Senroc

Nice...what's your poison?

Gorgeous!

Hey everyone, I'm putting together a new tank, I have an idea what I want to do with it in regards to the appearance but I'd like to keep costs down on the slate and rock I add in. Any ideas where is a cheaper place to go in the Calgary area? Specifically Northeast/west as I'm in Airdrie.

Wow..he's awesome. I gotta say my wasn't all that excited to put a Pleco in my tank but now he's grown I really like him. I've been tempted to delve into some more of the exotic bottom feeders because they are very interesting to watch.

Great looking tank

Hey another Airdrie member So many quality choices these days..good luck keeping it to one tank

Ok sounds good. I put just a little pinch in there but I'll hold off and hopefully see some tiny specks in a couple of weeks

So I separated her out and set up a maternity tank. Hopefully she hasn't spit while I was trying to get her. Just wondering if I should throw in the occasional bit of crushed up flake food?

Cool..thanks. I'll let ya know how it goes

I'll keep an eye on her tonight at feeding time and see what happens. I do have a smaller 10gal tank I haven't been using so I'm wondering if I should set that up with some hiding spots if it looks like she's up to something or just get a pen and hold her in that for the time being? And no I wouldn't let them go without people knowing what they're getting Besides they might be nice little additions to keep around when I upgrade to a larger tank later on.

Just curious what the signs are of a successful breeding? I've never had any fish breed before so I'm not sure if what I'm seeing in my tank is that of a female with a brood on it's way or just a fish with a swollen jaw. It's noticeably different than what it looked like a few days ago, and certainly more pronounced than the other cichlids in the tank. Is it just one of those things or is there potential for a brood? If so how long do I have before I should go get myself a pen to keep her in until it's time? If I do have something happening I'm kinda excited to see the eventual colouring since I have a blue jewel, red zebra, and an mbuna to go along with her. Could be an interesting mix

Too funny. Mine does the same. The cichlids like to tease him too. They all line up and let him swat the glass. You can almost tell they're laughing.

Hey another fish lover from Airdrie...I'm jealous of the tank too..lol.

Oh yeah..jvision had a great point. Kijiji. Smokin deals on there. I gave a large SW tank a run when I first moved down here and I managed to get about 120lbs of rock and some amazing corals for cheap in comparison to what it was going for retail. Probably saved myself close to $1000 going that route. Plus lots of people are in and out of the hobby so you'd save a ton.

Not sure how much the inverts impact the tank overall but I was told the more the merrier and they'll find their natural balance based on food of course. Their pretty tiny so I doubt they'd have much of an impact. The big thing I was told was to make sure there are LOTS of shells of various sizes for them to trade up their houses. That seemed to be the biggest issue in terms of keeping them alive was suitable homes. For a tank that size you shouldn't need a skimmer, just the usual water changes should be enough. If you end up expanding to a larger tank, say 60+ then you'd probably need to go that route. But a little 15gal should be fine with a regular filter. Spend the money on the rock. It'll benefit you the most in the long run since in a smaller tank that's your biggest filtration system, so don't cheap out. It's an eye opener when you go to pay for it, but probably the most important purchase you'll make. I'm not sure who has the best quality rock here in Calgary, but if you go to Edmonton Aquarium Illusions is the place to go for that, and everything else actually. I had my sand pretty much deep enough to hold the rock in place. But I don't think the depth is an exact science. Pretty much whatever your comfortable putting in. If you want 2-3" go ahead. If you want a bit less, but enough to stop everything falling over do that. I didn't go with a powerhead in mine, just let the flow of the filter create the flow in the tank. That seemed to be enough. If you go with too much flow in a small tank you'll have a hard time keeping corals because there is too much. Also the fish will have a harder time if there is too much turbulence in the tank. Natural ocean currents are strong but not pummelling. I've found for best results a semi gentle current works best, which I achieved with the filter. A hydrometer should be good enough to check your salt levels and after a few water changes you'll have a really good feel for if you need to just add fresh water, or a bit of salt. I liked to go a bit on the salty side since I found the corals I had seemed to do better with it. I think the hydrometers give you a sweet spot of 1.23-1.26 or something, I tended to run around .27-.28 and everything seemed really happy. But that was also Edmonton water, so maybe the chemistry was a bit different than here, so it's something you'll need to play with. As for the schooling vs. solitary, I think all fish like a buddy. My damsel and my clown fish played together all the time, so I think it depends if you have a fish that are a similar kind of personality. You mentioned Fire Fish, beautiful fish but their a bit shyer so maybe better suited together or with a fish that is of a similar nature. Other fish that are bit more outgoing are better suited together. Also if you decide to go with gobies put extra sand in. They're diggers and like to make caves under your live rock so you don't want them to undermine and make things unstable.

Yeah no kidding. That is cool.

I LOVED my 10gal salt tank. I only had a clown fish and a bi-colour damsel along with a Coral Banded Shrimp and some hermit crabs. But it was fascinating. As my interest in the hobby grew, so of course did the tanks, but the little one was by far my most successful attempt. Maybe I was over cautious with it so it seemed quite easy to take care of, but it did move with me several times and always bounced back within an hour or two after a move. I picked up a couple of nice pieces of live rock and let it cycle for 3-4 weeks. I figured I'd get bored waiting but the live rock alone was cool to watch. Little fans would pop out of the rock and wave in the current and then get disturbed and flash back into the rock, then emerge slowly. It was like watching a David Attenborough documentary I also had a couple of hitchhikers appear as well. I was lucky enough to snag a green emerald crab that was cool to watch grow from a claw that was maybe 1-2mm to a proper size crab in a few months. Once the fish went in there was of course a lot more action. Go slow and put it somewhere where you can actually sit and watch it, even when your cycling the tank it'll be interesting.

I assume the location you have it in the pictures it's going to be it's home. Is it on the main floor? Concerned about weight at all?

I think I've seen them at Pisces or the dreaded Big Al's.

Is there a shelf life to dried food, either pellet or flake?

Maybe she's having the Pleco's love children. How cool would that be? lol

They'll be a pretty cool looking group

Thanks everyone. That helps a bit for sure.

Right now I just have a mix and match set of Cichlids. More for colour than anything else. Currently there is a jewel, yellow lab, red zebra, and I believe an Mbuna. The tank is on the smaller side so I didn't want to over do it. I'm not particuarly looking to breed them, but it would be neat I end up accidentally getting them to breed..lol. I have about a 60gal tank I'm going to test in the spring on the deck, but I'm thinking I might need to go bigger to do the kind of arrangement I'd like to have.

Ah I see it now..lol