Nyasa

I bought my L. occelatus at Gold's over a year ago now. They were listed as w/c and were very large and in great condition. I think they were $20-25 each. David.

My 33 gallon tank has a pair of L. occelatus that are quite large 2 1/2 - 3" and 4 Julidochromis transcriptus that are still quite young @ 1 1/2 - 2 1/2". They get along well. The trancriptus stay out of the way of the occelatus. Their are scattered rocks that are quite tall and a few shells in the tank. HTH. David.

Great idea. I just purchased a digital camera and I'm hooked on photography

Hey Blaine, Shellies would be great for your 15 gallon. I think Gary at Tanks-A-Lot had some in the last time I was in there about 2-3 weeks ago. He had some w/c N. brevis and he may have had some multies as well. Riverfront usually has some L. occelatus in as well for ~$ 15-20 regular price. You definitely need to go with sand though to really appreciate shelldwellers. My L. occelatus are constantly spitting mouthfuls and bulldozing it around. I used pool filter sand. I keep J. transcriptus pemba with my L. occelatus in a 33 gallon tank and they get along fine. I think either the a pair of J.ornatus or transcriptus would be alright in a 15 gallon tank. How are your L 260's doing? Any fry yet? David.

Just started playing around with my new digital camera. Trying to post a picture of my pond. Hope this works. Nope. Doesn't appear to have worked. I'll try again when I have more time and more pictures to post.

I just checked your link. Nice looking tank as well.

Beautiful pictures. You should try photographing fish, they don't hold still.

I had a common pleco that had similar behaviour. I didn't think anything of it, seems like typical fish behaviour to me.

Nicely done Rahim. :beer:

I have 5 albino bristlenose plecos and 1 L66 King Tiger pleco. Love 'em all. Had a Glyptoperichthys pardalis that I absolutely loved. (aka common pleco) He was getting to be a nuisance however at 9" long I would catch him latched on to my frontosa when I turned on the lights in the AM. No visible damage but he sure could be contankerous and his poops were getting rather large. Big fivecoilers lying on the sand every morning. Traded him in at Petland. I've always loved plecos. Others I would like to keep are L266 and L 200. I find the panaques tend to be quite mess makers as well with all the wood they chew. David.

Well I applied the patch and it seems to be holding well. It was a Beckett product and could also be used to repair epmd roofing it says. Time will tell how well these things work. Thanks for the replies, David.

I haven't changed the substrate yet, but I think I will give it a try. The albino bristlenose will likely move to another tank. 10 mm is pretty large and it is rather jagged. I am planning to buy a digital camera in the next month, so I will post some pics then. Thanks. David.

I was at Burnco last week buying some boulders for my pond and picked up some 10mm limestone. It took alot of rinsing to remove the dust, but looks great ,really dark in color. Probably too jagged for shellies etc., but thought it would provide a nice contrast for my calvus tank. Has anyone tried this before?

With all the rain we have had the last little while the earth beside my pond gave way a bit and some rocks and a decorative water pump tumbled in to the pond punching a hole into the liner. I emptied water from the pond and as much as I could from under the liner. Now I have the task of patching it. Bought a patch kit and am waiting for things to dry up. It seems a lot like a bike tube patch kit. The liner needs to be cleaned and abraded and then apply the patch. Has anyone ever used one of these before and how good are they? Thanks, David.

Try sucking on the outflow spout. No seriously. I cleaned the tubing on my Fluval 404 and could not get that little pump to prime it so I took a pull on it and BINGO I was spitting out tank water. LOL.

The ban has apparently been eased as of midnight and we may now resume usual indoor use and may water out of doors with hand held containers. Might be able to get away with a water change tomorrow. Can water the plants outside with the discarded water.

Haven't heard of that before. However the sanitized sand makes me wonder what it is sanitized with? That could be a potential problem. Many people here have used play sand w/o problems. Myself, I have been using pool filter sand for a couple of years now and haven't had any problems. Bought it from Western Pump across from the Silver Dollar on 42 Ave SE. $13 for a 50 lb. bag.

Hey Holly, Welcome to the forum. I occasionally pop into Sunnyside just to see the fish. The selection is larger with the additional tanks and seems to be improving. Great deal on the 10 gallon canopies for $25. David.

On my 90 gallon tank I cut away the plastic lip to fit an AC 500 over the back. Not sure if this would work for a 180 gallon tank though. David.

I think you should be able to change your entire substrate at the same time. Most of your biological filtration will be in your filtre media. What kind of filtration do you have and what is the filtre media? Just be sure to rinse all of your new substrate before introducing to the aquarium. David.

I think it has to be the crushed coral that is causing your pH and GH to rise. It is probably not recommended if these are the fish you are intending to keep in this tank. The fact that you have N02 also suggests that your tank has not completed cycling perhaps. The NO3 level would likely confirm this. The test kit that I think you will find most useful in the long term is a NO3 kit. This will be very helpful in regulating your water change schedule. HTH, David.

They'll be fine together. No divider required . Done this a few times myself. David.

Ad Konings in many of his books on African cichlids has stated that "The most important part of the decor is the background" and he recommends that 2-3 sides of the aquarium should be covered. It prevents light from entering from the sides of the aquariium and makes the fish feel secure.

That sucks. Sorry to hear about your loss. I had a similar experience a few years ago with a 20 gallon tank and a cheap comes with the kit heater myself. A friend of mine here in Calgary has some N. pulcher for sale. Let me know if you're interested. David.

Not my idea, but I still like it. :beer: