Oxquo

I have to agree with Toirtis, but i'am not oposed to having one. If more people want it, then i'll put it up to see how it goes. True the killi action has been down, or maybe there is just no where to post. Killi's if they are down though will rebound, unlike cichlids, where does one begin to buy killies, Taiwan? Trading is often the best outlet for these gems. there has never been a good market except on golden wonders. Anyways I see both points, if the demand arrises open a column, if not it would be a waste. A person can always use killitalk. It's just everyone tends to have killies but keep them in a closet. It's kinda like eating a hungry man meal and watching will and grace...Killies....Just Killies......

killi / livebearers would be good. As for specialized, Killi's are diverse and their cuteness often causes impulse buys much like bettas, they are also one of the most miskept species around, talking to Bill Bishopp for an hour about his travels finding killies in the wild is too intense to discuss and the surroundings we give them is nothing like they have in the wild. People keep trios of killies in half gallon bowls, few people know that they make great community tank fish for planted tanks and I can't even count the amount of people who buy them at auctions only to have the species deplete in their tanks with a lack of knowledge on how to spawn them. To sum it up, The demand for a forum is only found by asking what the demand on the fish is and the thirst for knowledge about the fish is. Why not just group African cichlids and SA cichlids together? because they very immensely and people would have to search the World for answers. Of course there are other forums specialising in killies and cichlids for that matter, does that mean we want everyone to go find specimen sites? What would that leave this site? Just throwin stuff out there, s'all... Things are cool the way they are, no doubt but check out the killi forums on sites like petfish.net it's very heavily used, the betta forum might be the heaviest but it still shows the demand for killi knowledge. Maybe Americans are just more into killies though.

I was just wondering if there was any interest in a killi section. I think killi's are a diverse enough and popular enough species that they deserve their own notariety. Someone here must love killies aside from Me. Anyone???

Maybe I'll try vic's to start with then, thanks everyone. As for the cave spawning, I have heard of it done with Petricol's but not multi's, even if it did work it doesn't sound as cool as au natural.

My best sucess with mop spawners was to add fungus cure or blue meth to a pill bottle full of water, film capsules work even better. open them daily and once they begin to eye up I'd shake the snot out of the bottle a few times a day before opening it. Carry it in your pocket as it is nice and warm and the water stays slightly aggitated. My hatch outs were always over 90%, with peat around 50%. Don't find it strange though should someone ask you if You are happy to see them, just say nah, I got a killi in My pants. Also a tip on breeding them, keep them separated while feeding them up but close enough that they can see each other for atleast a week. Put the mop in her tank a day before introducing him. A gallon jar works great as he can pin her in the mop easier than say a 10 gallon tank. Leave them together for the day, fill the film capsule with water from th jar and fugus product and then start picking eggs. The long wait to be together creates more eggs to harvest and a hatching rate within 2 to 3 days of each other. Also a pink mop works really nice or yellow. If your mop is too dark the fish will find the eggs before you.

What cichlids are best at mothering these awesome cats, also if they could be nice enough not to kill the bunch at the same time. This is My first crack at these guys and I want to ensure the ultimate success. I have P. Saulosi that breed like mad but fear their mouth is no where big enough, any other suggestions.

Got Fry? I totally dig that female she's a beauty. If You have any fry left lets try to rig up a deal, if they are ready that is.

I think cost would be not that different on say a 10 gallon tank, I split my CO2 with a diverter to a 10 gallon nursery and a 55 gallon planted so I would say I get much less out of My mix, about 1 1/2 weeks. With the hagen one I got around two weeks on the mix but it wouldn't create enough CO2 for My 55, I would likely need 3 of them. Never tried the jello but I have been happy with adding feed corn to the original mix as it forments it gives me extra gas, aside from that I would stick to the original formula. The biggest difference I have found was the brewers yeast vs baking yeast, you definitely get more bubbles out of the brewers by far.

I started off with a 5 gallon metal frame aquarium "the kind where if you touch the water and the light, POW you'd get a loving shock" in winnipeg and luckily ran into a fellow named Ron at Fintastics, We cycled with guppies and He told Me how to reuse water from previous tanks to start up bigger tanks so I went bigger to a cool 10 gallon. Then one day in his store I saw them, it was love at first sight... Wild kribensis man what color!!! they spawned in his store while being Quarantined so He lifted the stone and removed the eggs, He said they will spawn in Your tank first. After that I was hooked. I never even ordered fish I just walked in and Ron would say here, got these for you only $40.00 each. When I was leaving winnipeg He only gave Me one small hint of advice, when You get to Edmonton go see henry at Dads, He is an old apisto breeder like Me he'll take care of you. Ron was right, Henry knew his stuff and My hobby grew to 40 tanks quickly. Meeting the right people and meeting people who will take the time with a newbie makes all the difference I think. Had I have gone to Petsmart or walmart, I would likely have sold My first tank and quit. After all the money was spent I am not sure whether to curse them or thank them LOL

I set it from 14 to 10 for now, hopefully it will happen soon as we are hoping to move quickly here. Speaking of moving back to Edmonton, where the heck is everyone? good to see the group growing though and and lots of new members, can't wait to get the fishroom back in full force.Especially to be able to get some plants, You seldomly see live plants around here unless they came out of this house so I'm pretty bored with mine as of late, that is until this sword began. I am in the midst of a North American planted tank as well got some cool local pond plants that are doing great, really nice stuff and some of it is even doing well in My SA tank. Anywhoos we'll see how the light change works, I mean in hours, I won't dim the lighting unless the leaves on top do it for me. Strangely the original 4 leaves are still on there and are only about 3" about a 3rd of what the new leaves are, I will likely pinch them off today, no sense feeding bad growth. see ya round and thanks again

I'll try it, the leaf in the picture that just broke the surface yesterday is already the size of the one I held up in the other pic and a new one is on it's way up. I have always had CO2 on though, I changed to a formented fruit CO2 now in this mix I used feed corn and 3 apples, I find the CO2 last longer this way. I don't know if anything can really explain the growth. I think I am deciding to move the dovii and plant My spiralis and aponogetons in the tall tank with a single fixture, they always do best under the lower light conditions, although I have young aponogetons coming out now, they just don't look as strong as they should. I wonder if the fruit CO2 made the difference? could something else be going down the lines into the tank? I started using it upon buying a wine kit to make apple cider, then I remembered the good pulpy stuff we use to make at bible camp as kids, and the fizz it made. The first batch I ran strong for a month with apples and sugar only and a tablespoon of yeast. It still would have bubbled beyond that but I sent it through filtration and drank to old times. Now thats what I call clever aquarium maintenance, hahahaha. Well we'll see how it all goes, I cut the light down and maybe the shade will help the aponogetons a little, who knows. With any luck I may be a Daddy again soon lol.

Yeah it's been along time, I am considering a move back to Edmonton, so I may just open up a few of My empty tanks again, I had shut down 34 out of 40 due to lack of hobby here. I'll try the light deally as I said I never had luck with swords but this one is rockin. I was thinking about a clay pot in the dovii tank or just removing the dovii and planting it, he's pretty docile and pathetic I really doubt he'd dig but He may in new substrate. At the same time the tank looks great but I do have to uproot some of the val, once a tank filler now a pain in the arse. Anyways we'll give the lighting a try and see if babies happen, 8 hours is good or should I drop more, and what about temp, it's at 76F now. thanks.

I am not sure what is different, for 3 years My osirus has had about 2 leaves. One day I restarted My planted tank out of boredom, taking into account growth I sparsely planted some val, green and red wendtii an aponogeton or 4 and My pathetic 4 small leaved osirus. I never had much luck with swords. I went with 4" of organic soil, peat and sphagnum mix and layed on an inch and a half of gravel. being lowlight plants I went with t-8 double tube and a gallon jug CO2 disperser. The lights are 14 hours a day and they are two cheap 48" zellers plant and grow bulbs. I add only one cap of iron by seachem every weekly water change. But wholly snap batman. My osirus is growing clean out of the tank. A new leaf forming every 2-3 days and almost like a flowering aponogeton the leaf takes one day to break the 20" tank surface. Could there be nuclear waste in My water? What a beauty that plant is. Not all plants are doing as well though, I found the crypt spiralis is getting dark green fuzzballs on it. At this point there are three huge leaves laying on top, the leaves are almost twice as big as My hand as the pictures will show I have one small red leaf about 3" out of the water and a new red one coming up, I am thinking of putting a side light fixture on so it won't become light deprived as the leaves cover the surface. I would love to move this plant to My 30" tall tank but how would it fare? I would likely change over the whole bottom of the 40 gallon tall. My only fish in there is a Dovii about 5". The one thing I realise is much different is the CO2 is alot more than before, I don't regulate it except by eye and keep it steady. The tanks inhabitants are 5 bristlenose, 3 cherry barbs 2 angels and a sturisoma aureum. Anyways the substrate is pretty soft but messy, would you attempt to move it??? and the leaves are just awesome color, the red seems to inhabit up to 3 leaves at a time unlike the regular 1.

I am wondering what oven baked clays have ben sucessful around here. I here there are atleast two that are safe but that is all the info I know so far. Kiln drying is possible but but not all those clays are safe for fish either. I am guessing the clay used in terra cotta pots could be available in Canada but have yet to find it. What can I say, it's winter and time to improve the seasonally neglected aquariums.

Has anyone had sucess using craft paint in the aquarium? I am simply looking at a way to decorate my shell dwellers shells for the seasons, yep it's mighty boring in this one sober guy town.

Mine were very good on the plants providing I placed them in either a lava rock planter or atleast put rocks around them, they dig pits when they spawn or I should say shortly after and uprooted a few. I have never seen them eat a plant but they did rip a leaf or two off if it was in the way. Most of them I found to be pretty good in nature but they do hide alot, less if the tank is planted well. Having a few small barbs in the tank or even danios often brings them out for a chase and maybe a small meal or two. As for fish that hide well, where the hell are my dovii?lol.

I kept one for a bit but it stunk up my fishroom too much and the slime killed my filter nearly. Not a fun fish to keep, I released him where he came from. I do know someone keeping walleye though, they are doing very well. Illegal but fun.

Two questions, as a fisherman, how was the fight? Basslike I am guessing. As a fishkeeper, tell us that you fished barbless around such beautiful cichlids.

I used snow, a 10 gallon tank and a 1-1 ratio yet I wished I'd have used more females, I have a new community ready for this year and will attempt to have two or three batches of eggs for my one male to care for. Lots of spinach, green beans spirulina and lumber to chew on is a nice conditioner. In a 10 gallon tank I like 2 gallons of snow and I leave the heater on so it slowly climbs back to 78F after the snow melts, These fish can simply go on their own at any time but I find getting them started in the fall helps. I have yet to see a Summer or early fall spawn but November seems to be My lucky month with most catfish. Once the females are near the top of the tank, remember to remove them if in a 10 gallon tank or they could meet a nasty death. Even I took a good whoopin from My big male once while trying to move fry, these are great parents but I find that breeding them before 2 years of age is useless.

I would have thought that maybe if your betta were gay, it would blow much more bubbles than other bettas. Check to see whether maybe he is sucking in the bubbles rather than blowing them out into his nest. If this is the case, you may actually be able to add another male betta of the same preferences down the road, may I suggest calling them Ace and Gary the ambiguously gay duo or maybe the simplified Niel and Bob. Just trying to help, either way I think it would be wrong of you as a betta parent to not just sit down with your betta and talk about it so you can understand him more.... Signed Dr. Phil

I'm thinking at 6-8" anything would be a bad combo. At first I thought about making a concrete tank out of cinder blocks around 800 gallons. From there I would opt to buy a bunch of old veterans, they seem to have a high tolerance since they are no longer spawning and territorial. The sad fact is that they have that high price tag for fish people turn over because they are unwanted. In the case of the old vets they need room more to move around then say territory but they still need alot of room. As for my young dovii, I wouldn't wan't anything to terrorise them such as an umbee so I am thinking maybe midas, dempseys and terrors are also cheap and should handle themselves well till the dovii are well settled. I guess it all leads back to the age old question, who grows faster??? I think jags are one of the fastest growing fish in the hobby and may get bigger, faster and then dominate the tank. Not that the dovii are slow growers but I think a little slower than Jags. As for Umbi's I am not sure on their growth rate, I would imagine pretty fast seeing their overall length versus lifespan.My best chance would likely be to move all fish into the big tank at the same time and hope for the best. Tonnes of logs, rocks and hollows. lot's of blackwater extract to keep them calm and sedate as much as they can be and hope for the best.

Am I ever enjoying having predators again, unfortunately I only aquired two and they hate each other. The bigger one is about 3" and it was sooo cute the other night when he grabbed a full grown guppy male by the tail, swam to the corner and spit it out just to head first the guy as he turned around. At this point the tail was sticking out of his mouth slightly, did he hide then and finish his guppy? Nope, he began to pursue the second guppy, catching it 5 or 6 times by the tail while he still had the tail of the second one sticking out. I was killing myself laughing as he was killing them and laughing in an evil fish kinda laugh. As much as I enjoy them, I am looking forward to maybe getting the 8" pair that the old lady passed up on and throwing these guys in the pond for the summer. I need to hurry up now as I have just finished building the 230 gallon tank but need my new livingroom done to set it up. For now I have only a 55 gallon for each of them. Never really even considering a predator community before, what would you guys stock with them in an 8' x 2' x 2' tank? I have seen a community once with dovii, jags, red devils and midas, I still think the dovii would outgrow a few of those and maybe whoop them up good. I was wondering about an Umbi mix? Anyways, gotta say I love having these guys around, almost wishin I never gave my pike pair to Garhan now lol. I am even thinking of buying them little T-shirts that say " Got Guppy???" lol. Can't wait till they are bigger though, I already had a kid tell me that pirahna would eat him in seconds flat. I told him that he is welcome to put them in my tank for awhile, a very short while when my boy grow up. I still remember my first pike cichlids and the very same dare way back then, ahhh I miss the sound of a cichlid crunching on the hardened teeth of the big toothy tetra hahahha.

Most of the pictures I see on ameiva quadrilineata have no color at all, yet the skin tone and shape is bang on. Why would Leon's tail be so blue and pretty, could he be a freakish cross or is that even possible? I see the lines, and the head shape but why so much blue in his tail? Or is this normal in some ameiva quadrilineata?

Interesting but not suprising, the wholesaler we get our stuff from is questionable at best most times and though we have found a new distributor, I still want more of these guys. Will this one still get the wicked coloring? He is getting very blue from his tail up to just past his hind legs, and it looks like a little orange under his neck. still can't pick him up as he is quick like a bunny and hops high enough to get away when the lid is off. I definitely want more of these guys or I should say ladies. I wonder how many of their reptiles aren't what they really are labelled as. I have found many screw ups in the fish so far which is why we are changing distributors but would have never caught the lizard thing, thanks for noticing.

a school of cory hasbrosis, hastatus or pygmaeus look cool You could use others like pandas if you want a little bigger. As much as i am not a big fan of bettas, they have been selling like mad in this town, of course I intend on replacing the interest with killies in the near future. At any rate, to my customers, I have suggested keeping nothing more than a betta and an ADF in a 1 - 2 gallon bowl also that they have a cave for the frog so he can store air bubbles and stay out of the crusty bettas way. I have big doubt though that a betta could hurt an ADF. I always put a little free riccia flutans in with my bettas which also gives a frog a place to hang out. If a person has filtration and a nice floating plant corner of duckweed, riccia etc... I'd say the betta will mostly just stay there, anything that won't nip it should be fine.