Blue Ram

I would like to paint the back of my new 50 gal instead of using a printed background. Need some advice on do's and don't's and any negative impact of painting versus using a background. What kind of paint is best to use, how to apply ie. brush, roller, spray. Has anyone had any experience using any of the faux finish paints you can buy? Any comments and/or advice greatly appreciated.

I'm setting up a new 50 gal tank shortly. I'd like some alternatives to the standard backgrounds you can buy. I'm thinking of painting it. Does anyone have any ideas on interesting painting ideas - I heard there are some "faux finish" paints that can look quite nice and create a textured finish - any ideas or suggestions welcome!!

As soon as the fry start swimming more actively, make sure you block off the intake of your filter with a sponge or pantyhose so they won't get sucked up into the filter. Also, I tended to overfeed my babies (to be sure they were getting enough) and as they were in a 10 gal, I did a water change twice a week. Hope they do well. I've never gotten past the spawning part with my rams although I always left the eggs with with the parents.

You could try frozen baby brine shrimp. That's what I fed my baby kribs. You can buy it at Riverfront. I would wait until the cube melted, suck the contents up into a pipet (sp??) and then squeeze it out where the fry are in the tank.

Wendy if you want to come over some time on the weekend, I will give you my SAE. I know they are incredibly hard to catch but it can be done.

I have had several pairs of german blue rams over the past year. They were kept in Calgary water in planted tanks. I had no trouble getting the rams to spawn. In fact they spawned on a regular basis. The problem is getting the eggs to hatch. Never had any luck with that.

I successfully treated a 20 gal fully planted tank stocked with tetras & german rams with "Quickcure" (malachite green & formalin). I followed the recommendation on the bottle to dose half the recommended amount for the tetras. I treated for 7 days with no losses and no negative impact on the plants. Good luck with your treatment!

I'll just comment on compatibility - the rainbows, cories, yoyos and a male betta will be fine. I have this setup in a 35 gal with no issues whatsoever. My betta is a male half moon. I do not have any long finned fish however in this tank. I personally think your proposed list is far too many. You do not need that many loaches in a tank that size and eventually you would have to move them to a bigger tank. Good luck. I know how hard it is to choose when you want one of everything!!

All of my tanks are gravel and all are heavily planted and doing very well. Just make sure you have adequate lighting, add fertilizers (I do it with every water change which is every 7 days) and to start you may want to place some jobe's plant sticks (fern variety) at the base of the plants under the gravel. Make sure the sticks are completely under the gravel to prevent any leeching of phosphates.

I have a male in with two double red females in a 20 gal. I have had the 3 of them for approx. 6 months. They continually spawn and I had one batch of eggs that hatched - only to disappear after a week. Anyway, the male has part of his upper lip missing!! Could this be anything other than the female taking a chunk out of it? He is eating well and active. He also now has a "white pimple" like mark at his eye. Anyone know what this could be? Hole in the head perhaps?

Burnco Retail Centre on Heritage Dr. SE is a good place to go for rocks. I picked up two pails recently of nice smaller sized rocks (fist size) and some slate and they didn't even charge me. Told me I cleaning up their yard! I tested all of the rocks with a muric acid solution (available at Canadian Tire for cheap) and several of the rocks were not suitable. They would leech carbonate into my tanks and potentially raise my ph even higher than it already is in Calgary. If you are not keeping cichlids, you must keep this in mind.

Thanks I'll do that. Don't want to worry that some day I'll come home to dead fish on the floor especially since they are my new babies (pelvicachromis taeniatus from the Edmonton auction)!

I filled up a 10 gal tank yesterday and it started leaking from the plastic moulding along the bottom. No significant amount of water loss (left it overnight and no water on the floor) but if you put pressure on the moulding with your hand, some water will come out the top of the moulding. Can this be fixed or alternatively anyone have a 10 gal for sale - must be in good condition and no leaks!

I have a power compact lighting system over my 35 gal (96 watts or 2.75 w/gal). I have a single Nutrafin CO2 system running as well. Even though I think this system is a pain in the "a", I regularly have to remove plants from the tank to make room for the rainbowfish to swim!

Thought it was time to introduce myself. If you attended the CAS auction on Sunday, I was the individual working the computer and cashing everyone out. It may have seemed like a smaller auction but believe me if you work at it, it is a long day. I also worked the spring auction as a runner and I was exhausted at 6 p.m. You have to have a balance. I actually sold items this time around and was pleased with the selling prices. I did not come home with the heaters or Christian's guppies which I wanted but maybe next time. Had fun anyway. Anyway, enough of that. My user name is the name of my favourite fish even though they are a pain in "a_s" and cause me way too much stress. I currently have 5 tanks running (35 gal, 30 gal, 20 high, 20 long and 10 gal). Four tanks are planted. I have approximately 70 fish of every nature and kind with the exception of African cichlids since I do not currently have the tank space. I love showing off my tanks and fish so if anyone is interested you are welcome to come see them. Just wanted to end by saying thanks to everyone in Calgary who has offered me advice and/or suggestions over the past 10 months (believe it or not, 10 months ago I did not have a single tank and knew nothing about fishkeeping).