Realevil1

Instead of creating a new thread ill just bump this one! Any on here keeping/breeding/selling smaller species of snakeheads? Dwarfs, Bows Ceylon?? post pics and feedback I was debating on setting up a heavily planted tank for a smaller Channa sp.

could do large Leporinus or Tiger Dat? tank looks pretty full already imo.. and those 3 PB arent all the same species eh, wonder what the other two are nice tank

So tank is going steady, no Ammonia N3 or N4, I think i am going to add another large bag of the same sand as i plan on adding more plants and possibly some rock in the back. Right now there is a pair of Pearlscale Marble Angels and a Megalechis thoracata all eating well, i also have a small BN pleco but it is segregated in my HOB refug. My tank water seems to eveporate so fast i find i have to add 5 gallons every couple days not includng from my water changes. Just did 10 gallon change monday, ans same last Wednesday, so sunday ill prolly do a 15-20 gal change. and keep doing that every week. I plan on lower the water level a few inches to start giving it more of a paludarium feel as I work on it

Because I chose to do a biotope, I wanted it to look as natrual as possible. So not only does it give a more natural realistic feel, Oak and Almond leaves also release tannins into the water which is (in my opinion) essential to amazon/south american cichlid tanks. http://naturalaquariums.com/bb/index.php?topic=2785.0 https://www.google.ca/search?q=the+significance+of+tannins+in+tropical+animal+production&oq=the+importance+of+tannins+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l3.8548j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=tannins+in+aquarium

Enlighten me, what do you mean? and for what?

I buy my plants from one LFS that keeps them looking awesome, if you want more info you can pm me

I assume you are reffering to your jd cichlids in that case i will attach some links for you http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope_central_america_river.htm http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/ Sword plants, Heteranthera, Ceratophyllum, Vallisneria, Cabomba, Limnobium, Myriophyllum if you are doing a biotope for them thats different though because where they are from, the plants are probably few and far between

What kind of cichlids are we talking about specifically?

At the moment i am trying to do 5 Gal water changes every 3 days or so and will do a 20 gal change at least once a month.

Well i bought them under the name Mystery snail which is incorrect, they are in fact Pomacea Diffusa.

Tank is running awesome, because of the snails I think there is too much of a bio load on the tank so those have to go. I have now added an Eheim Ecco 2234 (60 Gal) for more filtration because I plan on getting rid of the Penguin 350.

Piranha would be neat.. or just some red hook silver dolars I always wanted to build an in ground pond like 1000 gal and have Arapaima and Red tail cats

K thanks for the feedback guysand I was looking into getting some from dillpickle, wouldnt even consider buying retail.

Just IMO i would'nt, Demasoni will usually not put up with other fish, espesially because.. 1# large number of them and 2# they are already previously in the tank, so they own it now THE ONLY WAY i could see it working is if you had the same number of each and introduced them all at the same time just my .02 That being said, even if it did would out, the peacocks color would probably much more drab and subdued, rather than if you had them alone in a group.

I moved the leaves around a bit aswell so they were'nt bunched together under the driftwood

So last night i bought Flora sun T5 tube Ultra sun T5 tube and for my Marineland C-220 I got sponges, polishing pads and ceramic media Also picked up some Amazon swords and micro swords

Good to know. I knew they needed tons of clean water but wasnt really aware they needed changes daily.. wow. On a side note. Went into a LFS last night to get new t5's and polishing pads for the c-220 and was looking at the discus. Noticed one was completely black. Now I'm no expert but either its was a super rare black discus that got mixed up in the bunch, or it has Discus Plague Disease. probably the later of the two. And I'm not sure if they didn't notice or they don't care. For such a big and awesome retailer I'm surprised their discus look so poopy too.

So you empy your tank every day, treat your water and fill it up again...

Yup I saw them I plan on getting 3 this weekend hopefully

I am going to have a couple small bottom dwelling Geophagus as well, so 4 or 5 will prolly be my max. and yes I get why you stress water changes, some people are doing 30% 3 days a week. True story bro

On New years eve I finished cleaning what used to be my 65 gallon salt water tank. It was a big job I had to used a plastic razor blade to take the hair algae off the glass. I finished cleaning up the salt deposits and filled it with treated water. My project goal is to build a 65 gallon Amazon Biotope. Started with my Penguin 350 filter(35PGH 70GAL), which makes loud noises because of sand damage to the impeller housing i presume. I started using a bacteria substitute 2nd day. I followed the instructions which stated 10 ml per 50 L, and only to use it on the 1st, 7th, and the 14th day. Because i was worried about my Penguin quiting on me, i strapped on a Marineland C-220 (220gph 55gal) canister filter. So it would turn over 570 gallons per hour supposedly, which is almost an 8.8 turnover rate. Right now it only has plastic 1" bio balls, which i dont like. I also have Nitra-Zorb in one of the trays now. I run a 250w (guessing not sure) Eheim Jager heater and a HOB refugium. My tank has 2 full bags (not enough) of white river sand, 1 small bag of oak leaves, and 2 pieces of drift wood so far. Haven't really got my lights set up yet so right now I'm just have the t5 tubes I used for my salt tank. Jan. 15th So 2 weeks have past and my ammonia is gone and I'm almost ready to put some fish in. Will post when I get fish.

So I have done tons of reading on Discus, and South American cichlids. But I just wanted some opinions from the members here that keep Discus. I wanted to ask whether they find it safer to keep discus in pairs or groups? Reason being. I have a 65 gal that I plan on having a couple small plants and some drift wood in, but i feel like if i had a group of 4 or 5 Discus in there, that by the time they are 6 inches they would be pretty cramped. Any input would be awesome thanks

Finally got the drift wood to settle on the bottom, now running a C-220 Marineland, as well as my Penguin 350 (soon to be toast by the sounds of it).. but still looking for another canister Ammonia is gone but there is a slight sign of nitrites and nitrates left. PH is now 7-7.1ish there is a bit of tannin in the water which i like, but with the carbon in the 350 filter the water is pretty clear, and will probably get even clearer.

Does anyone have any small freshwater crayfish that would eat this?

Has anyone had any experience with these inverts??