cjerrom

You know what I screwed up the title - it's am L25 not an L24! Sorry folks! Actually they rarely scrap only when there is food!

I am getting some more in next week that are supposed to look like these as these are not the super reds! So I was pondering a super red but it's too expensive literally double for the same size fish.

Thanks this guy came in a little cold but after hitting him with some meds and food he has really colored up. The sad thing is that his buddy who was red on every inch of 7 fins did not make it! This is the typical L25 that I have been getting in at this size.

Nice healthy fish lets hope he is doing well when I get back to the office after being away for three days w/o being fed!! That's why I keep sacrificial dither fish!!

Thank you

Here is the correct link as this one worked well and after I posted it shortened the link.

http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/cjerrom/media/L25%20-%20Red%20Scarlet%20Pleco/L25tailfins_zps8c020851.jpg.html#/user/cjerrom/media/L25%20-%20Red%20Scarlet%20Pleco/L25tailfins_zps8c020851.jpg.html?&_suid=136622320352404924428978604591

Here is a link to Photobuck with the L25 and L114 trying to intimidate each other over a piece of food - Repashy Meat Pie.

Quite funny how they really go at each other. The L24 (17") is the king of the tank right now but he leaves these two 11-12" alone to play. The L177 in the background just stays high on the cave and avoids these two.

http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/cjerrom/media/L25%20-%20Red%20Scarlet%20Pleco/L25tailfins_zps8c020851.jpg

Unfortunately you pay with cheap fish - you must have a large hospital tank to quarantine these. A good friend of mine with a substantial collection of livebearers did the same recently and lost his collection of fish with only half of Petsmart fish left.

Small petshop owners are still the best - Gold's is still my favorite. Dennis is just as reasonably priced and always has healthy fish for sale. He puts NFS on the tanks he is treating.

Sorry I am the bad guy here. I bought the 11 large ones and put them in my 300 gallon tank. I could not believe it either as I saw the guy come in with them and surrender them to Wayne for cheap. He bred them locally and the two larger ones were the WC F1 female and male that bred the whole lot. He had 30 at the time. I was told that the male is a prolific breeder so here's hoping!

You will need a commerical broker to clear these fish if they are for resale - the government is starting to clamp down on personal importation of animals when they are being brought in and resold. The gov't is requiring importers to apply for a permit which takes some time to clear as they are still backlogged with there own inability to understand a lot of the rules!

Brokers charge a bit more for this service but you can do a lot of it yourself if you have a permit to import especially if they are for resale. It looks a little suspicious when you bring in 1000 or more fish in 6-20 boxes and say that they are for your own tank!

A good broker to look up is PF Collins in Calgary- Pam is the lady you need to talk to.

The rays will come up as they become the dominant fish in the tank and their pectoral fins look good and will grow back. Are they eating well? Get them on the bloodworms and anything with high protein and their fins will grow back quickly.

Any pics of the Altums?

Which Pleco is better as it seems that the L427 is a much sought after pleco yet in coloration it is similar but less colorful than the L91 with its three banded orange coloration on its fins.

Any thoughts as I have the same thinking about the L114 vs L600's?

L129 Colombian Zebra vs L46 Zebra Pleco is the other?

Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

Let us know if they change the date as I am out of town that week. Crappy!

Let me know if you have any issues - I can always pretend to help but post pics when you do. Its the first 72 hours that the panic mode stays on, then you're golden. Make sure that they are kept really warm in transport, I have a lot of tannins in my water due to bogwood but I am sure you will be fine.

Keep us posted. If it doesn't go well then I have some Altums I can trade you - 6" 9month olds.

Here is my 90 gallon planted tank - I cannot upload a picture to this thread for some reason.

http://s1301.beta.photobucket.com/user/cjerrom/library/

Sorry folks

Wild fish are needed to keep the highly colored forms healthy so you will not see an end to this. If we do our job right as aquarist we can help sustain these fish in the wild as their habitat is being reduce monthly due to human expansion. They do harvest these fish ethically and responsibly, during the dry season millions of fish naturally die so we really are not depleting as many fish as we think.

Do you use Furan? I find it useful for the first three or four days to ensure that if there is damage/stress from shipping it reduced the chance of bacteria getting a foothold in the fish. Get them eating after that and you are homefree! Let me know what your comparison is between the two. I have Leopoldi and Peruvian Scalares as well and find that they are all more aggressive than captive breds. So it may be a comparison between wild and captive fish, as it was something that I read in the latest Amazonas and TFH publication.

I just heard about these fish about 6 months ago and now you have them - amazing how we get some of the rarest fish in Alberta!

The CO2 is delivered with a very fine diffuser I got only a Pisces after looking around the city. The glass ones would clog up after about 18months. So I have a power head blow the minute bubbles downwards keeping them in solution. The lids are tight fitting so the CO2 is still heavily absorbed since the PH can drop within 15-30mins. I know you are right about losing most of my CO2 but if I don't put the air stone on the fish gasp at the surface in the morning and it really stresses them out, especially the Altums. I will post pics via photo bucket as it is very hard to get any pics on here of any size.

Gorgeous angels by the way. The Manas are a lot more forgiving than the Altums and a lot less aggressive. Amazing angels with the color and size! Wish I could get some one day soon.

Sorry I have a CO2 injector with regulator with a highly planted tank that they land in. In the first week I will do three water changes to keep ammonia down to Zero and with the low pH they can tolerate the small spikes that happen. The higher the pH the more critical the ammonia conc monitoring as there is less room for error.

6.5-6.8pH on Calgary tap water no meds with little or no fin burn. Key to shipping Angels is putting carbon in the bag, low pH and keeping them warm with extra heat packs. I feed mine shrimp pellets for one week as it removes waste from their gut which is bacterial and parasitic, gets them eating due to its attractant properties and move to bloodworms and high aeration of the water.

Can you tell me how I can get rid of this How did you hear about AA? Off of my tag? I have tried to remove it but its like and STD - it wont allow me to delete this comment. If you can remove it please do.

Temperature, and water quality, pH, TDS, is more important than vitamix supplements - what are the water parameters of this tank for these Angels.

If they eat it they will grow, just feed them a lot of good frozen food, shrimp pellets and vary it with a good dry food. I grow F1 Altums to 6-8" in under 9 months this way from a twoonie size, no medicated food and not one color enhancer. KISS principle works best.

No one sells wild stock much anymore - they are just as colorful and the fish are agressive eaters. Red Alenquers, Royal Blues and Greens, Red Spots and Coari are so amazing even when compared to the highly bred colored morphs. Just like anything, the more intense the coloration the more inbreeding to get there, wilds are still the strongest.

Best advice is to invest in books, read them a few times, visit the stores at different times and ask questions. I have boughten off of both sides - breeders, local pet shops and right from the origins in South America. It comes down to you watching the fish in the tank - fish behavior is subtle but definitive. Many fish whisperers in hear can list off what to look for. At the end of the day create a relationship, do your research and go from there

I have been using a Turbo Twist for my tanks for some time but I am always interesting in seeing what other experienced keepers have been using. I have Panaques and with their waste load I am wondering if there is a better solution as I think that the biofilm that builds up on the glass tube is quite substantial in a short time frame. Now I put the UV after the filter inline but are their better and bigger UV's out there?

I have heard of Lifeguard as an inline but also the Hagen tank mounts are gaining popularity.

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

I have a few Milwakee systems and one thing to note is that after 3 yrs the probe will start degrading as does the regulator switch where the brass valve screws into it. If you see your PH start to creep up or down you can adjust with the fin tuning but it will get to a point where you need to replace it. The sure way of finding out whether or not the seleniod is gone is that you will hear a loud buzzing noise - time to replace it. Unfortunately Milwakee does not sell the selenoid by itself but they do sell the probe. I have a few of these monitors and regulators in my house because it is actually cheaper to by a whole new system than to get a piece, smart marketing on their part. If the brass valve starts to stick due to build up of sediment (Ca2) then they recommend drilling the small orfice out. Problem here is that the valve does not regulate very well.