Aquatic rooms was their Edinburgh shop that i used to go to all the time. Its now closed due to the tram works going on in Edinburgh. The East Lothian shop is massive and if you're ever up this way I'd recommend it. I'll ask if they are going to do a new web site.

Glad to see you've got the nose back to the grindstone.

I'm going to get another frog or two this afternoon if there are any about. My friend is also giving me 2 neons and 2 guppies which i will put into their tank. I'll make sure the filter is safe for them though

My frog is pretty stupid BTW. It hunts for food and always misses it by millimetres LOL. It will insist on pecking on the shrimps who panic now when they see him approaching.


Your so right about fish going out of fashion and coming back in. I think Malawis are coming back in big style at the moment.

I could pay off the national debt with what I fork out for bog roll LOL. I never buy cheap tat or even worse scratchy stuff - ouch. Having three women plus friends in lots sees me through 12 rolls of the buggers a week!!

It just a normal spotted plec with the sailfins. Its seven inches long and I'm putting him in with the green terror, 2 x silver sharks and the tin foil barb. I think it should be ok but read my next post for the latest news!!

This is what went on yesterday in my green terror tank.

It all started calm and very flat and even.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0003-2.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0004-5.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0005-4.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0006-2.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0007-3.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0008-2.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0009-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0010-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0011-1.jpg

Cigars all round methinks LOL. Now if only i had a male.

Mr GT is now Mrs GT.

Forgive me for getting her totally wrong but she is so vividly marked and so aggressive i assumed she was all male. She even has a slight bump on her very pretty head.

Ann

This is gonna have to be split - DS says it is way too long... - so here goes...


Stockings eh! heHeHe!

Seriously, I have 3 of Mrs Panda's on my floating breeding traps too. They work very well on filter inlets, firstly they stop baby fish and fry being sucked up it, and they don't overly affect the flow too much either. Secondly (although it looks a bit unsightly) the mesh stops the filter media being clogged up by biggish bits of crap, thus prolonging filter changes a bit. You can take the mesh off the inlet and rinse it out under the tap - without killing the live bacteria on the filter media.

It's not one of those Little Mermaid jobbies is it.


Check your PM box.



It was when I was living in HK. I think it was about a few hundred dollars (maybe 15 years ago) - and they are a lot cheaper there than here. At last last years Singapore show they had This platinum Arowana - A bargain at £250,000.



Good.

Yes. And a new one to me too. Like anything - it's a constant learning process. A bit unfortunate that we have to experiment with live animals to get it right.

I hope that this thread may go a little way to educating other people, so they don't have to make the same mistakes.




Yes. Elephant Nose's use their chin (the snout), their mouth is on top of their 'snout'/ chin to detect food buried in the leaf litter at night - a weak electric signal is produced in the stick-like tail and picked up by the their chin.



I've just taken a few piccies - they aren't exactly BBC Blue Planet quality -don't laugh, I'm not giving up my day job.

Baby Electric blue jack Dempsey

Two more baby Blues

Another baby Blue Jack

Seahorse 30G tank

Seahorses

Discus (& others) 130G tank

Blue jack 60G tank (+ Cloe)

Hubert Mbu Puffer & friend

brown leopard catfish type things

Silver leopard waterdrinking catfish thingy

Times have 'a changed - though still tricky, a few species have bred in captivity - We thought one of our male yellows was acting odd the other day - it turns out HE may be pregnant. Apparently, the female drops the eggs in his pouch, then the male shakes and jerks to fertilize them, then carries then through to birth. The ones we have are all captive bred and one customer said that she has a pair and as the male was releasing a batch of youngsters from his pouch, the female was dropping new eggs in his pouch again. Poor Mr Seahorse.



Thank you - I'll have a look if they do.



Lovely.



I've got a lonely one that would be happier with yours, if you like.


They aren't the brightest tools in the box, it seems like they have to smell it to eat it.



Yes. They are very colourful, quite tolerant of water conditions and by necessity need to be overstocked. And some are interesting mouthbrooders too.

That's an awful lot of 'wipeage', It maybe cheaper in the long run to buy a Bidet.



He should be fine - they can hold their own - especially that size one - and he will grow - remember the fresh greens and Plec tablets - possibly a bit of bogwood for him to suck on - certain plecs need this in their diet.


Hooray!!! ............

I think you can see why she did what she did to the RC. Maybe (in her desperation) she wanted to breed with it.
If you get a male GT - the other tankmates will be harassed. if you don't she will pine. Awwww, what to do.....

Get another 2-3 footer and breed them.

Tell Hubby, that new Malawi tanks come with a free 'smaller' tank - or, that you need it as a quarantine tank. HeHeHe.

Enough for now, 3 hours is making my brain hurt.

3 hours!! I owe you more than 1 virtual pint now then

The eggs have went white today and she's not impressed by the plecostomus plecostomus invading her territory. She's a tad vicious and pulled him out of his plant pot. I have covered the tank so as its in almost darkness in the hope that they start to get on better. its only been an hour so time will tell. Its 7" long at least and in excellent condition and I just hope the change of tank and meeting Mrs GT doesn't harm him.

Will type more later.

Ann

Hellloooooo

Thought it was about time to add to this post. I've had loads of visitors from Nottingham staying and as they are all around teenage years plus 2 of my own I've been toiling to grab one of the PC's LOL.

I've had some disasters (minor) and have shuffled tanks about but here's an update.

Big Tank now has

1 beautiful green terror
2 silver sharks that are bulking up really well.
1 tin foil barb who lost his tail overnight when the GT laid her eggs. Its now grown back a treat.
and the new addition is the Plec. He/She is magnificent. It had their first taste of cucumber and love it very very much LOL. I've read that it has to be nuked (microwaved) before you give them it. Do I really have to? I soak it before I put it in the tank so maybe that works just the same. Its only given to him for a treat as i don't want to spoil him. He's getting 6 algae tablets every night and I'm going to East Lothian Aquatics at the weekend for algae wafers whatever they are LOL.

Here's his photo ...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1/ABCD0017.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0018-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0019-1.jpg




In my medium tank I have

4 guppies
2 neons
1 extremely healthy syno. I'm so pelased with him. I would take a photo but he doesn't come out during the day now. He used to when he was i9n the big tank.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0015-1.jpg

In my small tank

NOWT. Zero. Zilch.

Any ideas on what I can put in it? Its 12" long 12" high and 8" deep. It has a very fast flowing filter. What likes fast flowing water. Was thinking danio's and a coujple of barbs. What do you think?

Biorb

2 gorgeous goldfish

Sick Tank (that was what it was!)

1 remaining shrimp
1 frog.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1/ABCD0016.jpg

I don't have a filter in the tank and wondered if you could recommend a very small sponge filter that doesn't cause too much current as the frog really doesn't like it. Since he's went into the sick tank he's come on in leaps and bounds. There is no gravel which makes the tank easy to clean for just now but I would like to have some sort of gentle filter in there.

All my hairy bairns are doing well too.

This is 5 of them. It is also the reason why we don't do KFC very often LOL

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ABCD0002-4.jpg

From left to right we have WeeWanda, Chicken Barbara, James Robert, Willow and Colonel Crust Pants.

The only one missing is the bitch. She's called Bella and I love her to bits even though she is mad and wicked. LOL

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ust20074-1.jpg


Hope you and all yours are doing well.

By the way I love your Jack Dempseys. I've heard they are hard to keep. Not like their brown cousins who I used to breed years and years ago no problems. Hole in the head was their downfall though

Catch you later.

Ann

Ooh, Ta!



I hope they've settled down now. The GT is probably annoyed with her fruitless breeding attempt, poor thing - *hint, hint*




I bet all the bog roll has been hammered too.





I hope he doesn't snack on the tiddlers at night.


Hmm, What do you want? something cheap and colourful or something interesting and a bit 'different'?

The tank is 4 gallons and can safely house 4" of fish. I'd convert it to either a Nano Reef tank, or a Planted Nano, Shrimp tank - (Cherry Shrimp are cheap and breed like rabbits, and readily saleable back to the shops for fish/food exchange).

... or, a Betta Tank

..... or a new fav - Dwarf Puffer/African Frog combo tank - ......Cute!



Hmmm. Yes.


I use an Algarde sponge filter in my shrimp and marine nano's, or try Hydro, or Interpet - I like the Algarde, it's small, unobtrusive and efficient.


Yes we are thanks. Although we've had to buy one of These to control our naughty little 'un.


Yes, I've noticed that (maybe because of intensive inbreeding) - their eyes seem not as clear and bright as the originals, I've also read that they're not as aggressive - but, I doubt it from what I've seen.

On a related note. My Kribs seem to have something similar. Two of them have deep clean longitudinal craters in thier heads, they are otherwise healthy. They are Cichlids and I know all Cichlids carry the hole in the head bacteria that only take over when stressed. Though you can buy Octozin or similar now. Though HITH is difficult to cure or near impossible to reverse.

"Head and Lateral Line Erosion Disease (HLLD or HLLE)
Also known as: Lateral Line Erosion (LLE), Lateral Line Disease (LLD), and Hole-in-the-Head Disease

Symptoms: Begins as small pits on the head and face, usually just above the eye. If untreated, these turn into large cavities and then the disease progresses along the lateral line.
Head and Lateral Line Disease is attributed to a nutritional deficiency of one or more of: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorus. Though its cause is not definitively determined, it is thought to be caused by a poor diet or lack of variety, lack of partial water changes, or over filtration with chemical media such as activated carbon.
HLLE has been reversed by one or more of the following treatments:

* Increase frequent water changes.
* Add vitamins to frozen foods.
* Add the addition of flake foods, as they are enriched with vitamins.
* Add greens, either frozen or in leaf form, to the diet.
* Decrease the amount of beef heart as it lacks many critical nutrients.
* Remove activated carbon filtration.

(This disease is often confused with another disease called 'Hexamita', because both these diseases are often seen simultaneously in the same fish. Hexamita is a protozoan disease that attacks the lower intestine. Discus and other large cichlids, especially Oscars, are especially prone to Hexamita.) "




Btw, just found this off of Scotcat :

"One of the most persistent myths in fishkeeping is that catfish are allergic to salt. The rationalisation behind this is that because catfish lack scales (which is true) they are much more sensitive to the osmotic effect of brackish water (which is nonsense). Consider this: moray eels also lack scales, yet virtually all of them live in the sea, with only a handful being found in brackish or fresh water.

The ability of a fish to control the flow of salts and water in and out of its body depends not on whether it has scales or not, but on its overall physiology. This, in turn, depends on the how evolution has modified that species to fit into a particular environment. Catfish adapted to soft water habitats, for example, are indeed unlikely to to do well in a brackish water aquarium, but the same holds true for all the other soft water aquarium fish, such as barbs, tetras, loaches, gouramis, and so on."

Another couple of virtual pints please.

Oh, Forgot - I just got a Orange Serpent Starfish and a Metalic Strip Goby & his resident Pistol Shrimp.

The goby and his companion are funny. The shrimps are virtually blind, therefore they form pairs with Gobies - the shrimp builds and cleans the gobys house in return for the Goby providing protection for the shrimp.

The little shrimp builds burrows really quickly. He has built 3 homes for his friend in as many hours.

Well batch number 2 of eggs has started to go foosty LOL. She's still guarding them bless her. Hubby and I have sadly decided we can't get another tank just for her and an unfortunate Mr. Apparently she and him would battle like erm green terror and green terror LOL. I have enquired about it but she would need at least a 3' tank and i just dont have the space. Also getting them new homes when they do rear young would be nigh on impossible. The only other alternative would be to let them eat their young but thats not until they are 3 months old and by then they'll look like miniature adults and thats just far too sad.

Very sad today cos I feel sorry for her.

Also happy that the water conditions are obviously great for her to do this.

Ann

OMG how weird is that starfish? Weird in a beautiful way i might add.

And the wee Goby and his mate are adorable. Isn't nature brilliant?? They are fantastic. Put my guppies to shame LOL. BTW thay are all doing well in with the syno. He's so laid back though so i knew they would be. i bought a teeny weeny butterfly plec and its also doing great in that tank. I need help with the algae thingy ha ha ha. the syno is crap at cleaning up after himself. the butterfly plec is about and inch long so he has a long way to go yet.

Hey Mods any chance this thread could be put into pets forum. theres some great advice in it and it may help other cichlid owners.

Thanks

This seems as good a place as any to ask:

How is cichlid pronounced?

Is it "sick lid"?

Correct.

Thank you. I thought it was but wasn't sure.

Ha ha ha. I know someone who still insists they are correct and call them chill lids LOL.

I was looking for this thread yesterday.

I know sod all about fish/tanks or anything but have found this a really interesting read.

Aw thats really nice of you. I'm glad the mods moved it. I'm gonna sit down when I have a moment and do an update on my tanks and its all good news

Mr Night_Market has been a fount of knowledge. Thanks

Ann

With pics, I hope....


Thanks...


It's been cool.

Great i'll look forward to it and keep checking back.

Yes, please more pictures!