FishyFishy!

Yeah, I'm not thinking too many, just a couple small ones to add a little bit of green. But its a tough decision because I like the way it looks now, but something is telling me that I need something to finish it.

Well here she is. Finally fully up and running. Give me some suggestions as to what kind of fake plants to add! I only want a few subtle ones though.

I have a couple bolivian red rams in with about 8 ghost shrimp and the rams don't touch them. But every fish is different. If the shrimp can easily fit into the mouths of the rams, consider them a source of food, or mouth entertainment.

Thanks for the input! Now another question. Would it benificial to run chemical filtration in my 104 and all carbon and bio max in the 404? I have both running at the moment. With bio max and carbon only in the 104.

Ok, so I did the following (I will have to re-arrange them according to these posts). Bottom Tray - Bio max Next - Carbon on one side, Ammonia remover/carbon on the other Next - Carbon on one side, NO2-NO3 removers on the other. Top Tray - Bio Max with a small sack of carbon on top of the biomax. Then I have 2 polishing pads on one side of the mechanical plate, and regular fluval filter floss on the other. So fshkrp4evr, I should re-arrange some of the trays to place it like you have stated? Any reason for the order? Thanks everyone!

WOW!!! soo clean looking! I can't wait until my Frontosa gets that big!

I just bought a Fluval 404 without media, and am wondering if anyone has an idea as to what media to put in it? I know fluvals come with 4 packs Biomax ceramic rings, 4 packs carbon and 2-4 filter pads. Just wondering if anyone else has any suggestions as to another combo that might work really good. I have an 80 Gallon African Cichlid tank. I Also have another Fluval 104 running on the tank with Biomax and Carbon. The 404 has 4 trays, with a divider in all of them.

LOL. Well don't we all! But something is telling me that dosn't work for a Betta!

What process are you using to introduce the male to the female?

I had a tom mini canister for a 10 gallon last year and it worked awesome and was cheap! I've only heard good things from friends... maybe search the internet for some other product reviews.

Have you ever considered medium clown loaches? I have them in with my cichlids and they seem very very happy! They are very interesting to watch too, as they never stay still. You can try other agressive Mbunas, but nothing with stripes like a demasoni (i.e. a kenyi) or the same color. Electric Yellows do great, Yellow labs, the Red Zebra Metriaclima estherae, and the Cobalt Zebra Maylandia callainos can also be good tankmates.

What kind of filter do you have? A lot of different companies actually sell "polishing pads" to add to their specifis filters. I bought one for my Fluval 404, and it made quite a difference.

Are we talkin' long fin silver tip sharks?

WOW! very cool!

I have 8 serpae's, and 99.9% they are around the middle to lower portions of the tank. *unless going to the top to grab food. I like angels because they tend to use the whole spectrum of the tank, and generally stay in the mid to top areas of the tank. What size tank do you have? Angels will go with serpae's I had them in there for ages together, no issues.

Are you planning to put a substrate in there?? Nice set up

Idea 1 5x bronze cory 6x cherry barb 1x dwarf gourami 3x cherry shrimp (not sure if the shrimp will get gobbled up in any of these selections up before plants have a chance to grow thickly enough) __________________________________________________________________ ^^^^ This is by far (in my opinion) the best set up for sure. Your Cherry's should be fine until the barbs get full size. Then they might get curious. But as long as they are raised together they should be just fine. In most cases stocking with community and semi aggressive fish is trial and error. Some fish will be great and some are bad apples. Same goes for just about all fish. I have a few things that should never be with eachother, but do great! I have also lost a few fish experimenting.... I also think that maybe you should take a look at the Julii Corydoras! They are awesome looking. I find the bronze ones pretty plain. ** EDIT - I think the cherry barbs should be replaced by tiger barbs... they're cooler lookin

Hey! Thanks in advance to all the members who answer all of the silly questions I may have to ask at some point! I hope that I can also be of assistance to new commers to the hobby. About Me: I am 25 years old, and have been into the hobby for about 5 years. My Current collection is as follows: (and if someone could direct me to a good place to post pictures i'll get on it asap!) 80 Gallon Marineland bowfront African cichlid tank - Fluval Digital 300 W heater - Fluval 404 canister filter - Fluval 104 canister filter - Pet cetera medium HOB filter (surface aggitation) - 3 Hagen moon glow blue LED's (for night time) - 36" Aquaglow dual tube lights - Whisper 100 air pump - 60 lbs of carib sea fine cichlid sand (black and white mixed) - 150 lbs of dark grey rock - Couple of fake plants Stock - 1 6 stripe frontosa - 1 Electric Yellow - 1 Rusty Yellow - 2 Mainganos - 1 tropheus duboisi (spelling) - 1 OB peacock - 1 Albino peacock - 1 Pink mbuna - 1 Yellow mbuna - 1 Kenyi - 1 convict - 2 clown loaches - 1 yoyo loach - 1 sailfin pleco - 4 apple snails 40 Gallon Tall Brackish tank - Fluval 305 canister filter - Elite 200 W heater - Whisper 60 air pump - Marineland 18" lights - Marina digi thermometer - Marina digi salinity readout - Red Hagen LED night light - Hagen geosystem fine river sand (white) - Large acrilic drift wood - fake plants - 3 lava rocks Stock - 4 green spotted puffers - 2 mono sebae's - 2 archerfish - 1 knight goby - 2 haloween hermits 20 gallon seamless community tank FOR SALE - oceanic 29G bio cube stand - built in canopy canister filter - tetra whisper 20 hang on (custom mounted into canopy) - 18" light strip (canopy) - Visi-Therm 200 W heater - Hagen blue LED moonlight - Black and pink mixed gravel - fake plants - 1 acrilic rock structure - 2 large grey rocks - Marina styrofoam 3D rock background Stock - 5 Dwarf angels - 4 Black skirt tetras - 2 Khuli Loaches - 1 small bristlenose pleco - 2 julii cory's - 2 ghost shrimp - 2 apple snails 10 gallon community tank - Elite 150 W heater - Fluval U2 submersable filter - Aqua mini with spray bar (surface aggitation) - regular lookin canopy with lights - marina blue LED moon light - lots of fake coral decorations - hagen geosystems fine river sand (white) Stock - 6 serpae tetras - 2 juvi bala sharks - 1 blind mexican cave tetra - 2 apple snails Also have 3 - 3 gallon betta tanks with : - 1 Veil Tail - 1 Crown Tail - 1 Half Moon (sick at the moment) AAAANNNNNDDD FINAALLLY 1 2 gallon with a pretty crown female betta