cullymoto

Hey there AA. I have been thinking about re-doing the aquascape of my tank, you see i upgraded to a large tank and simply just transfered over all the decore I had before! now things are good, fine, happy, but a little ugly and mis-matched. I have been playing with the idea of creating my own scenery pieces. I have experience with metal working, concrete / mortar work. and am thinking about basically creating a wire frame, concrete coating / sculpting. painting, then clear coating. Leaning towards something like a root -type (amozon river) or even something like a big-a$$ bone-sigh tree with some christmas moss on top type of thing. At this time the design is on paper and still being tweaked. I would like to ask members here for their opinions / experience on do it yourself things of this nature. What products did you use? what would you do different? what problems did you run into? I have also been thinking about creating a silicone covered bottom. basically laying a nice sand and placing a layer of silicone over top so that the tank is bare bottom (easy to keep spottless) without being as ugly as a bare bottom lol. anythoughts on this? Can i "heat" the silicone somehow so it flows over the sand and is a very thin layer? Will it pick up the sand as it flows and suspend it? anyway. opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

test strips have a reputation of being very unreliable. if any moisture gets to them they are useless, have a shelf life of 12 mon. max. and "difficult to interpret" according to many. use the liquid test kits instead.

I do 75% weekly. which is no where near what im supposed to to for discus, specially considering that they are in a planted tank with a gravel bottem. Whatever, the fish are growing like weeds and happy as all heck! I use aqua plus safe as it has aloe vera + slime coat stuff. I have actually watched a wounded discus heal in minutes with this stuff in the water. not as "general purpose" as safe or prime (seachem) but i dont believe in taking the food away from the beneficial bacteria in the tank, so why would I add something that removes the amonia / nitrite / nitrate? would starve my plants too... With the aqua plus safe I use "perfect ph 6.5, KH booster, and discus trace mineral additive. (i use 100% R-O water so without these three my ph goes crazy) It is worth adding that I age, heat, and airate my water change water.

i just tie stuff with a single filament fishing line..... it never lets go

if your tank is well established (been running a while) there will be enough growth on your plants rocks etc for the fish to pick at. they will not starve in a day or two. just watch them, they will start being more aggresive then usual, this is a sign that they are hungry. when you do feed, feed a very small amount at a time. to the point where its gone as soon as it touches water. you can then give another tiny portion etc. snails are really hard to get rid of naturally.... i prefer using chems to get rid of them as you, your loaches, etc will never ever find them all.

I posted in your angel thread. betta is a labrynth fish, similar to gouramis. You can actually try to keep him with the new angels for a time. just make sure when you put him in there that you have the time to watch the interaction incase it goes poorly. I had a betta in with my discus (cichlid just like angel / cousin to labrynth fish) and it did fine until it jumped out.... he couldnt fly very well. while you can keep bettas with no heater, no filtration, it is just IMO not a good idea. cold fish in less than good water = recipe for illness. usually when us humans can see the symptoms of a sick fish it is now too late to treat effectively. best thing we can do is keep them happy and healthy with the cleanest, properly cycled environment possible.

angels are actually quite hardy and will do fine in most set ups. They do get large so 3 in a 55 is aproaching the upper stock limit depending on dither +plants +decorations etc, 2 will be fine.(good rule of thumb here is 10 gallons per 1 adult fish) if you get lucky and have all three the same sex aggression will not be bad, or you may end up with male + female in which case the odd fish out will need to be re-homed once they pair or they will certainly kill it. sexing them is a difficult at that size, when they get bigger it is easy to see. When viewed from the side male faces have a very straight line from dorcel fin to mouth, females have an angular line (indented) from dorcel fin to mouth. males also tend to have slightly larger lips on them for fighting indicitive of all cichlids. they will be fine in just about any water you place them in, hardness, ph, yada yada... they like warmer water. high 70's to low 80's F. more important than water parameters is consistency of water parameters. they do well when fed small meals several times a day. they will hunt just about anything that you put in with them that is not another cichlid, and they have a taste for live plants. happy angel keeping!

I absolutely love my ehiem pro 3. it is SILENT, the spary bar is adjustable to do anything you want it to do (or dont want) it is a snap to restart after cleaning it out, it is powerfull, it is massive, did i mention it is SILENT? i even leave it on during 75% water changes! never has a problem maintaining flow. only thing, if it does get some air in the system it "farts" until it is all sent thru the discharge. lol. your last post mentioned simplicity when maintianing the filter. Well, in the pro3 simply close the master valve, pop the intake/output hose adapter off the canister. no spill, no drips, no break in syphon. Do the maint to the filter, pop the adapter back into the canister, open the master valve. Done. fantastic!

it probably is something in the water before it is anything else. Make sure that your paremeters are where they should be. Also check your test kit/ strips for an expiry date to see if they are giving acurate results. the poster above may be on the right track with the silicone, had that kill off some critters once. If your still convinced its an illness from living things, than bleach everything. 1 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water, give your plants a quick dip (than into clean water with extra prime to knock down the bleach) your syphons, water change pails, glass scrubbers, tank, gravel, filters, heaters, aire supplies, decorations..... you name it... if it gets wet, it should get bleached. People are often terrified to use bleach beside their living system. It is powerfull, but used properly it is just the thing... think about it, we drink a little chlorine with every sip of water.... pretty rare to hear of someone dying from chlorine poisoning right? my two cents

java fern would do well, you would have to trim it from time to time to keep it in your fore ground but theres worse things to have to do

not me

your old filter, old gravel, old plants, old decorations etc will rapidly stock your new tank / filter with beneficial bacteria. I do not see any reason for you to not use both canister filters for your new tank, allowing you to clean 1 while the other runs ensuring you never wipe out your BB. (unless of coarse you need your old canister for your old tank...) make sure the new tank gets a good cleaning, has no silicone smell etc, than fill it with old tank water, gravel, plants, +old filter and viola! the new tank is ready for fish.

Canadian discus breeders? Please list any you know of... There is ; Www.canadianaquafarms.ca

its a good thing these guys spawn every 7-10 days.... my clown pleco sure enjoyed those eggs.... next time I will be placing a breeder "box" net over the eggs.

wonder if i set up a "breeding net" over the stone with the eggs on it, if the parents would abondon them, continue to fan them, and not be able to eat them.... i dont know... It sure is fun watching them grab air bubbles from the air stone, then try to release the air bubbles onto the clutch of eggs... hilarious! I should figure out how to get a video onto this site... if they do hatch it would be in approximately 24 hours from now...

having high TDS will significantly lessen the life-span of an r/o unit... to the point where it would not be worth running one. If your heart is set on an r/o unit, you would first need a water softner system. The r/o unit is 2nd in line and fully removes the remaining dissolved solids as well as the salt left in the water by the water softner. I run a pure r/o system on Spruce grove tap water (General hardness in the 300ppm range) and although it is high for my r/o system I have gotten 1 year out of a set of filter/membrane in my r/o. I use it proliferously... now my water actually has to have minerals added to it (discus specific in my case) for something like African cichlids you actually want high TDS... in that case your water may be perfect, and just require a simple activated carbon type drinking water filter (think Brita and you have the right idea) to remove the sulfur smell from it. good luck

So I was about to do a water change in my discus tank, no different that any other day.... Got a little hungry first so I had a couple handfulls of chips, washed my hands, got started with the gravel vac... Thats when my albino blue diamond discus became very interested in my hands... even trying to pick the chip flavour off my fingers while I was vaccing away lol. First time i've ever been bitten by a discus.... Guess i know what to do next time one of them goes on a hunger strike. Who knew discus like munchie mix?

looking at the picture now, and comparing it to the way the fish look naturally... I would have to say that they are not as blue as they show in the photo. They are pretty, and typical blue rams however. At this point I think I will be leaving them in the community tank they are currently in. This is their 4th spawn, maybe they will let the eggs become wigglers... 4th time is the charm? Besides, I have a new shipment of discus arriving tomorrow, so '/m going to be a little busy with them in their QT as is without having to have another 10g to look after babies... Edited because I cannot spell

Here is the link to the parents http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x388/Cullymoto/ramparents.jpg

Hi there, my Blue ram pair have yet again laid eggs. I do believe that they eat the eggs as they hatch after the 48 hour "gestation". This time they laid their eggs on a flat stone that would be very easy to remove to a 10g to hatch without the parents present, I have yet to do this as the question then becomes, "what do I do with 100 baby blue rams?" If there was an interest in them I could hatch them. Would anyone in the edmonton area be interested? I will link a pic of "mom and dad" with the eggs very soon

in my experience rams are a school fish. ... that said, anything less than 6 in a tank (any size) basically asks for trouble. -the exception to the rule would be a pair that are a part of a school, then get removed to do their layin / fanning / hatching, then returned to the school as soon as the fry are free swimming - When a schooling fish is in a group less than the required size (6 in this case) they feel threatened and are over-stressed. It is possible that your dwarf cichlids had gill flukes from the begging, but for certain a stressed fish cannot fight off such a parasite, where a healthy one can fight it sufficiently enough that it never becomes an issue for that fish. (much like we humans carry common cold viruses every day of our lives, but only "catch colds" when our immune systems cannot fight it off for whatever reason at that time) you can have perfect water, hiding spots, feed a high quality and varied diet and fail with these fish because you simply didnt have enough of them. This applies (again in my experience) to pretty much every species in the cichlid family. It is also worth noting that many commercail hatcheries raise their rams with hormones / medications 24/7. meaning that the fish they produce have under developed immune systems and are possibly carrying medication resistant bacteria / parasites. you are taking a gamble each and every time you buy a cichlid from a LFS... go to a breeder, someone who like most of us, loves the hobby. You will get much, much higher quality fish. I welcome others opinions on this.

i work WAY TOO MUCH up in fort mac... so i likely wouldnt be able to make any auction, event, gathering or otherwise... Happen to know the species of shrimp, perhaps they are native to the north sask as well?

wow, if i'm reading this correctly you collected freshwater shrimp from the bow!? if yes... what are my odds on having you send some up my way so I can breed these little guys? if i'm totally wrong please feel free to correct me lol

my GBR's are spawning also, they are very young and havent quite figured it out yet... tend to eat the fry as they hatch... one day they will get their crap together or i will start pulling the clutches... anyway... Give them about 6 days and do a water change, do a serious gravel vac if you dont usually. the sudden rush of fresh (non nitrate containing) water will no doubt trigger another spawn. the eggs take 48 hours to hatch. good luck!

i do not know what kind of lifespan snail eggs have... I do know that they can be a real B@$^( to get rid of... they will be everywhere if you as you say are having an outbreak. Heres what I would suggest. use bleach. seriously... if that scares you, use potassium permangenate (which should scare you)... either of these chemicals will erradicate any and all snails, eggs or otherwise. use about a cup per gallon of water. Soak everything, including your live plants (specially your live plants, this is likely where your snails came from in the beggining) give the plants 5 min soak, than a thourough rinse with tap water, than a soak in tap water with a triple dose of de-chlorinator (like a Seachem prime, or API Safe, basically any tap water conditioner will do) they will then be snail free. make sure to do your gravel / sand, decor, filter, everything for the same duration. PP is a little harder to use, can stain everything it touches (including you) and is equally as harmfull to living things, it is also harder to come by and more expensive. good luck