African_Fever

Wow Dan, glad to have you back in the hobby! I'm sure there are many of us who could learn a lot about breeding various fish from you. Welcome to the Forum!

I use powerheads i(Hydor) n a few of my tanks to help with water circulation in the 'dead spots' spots that the normal flow doesn't reach. Just helps to keep my sand cleaner and require much less vacuuming of built-up waste on my part. As far as the fish requiring it, I don't recall there being anything in the way of currents when I dove it where most fish are found that would need to be replicated in captivity.

Good looking setup, I like how you've done the rocks and plants. Fish definitely look to be well fed!

Any reason in particular why you're going with PT wood versus normal wood? Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to have that stuff in my house, off-gassing all sorts of unknowns into the air I breath. I've yet to see any well-built aquarium stand constructed with normal wood fail due to rotting in over 20 years in the hobby.

Whenever I'm able to get a fish room set up again, I know I'd much rather prefer a central system. As was said above, the sheer volume of water makes for a much more balanced system, and running UV gives a measure of protection against disease that not many aquarists running smaller aquariums would ever bother with. Right now, I'm in the process of starting an aquaponics business, and have been in contact with many people looking for various pieces of equipment. One thing that surprised me when talking to one vendor regarding some filtration equipment was that if the fish (whether they be in tanks, ponds, vats etc.) were housed together in one room, disease wise it really doesn't make a difference if it's one large system or numerous smaller ones, because the disease will travel. It could be through contaminated nets, hands, a splash, etc. The larger volume of water offered by a central system might just give enough of a buffer that the outbreak doesn't occur.

The ventralis and boops will cross if breeding is anything you're planning. Sounds like an awesome setup though!

The Brooks system uses the pink hard styro (2") that comes in up to 4'x8' sheets - with a sheet cut to fit say half your tank you wouldn't run into any tipping issues. I volunteered there for a couple days last fall, so if anyone has any questions I'd be glad to answer. Their system is organic as far as the plants are concerned - nothing is added apart from food for the fish, and some buffer to keep the pH ~6.5. They have not done a water change in the 7 years the system has been up and running!

Great start! Hard to regret buying rays like those.

How large of a pond are you looking to do? I've never found anything at Home Depot that I'd consider sufficient for a 'real' koi pond.

IME, water changes with frequent feedings will get the fastest growth rate. The more water you change with the more food you can feed them, the better they'll grow. Ideally feed 4-6x/day, with as much of a water change as you feel comfortable with DAILY. I've done up to 50% daily when growing out cichlids and it makes a huge difference over 1-2x weekly changes.

Wow, stunning colours and great pics! Are they in with your cyps? Congrats on the spawn, it's nice to finally start to see these fish somewhat readily available after being so hard to find for so long in the hobby.

How many armatus do you have, 2? They're looking awesome. Any issues at all with the silver dollars? I've heard of some people having issues keeping them with any other silver fish, cool to hear that yours have been OK so far.

Great pics!

Haha, you've really caught the ray bug! Awesome pics as usual. Love the new hen hybrid! Can't wait to see how your pearl X's develop as well; I'm sure your pics will show them to their fullest.

Finally some real pics of the setup! Looking awesome Scott. Love the choice of tiles for the vertical walls, very well thought out. Can't wait to see the full outcome once the tank is stocked.

The adults will eat the fry after they've been released by the female. If you've got plenty of hiding spots (smaller rocks I find work well) there's a chance that some will survive in the main tank, but peacocks are opportunistic piscivores in the wild and I've always found do a better job and finishing off strays hiding in the rocks than many mbuna. If you want to raise any significant number of fry you're best off removing the female when she's carrying and have her release them in a separate tank. As JLake said, a 33 and up is good for breeding them, but you're right in that the female can take a beating if she's alone. Buffaloheads or even rainbows/barbs might be a good addition to take some of the abuse away from the female if you're finding that she is constantly getting harassed.

Mag float. Algae eaters don't keep the glass clean enough for my liking anyways, so why bother trying with that mix of fish when you'll still have to clean the glass.

How's the motoro pup doing?

Anyone know if any of these shows are available online somewhere to watch?

If not Hydor inline, then try the Rena smart heaters. I've been happy with mine so far.

Definitely not a breeding papillae, looks just too rough and mangled. You might be able to see callamanus with a microscope from the outside and not need to dissect the fish. Either way, I'd personally start treating the tank with a broad-spectrum anti-parasitic med, aimed at callamanus.

pagani - not to hijack skynoch's thread, but have you had luck with silver dollars and payara? A lot of guys on MFK keeping them say to NOT keep them with anything else that's a shiny silver because they see them as a threat and will attack them once the payara (usually tats and armatus) get larger. I've got three dozen silver dollars that I'm planning to put in with my rays once I get a larger tank done, and have been really wanting to get some payara to go with them. skynoch - glad you're having luck with the scomb eating well and doing great with your rays. You'll definitely have a large enough tank to keep it for a while! And at the size you've already got it to, you're doing it right.

If you strip her, she should definitely be removed from the tank with the fry. The females will often end up eating their fry after they've been stripped because it's disrupted their natural course of action. Some females are good and will take them back, but IME I've never had it happen and they have started to eat their fry.

What kind of payara is that one Scott? A scomb or a tat?

Personally, I've found my rays do much better around 80 than at higher temps. They eat way more at 80 than at 86, and are much more active as well. I would've thought that the higher temps would've meant an increased metabolism in my rays, but for whatever reason it doesn't (at least not with mine), and the first clue I always get that my temp has crept up is that they aren't eating nearly as much and aren't as active. The drip system that Skynoch mentioned is basically a continual water change. Water is added to the sump at a slow 'drip' and the excess overflows to a drain. If you can do it, it's definitely well worth the time and effort involved and can drastically cut down on any water issues you might encounter.