African_Fever

Might be an odd question, but are you planning on doing a pond anytime soon? With a max size of about 1 m, and rather rapid growth to 20-24" (often under 2 years), your koi is going to outgrow all but the largest of tanks in no time. Check out a lot of the koi sites where they've got single fish listed for sale - I've seen 2 year old fish from 14-24".

Do you remember what type/brand of black sand it was that you used? I had tried some of the 3M stuff before, and found that it seemed to leave some kind of residue or something in the water. It didn't affect the fish at all, but the water was just never as clear as it should've been.

Jerry - there are some new HOB's (don't remember who makes them) that have the heater as part of the intake, and there are also undergravel heaters as well. There are also Eheims with heaters built in too. I don't know how much more 'hidden' you could get than being able to place a heater on almost any canister filters' lines, and placing those lines completely out of the way.

I've been running one of the 300 watt heaters on my plywood ray tank (just under 200 gallons) since I first filled it and have been very happy with it so far. It's always nice to get one more 'eyesore' out of the tank, if possible. Tank is kept at abot 84F and it doesn't appear to be on excessively or anything like that.

There's a chance the fryeri won't compete for food as well as the rest of the mbuna. You could end up with overweight mbuna or skinny fryeri trying to keep them all fed. It's just a chance as all fish are different, but something to definitely keep an eye out for. Where are you getting the white labs from? I had some years ago and have been interested in getting some ever since.

Great pics as usual Patrick. That Kilesia is really turning into a stunner!

It could've been them spawning, or at least the starting of spawning behaviour. I witnessed mine spawn in a clump of floating java moss at the top of the tank one day, writhing around as a group. The cichlids were right in there too, but there were some eggs they missed in the java moss after I removed it and a couple fry survived. I'd say it's time to try the pot with marbles again. When using the pot with marbles, are you taking it out at at least every other day and checking for eggs? I have a DIY top on my petricola tank, so the lights are raised about 4" off the glass, and it provides a perfect space to check for eggs on the glass cover. I carefully pick out the top layer of marbles one at a time until I can see eggs, and then if present put the marbles in the bottom of the pot into a fry tank.

The fronts would probably look pretty good in the taller tank, but if you ever decide to go with something else then you'd definitely prefer the wider tank in the long run. Or you could just bump it up to a 230 and go with 72x24x30 tall.

I saw this tank for myself a couple of weeks ago, and it's got to be one of the coolest projects I've ever seen. The 'background' is made of slate, all cut and glued together to give the appearance of almost being like an apartment building, with essentially different levels of 'rooms' all opening up into the middle. Very cool, and hopefully we can get some larger pics that will do this project justice!

What info are you after exactly?

I completely agree with BigA - a very unfortunate deformity. I could completely understand keeping one for yourself if it was born by your own fish, but actually encouraging them is something completely different. And it would make sense that they're more subject to sudden death - if their outside isn't fully formed, then it would only fit that some parts of the internal aren't fully formed either.

Keep an eye on the flow, and see how it diminishes over time. When the flow is about half or less of 'clean', rinse the media in water from the tank when doing a water change (not new water) and simply put it back in - there's no need to replace the bio media or sponges. Carbon loses it's effectiveness after only 2-3 weeks, so unless you've got chemicals to remove, it's a waste of time (even then a couple big water changes are probably better for your system as a whole). The only time I use new sponges/bio media is after a few years when they begin to break down (and I've found a range of time for how long this takes - some 'batches' of foam seem to break down at different rates).

I used one of these lights in the past as a 'quick fix', and thought they were rather cheap and essentially useless for growing plants. It provided light in the tank to look at the fish, but that was about as far as I'd go with it. The end caps are actually glued right to the bulb, which I didn't really the idea of either (so they're not actually sealed against moisture getting to the metal connectors, just two spots of glue to keep them attached). When the bulb burns out or needs to be replaced, you throw the whole thing in the trash and buy a new one. I know the Hagen GLO kit does add up, but you're getting a FAR superior product. You won't have to re-do your lighting if you decide to try different bulbs etc. b/c the Hagen kit allows you essentially any bulb options you'd like (not to mention too that it's High Output bulbs). And as far as reflectors go too, back a couple of years ago when I initially built my top for a 125 I was looking into the reflective qualities of paint vs. polished reflectors, and I believe that FLAT white paint was actually much closer to the same reflective capabilities of polished metal than I would've ever thought.

Not all the best pics, but I'm hoping it at least shows the differences I see between the two species I've got (and not even 100% sure on that, could possibly be 3 species, who knows). All these pics are without flash b/c the flash distorts the colours way too much. First pic is a female of each species, both carrying. The R. 'macrophthalmus' female is the darker of the two with a more 'dished out' or concave head profile (I know it's a crappy pic, but I think it shows the differences between the species quite well - the heater doesn't help, but I think you can still see the head profile enough to make out the difference). Two pics of the dominant male R. 'woodi' - their colour in general is more yellow-silver or lighter silver when compared to the other species. This is as close as I can get to their breeding dress - essentially solid silver (no barring/stripes) with yellow fins, and maybe a hint of blue (very light) throughout. And now two pics of R. 'macrophthalmus' males - neither are very good pics (they seem more skittish and not nearly as willing to pose as the other species), but I'm hoping they at least show the differences in the head shape, and the completely different breeding dress - a darker silver/grey, with vertical bars. The females of both species have the same horizontal stripes, and when not fighting or displaying the males will often show them as well.

Welcome to the forum! Cichlids are a great fish to get into when starting out. If you're s90erious about rays, you'll be needing a much larger tank than a 70 gallon in about 6 months - they grow fast and need space.

I've had these guys for over a year now, and the second species, the ones I believe are R. macrophthalamus, have finally spawned (the other R. 'woodi' have been spawning regularly the entire time I've had them). I had been thinking the five I have were all males because they were never all that aggressive, and never really showed any signs of spawning like the others. But last week before I went away I noticed they had become more and more aggressive towards one another, as well as with the other species. When I returned home and really started watching them yesterday, I noticed that one of my 'males' was carrying. I know they're not exactly the prettiest cichlids out there (could almost be one of the ugliest!), but they're definitely one of my favourites. There's not many other cichlids that have the speed and teeth that these guys have. And after keeping the same old mbuna, haps, and peacocks for so long (that don't really differ much once you've kept them), these guys really helped get me interested in cichlids again (if only I could get ahold of some Bathybates now!). This solidifies my belief that I do in fact have two different species; some people out there thought that the different head shape and body shape was just due to hormones in older males (and I wasn't completely opposed to the idea either, somewhat similar to the vast changes salmon go through when spawning). But with one now carrying (and she's even got a really deformed mouth), I'm sure that they are in fact two different species. I'll try to get some new pics later today.

Congrats! Such cool plecos.

I've got an Eheim classic that I've had running non-stop for over 14 years, and have never replaced a thing. I haven't used anything else personally besides the FX5's, but have seen a ton of other canisters and nothing has ever impressed me the way Eheims do - like happeboy said, you just can't beat German engineering. The FX5's move a lot of water, but I'm still waiting to see how they last in the long-term.

Those black with white spots at Riverfront are Leopoldi's. If only they were affordable.

Sorry to hear about the loss. I've got a deep sand bed in my 135, and when I've been doing water changes lately I've been making much more of an effort to actually get to the bottom and get the sand moved around more. I've been getting tons of big bubbles coming up, and some pretty black sand has been stirred up, but I've yet to have any deaths or even notice any odd behaviours in any of the fish when I've been doing it, and this is in a pretty heavily stocked tank. I'm even finding black sand in areas that are getting vacuumed every week. I've been meaning to remove some of the sand, and after hearing that something COULD go wrong because of it (and the lack of plants to actually need the sand that deep), I think I'm going to.

I agree with Val. Crypt rot appears to happen for no reason what so ever, but if you just leave things alone and don't bother the roots, there's a good chance they'll come back.

Elite, which is just off of Macleod south of Chinook Mall is always a must-stop for me when I'm up (if not the only stop).

A lot of those chemicals used to clear up cloudy tanks are flocculants, and from others I've talked to about them they can have some impact on your biological filters (they cause the particles to bind together, making them larger and therefore easier for the filter to remove). But since you've got an empty tank, it might be a good idea to try to help clear things up faster.

Carbon won't do a thing to help get rid of cloudiness caused by particulate matter in the water. Only fine filtration will do that. Like others have suggested, an additional filter filled with floss will help clear up the cloudiness.

I think it all has to do with water circulation when using sand. I get quite the 'buildup' in some dead spots on some of my tanks, and it really seems to depend on how the rockwork and filter output is arranged. With gravel it essentially gets stuck in it and settles through it. I'd personally rather have it on top so that it can be sucked out easier than having to vacuum every square inch of bottom with gravel just to start getting it out. I think that's the reason people have come up with the undergravel jets, is to be able to direct the flow exactly as they please and completely eliminate these dead spots. If it really bothers you it might be something to think about doing, either having one of your existing filters run it, or using a powerhead.