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Yeah, I knew they were nippy but I didn't realise just how aggressive they actually were. I've never seen a bunch of fish beat the living day lights out of each other like this before; it even trumps Malawis I reckon! It's a shame that one of them has taken the brunt of the aggression. Could it...

As I said above: It looks like a female. I have a female and she doesn't have any bristles ;)

Just to put it in perspective for you, I'm on Severn Trent Water here in sunny Telford and we've an average pH of about 8.2   This is pretty high but not a catastrophe. I try and keep the pH steady. Naturally it fluctuates and is lower towards the end of the week (is usually about 7.6 but has...

I'd go heavily planted, black background with a black, granular substrate. Somewhere between sand and small gravel.    Mosses, camboba and anubias plants would be good and then add some shrimps from the Neocaridina family. They'd look pretty awesome!   And yes, Glofish are illegal in the UK.

If it's not very young and it is indeed a BN plec, it's a female due to the lack of 'bristles'.

The nose and tail fin of that plec looks like my Bristlenose, too.   Without a clearer picture though, we could have mistaken this fish and it may well be a young common plec for example. I've seen them with that patterning before.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

You wont stop him from nipping. Betta are fish that are solitary in the wild and is therefore programmed into them that any other fish is a potential threat and therefore has to be kept in check (i.e.: by being nipped).

    Although this is somewhat true, I've had a lot of success with Anubias in the substrate. I preferred it as a creeper along the tank floor, rather than the grass type plants that wouldn't do well with my lighting anyway. :) Just don't plant the rhizome and everything will be hunky-dory.

Started up a new 120 litre tank!   I say new, I use the term loosely. I've rehashed my old Interpet. Renewed the nutrients in my EcoComplete gravel, new plants, new filter (kept old filter media and one of the four sponges). I have a female bristlenose in there right now and I've also got 12...

I agree with the dead-wood bit. The wood will rot if it's not dense enough I imagine though, or if it's already given in to rot. To answer your boiling question: you can't without serious industrial equipment. The way I'd do it is something like this: I would fill the bathtub with hot water and...

To answer your questions directly... 1. My water and electricity bills have probably only increased by about £2.80 each per quarter. Not an unreasonable increase. :good: The uninspiring stories come from people who think you can just plop a fish into a small, bare tank into water straight out...

I paid about £75 for a brand new 206 - delivered. Seemed fairly reasonable to me (which is why I bought it). :unsure: I guess it depends on whether you buy online or not as well. Prices from LFS' and online shops cannot be compared.

Calcium is readily available in things like bone, coral and shells. Drobbyb is right in that it will effect your hardness and pH and softer water will dissolve the shells rather on the quicker side of things. The more that's in your tank, the more drastically it'll effect your water. A stable pH...

8 US gallons = 6.6 imperial gallons = 30.28 litres

It does help polish the water (although other products do a better job) but it isn't necessary. If I were to leave my carbon in the porous bag too long it would start to leech tannins from the wood back into the water which leads me to believe any toxins could be leeched back in, too. I do agree...

Why don't you wait until you get the plant lights etc first? Then do all the haulage and moving around in one operation to make it a stressless for the fish as possible?

What filter is it?

I wonder, does trapped air cause this once it's gone stale and bacteria has used up the oxygen in the air pocket?

It was just a play on words and is meant as tongue in cheek :P the lock man is actually defending you in the rest of the post.

I don't want to be a downer but agreeing with Sadguppy's previous post, you won't get very far at all if you don't get your head around the cycling process.

Could you not overcome this by using a tray in two separate sumps? Sump one: the tray is full of new media, Sump two: the tray is full of matured media. Just change over the newer media say, 4 or five weeks after it's been added to the water column. :rolleyes: Just my 2 pence. EDIT: By the...

Personally, I'd move the majority of your old media (cram it in anywhere, as long as water is flowing over it then it'll be Ok) into your new filter and take your old filter out. Everything should be Ok but whenever I change over filters, I always keep my eye on the stats of the water (maybe...

If it helps, I went away for three weeks and my fish were fed 3 times (once a week). No water changes or anything and it was fine. I've found that most fish will be OK without food for about 10 days. Some fish can go longer, but personally I wouldn't leave it more than 10 days without food. I...

I'd love another tank too. I wouldn't mind trying a small shrimp nano set up but the most part of me wants a bigger tank. I'd love something like 750 - 1000 gallons and to spend a couple of weeks aqua-scaping a rainforest riverbed theme. I would probably have a huge community of fish in there...

Sort of, Staxx. Again, you can't be totally dependent on your enthusiasm for the hobby, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered buying a filter :rolleyes: I have plenty of enthusiasm, probably more that than money to buy another filter at least :P Tolak is simply putting my point about the variables...

Adding to what Fluttermoth said, manufacturers usually indicate their empty filter flow outputs; ie, with no media in it. I would expect a real life scenario to probably be about 75% of what the manufacturers tell you. :good:

I wasn't trying to second guess you at all. There are simply too many variables (in my opinion) to give a completely accurate way of stocking a tank, especially without it being right in front of one to see for one's self. The question you asked (ie: what actually determines the safe stocking...

I don't think it's irrelevant at all since you're trying to determine and I suspect collaborate both methods of stock determination to come up with a more accurate way of safely stocking an aquarium. In this scenario I would be worried about under filtration therefore limiting your stocking...

I've owned the 64 litre fishpod and the 120 litre fish pod. Never had any problems. I would never use an internal filter, especially the one that comes with Interpet fish tanks. It's not a bad filter but the pro's of an external canister style out weigh the cons for me, every time. The only...

I would add carbon, let it run for a couple of days and then still do a 75% + water change. :good:

May I ask how long your Gourami has been afflicted?

Won't be able to get any pictures up due to a broken camera either I'm afraid!

Why don't you turn it into a Betta and shrimp tank, forgetting the Endlers altogether? It'd be easier on the fish in my opinion. Or, plant the 22l tank and make it a shrimp only tank. They can be pretty fun to run :rolleyes:

+ 1, even if the wood touches the glass in your aquarium, chances are it won't do any damage since most aquarium safe woods are soft woods and mostly without sharp edges. EDIT: Although, the suckers idea is pretty good. I have a very daring pleco though and knowing him, he'd wedge himself...

When/if you soak wood, I filled my kitchen sink with hot water and every hour or so I'd lose a few litres of the water so I could top it up with fresh boiling hot water from the kettle. This helps kill any nasties on the wood and apparently opens the pours in the wood to allow the tannins to...

If it helps, I feel my fish decent amounts of food once every other day (to make sure their digestive system has enough time to recover). Decent sizes being making sure the fish get about the amount of food you could cram in to twice the size of their eye. No more, no less. :rolleyes: I've never...

I am the Dovahkiin.

She has a red bit on one side of her mouth. It looks inflamed and very sore. Could be due to an injury, she has been squabbling with the other female recently. She also has a circular white-grey blemish on her anal fin (that isn't present on the other female). This incident is isolated since all...

Interpet manufacture horrid filters. When possible, I'd always go for an external - whether that's a hang-on-the-back style or canister. :good: Not only are they easier to maintain but they generally offer a higher quality of filtration.