African_Fever

I thought it looked quite a bit like a niloticus, but as I know nothing about SA/CA's I wasn't sure.

I got this guy mixed in with some 'feeder guppies' from Colombia (not actually feeders but some type of livebearer). He was easy to pick out and get on his own, and now I have absolutely no clue what he is. If anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated. He's about 2.5-3' right now. Thanks for any help!

I've actually been meaning to do this for a while now since they are finally putting on some size and starting to look really good IMO. Here's the largest. This guy came in at about 7" with close to 7" streamers, but one of the silver dollars one day decided it wanted streamers too. It was nipped off to only be about 2", but is probably close to 6" already. I think this Tig is 9-10" (no tape measure, but he's about as long as a 10 gallon is wide). He's been with my flower rays in the 200 ply tank almost since I got him, and he eats very well. He does get aggressive towards the smaller one, but for the most part they all have their own spot in the tank, and other than when feeding they don't come into contact with one another. Here's the others. The smaller one in the first pic was in a 33 for a while with another because the arrangement of the 33 meant I could change water on a daily basis much easier than on the 55. Plus they were alone so have no other fish to hassle them. They are all now in the 200 because I wanted to make it easier for the person feeding my fish while I was on vacation, and the filtration on the tank is more than enough to not to have to worry about water changes while I was away (1 FX5, 2 - 2217's, 2 - AC110's). Yes, I do currently have 4 tigs. I think they're just awesome cats, and at the price I'm able to get them, I couldn't really pass them up.

Great pics! I bet those guys just fly through the water. How many have you got in total?

Good luck with plants, there's nothing and then there's nothing. Animal World occasionally gets in some good plants, but they don't usually last long because they don't have anything set up specifically for plants and then kind of wilt away in their tanks. Petland is the only other store worth going to, but they're like all the other Petlands in Calgary and elsewhere. Overall Animal World (on Dunmore Road) is your best bet for fish and help, most of their staff has been there quite a while now, and even the young guys know their stuff pretty good and are at least enthusiastic about their jobs.

This is probably my crowning achievement so far with my fish keeping, and I haven't been this excited about keeping fish since I went to Malawi. I was away for 11 days, and came home to find these three in my pond. I thought she was a bit overdue, but I guess my days may have been off a bit. Two females and a male, and all appear to be healthy as best as I can tell. They're about 3" discs and maybe 6" overall; haven't actually measured.

I wouldn't try any fish with rays that are smaller than them and you don't want eaten. Any tetra's would probably get eaten as they sleep, as would almost all smaller barbs (Denisoni included). I have a trio of cigar sharks (Leptobarbus hoeveni) that are 8-10", and right now they're about the only fish that are smaller than my rays that I'll try with them. The only problem with them is they're such ravenous feeders that it's tough to ensure the rays actually get any food.

Very cool looking setup. I might have to look into that for one of my ray setups...

Try doing some searches. This topic has been brought up many times in the past. I've always had plants in with my cichlids; jungle vals and crypts usually work well for me, along with various anubias and java ferns.

Have you filled the plastic tank with water yet to see if it is going to bow, and how much? I would think that would factor in to how much support you'll actually need to keep it straight. Are you planning on putting a glass front in the tank too?

I have to second on that tank being WAY overbuilt. Check out GARF if you haven't already - though they only provide advice for up to 96" long and 48" wide, they don't mention anything about external bracing. I had a tank in Malawi that was 96" x 36" x 24" with no external bracing - just a 1" x1" piece along the bottom at the back, and a cross-brace at the top in them middle. I'm planning a 96x48x20 and definitely won't be doing any of the massive external bracing seen in your link. Good luck!

Sounds to me like you're overfeeding all your fish. Once a day is probably sufficient for most any cichlid around the 3-4" size. Eating the babies shouldn't have caused anything, but the temperature spike probably sped up any problems that were already present.

I actually used to feed them to my cichlids all the time when I was a kid. Used to catch a full ice cream pail of them, and then pour boiling water over them in the hopes of killing anything they'd bring in (and they do turn bright orange like other shrimp). I don't really know what kind of diseases you'd have to worry about bringing into a tank full of healthy fish; as long as you're not dumping the water in the tank and just netting out the fish I don't see any problems with it.

Great looking discus Connie!

I'd have to agree, not too much available and I know both always seem to go for way more than I'd expect at all the auctions. It's too bad there aren't more shops that carry high quality stuff, with the knowledge to help maintain it.

Sorry about the loss. Definitely too bad when you lose fish you've become attached to.

I'd lean towards Belontia signata as well. http://www.fishbase.org/identification/spe...9&areacode=

The skippy filter seems to be fairly well liked by many pond keepers as an easy DIY filter. I've yet to find a better resource for all kinds of pond DIY's than Koiphen, and always find myself going back to it just to read and see what's out there, and think of how any of them could be modified for large tank use. http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63850

We need pics of the pond!

Alf Ole Bull was one of them! I kind of thought you might know him, as I thought he was maybe from around Fredrikstad and he seemed know a large number of other aquarium keepers in Norway. Please say 'Hi' to him from Kyle in Canada next time you speak with him!

That's a very cool cichlid, and a great picture too. Another new one to add to your collection too Patrick!

Welcome to the forum! I met a group of guys from Norway while I was at Stuart Grant's on Lake Malawi a couple years ago.

Congrats on the spawn! That's a very cool accomplishment to spawn a cichlid that size. How large is the pair? If you decide to keep some fry next time, I probably know someone who'd be interested... :shifty:

Very Cool! Nice to see someone local breeding them in such big numbers. Congrats on the spawns!

The fish with the flecks is a jewel cichlid, Hemichomis bimaculatus. Though they are from Africa like most of your others, they're a riverine species rather than a lake species and don't do well with the rest of your fish. The other fish with the yellow band across the middle is a Tropheus of some type; I'd guess a 'species black' (probably a Kaiser II), but can't be certain.