robin

Hi all, needing some help here. I have a 30 gal with 16 demasoni in it. They are good stock (mostly from fairdeal). They came healthy, have been treated for parasites, treated with polyguard, melafix, pimafix, and all the goods. The water parameters have all been checked over and over. The tank looks good, the 2 loaches in the tank are thriving. They eat nls. They are not beating up on each other. Question!! Why, oh, why, do they slowly die off, one at a time, once a month or so? I have gone over treatments with Henry at Natures. I have made sure the tank is alllll goood. What is wrong? This is my first cichled tank, so am I missing the knack? Is the tank too small? It is 'over filtered', beautiful and slowly dying off. I have already had to buy more to keep the population up to keep the aggression down. Why are they dying? I have checked the ph against what demasoni like, the temp, the nitrated, nitrites, ammonia....what else? The guy I bought them from said they lived successfully in this 30 gal tank before I got them, so I thought the size would continue to be okay?!?! ANy suggestions? I am ready to pass them off to a more experienced cichlid keeper if I can't seem to get them happy here! Robin

verrrry nice fella.

i was thinking congo tetra's too, you beat me to it....i am sure there are some other great ideas out there.......

:smokey: nice fish...nice shot!

Howdy!

howdy!!

lol, i was watching this post and got a kick out of the result! well, now you know what to do if you end up with a snail problem!

Really sorry to hear this, he sure looks like he was a brute!! Robin

welcome! :welcome:

thanks, my labs and demasoni were awfully mean to them when i put them in the tank......they did a quick trip back down to their old tank!! hope i didn't stress them too much!

thanks guys, i will do the snail trap trick. i do put snello in the tank for the apple snails, hence, lots of snail food! I am meticulous on vaccuming gravel and water changes, but the excess food is an obviously the problem (gotta love them apple snails!) i pm'd some who might be interested as i will try the snail trap tonight. i picked out the bigger ones yesterday for someone, but there are soooooo many tiny little ones in there! thanks for the help, robin

Hi, do yo yo's bother big snails such as apple snails normally? I know they dine on my mts.......

Hi, my mts are taking over my 10 gal. If I put a loach in there (from another tank of mine) to "off" the little guys, do they eat the shells too? Is there any risk of hundreds of shells being mixed in with gravel? Any other tips other than hours spent picking them out? The tank has guppies/fry.

is that a yo yo loach in the top left corner in the 2nd last pic?

they look wonderful!

thanks! that is an awesome website.....my daughters will be so happy to check it out tomorrow as well.... robin

kewl, thanks for the names for me too!!

thank you....you answered my question. i am just trying to figure out who is laying the clutches!! robin

are you sure???? lol What i mean is......only some of the snails get shell damage......could you tell me why? are they the ones on the 'receiving' end of the fertilization???

Question: Some snails get shell damage from mating. The ones with the damage, are they the ones laying the clutches of eggs? Robin

i have 5 apple snails in this tank, they are all pretty active with the snail porn. i am not sure who put this clutch up there! sorry. as for what kind of snails, or names they are...ask bettafishmommy........they are from her!

gotcha. well, too late for this group....lots of porn lately though.....more will come!

hello. i have a breeding pair of apple snails (new to me) that set a clutch of eggs above the water in a corner of the tank. from what i know, this is what they do. the question.....the clutch fell a few days ago. is this supposed to happen? it is now sitting on the gravel at the bottom of the tank. are the eggs supposed to fall into the water to hatch? if not, and if the snails propogate again, how long from when the eggs are laid to when they hatch? do i do anything special? there is always an inch or more at the top of the tank without water for them to lay on.... robin

hello. i have a tank with a school of demasoni. they tend to stay snug to the rockwork and take up only the bottom half of the tank. i am looking for suggestions of another fish, contrasting in color, not a huge fish (yellow labs came to mind) that will swim more in the open water of the top half of the tank. i would like to put in just one, or two or three (depending on the needs of the fish). thoughts? thanks in advance. robin

very nice photo! so nice to see the fry so clearly.