Burbot

They are all great fish but I wouldn't put them all in the same tank. Some of them look very similar and you run the risk of cross breeding and making hybrids (is that the toilet I hear flushing?). If you are setting them up in seperate tanks you will probably have fry in no time. You can breed them in tanks as small as 5 gallons with a good pair. The caudopuntatus are very agressive and they will bully other fish over twice thier size. I have seen ocellatus attack frontosa, gravel cleaners and arms that came too close to thier shell.

I have a few shell dwellers at the moment. They need a few shells of course and they can pretty much hold thier own as long as there is nothing else in the tank big enough to eat them. You have to be careful about too many males of the same species. Purple ocellatus males don't tolerate one another. If you give them sand substrate the will be alot more interesting to watch as them seem to like digging and moving thier shells around. Some people keep them in comunnity tanks with all kinds of other fish. Hope this helps, Cheers :beer:

It seems like there are a lot of opinions on the merits of stripping mouthbrooders. Some cichlids can take several spawns before the females hold completely to term and release a large # of fry. That's why some cichlidkeepers strip the eggs. I know I couldn't bear to watch an expensive and rare species swallowing or spitting eggs and losing several clutches of fry. At the same time you miss out on alot of parental behaviour between the female and fry if you do not let them do it naturally. There are several very good reasons to do this. You might want to check out Ad Konings books "Enjoying Cichlids" (page 52-53) or "Back to Nature Guide to Tanganyika Cichlids" (page 38). It might save some embarrassment before quoting online myths and smoking fish food. There are alot of very good reasons not to strip as pointed out by Konings but at the same time I don't think I would trust an inexperienced female with her 1st brood of Petrochromis fry. Well done! Cheers, :beer:

Hey all, was just wondering when humidity starts to become a problem. When does it become a serious issue in terms of possible property damage to the house? Is a thouusand gallon room ok? 2000 gallons? When do we need to be concerned about mold? Cheers :beer:

Welcome Mundrew, Sounds like you are resetting your water cycle by doing such large water changes, especaillly to a new tank. I would be more incline to leave the tank after initail set up for at least a month before changing water. Then start 25% changes once a week. If I need to clean the filter media then only a 15% change and rinse the media in the old tank water. I haven't bought an ammonia or nitrate test kit in 20 years with this pattern of changes. "Cycle" is basically the same as mature filter media in terms of what it does so if you just add more cycle you should be good. Just my 2cents Cheers, :beer:

:welcome: Cheers :beer:

Sorry to hear about the loss of fish. Hope this isn't something that they are adding to all Calgary water. I can't believe someone from the city is stupid enough to tell the public "it was none of my business what they put in the water". Considering we drink, cook, and bathe in the water everyday, it pretty much makes it our business. If it contains something leathal to biotic life it is definately potentailly dangeerous to humans Should have told the newspapers about that one...

There is no reason at all not to have plants in a cichlid tank. Have a look in the lakes, or a picture on the net if you haven't had the chance to visit the lakes in person. They are full of plants! So it really makes no sense when people insist on plantless tanks when the fish have been coexsisting with 100's of different species of flora in thier natural habitat since long before any of us were born. There are many tanks full of healthy thriving plants and cichlids. You are welcome to come and check out my planted Tangyanikan tanks anytime. The plants provide oxygen, hiding places, help keep the water clean and make it look a lot more natural and beautiful. Never forget that regardless of what humans try to tell you, the fish and plants have never read the books or the forums on the net and have lived together happily for millions of years. Is not the ultimate goal of any aquarist to recreate the natural beauty found in nautre? Just my humble opinion... Cheers :beer:

Personally I haven't had a problem mixing fish from different lakes when I first starting keeping cichlids 25 years ago (we were all noobs once right?) but in the end there is always something in the back of my mind that just doesn't seem right about mixing cichlids from different lakes. It is just out of place to see a Front surrounded by Zebras, especailly when there are so many different and exciting species available from each lake there is really no reason to mix. Afterall, you just end up with a glorified community tank once you start mixing hehehe Ultimately there is only one solution to resisting the urge to mix, MORE TANKS! -roll- So when are you setting are going to set up a new 180? Cheers :beer:

:welcome:

How has the Excel water base sealler worked out? I am building a 135g atm and still haven't settled on the sealler/liner. I was thinking about using arbourite since applying the 2 part expoy is not an option in my small home and I don't want to wait for summer to build things outside (MTS is a demanding affliction ) Cheers :beer:

Great idea and easy to do too! :beer:

Well there are some killies that can co-exist happilly in a community tank but due to their natural life cycle of exisiting in temporary habitates it really is important to acitively reproduce these fish in the hobby. It is also important to note their small size makes them not too suitable in a tank with larger fish like breeding angels. They do take a bit of extra care but there is something magical about seeing a group fry appear from a bag of peat that you collected several months before. Cheers :beer:

If it is a "fluffy" white groth then you are probably dealing with a fungus and not a bacteria. Melafix won't treat fungus, try Pimaifix from the same company. It works in a couple of days if you catch the fungus soon enough and smells too. Sniff sniff Boom Cheers :beer:

If you are keeping these fish I assume you are colllecting eggs, right? :thumbs: So then you have container of peat and hopefully some wood in the tank which should help to soften the water. Use bottled distillled water or your drinking water, if you have a softener in your house, for hatching out the eggs. Introduce tap water through gradual water changes. If they won''t spawn for you in tap water, this also works convincing finky Nothos to get busy. Cheers :beer:

No no, you don't want the eggs to dry out thats when they are in danger of becoming completly decimated and nothing will hatch. The incubation period differs, but the eggs need to be kept with some degree of moisture in the peat to remain viable. This is why you don't want to order the eggs in winter. The moisture freezes, eggs die, no fry. At the same time if they completely dry out for too long, eggs die. We are just trying to recreate the wet and dry seasons these fish come from but if don't keep them within the same moisture and temperature of thier natural environment we aren't going to see alot of fry. Cheers :beer:

It's actually fairly common practice to send killifish eggs by mail. Nothobranchius eggs are sent all the time. Aphyosemion eggs are not, they seem to dry out and are not as resiliant as the peat divers'. Don't order in the winter or they will all freeze in the mail. :cry: I've seen them come from Europe in the past and had them hatch out ok. Not in huge numbers, but enough to get a breeding pair or two. It makes a big difference to viability if the eggs are sent fresh and haven't been sitting around inncubating for too long. Also the moisture of the peat is important because it can get too dry and descimate the eggs. Hope this helps. :beer:

Delete please

Hey All, I am just in the process of building a plywood tank and would like to hear about others experience with using arborite as a liner. I have seen many designs and built more than a dozen plywood tanks inthe past using fiber glass resin and marine paint...I want to try sometimng else and I am not thinking of using the pond liner. So.. anyone tell me the average longevity and general experiences with arborite tanks. Cheers :beer:

The parents should be protecting the fry to some extent, they are cichlids after all. You may wish to consider some baby fish food if you are planning to save and raise the fry. Powedered flake or frozen baby brine shrimp may be enough but nothng is better than live baby brine shrimp if you want lots of fry. Also, if you plan on netting them, a fine mesh net with the stitching to the outside when you catch them is ok. If they are really small drop a baby saver or whatever under the fry and herd them in. Sounds like you are well on your way to becoming a fishaholic. Let us know how the fry progress. Cheers :beer:

I use to build plywood tanks using fiberglass resin or marine paint. They never seemed to last longer then 5 years...made for some nasty clean ups. Hoe long are these cemet board and arborite tanks holding up?

Currently.. Neolamprologus brevis "Orange Spot" Neolamprologus meleagrus Neolamprologus multifasciatus Neolamprologus similus Eretmodus cyaenostictus "Kasanga" WC Cyathopharynx foae "Sibwesa" F1 Cyprichromis leptostomis "Utinta" Cyprichromis microlepidotus "Bulu Point" F1 Julidochromis "Kissi" Pemba Telmatochromis brichardi Triglachromis otostigma WC Aulonocara ethylwannae F1 Aulonocara mualana "Bicolour 500" Aulonocara sp. Chitande type north Nkhata Bay Aulonocara sp. Ngara "Flame Tail" F1 Aulonocara kandeense "Blue Orchid" Cynotilapia zebroidies Labidochromis sp. "Mbamba" Orange Blaze Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" Yellow Tail Teleocichla prionogenys Cheers :beer:

I only have buescheri and cyprichromis tri color atm, but I hope to get more soon. Lots of room left in my 55gal. Anyone know how well some of the gobi ciclids might make out with this set up?

Hi everyone. I am just getting set up here again with a 55gal with some Neolamprologus buesheri "kipili" and Cyprichromis "tric-olour". Hoping to set up some more tanks soon :smokey: