Sonic'

shame about that Bravo, they are fantastic fish, but do grow to 12 inches in the right environment

Ive heard that you should only use half the normal dose for treating white spot, due to them being very fragile fish when it comes to white spot

I havent seen any survive to be honest, plus they do stress and shock quite easily which will bring on the white spot

I only have one left now out of three, but he is growing (still only smallish) and is quite happy on his own surprisingly, but then there is a polka dot loach in there too

David Lock

Very informative article on Loaches so thanks for that. I'm feeling guilty now as we have a pair but the tank (a Juwel 260) is apparently a bit on the small side. But they seem happy enough. One thing they love is lettuce and they will chomp through a leaf overnight which we attach to a sucker pad on the side of the tank. d

Sonic'

David

mine is a Juwel 180 but I do only have the one loach left, I feel a bit guilty only having the one, as they are a schooling fish really

I have heard about the lettuce, but have yet to try it, probably cos we dont usually have lettuce in

David Lock

Yes our two are always together Go on - splash out with a lettuce on his birthday! Any reason you don't get another one or two for company? d

Sonic'

I would get a couple more, and have been tempted, but I have a couple of large fish in the tank already

a 12" Black Ghost Knife Fish
a 7" Synodontis too


a couple more at a small size would be ok in the tank for now, but (and this is a mistake a number of people make, myself included) is that the tank is stocked based on current size, and not final growth size

Everything has been stable in the tank for the last 12 months, so I am a little reluctant to add more fish, but on saying that I do have another tank

I will get some lettuce this weekend

Tobisausage

I recently purchased a new fish tank

David Lock

Did it come with a free camera?








(Nice piccies btw)

Last one doesn't work - just to prove I looked at them!!

Tobisausage

Hmm they all work here, Cichlids are an absolute pain in the **** to photograph, its as if I feed them speed.

The Snug Rhino

the tank above with the dragons......that is a pink subaru with neons and diamonite wheels.

for gods sake dont post those pics on a fish keeping forum!

The Snug Rhino

agree - and people are free to drive pink subarus as well!

Tobisausage

lol, I don't give a **** what anyone else thinks, it's better than having a tank full of bog wood and neon tetras.

Clarebabes

Good on you!


Just been to the shop - it's a Maidenhead Aquatics, are they generally any good? The guy there said I should think about getting a bigger tank when he gets to 2" long. He seems happy enough and I've cleared out a bit of the media under the bogwood so he can lay on a flat surface - the BiOrb forum suggested he would rip himself to shreds on the stuff they give you with the Orbs - no sign yet!

My guppy seems relatively happy and always comes to see me, so I think the water's OK now. I have got a testing kit now so I can do running tests to make sure the water's OK for them both.

I daren't get any more fish until I get a bigger tank and after seeing some of your on here, I am well impressed.

OllyK

Were you the one posting on ultimate reef about home made rock?

Clarebabes

Sorry, I didn't see this until just now!

Anyone want a Clown Loach?

Gordo

not sure about the dragon tank (it looks sort of cool!) - too many cichlids, however, for a tank that size. They grow pretty quickly and are incredibly territorial.

My main tank is 4 ft by 2 by 2 and I now only have two cichlids in it - they're both about 4 inches long and spend all their time, even though they're different species, eyeing each other up and considering what to batter next. One of them is the same as the yellow ones in the pics above (Juliochromis or something?). Luckily the others in the tank don't care (two tin foil barbs that started at 2 inches and are now 11 inches, two plecs, various loaches too big to be bothered etc). If anyone wants the two barbs they're welcome to take them off our hands (big daft buggers who love their food!) - I'm in Surrey.

Am jealous of the tanks with plants! Nothing except rock lasts long in mine - even the sand/coral gravel gets moved around at a prodigious rate.

I'm surprised at some of the advice on here - I do pretty infrequent water changes but have a large external filter (which I only ever partially clean) and deliberately over-aerate the tank. Not lost a fish in years (current tank is 5 yrs old but had many of the fish before that) other than a hornet cichlid who died in a house move (gutted, he was stunning, got stressed being put in a bag) and three other cichlids that lost in the territory battles.

G

David Lock

[QUOTE Clarebabes

Just been to the shop - it's a Maidenhead Aquatics, are they generally any good?

[/QUOTE]

Obviously depends on the individual in the shop but the two around our way are both excellent. I go in the summer to look at the stunning Koi on display (with stunning prices!). These are at Hickstead and Chichester btw. d

Tobisausage

I have kept cichlids many times before and the only problems I have ever had aggression wise was when there were other species in the same tank.

SWRTWannabe

I've always found Maidenhead Aquatics to be excellent.

As for Neon Tetras, what's wrong with them? I like them

Gordo

fair enough - I've always had other stuff in with them.

I did say I liked your tank if it helps!

Tobisausage

I found that having other species (even if the other species were larger) just put them on edge and made them even more territorial. I owned one cichlid (was a convict cichlid) that had to be taken back to the shop as he made a fish that was 4 times the size hide under a rock 24/7.

You can't make an agressive fish non-agressive but you can help by creating an environment that does'nt have really defined territories. As they grow I will probably re-arrange areas and I already have planned a rock structure to break up their line of sight.

D.K.1

I like them too, but they're tiny and don't go well in tanks with much larger fish

The Snug Rhino

"Were you the one posting on ultimate reef about home made rock?"

yep, and RC - i have about 100kg of it, been running it for about 3 months after curing it all autum.

Clarebabes

Well, today we bought a Juwel Rio 125

Have set it all up and running it in. Have a few real plants and rocks in it and will put the ones from the Biorb once it's cycled and ready for the fish.

Need to get a poster for the background, but don't really know what to choose, e.g. the rock stuff...

Will need some advice on stocking too. How many fish would a 125 litre tank let me have? I will of course have a clown loach and a guppy to start!

I will get another couple of clowns, Dave likes the silver sharks so probably get 3-4 of those, I like the little angel fish, another couple of guppies, a plec, a catfish... Any others?

Can't wait to get some fish - but will make sure the water's right first!

Tam the bam

Watch those Silver sharks, they grow pretty big, mine lived for 14 years

A good place for advice etc is Tropical Fish Centre - powered by vBulletin

Clarebabes

OK, well, we should be able to get some good advice. We have a Maidenhead Aquatics near us, plus the guy at Cov Aquatics was very knowledgble.

He said to get a couple of shoaling groups and think of the tank as having a "top, middle and bottom" when stocking.

How long will it take to heat up? Nearly lost all feeling in my arm putting the plants and rocks in the right places!

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Nice one. The sharks can be aggresive towards other fish. Fighters come in nice colours but make sure you don't get two males You know what men with too much testosterone are like.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

You could have used lukewarm water.

Clarebabes

I know, but only have a cold water tap that a hose will fit on! I'm thinking I might replace some of the water with some hot water to get it up to temp if it takes too long, but I've got at least a week or 2 before I put any fish in it.

Not going to rush it!