Evolution

Thanks T, I love them!!

Cool. I worked for PJs about 25 years ago in Toronto, but I've not been in your store in almost 15 years.

Is ACE a reptile thing?

What store do you work at?

The coralife T5 fixtures for reptiles are relatively cheap. Not sure how long of a unit you need, but try kijiji for used and shop some local pet stores.

Hello and welcome, Adam Phelasuma and Uroplatus are my all time favorite genus' of gecko! Personally, all I have right now is a 6' coastal carpet and a dwarf pyxie frog. Have you ever considered keeping some fish? Will

The old water is not important and should be discarded. What is important is the bacteria in the gravel and the filter; they need to be preserved. The old water that the fish is being trasported in will have ammonia and urea in it and be depleted of oxygen. Fresh tap water will be devoid of the toxins and rich in oxygen which will benefit the pleco, but also greatly boost the oxygen starve good bacteria. I know it is often said, such as JLake recommends, to save the old water, but I can assure you that the old water is useless in terms of relocating an established tank. I just set up an established 54g for a guy last night. I took no water with me, just the sand, filters and tank. He wanted to transfer all his 30g of old tank water into the new one and I told him noooo. So we did it my way. Today I got an email telling me that he has never seen his fish so happy and healthy looking and for the first time his tank looks as clean and as healthy as one of mine.

It would be ok, jesp. Sorry for assuming you were getting it from Harold! It would be difficult to float the tub (lol), so I suggest you fill the tank to the temperature of the tub. You should have the 33 up and running in about 30 minutes with the same temp as the tub. Scoop the pleco with your hands and add him to the tank. If it will make you comfortable, add the air stone, but I suggest not to add the heater. That genus of pleco can live in very very low oxygenated water and they have the ability to take up oxygen from the surface of the water. As well they can survive periods in water temperatures in the low 60s.

I would properly double bag and box the fish to prevent spillage and to keep the oxygen presurized and the temperature stable. Hearld should have both the bags and box. Bagging this fish this size in this way will hold it without harm and little stress for a good 48 hours. Get it all home, set up the tank and fill (declorinate only) to the desired temperature then float the bagged fish for 5 minutes max. Then take the bag out of the water and open it and scoop the fish and release it in the tank. Do not add tank water to the bag or the bag water to the tank. The safest way to remove a pleco this size from a bag or any container is with you bare hands. Grabbing it firmly but gently behind the eyes with one hand and holding the tail with the other hand, gently release it into the tank.

Nice! is that first one a solid blue?

The mineral content of Alberta water is one of the highest in the country, possibly North America. Salt, aquarium salt, is sodium chloride (NaCl), which is part metal and part chlorine- no minerals there. This ionic compound is not normally natural in fresh water and it's even rarer in South American black water to which oscar evolved in. I am also yet to find any information anywhere as to how the continued use of salt in freshwater tanks is good for a fishes health. And brackish water or esterine water is salt water, but at a lower salinity than marine water. A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance that is formed through geological processes and that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not have a specific chemical composition. Minerals range in composition from pure elements and simple salts to very complex silicates with thousands of known forms. Under this definition I think salt classifies as a mineral. Salt isnt always made with a Sodium ion either. It can be MgCl2 such as what the main composition of the salt in the ocean is. Yes, but are you not confusing mineral salts such as those abundant in Alberta water, and such water as the rift lakes of Africa with sodium chloride aka aquarium salt? The salt used in aquaria as a wide range general tonic is not a mineral salt, but nothing more than one part metal and one part chlorine. Two things that I remove from my tap water using a good water conditioner to prevent my fish from being harmed. don't those water conditioners increase the sodium levels in your water? In exceptionally limited quanties.

The mineral content of Alberta water is one of the highest in the country, possibly North America. Salt, aquarium salt, is sodium chloride (NaCl), which is part metal and part chlorine- no minerals there. This ionic compound is not normally natural in fresh water and it's even rarer in South American black water to which oscar evolved in. I am also yet to find any information anywhere as to how the continued use of salt in freshwater tanks is good for a fishes health. And brackish water or esterine water is salt water, but at a lower salinity than marine water. A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance that is formed through geological processes and that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not have a specific chemical composition. Minerals range in composition from pure elements and simple salts to very complex silicates with thousands of known forms. Under this definition I think salt classifies as a mineral. Salt isnt always made with a Sodium ion either. It can be MgCl2 such as what the main composition of the salt in the ocean is. Yes, but are you not confusing mineral salts such as those abundant in Alberta water, and such water as the rift lakes of Africa with sodium chloride aka aquarium salt? The salt used in aquaria as a wide range general tonic is not a mineral salt, but nothing more than one part metal and one part chlorine. Two things that I remove from my tap water using a good water conditioner to prevent my fish from being harmed.

Mbu puffer!

I wondered that too. If that is it's true colours- it's gotta be one of the nicest I've ever seen. He sure is! Don't see many matured green wild oscars in the hobby, but I got one Did you enhance the picture's colour?

I wondered that too. If that is it's true colours- it's gotta be one of the nicest I've ever seen.

The mineral content of Alberta water is one of the highest in the country, possibly North America. Salt, aquarium salt, is sodium chloride (NaCl), which is part metal and part chlorine- no minerals there. This ionic compound is not normally natural in fresh water and it's even rarer in South American black water to which oscar evolved in. I am also yet to find any information anywhere as to how the continued use of salt in freshwater tanks is good for a fishes health. And brackish water or esterine water is salt water, but at a lower salinity than marine water.

I think so. It's in a 15g with a divider and there is a 6" red belly piranha on the other side. So I guess it's more like a 7.5g.

It doesn't appear that Heiko has kept up with the flowerhorn craze (genetics wise), but personally I think that it's rather funny that Heiko would even associate his fish purist name with a filthy hybrid mutant such as a FH. No, no buzz kill. I've been reading his aquageo mag since #1 and his tfh articles since the 80s. It doesn't surprise me that he supplied the origonals and I have the tfh article in the mag somewhere around here. The thing about him is the life he leads, the exploration. I find it facinating. However, I was a bit disgusted to see him set up a Hagen tank for Hagen when he toured Ontario. First thing I said was... "NOOB!"

My point is the person who wrote that article that you linked to this thread to which you are using to back up your salt claims says that oscars have a "photo period" and "chickens explode when they eat too much." I suggest to you to take anything written in that article with 1 teaspoon of salt per 5 gallons of water. I am however, in no way implying that you do not know how to take care of your fish. My comments are in reference to the links provided. Here is an article regarding salt use in a freshwater aquarium. 'The Skeptical Aquarist' is a column found in the magazine TROPICAL FISH HOBBIEST (TFH). http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml

That being said by a person who said this... "DO NOT PUT THEM IN A 30 GALLON OR LESS TANK THEY WILL GET A "HOLLOW BELLY". Hollow belly is when the Oscars insides grow but its spine doesn't,and the organs become bloated leading to a very slow and incredibly painful death." This is my 6" oscar in a 7 gallon tank. and said this... "GOLDFISH COME FROM ASIA OSCARS COME FROM SOUTH AMERICA DO NOT FEED THEM GOLDFISH. Also the massive amount of protein and indigestible bones can-and will-lead to intestinal blockage. In captivity their diet should consist of: brine shrimp" and this... "NOTE: Oscars will not eat until they explode like chickens. They will eat until their scales pop out on their bellies but no more." and this... "PHOTOPERIOD - Spawns during the rainy season."

I fixed that actually Randy, and then added a tank size I felt would be a little more appropriate. It did only say a 10 gallon. And No you are most definitely right Evolution but with the smaller the volume of water once that fish gets bigger and bigger, the water will become rank quicker and quicker, and unless your doing huge daily water changes, then your small tank will probably stunt that gorgeous fish. But no you are right I suppose, but you can't tell me you agree with sticking such a fish that could grow so big, in such a little container, he'd barely have room to move. The fish certainly needs the appropiate amount of living space... as much as possible, but I was just saying that it is water quality that stunts growth and not the tank size. And you are totally right about the copious water changes on a small tank to prevent the stunting.

Dear Tanker... zzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanks guys!

Contrary to popular belief, "tank size" doesn't play a role in growth and growth rate of fish. The most important factors in fish growth, regardless of water volume, is water quality and nutrition.

last i read oscars are purely a freshwater fish, not brackish at all. where did you get your information? last i read oscars are purely a freshwater fish, not brackish at all. where did you get your information? "Keeping a salt level in the water seems to be essential part of Oscar keeping. The addition of salt when a pair of Oscars has a spawning seems to ensure a greater hatch rate for the eggs" http://www.aquarticl...lor_Oscars.html From the article "Keeping a salt level in the water seems to be essential part of Oscar keeping. The addition of salt when a pair of Oscars has a spawning seems to ensure a greater hatch rate for the eggs." Seems to be essential to part of keeping oscars, but no reason is given at all other than a greater hatch rate. Poor wording and poor information and clearly detrimental to the well being of any oscars in the care of anyone who uses that information. Oscars themselves do not require salt in the water. The article was writen by someone in Australia and we have no idea if the water the person is using is acid or alkaline. Often salt is used in locations where the water used for tank water is acid and has a low pH such as the lower mainland, BC. Oscars evolved in BLACK water rivers of South America and these waters have almost no conductivity (alkalinity). Spawning usually takes place in these waters after the rains, when the rivers are high and the water current is strong, which inturn has a lower organic concentration and a faster current keeping the eggs in less harms way from fungus and sediment build up. The salt added to an oscar tank only aids in keeping fungus off the eggs. The oscar doesn't benifit at all from the addition of salt. Feeding. I feed all my large fish- rays, cichlids, piranhas, electric eel, lungfish, polyterus and so on a frozen thawed shmorgishborg from a local asian market. It includes smelts, scalops, snails, muscles, clams, shrimp of all sizes, eels, various fish meats and so on. I prewash all the foods and feed raw. I also feed a bit of beef that has no vaccines, hormones and antibiotics.