African_Fever

You'd be fine with any of the fish you listed.

I love the shots of the red-tailed hawk! What sort of lens were you using?

I'd check out some of the pond armor type paints if you already have a concrete pond - no point in lining it with something if you already have a concrete base there. I'd ask around some of the koi forums (koiphen.com) as there are people there that have usually tried everything.

It'll be nice to have another Hatter on the forum!

If you've got the filtration to handle more fish, I'd cram it full of them. I've got I think 15 (or more) F1 yellow labs at 2-4" breeding like rabbits in a 37 (5 carrying last week), and have considered adding a couple more fish too. As for ratios, either one male or 3+ males, and I'd think 5-8+ females would work. I'd even keep the giant danios - they're great dithers for Malawians and will give them something to chase besides each other.

One large water change is going to remove more of the wastes you're after removing than 2 smaller changes. Your tank is stocked fine for the amount of filtration you have, so I'd keep doing what you're doing. The only 'problems' that will occur when doing large water changes is the prime/aquaplus not removing the chlorine as fast as you refill the tank. Your Syno's WILL be the first fish to notice this, and they'll either become lethargic or freak out, 'scratching' themselves all over the tank. I do approx. 50% water changes weekly on a heavily stocked 135, and when filling the water I always do it in 2-3 parts - filling the tank a bit, letting it rest while I clean/fill other tanks, and then filling some more. Good luck with the new fish room.

While it is often the case of males not maturing until older or dominant males are removed, they are actually able to change sex. http://www.springerlink.com/content/k655j62744u57m24/

I think crays are really interesting, but I'll admit that I know little about them (though I am interested in breeding them for stingray food). I see them as either possibly eating the inhabitants of an aquarium (ie. community tank) or being eaten by them (ie. cichlids). I'd think that most people are afraid of them eating the fish in their tanks, and I'd bet that's why there isn't really much interest in them by most people. Plus (and I'm just going by what I've heard) it's not always very easy to keep multiple crays in a tank together, so again that also limits the potential sales.

Awesome looking marble! I've been waiting for pics of that guy for a while now. Tig looks great too, can't wait for mine to finally come in!

There is a species that is native to Alberta, and from what most of my research says it is illegal to possess any live crays. The one I had as a kid was caught in Echo Dale right outside the Hat (there's both a swimming and fishing pond that are filled from the South Saskatchewan), and I've seen the remains of molting there, but never been able to catch any myself. I've always just assumed that the crays in Echo Dale came in from the South Saskatchewan as it's filled from there, and this was the native species of cray that I had. BlackMumba - which lake was that?

I'm wondering if anyone has ever caught many crayfish in Alberta, or knows of good places/ways to catch them in the southern half of the province. I'm thinking about using them as food for my rays, but have never had much luck in the way of catching them. I know they're around here (had one in a tank for years when I was younger), but all the times I've set out a trap I haven't come up with anything. Any bait ideas for them? Thanks.

2' should be plenty deep enough, though as always going deeper is going to increase your water volume, which in turn keeps your water much more stable. I'd go as deep you can, but 2' minimum anyways.

This thread is almost a year old. I honestly can't even remember the last time Nev was on here.

All the motoro's are 10-12" except for male #3, he's only about 8" (and rather well developed for a ray that size too). The dark flower is about 8" and the other about 6".

I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but you can tell a ray is skinny from the top, you don't need to see its underside at all. From the video her hips are visible and she has an indentation between her eyes as Corvette said. This ray has been in poor condition for a long time, so sorry and I hate to be blunt, but with some research on rays there is something that could've been done. I'm not sure how long you've had her, but I'd doubt she's been eating anything for weeks. I'm not 100% on the ID, but she (and other one that passes by in the video) appear to be retics - often sold as teacup rays. They are one of the more delicate rays and not recommended for beginners even though they are usually much cheaper than motoros (motoro's are almost bomb-proof as far as rays go). Her being skinny could've been due to any number of things; stress, not eating, internal parasites, poor water etc. She does have a VERY short tail for a retic (if that's what she is), which would lead me to believe she's wild caught and probably wasn't handled very well when she was caught, and this could be the end result of that. I've heard of a few people managing to save a ray once it's become curled, but very few will ever recover. You tank also might not have been fully cycled before adding all your fish - adding too many fish too quickly doesn't allow the bacteria time to build up and be able to remove the waste produced, even if the filters are 'large enough for the tank size'. How are the other rays in the tank doing? Some pics of them might help avoid a similar situation in their future.

Death curl. Do some searching around MFK (monsterfishkeepers.com), but most likely the ray is a goner. What type of sand is that in the tank? Has the ray been eating well? Without knowing what happened up to now that may have caused this, it's pretty tough to know what to do to fix it. By perfect water parameters, what exactly are they?

I'm going to be keeping the last male - I think he's too stunning to let go at this time! The rays are in both tanks and a pond (330 gallon stock tank) for now, but I'm planning to build a couple more large tanks for better viewing. I can't wait to get the black arowana I got in as well in a tank! It's looking like I'm going to be keeping the rays I had before as well. I'm pretty sure they bred on Friday night, so hopefully I've got some pups in the future!

After waiting 3 weeks for Air Canada to re-schedule my fish after they bumped me, they finally arrived yesterday. All of these motoro's were called 'Royal marble motoro' by the exporter, but as you can see they REALLY vary in their patterns; I'd guess they could be divided into at least 3 species one day. The boys: The girls: And the flowers: A group shot as well. The male that I've had for a while is the lighter one in the bottom.

I just received an order of fish from Colombia last night, and they sent a bag of 'guppies' along as that's what they said many of the fish were eating. They don't look anything like wild guppies to me though. I know next to nothing about livebearer ID, but they don't quite look like mosquitofish either. They're all under 1", with many appearing sexually mature (at least the males) at 3/4". Colour is essentially silver/grey, but they do have some darker/black very faint vertical bars, along with what appears to be a spot but is actually a black strip on their dorsal fin. I'll try to get some pics, but I just thought that maybe some livebearer people might know what they are, and if they're actually available in the hobby or not.

Just wondering but what makes you think it was a bacterial infection? I'd think that kind of thing would get worse with time and not just happen overnight.

I'm in need of a source TODAY for peat to soften my water somewhat for some of the new rays coming in. If anyone has ever used peat themselves and knows of the best place in Calgary to pick some up (preferrably in the North), I'm all ears. And if anyone has any recommendations on where the best/easiest to use peat can be ordered from when I've actually got time, I'd love to hear it as well. Does anyone know how quickly peat actually works to soften the water? Thanks in advance.

Brad - the paint was about $65 for a gallon of both parts A and B, and I'd say I used a little more than 1/2 doing 3 coats on my 72x36x22 tank. The first coat uses the most, with the second two not quite using as much. I never primed mine first, but it might make the first coat easier to apply. I wouldn't worry about using this paint on the oustide of the tank - go back over the thread of mine on my tank, as it explains what I used for everything and where I used which paint too.

I special ordered mine from Totem, and I know that Jorg has picked up another brand from elsewhere. There shouldn't be any holes to fill if you're using a high quality plywood - I used a ply that was finished both sides, so had no real prep or anything to do before building and painting. The only reason I would think they'd say to use auto putty is that maybe some wood putty reacts with the epoxy (it's not the nicest stuff to work with). Good luck; I'm starting another build ASAP too.

Best filter for the money right now I'd think for a 300 gallon rubbermaid tub and a couple koi would be an FX5 - there are a couple places around Calgary where you can usually find them in stock for $250-300. You could do up your own sump type filter for the tub, and there are a ton out there if you search around the koi forums, but this would be more work (though could end up cheaper). Good luck.

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers or anything, but I don't know if I'd consider anyone who brings their koi in for the winter an 'expert' koi keeper - I don't know of anyone who's got a large enough tank to keep 1 m long koi for the winter in. I know a lot of people when they're first starting out with ponds will bring their koi indoors into 260 gallon+ tanks, but after doing this once or twice most I know find it's too much work and the fish grow too large too quickly to continue doing it, and overwinter their koi in the pond. There is always the option of an indoor 'pond' - you can pick up 300 gallon rubbermaid tubs at most farm supply stores for around $300.