Jayba

I'm pretty sure he looked at me sideways when I grabbed the bag. He apparently knew better...

API makes replacement filters for their pro gear. They are about 20 cells per square inch. They can be found here http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-filters/ati-replacement-pro-sponge-5.html

Thanks for the fishies! I tried my best but couple pieces of dw landed in the tank. Waiting for the explosion tomorrow morning when I wake up. That's not too far from the truth... under ideal conditions, DW can double its biomass every 4 hours! It's the fastest growing vascular plant on the planet!!Should write that on the bag! Sure it has its place. My tanks are just have too much movement for it to work. What a mess.....lol

Bring your fancy pleco money! I was thinking of bringing some babies. Then spend some of the cash on Corydoras! Muhahahahaha I have been known to overspend....or pump up the price and pull the pin. Or just be cheap.Who know what game I bring. Maybe I'll bring all 3......

So I picked up a bag of duck weed last night at the ACE meeting. Lemna minor I think. Super tiny stuff. Tossed a bunch in each of my tankswhen i got home. All the lights were out at this late hour. My thinking was it would reduce the lighting, soft smooth green lighting. Mmm. Romantic . Awoke this morning to tanks with duck weed throughout the water column. Dang it! Blown throughout the tanks by sponge filters, what a mess. Spent hours netting the stuff out.I haven't even started my 75 gallon planted tankI need to remember this next time I think duck weed would be cool. Pretty sure I did this a couple years ago too.....I'm a slow learner.

Um, you sure the hippies didn't give you the extra special brown? Have you tried smoking any yet? But on a serious note, I feel that sounds kinda high. Call them and ask how much it costs

Yeah! I am so proud! These are the same rams people have been commenting on the pictures of. Hope I have lots of grandfish. They are a great fish to have around.

I have L066, L134, L260 L204 fry on the go right now. If they are less then 2 inches, they aren't worth much. Thus my large grow out operation. Then I will drop them at a store. It's not really worth messing around for a 20 here and there. Just my 2 bits.

Harold rocks

Here is another variable that makes identification almost impossible. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-62252009000400013 I would say they are little pretty purple apistos and call er good.

Here you go. Not sd good as the books, but free http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?pageid=116

Uwe Romer has a couple all-Apistogramma books (Cichlid Atlas if i remember the name correctly)that contain a "Key" to help identify apistos by physical characterustics. All by picture. Works very well they aren't cheap but are the Apistogramma bible. I got atlas 1 and 2 for about a hundred bucks used off the Web.

Welcome! I am from Red Deer and I frequent Calgary often and Edmonton from time to time. There really is nowhere to shop here. Lol.Need any thing let me know. I am one who can't walk past a good deal, and not being close to stores causes me to carry inventory. Jay

Here you go. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2159

Aah. The eternal canister filter debate. Seems to be an ongoing topic that is always debated. Here is my 2 cents. Take it at its cost. I have FX5's. Moves a ton of water, polishing pads or filter floss cause it to cavatate and blow micro bubbles. Contact time with media would be somewhat short. Fluval 305 is an ok little filter. Tried and true I guess. Mine is packed with nothing except poret foam and filter Floss. Needs to be ripped apart every 4 months to squeeze out the floss. The joys of polishng.... Rena xp3. Not fancy or glamorous just pushes water through foam and floss like the 305. Longer contact time, and a larger exposed surface area to clog than the 305, very similar. Just keeps chugging along. I have a couple Sunsun filters that I like, both have UV. I feel that the numbers used to describe what sized tank they should go on may be off but hey, they hold a ton of media so maybe a lower velocity pump with large contact time to media is the key. I have had classic eheims and they also are solid units like the Fluval, Rena or Sunsun. Either way, I can't tell you what is a good filter. They all are in their own special way...you kind of have to figure it out and come up with your own opinion. I have cursed all filter brands at one time or another, more than likely caused by my own stupidity. So if you are happy with what you got for the money used or new, good on ya. Really, it's like a debate on blondes, brunettes or redheads. Most are good, some of each kind are trouble and some of them are just bad news. You'll figure it out.....albeit, some of us are slow learners.

Salt heat and time do the trick. I believe the salt does more for gill function then anything but it seems to alleviate some of the stress put on the fish by the increased heat. Like most things in the hobby, patience is key

Salt heat and time do the trick. I believe the salt does more for gill function then anything but it seems to alleviate some of the stress put on the fish by the increased heat. Like most things in the hobby, patience is key

If you fully understand how ich lives, then it is easy to understand how to kill it. Ich is a parasite, which requires a host to live. Fish are the host. Ich has three life stages. The first stage is the trophont stage, this is the feeding and growth stage of ich. It embeds on your fish, and essentially breaks down the cells around it and absorbs them. The fish's natural immune defenses will protect the trophont by encasing it with thickened skin and slime coat. It will grow until it reaches roughly the size and appearance of a grain of salt. At which time it sheds it's cilia, drops off of the fish, finds a home in the substrate and develops an outer shell. This shell is virtually impenetrable, and therefore ich is still protected through the second stage of life. The second stage is the Tomont stage in which it lays in the substrate and begins multiplying. It will divide as much as 2000 times inside it's protective shell, but does not feed during this stage. After it has divided the hundreds of new ich parasites essentially "hatch" and sprout cilia. The free swimmers are called theronts. They swim around trying to find a host (fish). If they find one they attach and begin the trophont stage all over again. During this free swimming stage, ich is vulnerable to medication and other treatments. Furthermore it will die quickly if it does not find a host. Time frames for each stage are extremely dependant on temperature. Higher temperatures speed up the life cycle dramatically. It may take ich several weeks to go through all three stages in a cool pond, while at 80*f + it will go through all stages in a matter of a few days to a week. One of the reasons so many myths, surround this parasite is that treatment is mis-understood by many people. Treatment must be maintained, for whatever time it takes to catch all parasites in the free swimming stage. It is vitally important to understand how ich lives in order to treat it properly and completely irradicate it. Many recommended treatments are either not maintained for long enough time, or not a surefire treatment. There are many methods that might kill it, but can't be guaranteed. A method that isn't completely sure may be a big helper in the battle, but should not be used as a complete treatment IMO. Treatment must be maintained long enough to ensure that all ich is dead, it only takes one free swimmer to find a host and completely infect a tank again. Above 82* F, 3 days is actually enough time after the last trophont falls off of your fish. I always recommend, as do many people, extending treatment a minimum of one week after all signs of ich are gone. That way if you happened to miss seeing one on the fish, you still get the job done. 2 weeks would be extreme overkill, but then some people are happier with extreme overkill. At the first sign of ich in a tank, you should begin treatment. Mark your calendar, if you don?t want to go through treatment repeatedly. ICH is fully protected while on your fish, and while in the substrate. It is vulnerable to treatment only during the few hours of it?s free swimming stage while it locates a host. With this in mind, when the ich spots are gone from your fish, it needs to be understood that you have not yet begun to eliminate ich. Treatment should begin immediately to prevent further infestation on the fish, But It will do nothing to the parasites already on your fish. Furthermore if you stop treatment after the fish look better, you are shooting yourself in the foot, and inevitably will need to treat again at some future point. Do it right the first time and put this little bug behind you.

Do you have a cycled tank running right now? If you do fill up the new tank with treated water, fire up the sponge filter and squish all the crud out of your existing filter in the new tanks water. Squish it real good. Let it pickle and bubble overnight. Vacuum the stuff off the bottom of the new tank. Viola. Cycled.

Is it possible to do a post mortem workup's? If so what would the costs possibly be?

Stop feeding them two days out. Water change the night before, and crank the furnace up to 80. Get battery operated air pumps for tanks that are overstocked. Should be fine for 7 hours.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Rust isnt toxic, if you do frequent water changes and use prime/safe you should be fine.

Reminds me, I need to come shopping at your place.

You could aways hit up a pharmacy for salt peter.They may help you out

There is a place in Calgary that sells me mine. Judging by the dust on the containers they have had them a while, or you could boil off the water..... I would think that crystals on the bottom of the jar means at one time and temperature it was a saturated solution. Solubility can change easily based on temperature. Funny how we cant buy small volumes of KNO3, but if I wanted to steal a trailer full something like ammonium nitrate there are at least 2 tanks that come to mind I've seen while walking the dog in the country, a ton of farmers have a Praxair trailer full, simply mix in __________and fuel and kaboom! But no, we cant have a dry pound for the oldfish tank. The government is hoping there are no bad guys out there that have a chemistry background....... Good luck on your search