earlyriser

Let me know where I can get some rams that will breed in tap water! Will the eggs still hatch? Every time I've bred them I've had to use R/O and it's a pain. But if they work in tap water I want some. They're great fish, I just gave up because of the water requirements.

I'm gonna make it my mission to get some pictures of these babies. I didn't take any when I had them, but I should have! I'll stop by after work tomorrow and get some shots.

Rams, and the other apistos aren't the same fish as the non-dwarfs. They're cool, and look great, but they're tougher to keep, and breed especially. Breeding requires r/o water etc. For simplicty in a tank of that size I think the firemouths are a good call. They breed just like the cons but they're a little less common. (A little less). Dempseys would work, too. Salvini is a spectacular little cichlid that would work well too. I've had them breed in a community grow-out 90. They can be nasty too. 29 is just a little tight for most, the best way way to go is start with 6 or 8 juvies lt them pair off and then trade the rest. But with that tank they have to pair off pretty quick!

You guys are making me second guess my decision to trade them in for discus! But remember I have lots of their offspring growing out right now! You too could have such specimens someday!

Hey everyone I've been keeping and breeding freshwater fish for a long time, and I'm about to start with salt. I want a fish only system (with live rock). It's a 55 gallon. How much live rock should I use, what is a good skimmer to get? (with the understanding I will in all likliehood expand to bigger tanks down the road.) I'm in Vancouver right now, flying back on Wednesday. Live rock here is about six bucks a pound, cheaper than Edmonton for sure. But is it worth buying it here and bringing it back? Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some help on feeding fry while I'm out of town. The kid next door comes over to feed to dog and the fish for me, but with young Discus, and Angels that became free-swimming on Monday, they need several feedings a day. I might convonce him to drop by twice a day, but what do other people do? It always seems to work out like this, I finally get a viable spawn, and I have to go away for a week. The angels do take Hikari First Bites fry food, so is there a way to use an automatic feeder for this?

You must be doing something right to keep all those fish alive in a 90! The festae pair that I had (and traded to Big Als Edmonton) were together in a 90. The male ended up over a foot long, and the female was pretty damn close. They spawned every three weeks for months.

How big are the festae?

It's weird Calgary is full of umbees when I've never seen one up here, too bad. Thank's for mentioning the old black nasty.. now I'll have to get another tank! Maybe I'll take a road trip, I actually lived in the City of Cows for a couple years. It's not too bad. Maybe I'm nuts, but the Big Al's in Edmonton doesn't seem that bad to me. And as far as selection goes theres no other store that even comes close. I know a few of the guys there, and they definitely know what they're doing when it comes to fishkeeping. They have a breeding pair if Motoro rays that have produced viable offspring twice now. And for big cichlids there's no other choice in Edmonton.

Yeah J-Roc you're probably right, for some reason the big sa/ca's aren't all that popular up here. Too bad. I've actually changed up the fishroom a bit lately. Like I said previous, I traded the festae pair and the severums for a bunch of discus. I have a few more fish in the Big Al's tanks - the five twelve inch long fin albino oscars are mine too, traded them for a bunch of green terrors and some other grow outs. I figure they have about 100 inches of my cichlids in there! I always want to have some festae in the fish room so I'll get another pair out of the fry, get a pair out of the green terrors, then grow out a pair of jags, and possibly another set of gold severum. I'm still waiting for my F2 Thoricthys "Blue Mextico" to pair off and spawn, they're slow growing for neos. I'm also gonna dedicate one of my tanks to a monster, single fish. Dovii are around pretty common lately, but I'd really like to get an Umbie. But I haven't seen one yet. Cichlidkid, I didn't take any pix of the pair, but maybe someone can go by Big Als and grab a shot or two. I bet you'll see your pair put on a lot of size as soon as you get them a place of their own. I think I saw at least one jag, and a green terror in your pix. If your festae get to the size my pair were, those guys will be dead in a heartbeat. Has your pair spawned, if they have, it's pretty surprising those tankmates aren't dead already!

Thanks all... Those are my festae. Or they were I traded them in for a bunch of discus last weekend. If the four hundred is a little steep I'm growing out about one hundred of their babies right now, they're about 2"s. I'll let them go for a lot less than that. I also traded in the big pair of "Super Red Gold Severum" in the tank across the aisle... In fact they might have sold already. They were actually more impressive than they festae. I find it hard to believe they're pricing those fish at that, but they are damn nice, and I can tell you they breed every three weeks if you keep them happy. Good food, lots of room, and water changes all the time. Cichlidkid, I've seen pix and you have some nice fish, but I think yours may have to do a little growing up before they get into the same kind of shape as that pair. The male is massive, and thick, and the female has colour unlike any other festae I've kept. And I've bred more than a couple pairs. Send me a PM if you want some fry!

I traded for a couple of Blue Dempseys a while back, with Big Als.. They were always sick.. and both eventually died within a few months... I'm pretty sure it was my fishkeeping skills.. I'm no experts, but I've been at it awhile, and have lost very, very few fish.