Quetzalcoatl

how sturdy are these guys? how long do they live? and are they easy to breed?

hill stream loaches also eat algae, and they look like miniature sting rays

The best low tech cheap planted tank is setup in a few simple steps: 1. Get some soil from a local creek, river or pond. 2. Pour water in a tank with the soil next to a window exposed to sun light. 3. Put some sturdy plants, if possible from the same creek, river or pond. 4. Add some little sturdy fish (fatheads, endlers, goldfish) and pest snails. 5. An air pump and you are set Watch your plants and fish grow, reproduce and live happy

Your aro is so red and pretty where did you get it?

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but the best thing to do is to take everything apart move the tank empty and re-do everything again. You can get some rubber maids to hold the plans, substrate, etc... Better safe than sorry, unless you have the cash to buy a new tank if the worse takes place :cry:

very nice

I have 2, 230 gallon tanks in my living room. I placed a support bean and a column, in the basement, along the boards under the tank. So far it has been holding ok for almost 2 years

Are you giving it away for free? how big is his current tank? I have two of them, the same size but they are 2 years old. I thought by 10 years they would be way bigger :cry:

Discus are very shy and will commit suicide, by starvation, if stressed. The angels could be bullying the discus. The discus needs a place to hide and as you mentioned something to provide a shade. Once a discus has decided to terminate his/her life it will take 3/4 weeks to accomplish its final goal. This is the time you have to convince it life in a fish tank is worth a try. Also discus are shoal fish, being lonely might be also a reason for it to be a depressed fish looking for a final solution.

I cannot understand fish suicide. Why evolution allows suicidal tendencies to prevail on their little brains? Suicide on humans makes more sense, humans have more issues to deal with, but what issues can a fish have? :cry:

A few hundred years ago scientist believed spontaneous generation was possible from the fact that from a clean jar or water life would seem to emerge from nowhere. It took some years of research to prove that microscopic life forms carried by the air or contained already on water that seemed pure were the origin of life. Just fill a jar with water and leave it next to a window exposed to the sun. In a few days the jar will have algae and a bunch of little creatures swimming around. It is amazing.

They look like distant relatives of sea horses.

The fact that we feel entitle to ban certain species to protect the environment at the same time that we destroy it, is pure hypocrisy. Snakeheads are not bad or human like, they are just misunderstood and satanized. I saw in the news last weekend that two huskies attacked a little girl in calgary. Nobody is talking about banning them. We are just unfair and illogical on the way we favour some species and segregate others using our laws.

I never remove them either, my largest snail shells become a form of natural decoration :s

cute little fish, how big do they get?

I am not a woman, but from your post I got the impression that you think, women's rights are a smaller issue than racism :cry: The priorities of our society and governments are non-sense. These are the laws of nature: If a predator kills all of its prey, it goes extinct, because it will starve to dead. The number of prey always limits the number of predators. Almost all fish eat other fish. For me it is very interesting to see how the media can create and non issue, blow it out of proportion, and get some believers. While at the same time I see Alison Redford saying on the news that the spill is not a big deal, and everything is ok Then I see people thinking, we should turn off the candles instead of fighting the fire. The human mind is fascinating; but sadly, at the same time, so easy to condition and control.

Shrimp shed their shells, are you sure this is not the old shells?

The movie "The book of ELI" comes to my mind, because I do all my record keeping in my mind there is not actual book or file :cry:

Number of native species killed by a lonely snakehead in a bc pond = 0 Number of native species killed by oil spill near red deer river = Too many to count not to mention the permanent damage to the land. Just watch the video :P http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/06/09/calgary-sundre-oil-spill-update.html But of course oil production won't be ban, or the safety procedures improved. Lets instead ban a lonely fish

I know that usually playing with the periods of light duration and water temperature can induce spawning.

It is funny how to catch one snakehead in a little pond they took one whole month, like ten people and god knows how much tax money they wasted. It was also very interesting that the whole pond had only non native species. I can only imaging what would happen if a pair of snakeheads managed to breed in a local river. Perhaps the government should be more concern about oil spills in local rivers, and the environmental impact of the oil industry on the local environments, that the impact of a lonely fish in a pond full of invasive species

There are tricks to put your fish in the mood I don't know the specific tricks for bettas, but I am sure there are a few :P

This happens to my swords all the time, the leaf grow and then they dissolve in the water, I thought this was normal :cry:

I am curious about this too, I have never seem them for sale in calgary. Do they need a salt water or brackish? because I just have fresh water :cry:

I just had this problem, they cut the power for 7 hours, and I actually lost only one fish I think it is not so bad, since all the other ones lived. However I can tell you I saw all my fish suffering and swimming at the top of the tank in need of fresh air. They were very stressed. If your fish are expensive don't hesitate and get a generator to plug your filters and air pumps.