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  1. alistairw

    Bloated Cory catfish floating?

    Hi there. Cory's love a sand substrate. They filter the sand out through their bills searching for food. It's what they do in their natural habitat, so it's good to try and recreate that. As already mentioned, the substrate you have will cause food to get trapped and eventually cause water...
  2. alistairw

    Adding Tree Leaves to a Tank for Biofilm, (UK Trees only).

    This is a great post Bruce, thank you for writing it. I have often wondered about whether you can add our native species to our tanks. You often see specific leaves for sale on various sites. It’s given me a few ideas. Have you added any yet?
  3. alistairw

    Cheese on Toast ,Toasted Cheese Sandwich or Cheese Toasty which is best?

    Oooh! A hard boiled egg sliced onto toast, mature cheddar melted on top with some Worcestershire Sauce. 🤤
  4. alistairw

    Most Expensive Hobby’s Besides Fish Keeping?

    I’ve just realised you quoted PK!
  5. alistairw

    Most Expensive Hobby’s Besides Fish Keeping?

    Ive done shooting since I was 16 (43 now 🤣) so costs are really minimal as my rifles don’t need to be changed. The Astro stuff is fairly basic and had that before I got into aquariums. I don’t spend an awful lot on this either now. Tank is established and stable and I have orders from the wife...
  6. alistairw

    Most Expensive Hobby’s Besides Fish Keeping?

    My .22 LR target (Anschutz 1984 Olympic) was bought late 90’s for about £650. I still use iron sights on it. My 7.62 is A Swing Mk4 from the mid 80’s. Was owned by the Royal Marines target team and had been used about twice when I bought it 10 years ago. I used iron sights until a couple of...
  7. alistairw

    Most Expensive Hobby’s Besides Fish Keeping?

    I do small bore (.22 Cali Rd) and full bore (7.62/.308) target rifle. Very expensive at the start. My fulll bore rifle cost £1500 and the scope the same. Rounds are about £1 a pop. I have to travel to Bisley near Guildford to shoot it. Small bore less expensive and the club is nearer home. This...
  8. alistairw

    Guppy Missing Dorsal Fin

    I thought the general consensus was to keep more females than males to distribute any dominant behaviour, for example, what may have been shown in this tank. I am no guppy expert, but that is what I have read in other guppy stocking posts. 🤷🏼‍♂️
  9. alistairw

    Maintenance on an External Filter.

    Thanks both. I will try and find the literature I read to check. I have read elsewhere someone changing the impeller when the filter got noisy which is where I got the idea. I will do some more investigating…..!
  10. alistairw

    Aquarium heaters

    I had a Hydor in line heater which was great, as the heated water got distributed really well. It wasn’t too tricky to fit but unfortunately it stopped working. I have never replaced it and just have your normal heating bar in the tank now. Its on my list of things to look at as an upgrade, so...
  11. alistairw

    Maintenance on an External Filter.

    Evening all I run a Fluval 206 external filter on my tank, and have done for around 4 years. It has recently become quite rattley so decided to buy a maintenance kit that includes new seals, impeller shaft and impeller cover. I also bought an aqua stop valve as that has new seals too. Just out...
  12. alistairw

    Guppy Missing Dorsal Fin

    I concur with the above and do a couple of changes a week. Water quality can get bad quite quickly with the smaller volumes of water. I don’t think you need to leave the water a couple of days. Put some tetra aqua safe or similar in the water beforehand which will neutralise harmful substances...
  13. alistairw

    Female 'Dwarf' Gourami ID?

    Lovely looking fish there Bruce! I thing DG are great fish, but I have bad experiences in the past with the old dwarf gourami disease and it’s put me off them. This was a number of years ago though. I assume you will be updating your excellent journal with their introduction? In which case I...
  14. alistairw

    Mollies wiggling in one corner of the tank (one specific corner)(pls help)

    I think the consensus here is listen to the members here. I agree with Bruce - this "vet" is an ex vet, that gets a great income from you - he is there to make money and probably see's dollar signs in his eyes when you walk in, so will continue to tell you everything is great and sell you more...
  15. alistairw

    Mollies wiggling in one corner of the tank (one specific corner)(pls help)

    Excellent post Myraan and great advice on how to go forward. I was thinking we are at an impasse, so hopefully the advice and knowledge will be used to progress with the hobby. I don’t think much more can be said really, without the OP getting a test kit and water changing each day, but I too...
  16. alistairw

    Mollies wiggling in one corner of the tank (one specific corner)(pls help)

    Also, in your other thread about the Rainbow fish, I think these are more suited to hard water too?
  17. alistairw

    Mollies wiggling in one corner of the tank (one specific corner)(pls help)

    This looks to be the case if swimming in the corner. The fact they have all done this in that particular corner is possibly just coincidence or maybe the most comfortable spot relatively as already posted.
  18. alistairw

    Mollies wiggling in one corner of the tank (one specific corner)(pls help)

    I will put my 2 pence worth in. I am by no means as knowledgeable as some of peers on here, but a couple of things strike me. The main thing is a lack of a testing kit. I know you say they are expensive, but it’s relative and they last a long time, being able to get hundred of tests out of a...
  19. alistairw

    Sick dwarf gourami

    No probs. However, I would take note of what DoubleDutch says as that could be a possibility. It is probably worth researching male/female ratio's, as looking back through your information I missed you had 2 males in the tank, and what he says makes sense - it could be a dominance thing. From...
  20. alistairw

    Green hair algae & cleaning tips

    I’d mirror Bruce on this. I thought that looked an awful lot of food, especially for the Cory. That’s more than one wafer a fish! As others have said, I would reduce your lighting times a bit too. Hopefully reducing those 2 variables will help.
  21. alistairw

    Dark Knight Rams!!!

    I may pop in the LFS again at the weekend. If they are still there, I’ll take a sneaky photo and post for you!
  22. alistairw

    Dark Knight Rams!!!

    I saw some of these in my LFS yesterday, although they were called “Black Devils” there! £100 for a pair too!
  23. alistairw

    Sick dwarf gourami

    The fish could have had Dwarf Gourami Disease. Unfortunately no cure for it. Here is a link for more info. https://helpusfish.com/1/17/dwarf-gourami-disease-guide.html Its been a long time since I’ve thought about DGD as I have lost a couple of fish to it and have not bought any since 2013. If...
  24. alistairw

    Test Kits

    Mmmmm. Not sure on that. The NT has 3bottles to do the ammonia test, which results in yellow if no ammonia. Api has 2 if I remember correctly. The nitrate/nitrite are clear of non is detected where as AP I are grades of green or blue I think. So maybe! I'm not much of a chemist to know what...
  25. alistairw

    Test Kits

    If they just added the O2 test, it would be perfect!
  26. alistairw

    Test Kits

    Morning all. I just thought I would offer an alternative to the API Master test kit, in the NT Labs Aquarium multi test kit. I have had an API for years and only noticed the other day it was a few years out of date. My tank is quite mature now and I haven’t had any issues with water quality for...
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    C09DB999-97BA-4798-8BAC-E359643705B2.jpeg

  28. alistairw

    Life of a tank

    That's great Colin and makes sense.
  29. alistairw

    Life of a tank

    Thanks guys. I will carry on with my plans and give the tank a good check over when I get round to re-scaping, hopefully in the next month or so.
  30. alistairw

    Life of a tank

    I should say, the tank is currently running and stocked, and there is no sign of leaking. I ask out of interest as if I am going to put the effort into re-scaping the tank and the tank has a life span of say 12 years for example, I might reconsider my options. The tank is approaching 10 years.
  31. alistairw

    Life of a tank

    Morning all, I have a bit of a strange question………. Do aquariums have a life span? I have a Roma 90, glass tank and I assume to the corners and bottom are sealed/glued with some sort of silicone. The tank was bought new in 2012. I ask because I am going to do a bit of a revamp on it and was...
  32. alistairw

    When the sleeper wakes...

    Hi Bruce, I have just come back to this forum after a long hiatus. I have still been running my tank, but my kids have renewed my enthusiasm and I have some big changes planned. reading your journal has been very inspirational and I am reading with great interest! I am a fellow Cumbrian, albeit...
  33. alistairw

    Sending Snails In The Post

    Ps, obviously I will be charging postage and packaging
  34. alistairw

    Sending Snails In The Post

    To be honest, I was looking to just get rid of them free of charge. Just wanted to know how to send them in the post. There are 50 plus of them - essentially 2 batches of eggs.
  35. alistairw

    Sending Snails In The Post

    Hi all, I have about 100 golden apple snails running around my tank since the originals bread. I need to get rid of most of them. A LFS has agreed to take some one they are a bit bigger; currently less than 5mm. I would like to advertise them on here and FB but unsure what the best thing to...
  36. alistairw

    Veggie Patches

    I just started to sort my veg patch out the other day. It sounds simple but think about what veg you actually eat rather than what you would like to grow! It's tempting to grow things that you think you would like but no one actually eats! I tend to grow things for salads such as lettuce...
  37. alistairw

    Any One Know What Type This Is ?

    Hi there It looks like a sandstone to me.....difficult to tell without me testing it (I studied geology at uni). I think it should be OK in your tank. Where did you get it from? A shop, or picked up out doors somewhere? Al
  38. alistairw

    Pink Thing Hanging Out Of Angel's Bumhole

    Hi Bmonki I will refer you to this thread I read this morning, as it sounds similar, especially when the fish moves away. http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/409085-clear-poop/ It sounds like some sort of parasite. Alistair
  39. alistairw

    Hydor 300 Watt Heater.

    My apologies. It was a minor swear word that you would associate with northerners (as I am one!) and begins with B.
  40. alistairw

    Snails?

    As above, this is very common. I had the same thing not long ago. They look the same as the ones I inherited - some sort of ramshorn snail I think. Try and get them out as you see them as they reproduce with themselves and you will be over run in no time!! One option is to get an assasin snail...
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