KevinW

If she is holding you should be able to detect a bulge in her buccal cavity which will look like a swollen lower jaw. Watch her at feeding time because if she is holding she will not eat. If she is holding the eggs will hatch in about 2 weeks however is she does not find a safe place to spit the fry she will continue to hold the fry in her buccal cavity. Please if she does have fry do not sell or give them to people without letting them know that they are hybrids.

I have had BGA several times and have had a tough time getting rid of it. Once I had to shut down the tank then restart it. I have had success a couple of times with manually removing as much as possible then having an extended blackout period ( ie covering with black plastic for close to a week). I have not tried Excel/Metricide dosing. Good luck.

I am pretty sure it is not an Otopharynx. It is more likely an A. Maylandi, but can't really tell from the picture.

Thanks for the article Jay, it is very informative. By the way my fish are currently displaying the dark colouration which the article states is rare and could be an attempt to match the dark background and or could be an appeasement signal. Either way it is not a good sign. Seeing as I already have an Endlers in the tank do you think a school of Endlers would help? I thought they would be too small but if the theory is that it must be safe if small fish are unafraid might this not work? Flipperocks, do the Barbs give you any problems with fin nipping? Thanks for the input.

I have two Rainbow Cichlids (Herotilipia Multispinosa) that I purchased in June from a local breeder. When I purchased these fish they were in a 33 gallon tank that had minimial decorations and did not seem to be overly stressed. They have been in a 55 gallon tank for 3 months. The tank, which had minimal decorations, was in my basement where there was little human traffic. Whenever I fed them they would scoot off to a corner or hide behind a piece of driftwood. Three weeks ago I moved them to a 33 gallon tank which has quite a few decorations / plants. This tank is in my study so I spend a lot of time in the room and going back and forth. The problem is that these fish spend nearly all of their time hiding in a corner behind a plant. If they ever do venture out and see someone they act extremely stressed banging up against the glass before eventually darting back to their corner. They will not even come out to feed. The only other occupants of the tank are one Peacock Gudgeon and one Endlers Livebearer. I am not sure what to do. Do you think they will eventually get used to the human movement (I highly doubt this given the length of time they have displayed this behaviour)? Do you think removing the decorations so that there is no place to hide therefore forcing them to face their fears would work or would this stress them so much they would get sick? I am thinking dither fish might be the best solution any ideas on dithers that would help calm down these very very nerovous guys? Any help is appreciated.

I do not know. All there is is a sealed unit in a white metal case with wires coming out of it, there is nothing else. - Kevin

Does anyone know where to find cheap ballast for a single bulb F15T8 18"? I found a ballast at Calgary Lighting Products but they were asking $50 for it and I can buy the entire light fixture for $40. I have also looked at Home Depot & Rona but they do not carry any of this type. Any ideas? - Kevin

I have been running an XP3 for years and it runs quietly for the most part. I do find that if there is any air in the system it makes a lot of noise and will spit air. With mine there is an easy solution - after performing maintenance on the filter I need to "burp" it. That is I fill it up with water right to the top then I gently rock it back and forth and from side to side. Each time I rock the filter it will burp and send up bubbles of air. After rocking it a number of times the water level drops and I have to add more water. I usually have to add water about twice before the filter will run quietly again. I hope this helps.

I think the Pseudocrenilabrus would be too agressive for the P Pulcher. I briefly had Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi and a pair of P Pulcher in a 33 gallon. The Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi male was very territorial to all species and when the P Pulcher had fry it was a constant battle to protect them from the nicholsi. I had to provide as much cover for the fry as possible and the parents were on constant guard. The interesting thing was the P Pulcher were very smart and worked as a team - they would station themselves at different places in the tank and when the nicholsi went after one parent the other one would attack from behind and temporarily scare off the nicholsi. Overall I think it is too stressful for the fish. - Kevin

I have had two 48 inch Coralife fixtures blow ballasts in the past. I switched to the Hagen GLO T5 HO about 3 years ago and have had no problems with it at all. It also gives more light than the Coralife fixtures. IMO it is well worth the extra cost.

I was at Gold's a couple of months ago and told Dennis I could no longer find his website. He replied that he was never that happy with it and has let it go. As mentioned previously it was often out of date anyways. - Kevin

Gold's in Calgary sell them if you ask. I can't remember the price but it was very reasonable.

Roypark I am very interested to see what your Msobo looks like. I have had Msobos for a couple of years. The male looks somewhat different than the pictures on the web. I have also seen a Msobo at Big Als that looks more like the web pictures than mine. However my male looks almost identical to Fairdeal's (Harold's) breeder. (I think he recently sold his breeding group to someone on this site). Pictures are attached. Mine has partial bars on his body while the standard pictures show banding and no bars. Does anyone else have pictures of their male Msobo? Any thoughts on the differences.

Are you still looking for more clips for your timer? I have a timer just like yours that I am not using and you can have. The only problem is that I am in Calgary. If you are still interested the next time you come to Calgary you can send me a pm to arrange pickup. - Kevin

I'm with Neil on this. As you can see from Neil's link I had a 48" unit go during a thunderstorm. I decided to buy another but it also went within 6 months. I am now using Hagen GLO. - Kevin

Thanks for all of the input. And thanks for the info on B Imbellis - the web made it sound that they might be more peaceful so it is good to hear actual experience. It would appear that a Betta might work in a 20G with the right setup. I think I will try, if it doesn't work out I can always sell/give away the Betta. Of course the first thing I will need to do is find some P. Furcatus. A project for the new year. - Kevin

Gold Aquariums build tanks for a very reasonable price and will do custom sizes. The only problem is they put a one inch glass lip around the top so you can't put an HOB filter on the tank unless you can find some way to grind down the lip (I believe someone on this site has done this in the past?) - Kevin

Thanks for the reply Black Mumba. Does anyone else have an opinion? Would a female B. Splendens be less aggressive than a B. Imbellis? Would a Dwarf Gourami be less aggressive? Thanks.

I am looking for some help. I was wondering if it would be possible to keep one male Betta in a 20 gallon tank along with 5 Pseudomugil Furcatus (dwarf Rainbowfish). Furcatus are 6cm in size and are supposed to be peaceful. Is there any type of Betta that would be better suited? I was thinking of Betta Imbellis but there do not seem to be many around. Would Veil Tails work or would the long fins be a problem? Would this combination work in 10 gallon tank on a short term basis of say one month? The tanks are heated and have AC's for filtration. Thanks for any help. - Kevin

Otopharynx sp Big Spot Pombo

Who in Calgary sells the GLO T5 HO fixtures?

I also had a 48" Coralife fixture that had the ballast burn out during a thunderstorm this past August. The fixture was only10 months old. At around this time there was a post on this site from someone who had recently purchased a 48" light that had the ballast die. I had previously run a 36" light for a couple of years with no problems prior to this however. These lights are cheaper than their competitors but there might be a reason for it.

Does anyone know how to remove the ballast from one of these fixtures? I tried last night to get it out - I removed the end caps and popped out the switch but there a lot of wires in a very tight space. I tried pulling on the white & green wires which I think are connected to the ballast but nothing moved and I did not want to rip out anything. Any help would be appreciated. In regards to Christian's reply about not seeing any returns at the store and having no problems personally - have other people had good luck with these lights? I need to get a light soon, not sure if I should risk buying another or not. - Kevin

This fixture was only 9 months old too. Maybe you are correct about there being a problem with them. Has anybody else experienced problems with Coralife T5's? - Kevin

Are both of them flickering or just one? If you're lucky just one of the T5's are damaged and you don't need to replaced the ballast. Just try both of them seperately on both sides. If both are flickering then you are probably out of luck. ps. You don't need to get a Coralife ballast. Just check the specs and pick one up at the local hardware store. Just make sure the size is the same so that it fits. They are both flickering. I did try both of them separately on both sides and they continue to flicker. Guess I need to find new ballast. Thanks. - Kevin