Ishkabod

It's not a L 173 or a L 043 But maybe like someone suggested in the comments... A very very expensive cross between a King Tiger Plecco and a Zebra. I have no idea what that would look like but one thing i have to say is that i really really really want one more than even a zebra plecco aka It's PRETTIER. Congrats on a really cool fish :drool: L :thumbs:

Personally I'd do a number of waterchanges 10 percent daily if possible and no more than 20 to be sure you don't shock your fish. In regards to the smell in the tank you definately DON"T want to ignore it. Generally tanks don't smell bad. Rotten egg smell is from the decomposition of waste in an oxygen deprived environment aka under sand and decorations. IF THat is the problem BE CAREFUL I don't know for sure but i think i heard once or twice that the gasses can kill fish??? Not sure but best to ask someone with experience in this area.(I have snails to stirr the sand) if you don't have some in allready then pick up some crushed coral to add to your filter(great bio media) or mix it in with the substrate. Dead rock for saltwater tanks works and is pretty much the same thing only bigger. It provides a great buffer for PH. If you are useing strips then take a sample into the LFS to be sure your strips aren't the problem. Good luck L

The background from what i've seen is only about 1 inch thick the rest of the space is hollow and allows for allot of room to hide heaters, hoses, or foam filter media. One thing i've read about being done was filling the back of the background with 1 inch squares of foam and then stringing them together useing fishing line so they can all be removed and cleaned easily. If you had it set up right you could easily use the space behind the background for all the filtration needed for the tank. Good luck and personally if i had the money i'd have a Aquaterra background allready installed. Have fun L P.S. Gills'n Finns is a sponcer and Aqua terra Dealer so you can contact Patrick semi-Locally for information and any questions you may have.

I think the board's spirit is to promote aquarium hobby and experience exchange. I don't see the problem of telling a bad experience. Yes, the spirit of the board is to promote the hobby; however, it doesn't take much for a company to decide it wants to sue for damages. I was a part of a forum several years back that was sued because someone said X company was bad. The suit went on for well over a year and expenses were in the tens of thousands. We have the vendor review survey coming up next month. Also, if you'd like to share negative experiences, maybe post a thread that says, "I had a negative experience with a _________ (online, Cgy, Edm, etc.) retailer. Please PM me if you'd like to hear." That way you can share your concern and not have to post it publicly. This makes a lot more sense.... I m happy with this explanation. However, my post was deleted without any communication. Tomorrow, I'll PM all who has respose to this post. The mods are busy people and don't always have time to send a PM. I'm happy they do such a great job as it is. L

The line between obsession and passion is what we really should be looking at. When the number of tanks or the size of tanks become inhibitive towards your health or lifestyle aka tripping on tanks or tank power is more important than fridge or stove power. That is really were we should draw the line. I agree with a tank in every room that you spend some time in. I have 3 in my bedroom, 3 in my livingroom/kitchen and 1 in my back/hobby room. The sound of the water and the fish movement is really enjoyable and i like to enjoy it in every room i'm in so there really is no way to draw the line at the number of tanks or the size. If the amount of tanks becomes overwhelming to take care of then it's time to reduce the number or if the space they take up is encroaching on your living space. Just my thoughts on it. My mom however disagrees. My 80 gallon by itself is almost too much for her. Pah I say. L

Back to the original post... I like Levamisole HCL and my fish didn't show any stress while treating. Believe it or not but I got called in to work the day i was supposed to do the water change on the tank and life got really really busy so it was a week before i could do the water change on the tank and by then all the fish were swimming around with allot more energy and eating vigorously unlike before so at the right doseage it's easy and seems to be very worry free. Thanks for posting the articles I'll bookmark them for the next time i need to dose my tanks. Here is how i dosed my tank. 1 5g packet into 100ml of water dosed 1ml per 10 gallons Worked like a charm L

For me it would be the membership cost up front. I am interested in breeding bettas BUT i would like to have as much information as possible before i committed time and money to it. I am busy so i thought i would let you know so you might be able to pass it on L

If even once when I had a sick or dead fish i could get 2 out of 3 people to agree what disease it had I might agree with you. If you can not be sure what disease it is like most there is the symptoms which is what most would actually watch for and it is better than nothing. L

Now that is funny. Thanks for the laugh

Personally i do not blame the vendors for the most part but some others i would never buy another fish from again. Back on topic. I see perfectly what you mean about people skimming and getting the wrong information. I think maybe we could have an open thread that just states the city(edmonton or calgary as there are multiple stores in each city)or not and what it was, when you bought it and when the diesase showed up and in QT or not. It would not point fingers but would give a good impression as to what dieases might be out there (trends) and what you would want to wach out for especially if it is not something you have heard of or do not normally watch for. I think this would be a happy medium and you are right about the possibility of skimming=bad rumors so i think vendor names should be removed and it would allow for the option of pming for further information. Mods what do you think :well: L

If you do buy one off the internet then i'd HIGHLY reccomend meeting the owner at their home to see the mother of the pup or kitten. The reason for this is that there are puppy mills out there if you haven't allready seen them on the news and unless you see the home and mother in person you can never be sure that you didn't support an illeagal operation. As for the dogs in PJ's pets well as someone once told me... no respectable breeder will ever sell their dogs to a pet store(it's the last resort for our fish too) so where do they get these pets. Petsmart does one really wonderful thing and that is they don't sell dogs or cats. I had asked a while back about it and i can't remember what they told me but from what i gather it's not just a come in and oooohhh i like that kitten and walk out and leave process. Not sure what is involved but personally your best bet is most likely to adopt from a shelter and you can even get an idea about a dogs personality before you take them home if you volunteer to walk him or her. Good luck L

There are some warnings that would be dead useful. Lets say you were browseing the fish in your local LFS and noticed camallanus worms in a couple or even one fish. A i know first hand this disease is very very difficult to treat and spreads easier than ick. If it were to be done right then people would be able to get a good feel as to what is going around and what might be the things to watch for. Me personally i would never have noticed the worms except for the fact that my fish kept on dieing one at a time over a long period. People relatively new to the hobby would find this kind of information very useful and seasoned hobbiests can be reminded to watch out for something they don't normally do when QTing a fish or more. I don't think posting a warning every time is the answer but perhaps a running thread that is open and pinned with posting guidelines would work. I agree that the information must be shared in a legal way so guidelines must be strict and perhaps someone with allot of disease experience could monitor it for false info and to help posters complete the info needed. L

This really has opened up my eyes and experiences with one store that really..... anyway This sites policy and the wonderful admins have helped me kick the bad habit of complaining about many things. Now if you want to warn someone about a store or have concerns maybe we could have someone appointed so that trusted long time members can report bad or good expereinces with stores and vendors, and that person can compile that info with an easy point system and if there are any immediate problems or things like one vendor having issues with huge die offs on arrival then members could ask that person to be sure that the place they are buying from doesn't have any huge concerns to worry about at that time. Now about QT tanks... sometimes no matter how long you QT you might miss something. Occasionally a warning about an outbreak of something in a particular store to alert people of the need to QT fish from that store or vendor or type of fish if they use a system that has water that doesn't go from tank to tank. and if people have picked up something then they can take the appropriate measures to be sure that if they have it, that it's treated with the proper meds and in the proper way and if they aren't sure then they know what to look for and can report a change in the status of the outbreak in that store or tank. Now legaly speaking I don't see how posting a careful warning worded right and is factual with a follow up of helpful information is wrong. here is what i think could be something we could use... Illness Alert Date discoverd May 1st 4022 Date purchaced May 1st 4022 QT Yes Species affected clown crab shells Possible Disease purple shell heart fungus Symptoms purple fungus grows in heart shapes on the inside of the shell and the claws incessently try to scratch the heart in half Treatment used Took a purple marker and fill in the heart Results- Little clown crab shell baby makeing Now if you noticed i didn't include the store/vendor and used completely bogus 1am creative BS for the facts but the structure and the wording should be okay. I think it might be possible to include that if the fish developed something in QT. If worded right it could warn people that there may be a problem to watch for but not to worry too much if you QT and it provides symptoms to watch for and treatment. Is there a way to have a happy medium between warning and having no warning and make it legal? we could do a structure like above and adjust it's components and wording acordingly. Just some ideas. I do get that whole legal :banned: stuff but some information rather than none is what i'd much appreciate. the other thing is how some other sites even exist.... well lets leave that can of worms for another day. This really was a thought provoking Thread. Thanks for the Spark Baos and the little lightbulbs from some others. (spelling deteriorates as my bedtime gets pushed further and further back) Goodnight L

My snails and pleccos LOVE THEM. The plecco is able to get it and chew on it like it would bogwood and shortly thereafter it's gone. The snails on the other hand get them durring the daytime when the plecco doesn't come out and they swarm the one pellet or two and all that you see is a huge clump of snails. I know the plecco gets his at night because i check back a few minutes later and there is no snail dog pile and no more pellet either. Wafers are good too but since my plecco is not so much a herbavore than an omnivore this pellet is a godsend. The other thing i found is that if you need to over feed to be sure the slower fish in the tank get food then some of those slower or smaller fish seem to take the time to eat the pellets one bite at a time. If you feed at the same time the more dominant fish take a few test bites and then leave it alone. This is in my very mixed african tank. This food really filled a small gap that the NLS brand was missing. Thank you Neil for bringing it to my attention and bringing NLS here. Good Luck L P.S. NLS is much less expensive at Natures Corner Store usually and it's only a hop skip and a jump from Big Al's

wow this is a insanely interesting video. Thanks for shareing and yah the shellie attacking a croc is really telling and funny for me. Here is a link to the Youtube channel with all the video in one spot. Jewel of the Rift :drool:

Well for some reason i think everyone has valid points but you will still get die offs. My red jewels would breed like crazy and the stupid fry would swim away from the parents and get eaten. as it was my first batch of babies ever i tried to save them. I tried a breeding net... DEAD I tried another tank with an establised filter and the parents water... DEAD. My conclusion was that for a period of time after the fry atch that they need the parents for some reason to keep them alive. Even though they were egg layers and not mouth broders the only way they would survive is if i didn`t touch them(i didn`t use a net either) Anyway long story short sometimes no matter what you do you might just have to resort to moveing the parents to their own tank to breed for a bit. I could be wrong but this is my experience and what i came up with from everything i went through. I thought I`d share to let you know that it might not be your fault. Good luck L

A few hours is better than nothing and mosre than likely you'd hear about the outtage and have enough time to get home to do damage control not to mention that power companies RARELY EVER have outages that last more than an hour here in edmonton. The first and last one I've ever experinced was the one last summer that lasted at least 15 hours. Just something to think about. L

It sounds like you have the ability to move in stages so that might be a good way to go. Now looking at this from the viewpoint of someone who only knows the bare minimum what would make sense to me is that the move itself disturbs the bacteria in the rock and substrate. I would think that if you moved the rock once piece per 5 gallon pail and to be sure the bacteria doesn't die in the rocks add an air pump and BE SURE THAT the container is FOOD GRADE. maybe a bunch of Ice creame pails would be good as long as they are washed out with hot water. Snails in the new location would be a good idea. Now tank logistics might cause some problems in that if you don't have another tank to initially set up the new stuff in then you might have more trouble. I look at it like this... The bacteria and other good stuff will probably die if they don't get food, kept under water, or are exposed to toxins/large water chemistry changes. Okay well that is what i think but i haven't really looked into the issue or asked around about how to do it so bring in the experts. Good luck L

What about canadian tires battery backup packs they advertise?? I would think those might be your cheapest and safest bet. Just have a good air pump attatched to it. I wish you could find a filter that has 2 modes available and switches it's speed and power level when on battery backup. Good luck L

I like mine too He looks allot like yours. Congratulations

I`ve wanted to do that for ages but i`d order them from Canadian :thumbs: Aquatics because they have them at a more reasonable price of 200 dollars so even with shipping it`s a good deal. Hmmm I wonder if Harold would like to try and breed a bunch. I wouldn`t mind paying him some money so i could have some babies too. Have a great day L

I use the Canadian Tire ones and my digital one well.... I don`t use the timer on it because it looses memory almost daily even with battery backup so i`ve gone back to Analog ones. good luck L

Riverfront is in Calgary. Natures Corner Store had some very nice green coloured ones with nice finnage but not the fancy half moon ones you are looking for but otherwise i`d check them out since they are very very pretty. Good luck L

There is also Patrick From Gills N Finns He has some pretty rare fish too. he`s a sponcer too. L

Sounds like Popeye to me. My koi got it last spring and I have been able to keep it in check with lots of water changes. From what i understand it is the kidney that is the cause of it but i could be wrong and i wish i had a good remady for you because if i did my koi would be without the issue as we speak. Good luck L