flyfisher

I feel for you Jayba I could never get the stuff to flourish in any tank I tried it in.I picked some up as a hitch hiker on some other plants now the stuff is every where clogging up my filters blocking light to other plants.Even making a mess during tank maintenance it gets on every thing on my hands on the floor on the walls in the toilet in the bath tub, spread across the yard on the dog you name it has duck weed on it after WC day.This stuff is worse than a snail invasion & harder to get rid of.

If your looking for information on Rainbows take at look at Rainbowric's journal he as several write ups full of useful information.75 & 90 gallon tanks are the favorite sizes for a lot of bow keepers.

I have been to four of the CAS auctions always a good time.I have only seen them once a trio, so a shoal would be tough but you never know what will show up.Last two there was LOTS of plants & albino BN usually some unexpected finds to keep it interesting so make room in your quarantine tank and join the fun.

A 75g multi tank would be a blast my 20g with a colony is one of my favs.Not sure what a good critter mix would work for you but Java Fern does very well with my colony. I crazy glued it to my rock work all is well.Trying to aqua-scape could be a challenge, little buggers love to dig its amazing how much sand they can move .I have two dozen shells in the tank and they buried all of them and live & spawn in the rock work.

Agree when I worked in the lighting industry way back LED's were starting to creep into the industry over 20 years ago they suffered because of reliability & cost and continued to languish until recently, now main stream manufacturers are taking notice and throwing their weight & money into the technology.Costs are coming down quickly and innovations are taking off.

I run 2 x 2217 on my 75g with the 300w Hydor connected to one, temp stays at a constant 78f no problem.

I have a friendly female Blue Ram in with some Goyder River bows she was originally put in as a dither fish because the bows were having a hard time adjusting to their new tank.She is now queen of the tank even though she is the smallest fish, she swims up to greet me when ever I approach the tank.At feeding time the bows throw up so much water and scatter so much food she has no problem getting she share.

sorry for the casualty might I suggest bumping up your quarantine to a month and be proactive with the Ich treatments.Most fish I acquire are quarantined for a minimum of 30 days in this time I usually deworm with Levamisole twice and run a full course treatment with Seachem Paraguard.While Paraguard maybe on the expensive side I have found it to be gentle on critters and will probably be cheaper than a UV system.I have had great success with this method and have seen no out breaks of any sort since I started using it. I always keep a close eye on the new arrivals at the beginning of the treatments and prepared to do a quick water change if fish show any signs of stress.

After having gone through a out break of my own about two years ago I learned more than I ever wanted to know about Camallanus worms & Levamisole. You can do a search on here for both Camallanus & Levamisole some VERY GOOD information on what they are what to look for treatments etc. Only way I now trust is to quarantine all fish for a minimum of a month de-worming with Lev. at least twice all it takes is one sick fish to contaminate your tank which can then be easily spread to other tanks through shared nets, hoses, buckets etc.

Some thing else might be going on Calgary tap is usually around 8.0 ph right out of the tap some times lower this time of year with the snow melt & rain.What are you using to test with test strips are notoriously inaccurate.Did you clean & soak the wood before adding?might be something on the wood.To raise ph all you would need to do is water changes.

Search Camallanus worms on here lots of threads & posts, Levamisole is your best bet to get rid of these pests.I picked mine up from Canadian Aquatics.

Just when I'm pulling out the fly fishing gear and beginning to set up for chasing after an other type of Rainbow you guys tempt me with these.I think you both enjoy this.LOL

Fishless Ammonia & a test kit easy, one tablespoon of ammonia took my 75g to 4ppm.I squeezed some dirty sponges from a friends tank then stuffed them into a canister filter.Was cycled in less than two weeks.

Thanks guys here's hoping there is a couple of males in the bunch,but if not it will give the older males a new lease on life LOL and step up the activity in the tank. That's one species off my list now it will be the Goyders turn that I picked up from you Rick back around Christmas.

I have managed to grow out six fry from some original stock I received from geleen. I was wondering at what size should I be able to sex these guy or gals?They are about 3/4" and all look like females so far. Thanks.

Geleen & Rainbowric are the local Rainbow guru's here if they don't have any available they can probably find it for you.I have received top notch stock from both. :thumbs:

Pickling vinegar 7% acetic acid instead of the usual 5% razor blade on the heavier deposits.

+1 on every 3 days makes insurance companies happy too read the fine print on your policies most require a visit every 72 hrs.

No need to expose fish to the stress of cycling a new tank.Search "fishless cycle",if you have access to seeded filter media it can greatly speed up the cycle without harming fish.

Seachem ParaGuard has always proven gentle on plants & critters for me.I have use it pro-actively in my quarantine procedure but have never used it to treat any active out break .It is expensive so it salt is working stick with that.

Try small grey leeches about a 1.5" long thankfully the Amano shrimp made a quick meal out of them.Always thought Amanos were peaceful until I witnessed the slaughter 1st hand.

I have had them before usually hitch a ride on plants.Never caused any harm in my tank.

+1 on the wild jungle look but does make viewing fish a challenge. LOL

Normal yes does it happen to beginners only nope. Its not something to worry about because it will happen from time to time it just tells you something is out of norm lights, ferts.or co2 etc.Fix the problem it goes away until the next time.

The Aru 2s are another work in progress I also received some nice stock,but my biggest challenge was spotting the fry before the adults,fry are tiny they look like specs of dust with tails.I did manage to scoop up six and get them into a small tuperware container that I floated in a different tank.I was feeding them some Sera Micron ( thanks Rainbow Ric )for about a week then started adding mico worms which they loved,but after another week they stopped eating & passed.New fry have been non existent or harder than normal to spot. Ha ha success (so far) managed to catch five fry and keep them alive for three weeks now they are eating crushed up NLS, BBS & micro worms growing quickly in their 10g grow out tank.