Terra

My 12" BGK passed away last weekend. For five years he was the highlight of our tank and was the coolest fish for his previous owner for five years before that. The tank just isn't the same without him now. Thanks for being badass but so sweet Ghosty we will miss you forever.

Hi there everyone and thanks for stopping by. I got a BRAND NEW 80g bowfront aquarium a few months ago and it is stunning! The dark cherry wood stand makes it a perfect package. I've currently got the previous inhabitants of my 33g and 20g residing in it along with some crazy algae that is slowly being taken care of by my Ameca Splendens. I am such a lover of peaceful livebearing fish that these are the only types of fish I've really got any experience with. I'm looking to branch out a little for my new aquarium and would love some suggestions for stocking. Here is a list of who lives there currently: About 40 ameca splendens A 10" Black Ghost Knife 1 black molly 2 corydora catfish I was thinking about rainbowfish (10-15) and angelfish(probably a male and female), as well as a large pleco and some loaches(6-8) for the bottom. Anyone from Edmonton knows I have pretty hard alkaline water here, which I know tetras and danios don't love so much. I would love to hear your suggestions and recommendations. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing fishclubgirl. Your story made me laugh. Apparently all RTS's love to chase fish! Sharky would even harass my 8" black ghost knife! Gusty little guy...

Thanks for sharing your story cdot. They are pretty cool fish I must say. Sharky hated the net and would turn grey when he would see it.

I came home from work today to find my Red Tail Shark "Sharky" dead in a bucket full of gravel that was beside his makeshift tank. My 33g tank sprang a leak last night and I had to move the fish into a large rubbermade container. Unfortunately the lid couldn't be sealed tight as it would impede the filter flow. I've heard these sharks can be quite the jumpers and was fearful of this. I'm so sad he's gone. He was pretty big, about 5 inches and had a great personality. His colors were so vibrant, and he loved to chase the other fish in the tank but never harmed any of them. I feel guilty I couldn't be there to save him. He was a cool fish and I'm glad I got to spend the time with him that I did. I've got some video of him "kissing" the front of the tank so I'll have something to remember him at least. Rest in peace Sharky, you are missed.

Thank you everyone for the helpful hints. It has gotten a bit bettter. I've tried the shaking while running and it seems to have helped. It's still way noisier than it should be though in my opinion. Perhaps I'll have to break down and take it apart...

Oh my goodness my fluval 403 is driving me crazy! It's started making this awful noise like it's trying to run dry even though it's pumping water. It is slightly intermittent but happens most of the time. I opened it up and the plastic thing that contains the impeller wasn't fitting properly. When it was engaged properly the impeller wouldn't spin. Has anyone had a similar problem? If so, how did you fix it?? I feel like throwing it out the window but don't have a replacement large enough for my 30g. Please help! Terra

WOW! I've just read through this thread and it was truly amazing to see the process from start to finish. You've inspired me to create my own (much smaller) water feature in our back yard this summer. Well done and thank you for all the great pictures and info!

I just thought of this: Kribs are bottom dwellers yes? Will they be too territorial against my six golden zebra loaches, my pleco and my ADF? These guys are all so peaceful I'd hate to see them bullied by the tank newcomers after surviving a move.

Thank you all for the replies! I think I'll try some Kribs in a bit. I have the daunting task of moving my four fish tanks next weekend to our new home. :boxed: Any suggestions on how to do this with as little stress (to me and the fish!) are highly encouraged. After everyone is settled in I will likely add some newbies. I also want to try some shrimp, but that is for another topic. Thanks again! Terra

I've already tried the heat/salt approach. This outbreak has killed all of my adult fish. My jeuveniles are all that's left. They all seem healthy so far. I have my temp at 80F and my bubbler on high to increase O2. I am two days into the treatment, which says to use for three days. My question is should I continue longer than three days? Please help me out!

Hi everyone, I'm hoping I can get some clarification about treating ich. I have a 17g lightly planted tank that I am treating with Nox-ich (malachite green). On the bottle it says to dose for three days. My question is, should I treat longer based on knowing the ich lifecycle is at least 4 days? Also, how long do I wait after quitting the dosing to do a water change? And how much water do I change? Finally, why do the not-sick fish nibble on the sick ones????? Thank you! Terra

Ok, cool. I have a moderate to heavily planted tank with lots of java fern and duckweed/frogbit that fry like to hide in. Now I guess it's onto what egglaying fish are reliatively easy to breed? I currrently have golden zebra loaches and white cloud mountain minnows, an african dwarf frog and a "mother-in-law" pleco. I don't believe any of these have great success rates breeding in the home aquarium. Any suggestions?

Hi All, I have an addicition to livebearers. Currently I have: Swordtails Mollies Platies Ameca Splendens BUT, now I'm developing an interest in egg layers. I'm wondering what, if any, species of egg laying fish/invertebrate/anything I can put in my 55g with livebearers and still have eggs and babies survive? Any and all info would be appreciated! Terra

If they're ramshorn snails I'll happily take them off your hands. My loaches can't get enough!

Ok, so I've also just found out that Boatia species, Golden Zebras included, make audible clicking sounds!!! I'm completely in awe, and overwhelmingly relieved-I haven't slept in about a week thinking the clicking noises coming from my aquarium were some unseen leak and my aquarium was going to suddenly burst and kill all my fish. I'll finally get some rest! This species continues to shock and amaze me. Almost to the point where I want to keep nothing but loaches. I'll have to convince my significant other to let me get some more, larger tanks..... If you LOVE LOACHES post something here!

Hi there, I'm just writing to rave about the 6 new golden zebra loaches I've added to my 55g planted tank. I posted a thread looking for some peaceful loaches to take care of my Ramshorn snail population. I'd never even heard of this species until I got them, but they are some of the sweetest (and hilarious) members of my tank. They are a great clean-up crew and very gentle. The way they swim looks like they're trying to give hugs and I just love watching them swim back and forth across the tank (most of the time as a pile of 3 or more). I just love these guys!! If they had babies I would be on cloud nine, though I know this is highly unlikely. Feel free to comment on how much you love loaches, and post any interesting information/stories you have. Terra

Great too see them happy in their new home!

Thanks again for all the feedback. I don't know if puffers are for me. Shellies seem more interesting in their behaviour, and I'm also considering a pair of kribs...I hear these (kribs) are a relatively peaceful species of cichlid and appear quite beautiful. Any feedback on keeping shellies with kribs?

I have a 17g tall tank currently housing white sailfin mollies that I'm considering converting into a cichlid tank. I realize I cannot have many fish in this tank, but I was thinking of having it house a pea (dwarf) puffer or a Green spotted puffer and some sunspot shellies. Would these two species be compatible with each other? If not, I thing I would be interested in getting a puffer (either dwarf or green spotted). How many of these little guys could I house in this tank? I know GSP's are slightly brackish; would the shellies tolerate a bit of salt in their water? Basically any and all information regarding the compatibility of these species would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Raven, This is a great website that gave me most of my information: http://www.goodeiden.de/html/splendens3.html There are also many other cumulatively informative websites out there obtained by googling "ameca splendens" as someone previously mentioned. I had guppies and mollies in with my Amecas and only the guppies' tails were nipped. I have them in a species only tank right now and a few in my community 55g to take care of the hair algae overwhelming the tank. They're quite voracious and I wouldn't argue that they will wrestle for food. To watch the breeding behavior is truly entertaining if not fascinating. I haven't been lucky enough to watch the fry drop with their trophotaenia (umbilical cord equivalent) still visible, but highly enjoy seeing a new batch of fry in the morning.

Nitrates are 10!!! I've been doing 20% water changes daily for the last week or so in the 30g. Yesterday I dosed the tank with Big Al's Bio-clean and Bio-support and today my nitrates are 10!!! I know it's only the first day, and I'll continue to monitor water quality over the next few days, but yayy!!! The 20g's nitrates have been steady at 10 since Friday, and I've got about 17 fish in there. Close to if not over capacity I know. I plan on selling some once my jeuveniles are a little bigger. Thanks to everyone for the support and advice. Terra

Ok, So I did the 30g yesterday. To avoid totally stressing my black ghost knife and red tail shark I thought just stirring up and vacuuming the gravel really well, along with a 50% water change would do the trick. Upon water testing 3hrs later my nitrates were still off the charts. So, I decided to take the gravel out completely similar to the 20g. I'm glad I did as I found several old elastic bands, tonnes of dirt and dead plants (!) in there. I nearly killed my bgk when his slate cave collapsed, and I've only ever seen my red tail shark so grey when we got him. Poor things. Anyway, I also performed another 20% water change at that time. Upon testing today I think my nitrates are between 50 and 110. Still way too high!! AND, my 20g nitrates crept back up to 10 from 5 in one day with a 20% water change yesterday! I'm getting very frustrated. What else could it be??? Do I just keep up with the 20% water change daily? When will it ever stop?!?!

Hi everyone, Thanks so much your all your suggestions. I think I sort of combined them all into an effective process. A little update on the nitrate situation. My 30g and 20g were the ones affected. I attacked the 20g one last night. I didn't move the fish but took out pretty much all the gravel and vacuumed all the sludge out of the bottom. Buried in the 6in pile of gravel in this short tank was an old plant pot still filled with mineral wool, several 2in thick pieces of slate and countless dead plant leaves. The dirt in the gravel was so thick I thought it was soil at first! Upon water testing this morning my nitrates were at 5!!!!! And all my other figures were perfect also. This is so amazing to know my fish aren't suffering anymore. Now to tackle the 30g... I'll let you know how that one goes too! Thanks again, Terra

Thanks everyone! I'm too much of a scardey cat to try putting cichlids with my livebearers for fear of them being lunch! My tank is definitely a work in progress right now. I've got tonnes of plants tied to driftwood but am putting off putting plants in my substrate since I just want to change it soon anyway. I also have a Black Ghost Knife in another tank that I want to build an Amazon biotope around. I have amazon-ish gravel in there and so I want to cover that with a moss or something to mimic the river bottom being covered with detritus. I know there's not many planted plants but I'm going to have lots of floating ones to mimic the shade given by the mangroves over the river. I think it will look sa-weet! ALSO, I have butterfly goodeids that I plan on making a species only tank. Again no planted plants, just "caves" made out of stacked slate pieces and lots of floating plants. I'll let you know how all end up. Thanks again!! Terra