Noodles

well a heater would take care of the issues. there's always used ones in the buy and sell section

where can i find out how big of a tank I can put on my main floor? It would be across the span of 5 or 6 joists and about a foot from the beam in the basement. I have 2x10 joists spaced at 12",spanning about 15' thanks Sheldon

I don't know their reputation, but i saw that http://www.aquariumshop.ca/ had some Tropheus Illangi not too long ago

nice pictures, I would love to get some of those little guys some day :smokey:

Could be possible. Well he\she started eating again and is acting normal again so i guess i'll try venting this weekend.

Hold the fish with thier belly towards you so you can clearly see the area in fromt of the anal fin, this is the vent. There will be an anal pore and a genital papillia. With the females the genital papilia is wider and looks larger then the anal pore. Imagine looking at the vent and seeing two small dots or marks, if you will. Both the marks similar in size with the males. The females have one smaller and one larger. The larger one closest to the base of the anal fin. Something like so: Male Female o <--- anal pore--------> o o <---genital papillia---> O You really need to see some photos or live fish to do this right but I hope this gives you an idea. Cheers :beer: thanks, do you use a magnifying glass or is it enough to see with the naked eye? I'm about 99.9% sure that it is a male, just because of his coloration, shape, and size. I'll try venting him once I see him eating again. He doesn't look like he's holding anymore but he still swims right up to the food, looks at it, then swims away. And ocasionally it looks like he is juggling eggs in his mouth. Maybe there are just a couple eggs so it doesn't show from the outside? thanks for all the replies

I'm not exactly sure how to vent.

No females holding. I haven't actually seen the eggs, but his throat is bulging, doesnt eat, and the female that I thought was going to lay eggs is now skinny.

Well these are the ones I bought from you. And it is the male with black fins and blue tail.

The other day I noticed one of my female cyps belly starting to bulge so I have been watching closely so that I could watch the breeding display. Today after work I went to see the progress and to my surprise one of the male cyps is holding!!! :well: Has anyone ever heard of this? What are the odds that the eggs are fertilized? thanks Sheldon

Very nice pic, love those guys!! :thumbs:

It usually takes around 3-4 days until they are little wrigglers. The parents are very good at protecting their young, unless they feel very threatened or if the fry are deformed... then they have been known to eat them. Sheldon

This site was alot of help for me as I watched all the little creatures http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq :thumbs:

thanks for the replys

Hi, I've got a 90 gallon tank with no top, it has the plastic trim around the edges and a glass brace in the center of the tank just below the plastic trim. Anyone know were i can get a glass top for it? thanks Sheldon

I have the same thoughts as you..... the tank is only as clean as the filter is. I clean mine out every 2-3 weeks.

This is a great site with lots of excellent advice to be found :welcome:

129!!!! Wow, how big is your female? :shock: Sorry about the loss, I've also had fry eaten through a breeder net.

Well I was getting a little nervous about fry getting eaten because some of them were wiggling right at the entrance to the shell. So I just took the shell out in a little bucket of water and slowly put the shell in my 20 gallon waiting for them. I flushed the fry out of the shell and it looks like about 2/3 of the eggs were unfertilized and were starting to go bad and there was also a couple fry that hatched and got stuck together and died. So it looks like there are about 20-30 little guys maybe 2 days from being free swimming, just wiggling around!!!! :thumbs:

Thanks for the good luck, I guess I'll be doing some experimenting!

Well my calvus have finally bred, I know that this is the easy part. I am just wondering how long to leave the eggs in the big tank? Some sites said to move the mother and the "shell" with the babies in it, and some said to move just the babies. I've also read that you should wait 10 days then move the babies. Is it best to have no substrate? Can i put the babies in with some peacock babies once they are eating fine? Thanks in advance for the advice/input! Sheldon

Thanks for all the awsome advice!

What size do the fish need to be to start eating NLS Grow?

Blue Neon Peacock : Aulonocara stuartgranti (Undu Reef)wild several batches growing out Zebra Calvus : Altolamprologus calvus (Kipili)wild any day now?

Awsome pics! :thumbs: