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Is that another song of Enriques? I will maybe try playing it for him and see if it has the same effect. I am not yet sure whether it is the song or the singer, I am only sure that even after meeting Pet Phsycologist Dr. Stanley Coren, My dog is still mental. Even the doctor could only say" So.... What made you decide on a Boston Terrier??? He went on to tell me that some royal family member has two of them but then again they have fulltime nannies. I thought Septic sludge sucking was a bad job, imagine being a nanny to boston terriers??? As for Worlds most dangerous jobs, move frontline infantry down one notch.... I really doubt they would kill you, but after a few months you'd just kinda be an empty shell like the people in the movie Awakenings. I think though in the end, the bird and the fish will all jump out one day and hang a lickin on him atleast that is what we pray for daily lol. If nothing else, the churches should use these dogs as convert tools. Instead of Missionaries they could send in a few crates of Bostons, after about 3 days when the dogs have adjusted, these people will be praying to God's they didn't even know existed.

Want to talk stupid angels? I had a lesbo pair for over a year now, or atleast I thought, wrong. They are fertile this time. Both of them at one time or another had paired up with an old male of mine, not sure how but I always got a spawn, truthfully enough, I had no envision of raising the fry so I never payed them much attention, The males tuber always looked too big and round to be a male. In general I am not a big fan of angels but their popularity is astounding and they should almost have a spot of their own on here. I still feel that seldom do people know the aggressive behaviour of these fish and how far from angels they really are rather than making those impulse newbie buys and finding out. Furthermore, I was wondering if anyone else here found better success rates in raising fry by pulling the male shortly after spawn? I find in all of my pairings that the males turn on the nest around the first day of free swimming. One of my males is well over 4 years old and this one now that is now apparently a male was a fry of mine and is around 2 1/2 years. I am wondering if it could be just immaturity although I feel it shouldn't be. Another pair that I use to have spawned for 2 years in and out of breeding tanks, yet it wasn't until I pulled the male that I ended up with juvies from them. I also wondered if maybe it was just the pairs and if pulling the female would have been just as acceptable. I say open an angelfish column and let it rock!!! Maybe we can solve the mystery of why angels only love to spawn on filter intakes that are running and heaters that are hot, yet dummy intake tubes and dummy heaters cause glass spawns.

I have to agree with dean here. Regardless of whether people want to adjust their tank water specifically to a biotope or not, it's like mixing oscars and peacocks, it just doesn't look natural. It looks like a tank at PJ's where they mix Kribs and Tropheus because they both are africans cichlids they tell me. Also, chances are that by the time you notice africans picking on something it's usually hanging off the filter intake. Maybe I just need to understand why people want to mix the two together.

Horndog is right, but first he likes to destroy his objects of affections. Seldom has anyone come into our house without seeing a pile of Sir Humpalot fuzz laying about. Then he rolls up the stuffed animal skins into a ball and away he goes. As for Diesel, he never really tries with him although Diesel sometimes tries when Chester is occupied. This turn out into an Ultimate Fighting championship and is a very nasty scrap. Atleast I know my dog loves to give more than recieve.lol. I am definitely thinking Chester may have watched the " Metrosexual " episode on south park. The very first incident of the molester stage was when My little niece came over and put down her little cheetah duffle bag, the one with a stuffed head? At 8 weeks old he nailed that thing so hard that My niece said she didn't really want it back.... So we let him have it but always feared that one day he'd get it stuck in the zipper. Truth is, I will never own another one, should I survive this one. I wanted a Mastiff, old lady wanted a poodle. I am not manly enough to feel cool owning a poodle, so it was Pug or boston terrier. Sure they liven up your house, and entertain more than any other dog I have owned, including dragging humpy to the livingroom to show our guests what he has learned, but never again will I have even the slightest bit of energy to own one or be owned by them. Yet in some sad way, I will always remember this dog as the one who stands out more than the rest. I am sure he still gives Garhan nightmares lol. A year after we got him though, I found out that the females are actually half as crazy, Why don't they tell you this at the breeder? I think they tell you after the males are gone.

Like I said, I think it may be a good food, but it was them and not you who suggested that is all I need to feed my fish. Also that I should sell it to my customers that way. He told me that the discus food was very accepted and was a meal all in itself meaning no frozen foods or meats needed adding to the diet. Anyone knows that with fish variety is the spice of life, they are opportunity feeders by nature. I have even caught Northern Pike with nothing more than a belly full of snails, eaten by opportunity. My problem is that much like dealing with Hagen, their attitude is be all end all of foods. I have even still given them the benefit of the doubt and ordered the cichlid foods. I am very open to see the effects but too close minded to think one food is all fish need for anything more than sustaining a fish. Even dogs need a steady diet with a variety of treats to keep their diet healthy. In any case RD I thought you were spawning catfish and were trying this method. I guess having to deal with pushy, overbearing sales reps who know little about the lives of the creatures they sell products for has made my arteries hard, sorry if I seemed to come on strong, I think in some way we are thinking along the same track. I just read into it as what the sales rep said" feed only NLS, nothing else". and , " Frozen and live foods spoil a fish until they reject real nutrition". Once again I may have misunderstood and I apologise, Oh yeah, good luck with the pleco spawning degrassi. I hope to see baby photos soon. Let me also clear up that if your fish are eating the NLS wafers then use those, I only mention Sera as it has been a great tablet food when fish seem to suck up and spit out a majority of spirulina wafers.

While trying to find a song that My Cockatiel and Boston Terrier could sing together, I stumbled upon this sick fact. My terrier Chester loves Enrique Englasias or however you say his name. It was via an internet radio station a song called don't turn out or off the lights. I would say it was that he hated it but he is so proud singing it that it hurts my feelings. Nope not AC-DC, of course it couldn't be Motley Crue or even the Ramones. Sadly, I think my dog may be of same sex persuasion now and needs therapy. Can anyone stop this madness. Here he is at the store singing for the ladies, or was he really? I do really hope the bird will not sing this terrible song with him for fear that people will think I am a great fan.

Is that how your's spawned as well RD? Some spawn easy some spawn harder, fish can't read books. As for getting them into top condition and just great everyday care for plecos, veggies is a nice touch and a great overnight food. Granted my older bristlenose used to spawn without notice although this was after the initial spawn though they were eating beans everynight so I guess bad example, that one is normally harder. I am not saying it isn't possible to spawn fish just on dry food, veggies and live help alot though. This new life spectrum could be good food I will try another kind than the discus food. Point is, when I asked them about feeding and my discus refusing to eat it, they said I spoil my fish with live foods "grindals, mysis etc" and shouldn't be. This is BS, simply put. They were trying to pull a Hagen and get me to 100% stock just their food and tell people that frozen is not good feeding it actually disturbs the balance. Hmmm, I did tell them that my discus do eat their bits from Kensfish and they eat Omega one. They love frozen heart and liver with shrimp and fish so much none gets wasted. But this is not a food advertisement here. It's a breeding column. I will still say, feed veggies if you want these......

Excellent, I very much doubted they'd ever spawn without rasping veggies, good luck.

So are you saying that you can spawn anything on NLS alone without live and without a varying diet? I am not being critical, just asking if this is actually what the company is saying. I never read that part in my brochure when they approached our store to carry NLS. I just don't think any flake or pellet could replace fresh cold gammarus right out of the ice fishing hole or a handfull of whiteworms on cories or even red wigglers on south americans. It would seem natural for any company to make this claim but using it for maintenance seems like a good choice. How is the SA food? I just know that nothing beats liver and heart mixed with naturose and vitaboost flake for discus. I can almost watch mine grow. I'd love to see someone perfect a discus flake that they just hammer instead of spitting in and out until the filter disolves it. So far, Omega is the closest I have seen. At any rate Degrassi, skipping out on the veggies would be likely a big mistake, especially since you are nearing the end of the easy to spawn season. That is if you meant feeding your plecos NLS alone. Plecos spawn best between december and march due to the extremely high pressure systems, a cool water change on one such stormy day can be a big factor in the harder to spawn cats as though the gravity just pushes the eggs out. Good luck on the spawn and can't wait to see your set-up, I am sure it's just right.

I am confused now??? Aren't all africans Peacocks?????? hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaahhahaahahahahahahahaahahaha No seriously, aren't they? In the case I am right, I got little yellow peacocks, some blue ones, some reddish ones oh and I have Pelvicachromis Pulcher " Nigeria" and "Cameroon" Thanks to Fintastics in Winnipeg.

Thanks RD, Sera Is a kick A food though in the cat department, I have never tried this other tab, I am guessing you sell it? I'll give it a try. I tried the new life spectrum due to the reviews on this board. My results were not as pleasing as other peoples but I always like to try things personally. And besides it wasn't a catfish tab. Much like Sera, I only like 3 of their products alot and Viformo is one of the ones I trust. As for my NLS discus food, it does get eaten in my frozen beef/liver mixture so all is not wasted. I will admit that it smelled great, but discus are just not your average ferocious eaters like oscars and africans. Thanks for the heads up though RD, I will order some tabs and give them my most honest review after using them. Maybe I'll split up my trios and use Sera in the other tank.

The only difference I can find so far between them J is that the males have almost no nuchal hump and more flourescence on the cheek, other than that they are really close. It may be interesting in the future to see if many more changes erupt. Or is this just a really close morph of the brasils. I have realised that they are half as peaceful as the brasils. and can strip the scales off a dither convict in a few hours, The best dither so far is a divider and each other. This may be the worst geophag I have kept since Satanoperca Daemon.

The tank sounds perfect, as for the snow? I have tried RO and even rain water, My guess is that it is the sulfuric acid in the snow that gets them, Rain water works just chill it a bunch before adding it. RO is usually non-buffered and always reads bad readings, Biggest problem is that there is no substance to it. There are still many minerals in snow and rain and the pH is around 4.5 at times in Alberta, out here it comes in at about 6.0 but has the same effect. If you choose RO maybe try adding an acid buffer to drop it a bit. In their natural habitat, when the rain season comes the water values go wild. This is what brings on spawn, it even worked on the discus. temps from 82 down to 68 in hours, pH from 6.8 to 5.5 hardness from 60ppm to 5 in a span of 48 hours, few south americans can resist spawning. Just ask Henry at DAD's about the value of snow and rain. At any rate. Introduce your male to the tank first, likely he is ready anyways, the female if she has been eating well and not competing for food too hard may be ready as well, only a swollen belly against the glass will let you know for sure. Feed, feed and feed some more if not. As I mentioned earlier, keep the middle water clean, don't over clean the bottom, you will have a hard enough time finding fry food once they hatch, few people I know could ever have enough algae. Some have suggested that in the same manner as breeding danios leave the tank by a window or outside till good and green before breeding as this gives both the parents and the fry to come a tonne of great steady food. Allowing your male a little time to ready a nest first is a good idea as it is him who will invite the female in for a short stay. When I got my first pair of ancistrus I traded a girl from ACE for Micro synodontis, She didn't like the plecos anymore and said that they hated her tank and hid out in the same cave all day, I said"same cave, I'll take them. It was that night I gave them a snow dose and the next day she was clinging to the far end of the tank wanting out. Anyways If feeding your female up in the community is too much work, rest assured that the male and female can co-habitate for the duration up until the eggs are finished being laid. She will have a hard time keeping out of his sight after that but you can condition the two in the same tank if needed. I have been experimenting with sulfuric acid lately on fish, and although it's a little scary, I think already I am on to something big. For now though, maybe try something like an RO with discus trace in it maybe even discus buffer. It's the acidity you really want on the first spawn. Once they do spawn though, it will take no more than feeding and a water change to get them to go after that, the first time is the hardest. Good luck and do some pics of your set-up if you can, it sounds just right.

Sorry, what I meant was to try and get a few late night feedings in as well. Although a lot of plecos come out and feed during the day, they still eat at night furiously, whereas during the day it's more of an opportunity thing and not an actual hunt for food. Mysis is a good conditioner but slow on it when you are getting close to spawn. Plecos are dirty enough no need to add excess fats and protiens to a tank of 40 or more plecos when the fry come. As for the wafers, they are great but remember to add lots of veggies as overnight feeding blocks. For best results, go down to DAD's and pick up some sera viformo even your fry will be able to munch on this stuff, in the catfish hobby, I have never seen a better food although it is not very widespread. To be honest I am not really big on their flakes either but Viformo for cats and sera fry powder for fry is the best Ive seen on the market today. So atleast 1 time a night during conditioning add a veggie, switching up between spinach and zucchini will do well, a well rinsed canned green bean during the evening and say a wafer or tablet in the morning. That would consist of atleast 3 steady feedings per day, remember to remove the first veggie before adding a new one. That along with a good log to gnaw on and a coconut cave to spawn in, all you will need to do from that point is a good cool water change, in my preference 10% cold snow. Some have said that the addition of a powerhead with the cold water change works well too although I have only used that for harder to spawn cories. It is suppose to resemble the cold water from the rainy season rushing down the river on them which is what normally generates a spawning time in nature. In that case, if you have a lot of time and all else fails, resort to the Kirschbaum method. As I mentioned above once they begin they won't be hard to trigger after, it's getting the initial spawn that is the hard part. In case you aren't familiar with Kirschbaum's method, it involves creating a mini rainy season. In this case you would lower the tank halfway, get a bucket around 1 gallon and daily fill it with cold soft acidic water or snow as I use. punch a hole in the bucket or two and hang the bucket 1-2' above the water so the rain actually pounds the surface. This can be messy so a splash guard will be helpful, turning your heater off or setting it on a timer is the best way so that the water actually cools for an hour to two before warming up again to 78F. If using Kirschbaums method It should take longer with snow then with rainwater or premaid water such as blackwater extract mixed with soft and acidic water, blackwater extract can also be substituted with peat filtering but with slower effects as you know. I like the blackwater addition as it makes the environment change even in the color of the water. So now the fish are getting cold, soft, acidic and dark water, adding on the extra feedings and maybe an adjustment of higher current I would say you have just brought the rainforest home.

Feed them fast and furious with tonnes of veggie matter. My ancistrus have been freaking over the seaweed selects "Pleco Passion" Green beans Zucchini keep the skin on, etc... a little mysis doesn't hurt either but make sure to try the feedings as late as you can get them. Within a week or two your female will be beginning to swell, The rest is history, as usual the male will covet the cave, it's when he excepts the female into his domain that the party begins, it is within hours of that that the female is no longer a mate but an enemy. Yes, she can get hurt or worse in tight quarters with no appropriate cover. I generally use a 2 1/2" hole saw for the caves this makes 2 caves with approx 1 1/4" hole each. For quick and easy follow these steps, the microwaving stinks a bit but it makes life very easy. Don't mind a little coconut on the shell, it will get rasped off in no time and will not alter your water.Coconut caves made easy by me.

What I meant was that in a small tank, a divider may make the female all too present and the male may still spend too much time fending her off even though she cannot get through the divider. In a larger tank she would be further away and less of a threat so he can continue with his fatherly duties. Lets put it this way, even if you had a huge house, if you could see your neighbour Charles Manson from your window, you would still feel a little edgy. lol. As for egg eating, I was just mentioning a case where I had a loach I never knew still existed sneak into my nest and clean it out. Of course this can be advoided by barebottom tanks. Amazingly enough I even moved from Edmonton to here with empty tanks and gravel in bags Yet 4 months after setting up again I realised that my horseface loach is still alive and uprooting plants. After hatch 3-5 days depending on temp usually 4-5 in 78F the male will never harm the fry, I keep them together for atleast two weeks. If pulled too soon and placed back in the maintenance tank I have noticed my males blaming the females and beating them occassionally. Removing the female and leaving the male with the fry for two weeks also gives the female some time to condition without harassment and gets her ready for the next spawn. Remember though, feed alot and watch your water. Also, if feeding the canned rinsed green beans, look inside the bean before throwing it in the garbage if uneaten, I have found many fry inside of the beans who almost met their fate.

I think a divider would work better in a larger tank. In a small tank I am not sure, out of sight out of mind seems like the best idea. I have to say that my Satanoperca and Geophagus make my pleco a nasty father though but with plecos and loaches being night hunters and the fry scattering wildly upon leaving the cave I think the female may munch a few. Your choice but I would opt to get the most fry from a spawn possible. My next attempt I will try a huge harem spawn, I have 5 females and 1 male, I am hoping to get all of the females to gather eggs in one spot then remove them, My average has been between 40 and 50 eggs so I hope to get over 200, I am starting algae cultures in every jar I have right now saving up for that moment.

Well they look like a pair to me. I have lately only found variations in color patterns, as in that picture the fish displays light mottling not a profound white dot, My best guess is that it is still dolichopterus and that the light spotting found in some is only a location difference. Either way, a 10 is generally fine, just add a couple of caves, some good munchy wood and sand is optional. Differing from cories I have yet to have a belly rot problem from bare tank bottom. As for water, I find that once they get into spawning as in after the first spawn they will spawn when you least expect it and often. To get the initial spawn though, it doesn't hurt to try the poor mans kirschbaum method and use simply tap water but add a gallon of cold snowy water to the tank every day or second day Make sure they are well conditioned before this as the males and females have low tolerance to one another at the best of times. As soon as you notice her allowed in his cave and not glued to the log, keep an eye on them, it is best to remove her once he has chased her away. After that relax, he is a better parent than most people and whether he succeeds the first or second time or not, keep trying. As I mentioned before, ancistrus will seldom spawn under two years of age, in the chance they do it will likely be sterile. good luck I know it was my very favorite spawn of all.

Sadly, there is a law here against the danios, yet I can get them from Winnipeg. I am not as pissed at the whole issue except the part where I bought 2 Neon Blue discus such as the strain on the aqualog poster, 1 is and 1 isn't. The one that is, is completely fine. The fact that they try to convince me on the hormone thing yet all of my other discus show normal coloring, I had bought 2 blue neon, 2 Blue turquoise and 2 red snakeskin. All are normal in behaviour and as most young discus raised in bulk lots are getting use to humans slowly. They have been growing madly eating golden pearls 800-1,000 micron every second day god that is a killer food and the big size is so cool for killis as well. Anywhoos. I sent J-Roc the name but can't publish it myself as I only say what I think of one right to them. Or atleast by email or on the phone. These guys act though that nothing at all is wrong still. The letter thing though Garhan is a good choice and I will try that one for sure.

I find that most Bristles for sale are dolichopterus unless marked. Often the price will be Jacked up on Hoplo's. As for feeding, My best breeding results came from Sera viformo and alternating with spinach zucchini and canned green beans rinsed and frozen. When thawed squeeze the air out of the beans and let them sink, this is also a great fry food. A cold water change of about 65F did well and after that they bred at random. I have bred them now in both african tanks and SA tanks. Don't worry about the fry as the male pleco is generally the toughest fish in the tank by far during spawn and especially once the fry leave the cave and cling to the sides. I have suffered a wound or two from my big 5.5" male but lived to tell. Temp plays an importance in hatching as it has taken between 4 days in the african tank and 6 in the unheated breeding tank. Leaving the deitrus on the bottom and only changing water from the middle works well too but change a good 10% a day with this method. I have bred mine in a ten and larger keep in mind that once the male is doen with the female she becomes a target. She will be seen inside the cave prior to spawn and clinging to the furthest wall of the cave shortly after. One trick that worked with my youngest breeders was to start with tap water and then daily do a soft and acidic water change of 10% portions as usual snow is my choice, adding a little black water doesn't hurt either. As for species they aren't hard to tell apart, planet catfish can help if you still arent sure. The very very most important step is conditioning, I found that on mysis and high protien my guy got sluggish though some may be different. 3 feedings a night and one in the day or a steady supply of algae works very good. Remember, once the fry hatch your algae will be in short supply and feeding 3 green beans a day will seldom be enough. I have used both a coconut cave and a hollow log, the cave was cool though since when I flipped it over he would come out and flip it back, next time I tried he would race out and try to give me a whooping. Be also aware that pleco's under 2 years are seldomly fertile. Last but not least, leave the Dad with his nest, even if a spawn or two never hatches, he will get better. My attempt at raising half of the nest was a disaster and chewing the fry out of their shell is tough to duplicate on such fragile big eggs. The pic below was in my ten gallon when I flipped over Cujo's cave, This was my first and only warning. I have left his spawns alone ever since. I've also retrieve 44 fry from inside my aquaclear before, believe it or not I still have 7 of those and all 44 lived. What is the toughest fish around, Hmmm have to say pleco since I keep them with all of my way too aggressive cichlids, I believe the first cut is the deepest as they never try again.

Apparently as the company said, these discus are Thailand bred and are hormoned to show color sooner for easier sale, no response to how the hormone could cause a trail of blue dye to stream behind a fish or color rubbing off on my hands. I don't think a hormone could do any of these things, furthermore, shouldn't a company have to tell you that their fish are hormone filled before you purchase? I am against hormones completely so none of these fish are for sale and I am mad as Hell. Hormones alone would increase a fishes life span and I am sure create a bad gene pool nevermind the chance of them being sterile. So what does one do? Wait to find out or destroy the batch and save the room for quality stock? Or does one drive down to Winnipeg and spank the livin geesus out of the sales reps?

look at this dye left on the paper.

yet another

another

The World of fishkeeping just got a little bit sicker. Who'd ever thought that it would reach this height??? Here is a photo of my great suprise and so far no one takes responsibility for it. Also maybe a time to ask yourself, why it is better to pay the price from a retailler like Gold's or D.A.D.'s fishroom for quality. Below are what should be some disturbing pics of my 5 day discus which was to be a blue neon. The other one actually is but this guy at juvie age was way to mature in color almost resembling spawning color at 2" the color was deep like the Bluehead discus without the verticle lines. Anyways, it took awhile after handling him to get the color off my hands and in the following photo you can see much of the color on the white paper. This is not scales but color bleeding so I am guessing it was freshly done to complete an order. I would love to name the company I bought them from but need to pin the culprit and advoid slander suits. Sorry for the shaky photos, I was completely pumped with adrenaline and looking for someone to unleash on. Luckily I live not too far away from the distributor and can pay him a visit based on the sickest thing I have ever encountered in the aquarium hobby. Mind you I don't buy painted fish so maybe fish pooping out streams of color is a natural occurence with Parrots and such. Like I said excuse the bad photography, I may have to unpack the salty dead guy and then I will try to get more and better photos, The photo's were okay though seeing that I almost blew a vein in my head and the old lady was just as choked because he stood out best when we got him.