punman

I usually use an AClear 70 in my 33 gallons (the old AC300) which was 300 gallons per hour which is a 9 times cycling per hour which I try to maintain with my hang-on-backs. An AC 50 will be fine if not heavily stocked - ore even if you picked up an AC smaller than the 50 and ran it at the some time you'd have close to 9-10 times/h with the confidence that if one quits you are still covered.

Many people are paranoid about heaters malfunctioning. I more worried about filters, esp. when power cuts off and on. I'd rather be running an extra filter rather than a second heater.

I tried running two heaters in a tank and had the same problem as you so gave up and just use one.

The theory behind two is that you have a back up if one fails.

On the down side, I figure you are doubling the chance that a heater will stick on the "on' position and fry the fish so I just use one and have a spare if it malfunctions.

Speaking of pasta, do you know how to gauge a good Italian restaurant?

By its "pasta" performance!!

These Altolamprologus compressiceps "Lufubu" are in my 90 gallon tank.

Thanks for checking them out.

I do what jvision does(freezer). Luckily for me it is maybe only one fish a year.

Just bought these 3F 1M wild caught Kapampas last month (8-12 inches) from a fellow fish keeper on this site and so thought I'd share a few pictures. Tank is 135 gallons. It has been a few years since I have had frontosas so I am looking forward to having them around again.

Thanks RD, lots of good advice.

Punman what type of tropheus are you breeding?

I have a 6' 125 I am looking to use for some nice Trophs. I actually managed to breed a single pair of Tropheus moorii "Green Murago" in a 55g with mixed Tangs about a year ago. Must of been a big fluke. They came from a big group and the male eliminated all the others except this one female. They spawned several times to my surprise, but he eventually killed her when I moved things in the tank.

Good luck with Trophs Brad. They look great in a big colony. You can watch them for hours.

Cheers

:beer:

It is the Chimba reds that are just starting to breed. I might consider splitting my group of thirty and selling half of the adults.

I have kept tropheus for three years. My first group were 30 juveniles in a 90 gallon which I pared down to 20 as adults.

I am now on my second group of juveniles (almost adults) also 30 in a 90 gallon. In both cases they were (are) fed NLS only and have never lost a juvenile or adult. PM me if you want my phone number to discuss.

Both groups were via Spencer Jack. I will eventually have fry for sale but have only 5 at the moment and that is not enough.

If they can all eat the same kind of food it might be okay.

If they like the same water temperature it might be okay.

If the tank is big enough it might be okay.

I find that the biggest issue is the fourth one:can they all get along?

Congratulations. The first batch of fry is so exciting.

I can now report that my chimba tropheus are engaging in "sexual activity". I saw two of them spawning today and the female has a mouthful of eggs. Let's just hope she can hold them first go around but if not, they soon learn.

Three days later the eggs were gone. However this week I saw a female holding and although she did not seem to be bursting at the seams, she appeared to be struggling to keep the eggs in there so I took a risk and stripped her. I now have four Red Chimba fry!! (nevertheless fry that are too "fat" to swim) so I will tumble them for a week.

Most of my adults are now a solid colour (not so much of a striped pattern).

I'm guessing it is something about Jack Dempseys? Sorry I don't know your abbreviations but congratulations nonetheless.

The olive coloured stripy fish are losing their stripes and getting darker. Those that were turning red are about the same. Maybe I will post more pictures when I get the first batch of fry.

I can now report that my chimba tropheus are engaging in "sexual activity". I saw two of them spawning today and the female has a mouthful of eggs. Let's just hope she can hold them first go around but if not, they soon learn.

When I bought a 180 from Gold Aquarium, I had a metal stand ordered too. I'm sure it was made in Calgary. Don't remember the exact cost but I can check my receipts later.

I purchased 30 Chimba Red Tropheus six months ago. They were around the two inch mark. From my pics shown here you can see that they are in various stages of coloration. I had Black Kirizas before and they eventually all coloured up to look identical. Will this happen with the reds or will some always be brown? Will they all lose their stripes? Are the reddest ones likely males? The reddest ones seem to be exhibiting male behaviors (spitting, leaving the toilet seat up etc.).

Based on their current size (3 inches - 7.5 cm) and coloring, do you think spawning will soon take place? My blacks were spawning at that size.

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I have only utintas. I could email you a pic of a female adult. Not sure if I can do that with this message system or do I need an email address?

I use a "proper pet store" hose for my tank upstairs but it is too short for the basement tanks so I have been using a green garden hose down there for the last four years:frontosas, cyprichromis, featherfins, tropheus. Lots of "sensitive" fish and the garden hose does not seem to be a problem. I tend to go with the cheaper ones as they are more compact to store indoors. I have not lost an adult tropheus in the three years I have been keeping them.

I use pool filter sand or playsand as it is cheap and does the job. But if you could have any sand for your cichlid tank and price was no object, what would you choose and why?

I have bought parts in Calgary from Gold Aquarium for AquaClear.

I went with the Burnco Silica 7.

I know Burnco carries 3 mm and 5 mm in their yard so I somehow figured "7" would have been larger grains but that was not the case. The silica stuff was quite fine in size and lighter in color than the last play sand I bought. I am happy with this stuff. It rinsed up quickly.

I saw the Quickrete brand. Now that I know that someone has used it, I might give it a try. The Burnco sand sounds good and I shop there quite a bit. Don't know if I need 100 lbs.!!!

I bought pool filter sand in Calgary a few years ago from a pool service company but I have not seen it for awhile. The last three years I have used Target playsand from Home Depot and it was good but now I see they don't carry that brand anymore and I am looking for sand.

Where in the Calgary area have you bought sand recently (apart from pet stores) that was of good colour and fairly clean?