Oxquo

Geophagus Iporangensis. Picked up a breeding pair at the SAS auction. Got to say that they have attitude for a geophag. They picked on everything from my cory sterbai to my bristlenose. Ran my brasilliensis around for a bit then started on my Red lips. Oh don't get me wrong I love them to pieces. I am just waiting on some good tough dithers to put in with them to get them spawning. Maybe convicts or firemouths. The second i threw them into my geophag tank they began to beat my other fish and the female began cleaning slate, the male began to dance for her but I preferred they didn't use my geophags as dithers so I yanked them pre-spawn. That was a week ago and she still has her tuber sticking out but refuses to lay until the beatings begin. Nice fish though but hard to find info on and can't find them in the SA aqualog. Is there any info on these in Baensch 5 or 6? Any further info would be appreciated. They are from Jeff Rapps but even the original owner had no info on them except that they were a non-typical geophag, I am guessing now he meant temperment. As for keeping them I am basically treating them as my Brasilliensis. pH 6.2 -6.5 hardness around 5 and temp at 76F except for my 1 spawning attempt in the main tank where I dropped all properties with snow to just below pH 5.0 and although I didn't measure the hardness the temp went to about 62F. This is the pic that came on the bag.

Talk to Garhan about the waterfall foam and how he used it, I think it was reasonably priced and he'll have some good ideas, he's quite a DIYer as you have seen....

Use 2 part epoxy potable water supply paint. The two I know that are extremely safe are expensive but do go a long ways. Sherwin williams "9200" series and Rust-oleum also makes one. As for other paints, do be cautious and use stunt fish.

The method of placing a plastic cup over them as I mentioned before works awesome, It acts as a tiny greenhouse which keeps the flowers warm and humid. The seeds if not vaccuumed up will even begin to grow but it is a slow and painful growth as the bulb must develope first. I made the mistake once of trimming A.Ulvaceous down and leaving it in the tank, It rotted, On the next one I trimmed it down roots to 1" and leaves completely. This worked well and after 3 months in a cooler with 4" of water in total darkness in the coolest place of my basement it came back slowly but managed to do well after the roots established. With A.Crispus I simply trim the roots to 2" after the second flowering and all the leaves then I simply mark it with a plant marker and let it rest. Once again slowly they come back and within six months they can flower again. A. Undulatus also works best under the cooler method. Propogation of A.Ulvaceous works best in a plants only tank I'd say where you wouldn't need to vaccuum the bottom until the seeds have germinated and become small bulbs, once they are bulbs I would transfer the youngsters to a small tank using plastic green house containers and good lighting, like most aponogetons, after awhile if you want height, subdue the light a bit and they will grow fast and furious, increase the light for a shorter bulkier plant. Most importantly give them alot of room, over crowding them with big rooted plants hurts their growth even in good fertilised water. Seedlings and young plants did best in soil once older a little gravel to cover half the bulb keeps the bulb happy and allows for a bigger bushier and straighter plant. Good luck and enjoy the great plant.

Eheim makes a great product so does magnum but for the price I was impressed with the cleaning I got. As for fish poop? Fish like oscars and geophags blow their food apart leaving particles everywhere I just found that it was decent enough and as I said I can't wait to try it out during the next power outage as a back-up filter as well. There is no fry guard on there at all so that is a factor but the suction is not a mean suction and it turns off at the button on top quick enough for my endlers to escape the tube. I have just tested it and am not sure of altercations yet but I am also willing to try it with an extension before hand and will let you know how it goes. I have tried this same idea with a filter bag and a powerhead before but with sand bottoms Got too much suction. On sand you just want to pick up debris not bury it so I like this guy for that. Thanks for all the extra input it's very appreciated, I wouldn't say this is the best product ever but it sure is handy to have for some things. As for the submarine"explorer" I tried the other last night and it was just as bad, impulse of power barely propelled the thing around. I have seen another brand in yellow and blue which I will also try soon as i think this toy could be great fun. Does the other sub have enclosed propellers? This was a concern had this one gotten up to a steady pace I think it could maybe hurt a fish or even puree fry. Anyways, finding a nice quality econo-line has been a challenge even moreso than finding a high quality line. Maybe I will test everyones fishy knowledge with some poll's on economy equiptment that they use and trust, I know we have all bought garbage before this way we can keep it in the garbage.

Thanks for the heads up, The brand we got definitely wasn't the cheapest price but definitely the worst quality, atleast I have tried it before my customers. I am hoping that pre trials of items will atleast help to ensure great products for customer's and advoid a few returns. I definitely appreciate your input and may try another source for subs, thanks.

Now with stock coming in at a mean pace i have had a chance to review an item or two. Worst one first is the "Explorere"RC submarine for use in aquaria. RC may be far fetched as with both items recieved I had control as long as the antenna touched the sub. In the tank it proppelled in slight bursts, needless to say I never managed to get either one of the two to actually go all under water. Time on a charge was around 5 minutes which was enough time to get a good wholesome cichlid beating. unfortunately the pathetic bobbling motion of this overpriced novelty could not spark an interest. I wouldn't carry this product in my store and advise you all to save money, maybe try a rubber hand puppet instead the old fashioned painful way. Next up and I loved it as much as I once thought it a stupid idea. The battery operated Mr. Cleaner from Tom's. I laughed at it, I mocked it, I tried it and I shut up and ordered more. Anyone with a barebottom tank will appreciate this vaccuum. Eespecially the discus keepers who's fish try to poop themselves to daeth daily. This truly is an effortless cleaner upper. The downside is the 2 C batteries it takes but with rechargeables no problem at all. The flow is actually not bad and I even managed to pick up some gravel. I tested this guy hard and sucked as much gravel into it as I could. The filter bag filled up until the flow was restricted but once empty it was good to go again. I do still find hooking it up to a hose for water changes a bit silly but see it good for those filling from buckets or RO mixes. As a water polisher it can be hung on the side of the tank and if I had a power outage I would fill the bag full of amrid and let it be a temporary filter. After a 4 hour test I still had strong batteries so I have yet to determine how long it lasts. Anyways All thumbs up to Tom's for prooving me wrong on what once seemed like a joke but will now become a fishroom mainstay for me.

Degus rock I hope to get some in the store soon. I also want sugar glider's I think they would make late night shelf stocking a blast. We likely won't carry gerbils though as we can not find a line on Richard Gere habittrails to go with them, lol.

First question? where did you find my favorite all-time plant and can you get more? If you can I could send you the money if you'll keep them til I get down there or maybe Garhan would? By the way congrats on the flower Babies may not be far behind. Hopefully you don't make the mistake I did and gravel vaccuum it up when it loses it's leaves. I rub the two flowers together lightly and pollenate one with the other. I have had suggestions of putting a plastic cup over the flowers so they pollinate each other in the cup I have not tried and proven this method. Rather than a Q-tip I would suggest a clean sterile artists paintbrush as this doesn't strip the flowers of potential plants from the Q-tip snagging and pulling on the flowers. Best method is to hold the two flowers together and yes wait for the second flower hold them together and paint back and forth one to the other. I do this for a couple of days to make sure pollination takes but often once is enough it's just that the buds develope at different rates so 2-3 days makes sure all the potential plants get fertillised.

As usual My point went south. I do praise Hagen for their service and replacement. I have worked in manufacturing since I was 15 years old and produced over 2,000 products. I am also Quality Control certified in 6 different catagories and have geometric tolerancing certificate from NAIT. Some people may not see NAIT as a good school but I do and the course was intense. Point in question was this, Every production plant produces a spoiler now and again but it is how they correct their actions within their shop that makes the difference not in the consumers hand. I had a 100% rating over 5 years in the gasket industry. Imagine how many millions of dollars not to mention lives I could have cost should I have produced the same spoiler in say a dow chemical plant. Regardless of whether I am certified in Auto-cad, Cam-cad, QC or geometric tolerancing or have over 19 years manufacturing experience is not the point here. QC should be done in every part of the product not just in the end result, especially with food. Too many animals die or become ill due to bad food production. Degrassi I am happy you got the deal. I simply just want to point out that I hope you are just as happy with the store that carried the product which was backed with such great service as the company that replaced the item. Also I hope you let that retail outlet know of the product flaw incase the whole product line was flawed so they could prevent anyone feeding the food to their fish, The clumps may be due to excessive moisture and bacteria could be rampant. Maybe it is me, maybe I should stick to writing 1 line posts as too many people read them as all negative when in fact they aren't really. I do honestly like Hagen or atleast some of their products and others are just par or sub-par. They still make the best HOB filters available with the best flow rates and surface areas. Better yet, I respect people who stock these high quality products in their stores so we as shoppers don't have to buy 36 AC 500's from them just to get a good filter. Did any of this clear anything up? hope so, once again congrats on the great refund.

Congrats to whoever decided on the travel section. Not that it helps me out much here but that is such a cool thing, especially to go fish store hopping with a fellow fishgeek you may not even have met before, maybe even possibly be able to persuede them into buying SA's instead of the dreaded africans they would have spent their money on or to be totally fair a nice crenicichla to mix in with their africans to add some flare to the old african tank. Or would that then be a SA tank, oh well three thumbs up, that was a brilliant addition to the board and i hope it gets many uses.

Good deal, I am not at all suprised that they did that, now as a retailler that has dealt with Hagen I understand that it is the high prices that they charge the retail stores for their product and low suggested retail prices that allows them to play hero and offer great return policies. Bitterness aside, I am glad for you and have had great success with alot of Hagen products. I am not real big on their food as a nutritional staple but combined with plenty of frozen foods it works well. I guess I am finding alot of companies to be that way now on the otherside. I mean, a lot of people blame the store for bad product sold yet praise the manufacturer when they play hero at the retaillers cost to redeem what was their fault to begin with. When a package says" QC passed" it should not have to be opened to verify that it is in fact the quality expected. Don't get me wrong, I am sooo happy you got a great deal and it is good to hear, but from what I read, it goes from the stores faulty product to the actual people of fault dah dah dada super hero actions when the unfortunate truth is that their generosity will eventually fall back on their warehouse pricing causing the shelf product's price to inflate making the store look bad once again. I myself would have blamed the store a few months back and after a few faulty products would have personally boycotted the store entirely and continued to buy the same product elsewhere. I guess in a nutshell, I am saying that as much as they have done a great thing for you, the company had no likely involvement in the poor product. Once again congrats for standing up to poor manufactering and getting back what was rightfully deserving. Most people would have just cut their losses and threw it in the garbage. Alot of companies wouldn't have been so pleasant even when approached and may have dumped faulty product responsibility on the retailler. I am very impressed with their approach but felt the need to play devil's advocate here.

Yeah come on down I think Tobins got a 19 lb walleye with your name on it. The last fishing derby they were disappointed that it was won on a 36" pike, apparently the smallest tourney winner in a few years. I don't know with the store's backroom being so vacant I may just build me a pond for one of those pikes. Anyways glad to hear those guys are doing good.It took me awhile to start liking them but it seems that they have really adapted to plants which is something I never tried before, hopefully they will spawn someday for you. As for the blue discus, how big did he buy it at??? Nice guy but terrible nutritionist. I am looking forward to spring myself as I have been too busy to do much breeding. My young sterbai have started but I get about 5 eggs between the 2 males and 5 females, next year will be better. As for my planted tank, it's thriving, could be better though I just haven't had the time. I'll tell ya there is something to be said for turn-key franchises. Got a couple of hotties that want to come in and help out for free though, so all is not lost. What I am really needing now is some killies, should be down there in either end of feb or March, but I am not sure if just R or both of us will be down, hate to close up an extra day so soon. She will bring down some Mysis for those who want and save the shipping should be a great deal by then as they are on their way here this thursday and my fish may begin breeding again. By the way do you have that male angel still? Could use him as my two ladies are laying again tonight. Anyways I think lighting will be my biggest challenge as always on my planted and could always use the help. Oh yeah and I found out my water main is lead, good news is that I got a 5 stage RO for the shop for $125.00 brand new and customised all is not bad.

all that tank is really missing Garhan, is some pike cichlids and a school of say 200 or more tetras. Well 200 to begin with. Oh as for lighting I think it is the sun that garhan has trapped under his canopy, mind you I could be wrong since I have had corrective surgery since the last time I looked under there. Looks good garhan. I am definitely one who is into rocks and logs together even without plants. Actually according to the underwater photos I saw of a Jack wattley collecting trip there was no plants at all. It was just a nasty mess of entangled roots, which one could easily get caught up and drown in. I guess it go's to say that plants are truly cosmetic in a biotope discus tank. I personally like the addition of plants but would keep them down to atleast a minimal for a truly outstanding display. So when you gonna come down to the store with the ladies and set up my display tanks lol.

I think things have always worked out that way J, I'd also like to add that messages that appeared that were un called for were addressed to J and moved accordingly, I am not sure about the disappearing posts which keep getting mentioned although I have removed a few of my own and even asked another member to re-word his before. I myself think this was a good topic and it never hurts to bring up discussions from other boards. Difference of opinions are well accepted and I have never shown bad feelings towards them, after all fishkeeping is an antisocial sport. Over all I see it as just and fair that a vote is not favoured enough to constitute change and that is fine with me. No reason to whip out your little stiffies and chase me around with them lol. I see alot of interesting things on other pages such as the merchandise link where you can order merchandise with your logo in single quantities yet have a large variety of items, I think it was a good idea yet the idea when mentioned went nowhere. Obviously what looks appealing to me isn't to others and that suits me fine, it is my opinion that the idea is good we all have our own opinions. Either way I am glad to see people on this board took part in this poll and revealled their opinions. As for the shirts, to those that I brought it up with before, I ordered 2 sweaters, 2 tank tops, 4 coffee mugs and a mouse pad all look really good. Price per shirt was average at around $22.00 shipped by the time it arrived.

no problem at all J-ROC, just that I had seen this kind of vote recently on a board and found it quite interesting. Just a topic, funny how people all want to have an opinion based board but if someone makes a topic that doesn't agree to them, they freak out. I think that is a point in itself. Anyways, if there was a problem I have no prob dealing with it, This was mentioned in the beginning that it was only a hypothetical question, and there is nothing wrong with good wholesome debates on the board. I think that only 1 person ever on this board deserved a good cyber spanking and has gotten a few ever deserved to be tossed. That person has calmed down a little but really, unlike others on here feel has never learned from mistakes. I must be the only one who ever hears about it and points it out to the other admins. Anyways long story short, I may have learned my lesson of posting anything debateable without holding a vote on it first lol. JK. And for my next debateable discussion " Betta's are not truly fish because they breath air!!!" Did I ever tell you about that one on a different board? Ahhh sweet memories.

I am just simply passing on a suggestion not imposing a law, anyways it sounds like some like it and some don't, no wonder Ralph Klein is in charge, it is obvious that no one in Alberta votes except him hahahahahaha. Man I miss that guy's great BS.

not necessarily true since there are many people on the web today who have to get someone to turn on their computers for them it seems. It seems that once behind the mask of a screen name many people become brave or stupid we have had members banned on this site and the temporary fix seemed to do nothing for them, I am speaking of a permanent ban for people like that. Thanks for you're vote.....

After all the PM's I get about other members, do you think it's fair to hold a poll, set by the admins on whether the group would be better off without a disruptive member? I see this on other boards and although seldomly used, the fact that I have seen it means that it is used on occassion. This is to say that after a few warnings and temporary bannings an admin would set a vote as to whether the trouble maker would be dismissed permanently or not. This is fair i think in the sense that even the trouble maker is allowed to vote for himself to stay on the island so to speak. I also think this allows more fairness over all instead of just banning someone for shits and giggles or atleast that is what other members might believe. The poll should never have to come up after a few warnings but according to my PM's it may be a good step to take on occassion, voice you're opinion now.

wouldn't mind finding a mate for both my red lips, I got two males now I would pay alot of dough for those guys. keep us up to date albert and expect an order from us soon.

Hey Garhan, I'd love to but haven't been able to view a pic on here since getting my quick 28K connection, can you send it to my hotmail? Thanks.

atleast there is the mix of african and SA as in the loaches, way to go Freshmike looks great even from Saskatchewan.

check the product really welll too, as I have bought marine safe paint that actually said on the can only to paint up to the water line. not to be submerged. After a trial, the coat turned white and began to peel and leak that was in only 8 days.

The thread is in the archive right now and is not deleted, as posted before any heated thread will be moved to the staff archive and then discussed as to how or what to do to bring it back into the main frame if it contains valid information, you are right RD I do think it should come back as it was a good discussion and i said that before. Although it may be a little crooked it is still viable info unlike other moved threads such as the show us your "discus competition" which was just a complete mess and nothing but bad could come out of it. As the post on WC seemed to be heading in a bad direction someone felt it necessary to pull for the time being, I am sure it will return. I have seen boards where alot of things were deleted and even my wording changed, I couldn't even see the reason for it on some. On others it was rants people get into after a store stiffed them or they bought a faulty piece of equiptment and really went irrate instead of unleashing on the manufacturer. I would like to see posts like the WC be returned to the board but in some cases they actually should be edited because of a comment or two that may be taken out of text. How do you think that should be resolved? Should members be sent back posts like that to edit themselves? Furthermore we are a small Crue here and have to view many posts a day even ones that we have no desire to read only to keep peace, and have members pissed at us for removing threads ahhh thats thanks enough. lol

The two sponge idea is also great for getting ready to cycle a new tank. Usually works best when you buy the same size of AC though. Generally though during an instant cycle, I try to use 3/4 of a tank of the dirtiest water I can find from a previously cycled tank, that means stirring up the old tanks bottom and squeezing out the old filters into the new tank. which is running with an old sponge from the older tank and then after a couple of days 4-5, I will add a powerhead with the quick filter filled with floss and polish the water. once the water is crystal. I will leave the AC to do it's job and continue water changes at a normal rate. Of course this works best if the old tank is better as I prefer never to take more than 50% water from any tank. The even better part of AC is that you can use the extra intake tube and an old cycled sponge as a new cycled sponge filter for your newest fry tank, just add air and stone.cut the tip off the intake and insert your airline all the way through, install airstone and make a slice at the bottom of the sponge and one in the middle of the top. In the top insert the fat end of the intake tube in the one across the bottom on the side insert a sone or some weight of whatever kind. sink in your tank and add air.Sponge filter