cmpteki

Harlequin Rasboras; or their smaller brethren, Rasbora Espei, are terrific small schooling fish. They are highly visible, and they way they chain together and play follow the leader in the tank is very entertaining.

Here a few larger community fish that are not Angels, and are easy to care for and hard to miss...I know my mother (also a grandma) loves the 55g I have set up for her with the following... Kissing Gourami - These get to a nice size and are bright pink. Moonlight Gourami - These grow larger than the typical three spots and are bright silver. Snakeskin Gourami - These are the bigger still, and get there quickly; but are darker green/brown in color. Red Tailed Shark - One of these will look tremendous; especially when it reaches full size, you should see 3-4" inside of a year. Clown Loaches - Preferably keep four or more; with adequate water changes they will grow to ~4" reasonably quickly then the growth slows quite substantially through about 7". If you are concerned about them being stunted or getting too large; sell them off 4-5yrs down the road and get a new batch, they are never difficult to find homes for.

TNT aquatic they hav a link on here tuan is the guys name 4 bucks each i got ten from him 2 weeks ago all still alive they were small seen them at big als for 10 the other ten i hav i got back in 06 when they first came out they are wild ones Thanks for the tip(s); will check both locations when I hit the city.

Hey All - Just curious where you found galaxies...I am looking for 12-24 of them, but have yet to see them for sale anywhere. I will be in Edmonton next week; so any pointers would be appreciated. Sorry for the minor swing off main topic... Thanks in Advance, cmpteki

Thanks to all for the welcome. I will be in the Edmonton area next week for some work related training; however, I am slated to leave on the evening of the 22nd or morning of the 23rd. I am guessing there aren't any 'early' auction items...regardless, I would definitely be interested in more information. I may be able to delay my return somewhat, but justifying it to the other half could be tricky... As the decision has not been finalized on FW vs SW; or Std community vs Cichlid, for the moment I am more interested in aquiring several schools of smaller, non-nippy, community fish. I would love to find some Galaxy Rasbora (aka Celestial Pearl Danios); but have yet to see them anywhere outside of the lower mainland in BC since I have moved back to the north, and even then it was hit or miss. I'm not sure how much spare time I will have during business hours to hunt over the phone for these little guys; so if anyone has spotted some recently, I would appreciate any info on where...

I've never tried strips...primarily use the standard liquid test kits; though I did 'run' a SeaChem pH and Ammonia card side by side in one of my tanks for a year or so, seemed accurate enough, and definitely faster to have a quick peek than work with the test kits...but keeping the fish from playing with them...thats a challenge. I was constantly having to reattach them to the side of the tank...didn't seem to matter where I put them, some fish love to play...

...did you check any of the water parameters? If the city water is substantially different than last change; bad things can happen fast, lost a tonne myself one spring due to a flood altering local water chemistry. I have a couple tanks with just HOB, one with HOB and cannister, and one with cannister only...fish seem fine in any of them.

Hey All - Henry from Nature's Corner Store tipped me off to the site; looks good so far, be reading for awhile though by the looks of things... I am a member of a few different Aquarium related forums; but it is nice to see one based a little closer to where I live. I recently moved back to the north after a decade spent in the lower mainland; much more difficult, and expensive, to find quality fish. I have been in the hobby for not quite five years; and just recently lost the 'first fish' I ever purchased, a Marble Angel. I had him from loony size to a 7-8" top to bottom spread at the end; through four tanks, and two long distance moves. He was ~4.5yrs old; and honestly, I expected to have him for a decade or so, wondering if the water up here may have hastened his demise...a lot harder than in previous setups...but he did seem fine over the past year we've been back, and only slowed down a few days before the end, very social fish. I purchased an Opaline gourami at the same time; and still have her, along with some that were within the first couple months of the hobby. My first actual losses were over a year into the hobby, lost a number of smaller fish when the city water changed substantially; during a spring with lots of floods...serious pH crash...my 20g was nearly wiped out, my 30g had a few losses, and the 60g was fine...did a standard water change before the evening feed; had gotten used to everything being the same so didn't test, next morning...not so good. Lesson learned. Everything has been pretty stable and solid for awhile now; but it is time for something different...debating switching things up and moving one of my tanks to SW, or maybe start an African Cichlid tank...they seem to be the rage. I already have plans to move one tank from a focus on larger fish; to smaller, think it would be cool to have a half dozen schools of a dozen or so fish each... Best Regards, cmpteki