Sara

Heh...luckily I don't keep Africans, otherwise I would have had a damn hard time trying to figure it all out. Glad to hear that I wasn't going crazy, though...I thought for sure that my limited knowledge of Africans was completely and totally wrong after all of that. I walked away with one of the bags of panda cories - admittedly, probably more expensive than I would have ordinarily bought for...but after two hours I had to get going and didn't feel like waiting around to see if the second/third bags went for less, and bumping the other bags probably wouldn't have done any good. Does anyone know who the seller was on the cories, by the way? I liked the new location, but it's too bad that there weren't facilities for a concession.

Congrats, fatpuffer! How are they doing now?

Well, goodbye little fungused over, infertile eggs...it was a pleasure... The timeline went like this: Monday night - some of the eggs start to turn white; a mysterious black dot appears in the middle of the batch Tuesday morning - the eggs have started to develop a white fungus overnight; my hopes of becoming a grandma fade significantly, and I turn to thinking about how I'm going to remove all of this fungused crap out of my tank Tuesday night - Being the considerate fish that they are, I come home to discover that no clean up is necessary, and decide not to feed the fish dinner because they have obviously had more than enough to eat already... Thanks to everyone for all of your help! Hopefully I'll be more prepared the next time they spawn...

Well, things aren't looking too good in there right now. About 25% of the eggs are white (not in one area, but scattered throughout), which I've read means that they are infertile. The worrisome part is that right in the middle of the batch, there is a black spot - it almost looks like one black egg surrounded by beige (good) and white (bad) ones. Is this the fungus I keep hearing about? Everything I've read says that the fungus is white, not black. So...now what? The male is still fanning his eggs, and nobody has eaten anything yet...

I've used pool filter sand before - decently cheap and is a big enough grain so that it doesn't get sucked up during a gravel vac. You should be able to pick it up at any pool supply store. It's a little more beige/brown than the sandblasting sand - all depends on what look you're going for, I suppose.

Thanks, jvision...I will check to see how things are doing when I get home tonight and go from there!

Thanks for the welcome back, guys! I didn't realize how much I missed all this stuff until I'd set it all back up again Anyway, I am absolutely *shocked* to see that the eggs are still there this morning, with the male still fanning away. Is there anything that I can do now to encourage the eggs to hatch (short of pulling them out and placing them in another tank)? Even if I did want to pull them it, it would be pretty impossible - the eggs are in a nook of a huge piece of driftwood that is at least a foot in diameter, and I don't have anything big enough to accommodate it. I'm going to be close to Big Al's tonight - do I need to start making a shopping list? Thanks again for your help!

After being out of the hobby for almost a year, I set up my 29 gallon this week, and added two beautiful blue rams from Nature's Corner yesterday. The tank is cycled (thanks to a sponge from another tank), with driftwood and sand substrate; the two rams are the only two inhabitants so far. After several years of fish-keeping, I was thrilled to discover my very first batch of eggs in the tank tonight - 24 hours after having brought the fish home! I don't have the time or resources right now to hatch the eggs artificially, and realize that they will likely be a midnight snack tonight. But... If by some miracle, the eggs are still there in the morning, is there anything that I need to do in the tank tomorrow? The male is diligently fanning the eggs, but from what I've read, the chance of the eggs fungusing in our water is likely. The last thing that I want is to foul up the water. Help! (Please and thank you )

Hmmm...thanks Rahim. I guess I'm just not being clear enough as to what I want. Well, that, or the person who answered the phone wasn't paying much attention

Does anyone know where in Edmonton to buy pool filter sand? I must be calling all the wrong places, because I'm having a hard time finding some...

punman, thanks for the info re: the heater. I'll stick with it for now and see how it goes. The tank is in my always-too-hot living room anyway, so it should be fine. degrassi, I think the first time I saw a zebra loach was in your tank. I had the BioSpira shipped in from someone who owns an LFS on another board I'm on. I've order from him several times and have always had great success...Bernie at http://www.fishstoretn.com/ if anyone is interested. After a trip to Big Al's this evening, I'm now the proud owner of 3 zebra loaches and 2 apistogramma nijsennis in place of the rams. I'll hold off on the cardinals for now to let the BioSpira do it's thing, and I'm picking up my baby QA pleco when I fly home in May.

After what seems to be a horribly long time, I've finally gotten my new tank up and running. Here are the specs: TANK: Size: 29 gallon Filtration: Rena XP1 Filstar Filter and Aquaclear Mini Heater: Ebo Jager 100W Heater (I know it's a little low on the wattage...getting another one soon) Lighting: 40W (Aqua-Glo and Flora-Glo bulbs) Decor: Tahitian Moon Sand, lots of Mopani driftwood, to be planted this week (w/ anubias, java fern, anachris and crypts) Cycling: 1 package Bio-Spira and two filter sponges from already established tanks PROPOSED STOCKING LIST: - 10 Cardinal Tetras - 2 Blue Rams (1 male and 1 female) - 1 baby Queen Arabesque Pleco (L260 - currently .75 inches, maxes out @ 3.5") - 3 Zebra Loaches (Botia Striata, maxes out @ 2.5-3") I know I'm getting a little heavy on the bioload, and I'm also a little unsure of how the loaches and rams would get along. Any comments or suggestions for me? TIA!

My tank stand is a bit uneven, and before I go any further in setting up my new tank (29 gallon), I thought it might be a good idea to put one of those styrofoam pads underneath my tank to even things out a little more. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should use, and where I might be able to find it in Edmonton? Thanks!

Great pics, Menagerie! Good to finally see you over here on the 'other' AA

Thanks for the article, RD...much appreciated. I will definitely be careful taking down the QT, just in case...especially since I cut my hand last night while setting it up Wow, is my 10 gallon starting to look bare...