African_Fever

Zebras were supposed to be allowed out under a quota for a while anyways, something about IBAMA's attempt to help some of the exporters make some more money before the recent, more widespread ban on so many more plecos.

Awesome pups as usual rudy. Glad they're doing great and eating already. Ryan - so, that means it's time for a tank upgrade?

By banned it means banned from export where they're collected (were collected is probably better), which I'm pretty sure is Brazil for all of these. Brazil has taken a very proactive approach with the catch and export of their wild fishes, and as such has banned the export of many of them until they are better able to assess their populations and control their catch and export (they have an agency called IBAMA that is responsible for this). They banned the export of ALL stingrays a few years ago, and prices went from about $300 for a P. leopoldi or henlei to $1500+ due to it. In 2009 they started to allow a 'controlled' export once again of rays, and due to the HUGE increase in demand in Asia, prices have come down roughly half.

Very cool setup, looking forward to the development of this one.

Mike, true flowers are only found in Colombia. My original pair is from my first Colombian order almost two years ago; out of 8 flowers that I brought in, only these two survived (and it wasn't for a lack of effort either). All I brought in that time was a bunch of marble motoros, flowers, and I think the odd tetras/feeders (unfortunately it's next to impossible to get any big cats out of Colombia). A couple more pics of my big male. He's really darkened up today so I figured I should jump on the chance at get some pics that really show his colour. His orange isn't nearly as vibrant as my big female, but his black is just about there at times like this.

Scott, how large are your tigers getting now, and how rolled are they? I think we need some more pics of them too!

Finally took some new pics of my flower rays. The rays are a pain to try to get a decent pic of in the tank they're in, and they just photograph so much better from above, so I figured it was time to trial the new camera and really see how well it works under water (Olympus Stylus Tough 8000). The rays have darkened up a bit since I added the black tiles two weeks ago, but my darkest female has always been as dark as she is. Their colours are washed out a bit as I added an extra 6' T5HO last night for the pics, but will try to get some pics again today without the additional lighting to show their true colours a little better. Large female, she's about a 12-13" disc. She's been this dark since I brought her in almost 2 years ago. She hasn't grown as much as the others because she's had feeding 'issues' in the past, but lately has actually been eating more and more and really starting to keep up with the others. My smaller female, about 10-11" disc. I received her from Charles at Canadian Aquatics last August, and she's grown a solid 2" since then, possibly even more. Large male. He's grown from a 5" disc to the 14" disc he's at now in the time I've had him, and has a full tail, something that isn't seen too often on flowers. He's always eaten like a champ, and though he's 14" (and over 26" TL), his claspers haven't even started to develop yet. He's never been very dark, but his black has really been coming in lately and I don't think it'll be too long before he really turns it on. Other male. He's about a 10" disc, and also has a full tail. He also came from Charles last summer, and has always been the first one to the food and always seems to have a full belly (though he'll always eat more!). Funny thing is his claspers right now appear to be larger than the bigger male. Would be cool if it meant he was starting to develop, but I've never heard of a flower developing anywhere near the size he's at. The whole gang. For anyone interested in this type of rays who doesn't know, they grow huge. From what I've heard/seen, males don't often develop until they're at least 16" disc, and they'll probably top out around a 36" disc - meaning they could easily be over 6 feet with their tail. Mine are going to get an upgrade in tanks as soon as I move in the next couple months (even that, at 4'x8'; will only be temporary), with their eventual home planned to be a large indoor pond.

Just make sure everyone is aware that it's not a touch pond!

One of the best sources for more info on rays is Monsterfishkeepers.com. There's people there who've kept and bred just about every freshwater ray out there, and a ton of stickies with great info to help you get started. Unfortunately an 80 gallon is nowhere near large enough for any freshwater rays - they'll easily outgrow a tank that size within 6 months under proper care. Minimum tank size should be a footprint with something at least 6'x18", and even that might only last a year. A 24" wide tank is really needed for anything reasonable, and even that isn't a long-term situation by any means. Dustin - how's the pregnant ray doing, and the new one?

Try a hydor powerhead/water pump and stick the airline tubing from your air pump into the slots on the hydor. If you're able to point it down at all (depending on plants/current etc.) it'll blow the air bubbles quite a bit further than any other powerhead I've tried it with.

Just wondering if anyone has, or has seen any Eleocharis acicularis in Calgary or south lately. I'm redoing my planted tank, and would like to finally try a simple single or three plant tank along the lines of the Iwagumi minimalist thinking.

From reading the above cut-and-paste, I get the impression that for the regular DIY'er flat white paint is the way to go, because if your reflector isn't designed EXACTLY correctly (and maintained/cleaned regularly) you won't get the full benefit of going that route. Due to the diffuse nature of flat white paint, you can basically make a box to hold your lights and fit over your tank without worrying about the angles of the reflectors and how difficult that can be to get perfect.

Congrats on the spawn. Funny how a fish that would've been a cull a few years ago is now considered a viable variant.

Doesn't FLAT white paint have a high reflectivity, somewhere over 90% if I remember correctly from a couple of years ago when I was doing my DIY canopy. $10 for a can of paint versus $100 for a reflector wasn't worth it to me at the time...

Not too sure how any phylogeny of commonly kept aquarium fish is going to help fishkeeping in any way? Maybe a little more in the way of what exactly you're thinking it would help, might give a little more direction as to where to look.

Enough light for what? To see the fish, yes.

I really don't understand why so many people are all about 'start small and see how you like keeping a small tank for a while'. If someone has the money/means to get a large tank and start that way, it's MUCH easier than screwing around with little tanks. A larger tank means a larger volume of water, which gives a lot more room for error as far as water quality goes - small tanks can swing 180 degrees overnight if something goes seriously wrong. I'd argue that a properly filtered 100+ gallon tank with a couple large cichlids would be much easier to keep than a 10 gallon full of guppies, tetras, barbs etc. How many beginners do you know who buy small tanks like this, and end up at the LFS every weekend picking out a few new fish because they lost a couple in the last week, and even though they have no clue why, they're out buying more? My advice to anyone getting into the hobby from scratch - buy the largest tank you can afford, RESEARCH the fish you want to keep, and if you feel you can reasonably maintain said fish, go for it. If your dream is to have a big tank with a graceful arowana gliding through it (because you saw one at Smitty's ) how is keeping a 10 gallon full of guppies going to feel anything like that and keep you interested? Small tanks can be a PITA to maintain IMO, and I'd be willing to bet that more of the '10 gallon starter kits' end up turning people OFF the hobby than onto the hobby. Just ask yourself why nano's are becoming so popular among EXPERIENCED aquarists? - It's because it takes more skill to maintain the water and fish in smaller body of water than a larger one.

Other than requiring a large tank now rather than 'in a few months when he gets larger', why isn't an aro like a black, silver, or jar a good choice for a beginner?

She (he) may have been hormoned, or it just may be one of the perks of the OB's (that is the females having stunning coloration). Egg spots IMO are NEVER a reliable way to sex Malawians (whether hybrid or not).

For the most part you should be fine. Some Vic's can be terrors, but the same can be said for some peacocks. Should make a great mix IMO.

Technically yes, but not fully the same. A black diamond, or BD, is a P. leopoldi that for the most part has 'whiter' white spots and a blacker black body than other leos, as well as more spots (usually a 'ring' of small spots around the edge of the disc). Even when pups (and their colours aren't fully developed) BD's can usually be told apart by even the layperson. Right now most BD's are going for $2500 US+ each, while similarly sized leo's have dropped to as low as $600-800 each. I don't have any pics on file of normal leos, but below are a couple BD pics.

Has anyone seen the pair of Red Severums that Golds has in the back, on the floor, with all the breeding pairs of discus? I'm assuming they're red severums, but since CA/SA's aren't my thing, I don't know for sure. Does anyone know if they have any fry from these for sale? I haven't been into CA/SA's for years, but the wife saw these and I thought they'd really add a lot of colour to the ray tank.

Wow Scott, you must be doing something right! Now if only you had something else knocking up all your motoros....

Awesome Scott, about time to see some some more pics of your rays! If that big castexi is pushing 30", how large is your flower? In the pic she's not looking too far behind at all! Really dwarfs my four...

That was probably an arapaima, not an arowana.