Melody

Welcome John! Nice place this place. I'm so sorry to hear about your past problems but its inspiring to see you get back on that horse. There will be no more Febreeze used in this house, thanks to your warning.

I'm not familiar with the specific fry, but for the smallest fry I go with Greenwater (Infusoria) at first. Lots of plants, like Java Moss, will support micro-organisms and they'll come with some already living on them as a rule. P. Bridgesii Applesnails produce infusoria so they'll help keep the tank populated with them, and they pull double duty as a clean up crew. They won't bother fry but I wouldn't trust them with eggs. You can usually pick up your basic Applesnail at chain stores, just make sure its P. Bridgesii if plants are a concern. You can use this page for an ID guide: http://www.applesnail.net/content/3d_models/3d-models_1.htm Microworms would be your next size up in readily available cultures I believe - they're often used for tiny Rainbowfish. There are many sites out there with detailed information to get you started. This one even links to videos: http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/food.html A search for 'Infusoria culture' will fetch you all sorts of methods. Fish clubs and forums like this one are a great place to get cultures, but if you can't find them locally I can give you Microworms & live snail water. They wouldn't get there until Tuesday, but I'd be happy to send an envelope over if you can keep them going until then. You should be able to have an Infusoria culture going by then anyway. Good luck!

Are the eggs developing? Or have you been avoiding them?

OMG! You're right! In fact, we should remove the winking smiley too! ;-). Okie dokie 'RD', not a problem. Anyways, I think Jason must have said it more clearly than I did: Exactly.

Its encouraging that stores are getting them in. I'll have to check into it and see if there are specific shipping methods. They're certainly an odd looking creature for a freshwater fish .

Beautiful! The male looks red - is the base lighter? The strain I saw had red stripes over creamy white, with a largely red underside. Some were wags, some were not, but he attributed the wags to a previously undetected comet gene, which makes sense. He described the method used to create them in detail, so I'm sure its a different line which makes the results that much more interesting. I can dig up the TFH issue if it interests you. I don't want to infringe on copyrights by publishing it here, but I can scan and e-mail if you like.

Oh for God's sake will you relax? Pardon me for being friendly. Perhaps if you didn't try to argue specifically with everything that comes out of my mouth, I wouldn't have to address you at all, which would suit me fine. The point is that the carnivores are going after the other food because chances are it has meat in it, which they would prefer over algae wafers, being carnivores. Since they weren't finishing the Algae wafers right away, they're not eating algae and it was wondered why they were eating the food, I thought the answer was applicable. I figured the point was 'Are they still hungry? Because they're not eating the wafers quickly (aka going after them aka not enthusiastic about them), but they're eating the other food'. Perhaps that wasn't the point, I have no idea, but it seemed like a logical conclusion so I offered my opinion on what was happening, it being a forum, not "The RD Show". I'm so sorry. I should have asked your permission first. Is it alright if I offer that theory? Is it ok if anyone says anything at all about food other than you? Sheeeeesh.

Yes I know dearest, but the question was why the fish was going after the flakes and not the wafers. If the flakes are a more yummy meaty type, they would appeal more to a carnivore than an algae wafer. The algae wafers address herbivore and omnivore needs far better than big ol' carnivores. Kinda like you not wanting to eat your veggies RD . Informative post though, thanks.

I wasn't sure if they had ever set the strain or not. The first Red Striped Zebra Platies were bred out by Glenn Takeshita from my friend's Bleeding Heart Platies, crossed out with the original developer's White Variatus strain that he obtained elsewhere. He was trying to breed out a White Variatus with the Bleeding Heart markings and the Striped Platy's showed up amongst the results. They were featured on the cover of TFH mag in 2004 and I've never thought to ask about them again. Are the females striped? I remember when they were first developed, only the males had them so it was assumed that the females lacked the RT gene on the Y chromosome (XX females), but he hadn't bred them long enough to be absolutely sure. It was somewhat frowned upon to have the feature published before the strain was set, but I think TFH was focused more on Glenn's methods of developing strains than the actual strain, hence the publishing. Anyway, sorry to ramble on in your thread. Its nice to see a store get some of the more unusual commercial strains in. For years their idea of a new fancy Platy was a Mickey Mouse and that's about it. Absolutely a fine addition to a Livebearer collection. You and the people in your head have a good eye

Lana, I don't keep this particular Pleco, but if I recall correctly, they're carnivores. Algae wafers won't do much for them and Leopards won't do much for your algae. They love snails though .

Are they the Zebra Platy's? Red stripes?

Well I do keep one - or I clean up after one that my Son calls his. I love Cichlids - beautiful fish indeed, but I need a more diverse environment to keep all of these strange community fish I dig up. Community tanks allow for more variety in less space. Purely practical.

I'm guessing that they're getting enough to eat then. There are lots of other sinking foods to try as well - what works for me won't necessarily work for you. If you are going to feed them directly, I'd try the crab foods. They also like the Omega One Shrimp pellets, in my experience. I really don't think they're hungry though. Its great that you're so concerned and its smart to keep an eye on things, but as Jason mentioned, they're ace scavengers so they're probably fine.

I've never seen a shrimp turn down a pea - did you cook it a bit to soften it? Take the shell off? Cut it into quarters? If they're not eating that pea, stop worrying - they're not hungry . I've fed peas to Tigers, Taiwan Tigers, Cherries and Chrystal Reds - every one of them goes nuts. It would probably surprise you just how much food hits the bottom of the tank and gets trapped in the plants, so they could be just fine as is.

Fish love peas too....lol..but they're good for them so that's ok. I always do one feeding after the lights go out in my tanks with bottom feeders - they have a better chance at getting some then. I also drop some over the plants (not too much or it will foul the tank if it doesn't get eaten). They benefit from calcium in their diet - both HBH and Hikarii make decent crab food that's good for Shrimp too. You can kill two birds with one stone by feeding the high-calcium vegies, but make sure they're not too high in oxalates as it renders the calcium useless. Spinnach is bad for that. Wash them very well to avoid pesticides. Mine don't seem to care for algae wafers much - they should, but they don't. Probably spoiled on the fresh stuff. Of all the wafers, the like Omega One best. They like the HBH Soft Spirulina too.

They like the Java Moss because its easy for them to 'hold on' to. If they don't have something to grip when they're nervous, they'll often die. When they're shipped they have to be shipped with something to grab. Mine LOVE slightly cooked peas, pealed & quartered, and whatever high-calcium vegie/seafood combo my cauldron cooks up. The lighting in their tanks sux so the photos are bad, but here's a couple of pics of them with peas: Note to Christian: Another photography tip - when they turn out crappy, blame the lighting .

Hmmm... it would take some thought & research then. Thanks for the heads-up!

Tell me more . Your fish are healthy, color is good and its convenient, I assume? What have you tried in the past? High Krill diet? Garlic supplements? Other brands? What varieties of fish have you tried it on? Why is the screen of death, blue? LOL Sorry for all of the questions, but I learn more from details about what is important and why. Fred, if you felt something should be said, I'm glad you said it. A reminder never hurts and your level of comfort is just as important as mine or anyone else's. Although I agree with you, I think that one of the things I dislike most about starting new threads is that half of what we have to say is in the old one....lol.

Anyways, this statement brought something to mind. It would be interesting to find out the natural average growth rate for the species we're raising. I don't think I've ever really factored that in to my cauldron experiements...lol...I've just compared everything to what I've previously experienced. I suppose I remember it on one level or another, but I think it should have more importance placed on it. Good point.

We'd love to have you . I think you hit it with the "new" in quotations. If its new to us, its new. If we research it and want to try it rather than let someone else tell us what's best, all the better. If we conclude something different, no big. Its just that - different. If the fish are happy and healthy then it really doesn't matter what someone else swears by. 'Facts' change all the time after all, and its easy to pick and choose my facts to support my particular belief - that's human nature. Many of the 'traditional' beliefs and successes go into what's "new" anyway. I don't think that anything should be outright dismissed just because it isn't what we personally see as fact. There are some very knowledgable people here, and I'd enjoy hearing from all of them. I hope that more chime in , if its ok with Ms. Cheese, and that we all can keep an open mind or at least be polite enough to allow them to state their opinions in peace. That's a reminder to myself too, incidentally....lol. Thanks for your patience Cheese - I've learned a lot from this inadvertent thread you started...lol...and I've enjoyed it for the most part.

Not me personally, although everything I have is yours for the asking I'm sure . I compiled a list of fish freebies from all over for a site I was designing. Most aren't tangible, but some are. Others are everything from aquarium management software to craft patterns. I was thinking that I could paste the list and perhaps others could add to it along the way if they come across something. I'm glad it inspired you. I'm a complete clutz when it comes to that stuff, so when you're done you can come over and build me some too :smokey: .

Well, once I have wet them, I should have extras, or you can just get them where I did (Canadian seller, too): http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...ishe&1155662399 I can see why you want it - what a stunning Killi, lucky girl . We do have a thriving Killi-culture here, as I'm sure Alberta does. I'm assuming there's a Killi club there or is it more informal? I'm just thinking that since we're so close, the two clubs could probably facilitate some swapping to distribute species that are more common in one place than the other. They probably do that already I suppose. I know the Vancouver club has a member in charge of acquisition who searches these things out. According to the article below, the 20 or so members have over 80 species between them. Bill Stone is the guy to touch base with: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/people/stone/ Such a shame that we lost Mr. Norfolk . Anyways, if there's anything I can do to help get a species from here to there, let me know. Just to keep this on track, the article above also discusses Bill's feeding methods....lol. http://www.riverfront.ca

I could have sworn that seller had them on there a few weeks back, but I don't see them now. You could drop him a line. However, this dude is right here in BC: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...ishe&1155662399

I fully expect a marriage proposal for this ... but I'll take money if marriage will involve a present wife chasing me with her broom .

WOW - now THAT is intriguing. Thanks for sharing it.