vic622

Yeah, I'm not too impressed with hybrids, either. If someone is going to let an unknown out into the greater fish community, I think this is a bit irresponsible. While there are many crosses and hybrids out there - especially in other animals - I think if you want to experiment you should keep a tight control on the resulting offspring until you can establish it as a line and I think that involes consistancy and reproducability. Not, "Oh, here. Have it. It's free. It's an xyz" The freebie's appreciated until you uncover the lineage.

It was darker than the 50, lighter than the 110 (I think I read it as 100), kinda half-way between the two. So I settled on 75 as being about right. Without proper titration or instrumentation (ie:big bucks), there is a lot of leeway. The Nutrafin kit uses 5,10,20,50 & 110. Vic

Rechecking NO2/Ammonia & doing a water change even as I type. Yes, the algae is starting to bloom -01- The tank is fairly heavily planted - and they are growing very well (pic below is after I trimmed, yesterday). I suppose that with the CO2 low and the lights high, I've basically created a greenhouse for algae. I take it I want to check the NO3/PO4 after the change, see what it is (hopefully in line - if not repeat tomorrow) and how long it takes to climb - doing a change before it crests 20ppm & 1ppm? Vic PS:Water change done (8gal, & NO2 recheck=0.2, ammonia recheck=0.0) I'll do a full set of parameters after the tank has cycled a couple of hours and post the new numbers.

Aren't you still potentially going to have the ich problem after the transfer because the old tank is not high temp?

I think this says that things are okay, but I'm putting my numbers out to those of you who actually can interpret them. How do they look to you? Here's the parameters as of this morning: pH=7.4 (nutrafin) NO2=0.2ppm (nutrafin) Ammonia=0.0ppm (nutrafin) NO3=75ppm (nutrafin) PO4=3.0ppm (AquariumPharm) KH=5.0 (90ppm) (nutrafin) GH=7.8 (140ppm) (nutrafin) I now have 60watts of light (<30gal tank): 2x20watt coralife Aqualight-plant light @ 6700K, 1x20watt PennPlax aquari-lux light (non-rated)

Peacock seems to be a common cross from everyone who has seen them. What about A. stuartgranti? I thought they might be Sciaenochromis ahli + maybe peacock or some Aulonocara sp.rubescens sub dominant?? or Heinz 57 Vic

There's these plus a couple more photo's at: #5,8 are closeups of the tail & fins #1,4,7 best show the body shape & barring All the pics are pretty darn close to the actual colors (at least on my browser) Vic http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery1.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery2.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery3.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery4.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery5.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery6.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery7.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fir.../EBmystery8.jpg

This Blue was given to me, and the debate as to its lineage is on! -05- I was told it was an Electric Blue, but even as a Cichlid Newby, I know thats' not entirely true. If its a hybrid, any ideas what's in it? More pics

Thanks everyone for the suggestions & advice. I'll post a longer reply when I've had some sleep - I got the call at 1:30am & I was out plowing snow all night :boxed: Vic

Wish I'dda used the salt My parameters are okay - 0's on both nitrite & ammonia (haven't picked up the nitrate & phosphate kits, yet). I change about 5-7gal (~40g tank) every 2-3 days as I have a high fish load in this tank. That's when I was adding the chemicals - I wonder if I should just add the AquaPlus conditioner & skip the others - except possibly weekly or monthly. I suspected the malachite green after reading the article & because I then realised that an otherwise healthy Bala had croaked the morning following a treatment. What is the recommended dose of salt/gal and what type of salt? I assume iodized table salt is not recommended. :eh:

It's no longer an emergency, cause 3 of my 4 Bala's (3-4") have already croaked - 1 per week to week-half over the past 4-5 weeks. The 1st was looking scawny, but otherwise fine, the last two seemed healthy and then went belly-up. I had been doing a preventative treament using Nox-Ich during this time as part of a cycling & anti-stress regime along with Cycle+AquaPlus+WasteControl all at recomended amounts per the manufacturer. Then, yesterday, I read that Bala's (may) have a sensitivity to malachite green, the active ingredient in Nox-Ich and other anti-ich treaments. Has anyone heard of this before? Are there any other critters with a similar sensitivity? Clown Loaches, perhaps?

6", I can't wait - although I think the Flower shrimp might have a different point of view -roll- Pitty about your smaller one, though. :banned: Yeah, its too bad we can't find more oopses at Wally-World like this one. It was in a tank of Chinese Algae-Eaters and I just innocently said, "Hey, I'd like that one. How much is it?" :bow: I've attached a photo from this afternoon - It stayed there for about 10 shots with flash before squirting away. Vic.

Hey David, How big is your HFL? I "found" one at -brace youself- WalMart! about a month ago and scooped it up. I thought he was a mutant Chinese Algae Eater, but someone pointed out that he's an HFL - I think he's very cool! He's about 2" now & isn't quite as scittish as you say yours is. He'll sit on the gravel at the front of the tank even when I'm inches from him. I'll try to get a good shot of him. There's a couple of stills on my website in the planted tank gallery, but they're really grainy. V.

Wow, My "great timing" shots usually involve the intended subject going out of frame :cry: What's the setup you're using to take these - especially to get the sharp focus on the second shot?

Hi Scrubby, Been here since October, a year ago. When did you arrive? Gotta love the wind direction changes, never sure which feedlot to blame -01- Where abouts you live? I'm down by the canal, on Parklane. Vic.

Which course?

The fish aren't (currently) gasping - unless you include the Killifish attacking my fingers whenever they're in the tank. Ammonia is not even reading on my Hagen test, so it's not (yet) a problem. Rather, this goes to Tanker's observation about fish load in the tank ie: the high fish load could result in a depletion or lack of oxygen, especially as they grow and I might want O2 injection instead of CO2. Okay, my missread or missinformation. I thought I'd get more dissolved O2 as a result of the plants and if I upped their metabolism it would have a greater effect. I am (now) running an air pump and I have significant surface agitation from the 2 external filters which are both dropping about an inch to the water surface. Gotcha.

Hi Vic, Well the draining ain't too difficult, but filling without washing the floor is another story ...

Hi Milan, Wow, lots to contemplate, here - but thinking is good I was looking at the light setup and thinking this may need to be bumped up. This also goes to Tanker's observations about fish load. I think I may need to up the total watts, if for no other reason than to increase the O2 output from the plants. I am noticing a heat problem. While I have the heater turned down to 76F, I am still getting significant heating at the top of the tank, and the temparature reads in the 80F range. How do you solve this when you up the ratio to 2.0 or greater without turning the tank into a sauna? In the interim, I will be turning down/off the CO2 until I get a better reading on the tank. Assuming (for the moment) that I don't up the lighting, will the Flourite in the substrate "not" provide all the needed elementals (K & TE), or is there still a need to the liquids? Is this because the substrate is inherently "weak" (either does not have the necessary elementals to start with or they are not available to the plants in the required quantities) or is it to prevent it from becoming (overly) weakened by the loads the plants will place upon it? How do I "... verify that enough macronutrients (namely NO3 and PO4) are coming from organic source..."? Is this where my nitrate & phospate testing come into play?

Hi Tanker, I'm still a bit of neophyte, but I was planning (and am doing) incremental changes of 1/2-2/3 total vol. per week - roughly 7g every 2-3 days to address this before it becomes a problem. The incremental changes are to minimize the shock potential - both to the fish and the biological system, while still turning over enough total volume/week to prevent the nitrates from building. One of the benefits of this being a small(er) tank is that the ratio between %volume and real volume is high, in other words I achieve more "effective" changes while having to move less water in gallons or 5gal pails I'm not expecting this to be a "closed system" and I do expect it to be fairly high maintenance. Whadda ya think? If I'm on the wrong track here, I'd appreciate knowing before I crash the system and kill too many fish.

Hi Milan, Yeah, 1/2 the water came from an established tank. I have never had a tank be this stable from the get go, so I figure I must have done something right this time, for a change Who makes a good pH test kit, and how precise should I be reading? I take it for my purposes that a pH meter would probably be a bit of overkill ... As to fertilizers, so far I've just got the flourite in the gravel - I know my houseplants like fertilizer, but how much/how often do we need it in the tanks? I haven't used any before, but I've never had a tank this densely planted, either.

Hi All, and thanks for all the welcomes And yes, Vapor, the Plow trucks have spent most of the winter in the shop, so far anyway ... I figure we'll get at least a couple of good storms, no matter what the Ground-hogs say

Hi Convict, The planted tank parameters are: ~ +30gal Setup 2 weeks ago water= - 0ppm ammonia & nitrites, very clear, no smells - haven't checked pH or nitrates, yet On setup= - 1/2 cycled water + 1/2 new water DIY CO2 - started yesterday gentle bubbles out powerhead Filters= - 1xWhisper triad 2000 as biological - 1xWhisper triad 2000 as mechanical - 1xAquaclear 201 Powerhead with quick filter Heater= - 1x125w jager ~ 80F Lights= - 50 watts total on 12hrs/day Substrate= - flourite+gravel & gravel layers abt 1.5" deep each Plants= - 2x small Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green'' - 3x 4" Green Cabomba Cabomba Carolina - 4x 6-8" Hygrophilia costata - 1 bunch Java Moss 2x3x4" - 6 small groups Salvinia natana - 6x 8" Water wisteria - 8 x 8-10" Vallisneria americana (gigantea) - 1x 2" Java fern Fish=all about 1.5-2" - 6x Golden Killifish - 6x Dwarf neon rainbowfish - 10x Serpae tetra - 4x Pearl Gourami - 4x Burmese loach - 3x Chinese algae eaters - 4x Red flower shrimp

Hi All, After reading a bit about plant's O2/CO2 cycle, I was wondering if there would be any benefit to cycling when I add the CO2 from my DIY rig? Would there be any benefit to leaving it off during the day, and turning it on at night? Would I be risking having an exploding 2L bottle of mush all over the place? I have it going into the tank through the AquaClear powerhead.

Thanks Pop eye. The Cichlid tank went up kinda quick but it turned out okay. The next time I'll take a bit more time (read - planning) and get a better visual balance. I'm pleased with the planted tank. Vic