arixonbarnes

Unfortunately the tank is eleven feet long so it would be very difficult to isolate them that way( especially with the 29 inch piece of glass strapping the middle of the tank at the top) but thanks for the idea. I take it that they like caves? If so would capped pvc pipe work?

I have had no luck trying to net any of my three skunk loaches (I only need one) from my large tank due to the tank size, amount of wood and number of plants that are in it. I tried a piece of clear plastic tubing bent in a u with some food in it but that didn't work either. They are the smallest fish in the tank as the rest of the fish are angels, kribs and snakeskin gouramis.Tthey also seem to have a very good idea of what a net is for as they disappear as soon as a net hits the water and avoid them even when they are left in the tank for a day or two. Does anybody have any idea what I could use that would entice a skunk loach into it so I could trap him/her and move him/her to another tank?

The 13, 15 and 16 watt screw in Fluorescent bulbs work well in the standard plastic tank hoods. The 26 watt screw in Fluorescent coil type bulbs will not fit as there is not enough clearance for the light portion. They will however fit very well in most of the old metal hoods (no reflector inside to take up space) and you can really bump up your wattage without laying out a lot of money.

An acrylic cover will help to keep the heat in.

I bought a bunch of the submersible aqua clear heaters when I first started out (& my tanks were multiplying very quickly). Out of twenty five heaters that I ran for over a year I only had one that gave a problem and that was water inside the tube (I might have banged it and caused a leak).

That spot had an aquarium shop in there since at least the early 70s when it was G & G tropicals.

There is a good article on Bettas in the TFH april/07 issue. Apparently without room to swim around their muscles atrophy and they die within a year and a half or so whereas they live 3 plus years in a tank with swimming room. Now I know why my father-in-law's bettas never lasted more than a year.

My nephew, in Chase, B.C., had 19 red bellied piranhas in a 400 gallon tank. He was late getting back from Kamloops one day and missed their feeding time and there were only 18 live piranhas and one head.

The colder the temperature the slower they grow but I doubt they would survive long in the 50 range and probably do very poorly in the low to mid sixties.

I just picked up one from AquaGiant today - black foam 12 7/8 by 11 5/8 by 2" for 6.99 + gst.

If you belong to C.A.S. I would think that some of the members are breeding Discus and would sell directly to you. That would eliminate the stress factor of shipping etc.

Careful with the algae wafers as they can cause fry to plug up. Best to check with algae farmer first on what to feed the fry.

definitely disinfect them especially from an LFS. I once bought 20 bunches of hornswort (a few years ago) and it came complete with a leech. Be careful with the potassium permanganate as you can cook your plants if you dose too much for too long. I made that mistake a few times.

UFA coop carries the large bags of it. I don't know if it is as fine as the stuff from the pet stores. You can sometimes get a broken bag of it for quite cheap - $25 -30 for a 25kilo bag.

Some filters, ie: fluvals have to be below the level of the tank to work.

I siliconed 1/8 inch cork to the back, bottom and ends of a new 10 gallon tank and have had no problems yet (it's been quite a few months) and it is not breaking up or lifting and did not seem to leach anything into the tank.

Given time and no disturbance (or very little disturbance) it will attach to gravel, filter intakes, sponge filters and wood as well as various ornaments and rocks.

I use weld-on 3 and weld-on 4 for joining all my plastics. The manufacturer is http://www.franktross.com/weld_glass.asp.

The originals were (are?) common in Europe especially Germany and were (are) all glass and have more of a curve to them.

Superpet had some interesting plants in a while ago. Some I had never seen before and even though I bought them still have no idea what they are. Worth a shot if you're in the west end.

Johnston Plastics on the south side should carry it. Wouldn't a rubber maid bin work better and be cheaper?

Next time you are in the Edmonton area check out Petsmart - all their tanks are acrylic. I have several of the type (like Petsmart's) that slope in from the bottom to the top (hold about 26 gal). they work fine and I store them outside on end so they won't warp from water freezing in winter. I also have a 55 gallon 2 part (2 tanks joined by 2 - 6" tubes in the middle) made of acrylic and it is excellent as well. Just have to be careful when cleaning them and there are kits for polishing out scratches. I even used some old telus phone center acrylic bins as aquariums - 15 gallon and 3 - 8 gallon and they worked well for me too.

I found that tanks that were at floor level got neglected (I'm at the help! I've fallen and can't get up stage), took longer to drain or clean (due to limited downdraft capability) and were no fun to look at. I would suggest moving every thing up 13" higher and using the bottom for storage.

It should have been on the 2nd Of January but was rescheduled to the 9th of January.

I received a reply from Island Scallops, the dealer in Canada for ClorAm-X. This is the treatment volumets and prices they gave me. 5 lb box @$60 treats over 71,000 L 10 lb box @$100 treats over 142,000 L 25 kg box@$400 treats over 784,000 L. Prime treats 40 liters with 1 milliliter of prime. A 2 liter prime bottle (about $75 to 80 @ Big Al's Edmonton) will treat 80,000 liters. It would appear that the dry version of Prime will likely be the best deal as the $60 for ClorAm-x does not include shipping.