or they eventually get sucked into the filter.

There are many fish you can put in a 10 gallon. Guppies will do well (beware of the breeding lol) A nice school of small tetras, rasboras, barbs, minnows all make good fish, and for tankmates you can choose fish like pygmy cories, bumblebee gobies, shrimp, dwarf plecos. Or if you really want cichlids try a tanganyikan shell dweller. The lamprologus multis are good in little colonies, or a small group of the Lamp ocellatus, or brevis. Or you can do a dwarf puffer tank, or set it up for a killi fish tank. You have many options, just choose which ones you feel you like best.

I would like to know what is so wrong with buying food that is specifically made for that species. Yes NLS is a great food, definitely not the cheapest either, but to be honest there is nothing wrong with ordering special food for a certain type of aquatic animal. If NLS made a special shrimp food I am sure I would be one of the first to try it. Even though people pay that kind of money, the shrimp food goes a long way.

That's what I thought

I wanted to order some hard to find apistogramma species around here, and no one else I know of has or breeds these guys. I would have Gold's order them for me, but he has such a hard time selling any apistos he gets in, so he doesn't like to order them. I guess I can talk to Christian at BA's and see if he will order some of them for me....going there tonight I hope he's working.

I wanted to bid on a lot of fish on aquabid, problem is he is in the states and only ships postal. What kind of guarantee do you think I have that there are no DOA's? He does not guarantee international orders which we would be. I have just never ordered live fish coming through Fed ex or the postal service before. Any suggestions? Thanks :smokey:

Don't worry, I'm sure we're all killed a few plants in our time!!

Just a few???? Haha I must have a brown thumb because I have killed several....

Oddly enough, I'm having more trouble with my pogostemon helferi than my HC. I think it's because in my obsession in getting the HC planted right I clumped the pogostemon too closely together. I spread them out a bit more, and I'm going to wait and see if that helps.

I don't think it was necessarily because you clumped it too close together, but it definitely helps when you separate them and eventually they will fill in.

considering vermiculite is like a foam it will float up if given the chance. I probably wouldn't even bother with the stuff, it might be more of a hassle than anything.....I say keep it as simple as you can. If you use fluorite and dose the water column with ferts I think they should be getting enough nutrients that way.

What type of ecosystem are you looking at making? Do you mean more like a biotope or just a self sustaining tank without the need of filtration and stuff? Sloughshark has made some really awesome biotopes, you could PM her and find out how she does it.

First step is figuring out what type of plants you want to go for, low light medium or high light plants. Once you figure that out, it would be figuring out what kind of substrate you would like to use. For planted tanks I highly recommend going with special substrates that contain natural fertilizers or ones that hold nutrients they get from the water. Do you want all the fish to be from the same area? If so do some research on the type of habitat it is, is it sandy, rocky etc to help you figure out what kind of substrate to go for. If not then go for what you like the looks of. But in general the most important things to consider with live plants is lighting and substrate.

When setting it up I would buy ALOT of fast growing plants to help cycle the tank, you can always remove some of them later. Or if you want to just set it up how you like it that works too. Plant the tall plants in the back, medium in the middle and short in the front. If you have high lighting and want some low light plants in there as well, you can place the low light plants so that they will be shaded by the taller plants. Hope this helps you somewhat on getting started.

Cool, did you pick up any of the males?

I have never been bit by my oscar, but he isn't highly territorial or anything. Sounds to me that it was more defensive as well. I think as well it depends on how the last owner had raised them, if they got live foods alot, it makes them more aggressive.

My 1.5" Lamp ocellatus has also bitten me before, don't know what hurt more the bite or me hitting my hand on the stand above the tank lol.