Dave

sounds like a project for tomorrow!

So I've had some glass aquariums sitting outside over the winter underneath tarps. Would these still be viable aquariums to fill with water? The silicone doesn't seem brittle.

Well, seeing as I don't know anything about Red Clawed Crabs, I'm not fully qualified to answer the question, but .. If the crabs are large and are nocturnal as crays are, they may prey upon the DPs when they are sleeping. I've nudged my DPs after I've turned lights on in the morning and they just don't budge. If the crabs create a lot of waste, you may have some water quality issues, as DPs are messy eaters to begin with As with any puffer, they are all unique. They could leave the red crabs alone, or they could go for them immediately as food. In my experience, all DPs I've owned have left my amano shrimp alone, though shrimp are fairly agile and able to get away. Only time would tell with your DPs.

I saw these cute Badis Badis fish at the LFS on the weekend. They are fairly tiny, and was wondering about setting up a small species tank with them. How many would fit into a 6g with overfiltration? Cleanup crew would consist of a couple shrimp. Everything that I've read says that they will reach 2-3 inches. Does anyone have any experience with these guys? Thanks.

They are fun to keep. I've got a population that is breeding consistently now. Only white bodied ones with all 4 colour variants. I don't bother sexing them.. I let them sort it out themselves lol.

Mine have only ever bloomed underwater as well. I imagine it would be a challenge to propagate them that way.

I bought the 5 piece kit from azgardens.com I am very pleased with the purchase. They are holding up beautifully, and are extremely useful in tight planting situations. http://www.azgardens.com/newtools2.php

Thanks. Been looking for these for a long time now, and I have a spare planted 40g that I'm sure they would find hospitable.

where did you get your puffers??????

As long as you have an electronic ballast, it'll run anything above T5. I believe you need a specific ballast for T5's I'm running T6's on an electronic ballast just fine. If you have an old magnetic ballast, you're pretty much restricted to the fatter, & less energy efficient T12's

Would Fish of the Month get more participation? Dunno.

Update: I came home early today, as the office was completely dead. Found all 4 angels doing well, sitting happily in the middle of the water column. I tried that NLS, and they weren't too interested, but took flakes readily. I'll try switching them over in the coming weeks.

I've had amano shrimp with my Dwarf Puffers for a couple years now. The shrimp are feisty enough that they even try to steal food from the puffers. Mind you, you could get some passive shrimp and some aggressive puffers and it would be a different story. If the shrimp aren't working out for you, try otocinclus cats. They are skittish enough that they can usually get away from the puffers before any trouble arises.

So far, they are doing well. One seems to have a swimbladder issue. He remains towards the bottom, and is laboriously using his pectoral fins. There isn't a whole lot of current in my tank, and the water is ok. I hope it was just some stress from travel and will correct itself by the time I get home this afternoon. The others seem to have coloured up nicely and are doing well. Thanks for the input. I was going to wait for some more responses, but after seeing these angels down at Riverfront, I figured it was worth the risk :P

I'm thinking of putting in 4-5 angelfish into my 90 gallon planted tank. It currently has about 15-20 fairly large cardinal tetras. Thoughts?

I went without a heater at all in my 6g nano, but its in an office environment, so the temperature remains more or less stable. The heat from the 18w of light above it heat it up enough.

Complete for the most part. I just wanted to share my pics. Hope you like 'em http://www.burdon.ca

hoping to keep the aquascaped slope with the aid of strategically placed rocks ... ie retaining wall

I like a nice deep(3+ inches) substrate for root feeders like crypts, but where is the tradeoff? You can't do a thurough vacuum on a fully planted tank. Do you just pack the tank full of trumpet snails and keep them at bay by hand?

Any type of computer fan works, as long as you get the proper transformer for it. It was a main exhaust fan for my entire hood, so a 90mm fan that needed a 12V DC current worked well. I used a fan that based its RPMs on ambient temp, so it could move more air in the summer if needed. I did all my own electrical and whatnot, so it was pretty easy to tie in with the wires for the lights. Find a 120V AC to ??V DC transformer, make sure it can handle the amp draw on the fan(usually this is not an issue), and you're good to go.

I built a fan-cooled top for my 40g. Finished it in mahogany with 4 coats of gloss varathane. What kind of lights are you going to be sticking in there?

refuse to sell. I would not sell anything but dry goods to him after that point.

Thats a tough one. I will have to defer to someone with a bit more experience.

clown, or yoyo loaches do well. I like yoyos myself. or you could get some dwarf puffers. Now those are professional snail exterminators. I will guarantee that you will have no snails after a month, or I'll buy the puffers from you!

The apple plant that you refer to is not too hard to grow. Its done well for me at 75-78'F. Fairly slow-growing as far as stem plants are concerned, which is nice.