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Well, I’ve had my 3 Bolivians for about a week now, and they confuse the heck out of me. Still trying to figure out what sex they are, and their behavior. They have been doing the liplock thing, and originally I was thinking that the 2 doing the lip locking were a pair, but I’ve now seen...

Definitely mollies! :)

I would certainly think it should work. Vinegar is basically acetic acid, and yours is 5% acetic acid. Just watch for bubbles fizzing off of it. You may have some trapped surface air, so try to look for actual fizzing - kinda like the way a carbonated soda or beer fizzes. I doubt you'll see any...

Heck, I'm still trying to justify keeping the tanks I already have to my wife! Heaven forbid I should want another one! :no:

Thanks for the reply. It's been over 20 years since I've kept and bred cichlids, and my memory on this stuff is pretty hazy. I'll see how it goes and think about soon relocating the one that seems to be spending most of the time hiding out in the back of the tank.

I may have answered my own question by doing some searching on the Bolivians as well as other cichlids. It seems like lip locking is often the case with a potential pairing off of a male & female, but could be a boundary dispute between 2 males? The 2 in my case that do it seem to hang out a lot...

Just a quick HELLO and WELCOME!! :) Edited because I can spell but I can't type!

Welcome to the forum! Never be afraid to ask a question here. :)

Hi. I have 3 Bolivians in a tank, still trying to sex them, but nothing definite yet. When I've figured it out, and if I have a pair, and not 3 of the same sex, I'll move one to another tank. I've noticed that two will on occasion go face to face and lock lips together briefly. Is this a sign...

Are your test kit solutions old? If so they may be expired & giving you faulty results.

Hi. It might help if we knew where you're located? Country for a start :rolleyes:

I totally agree with you, but that comment on the giraffe discus really cracked me up picturing how the poor thing would look. :lol:

I'd think they would be fine, if they're completely plastic. If they have bendable stems that keep the shape you bend them into they probably have a metal core. You can often see the metal (if it's there) at the bottom of a stem, especially if you cut off a piece.

Hi. Nope - you didn't confuse me. I understood it was just an indicator, and that the lack of it didn't guarantee that it was a male. I have them in a cycled quarantine tank at the present time - pretty little fish! At this point they pretty much stay in a group together, but I know that may...

Hi and thanks for the replies. The caudal filaments on the one with a rounded tail are evenly rounded off so I don't think it's a situation of damage. I guess I'll wait & see what happens. Still haven't been able to check for the ovipositor on all 3, but I saw it one one last night. But, it...

Hi. I picked up 3 Bolivians today, no picture yet, and I'll check for the ovipositor when I get back downstairs. I've read that the males have longer extensions on the tips of the caudal (tail) fin, than the female. Mine probably aren't adult yet but one of them has a rounded caudal fin, and the...

I'd try to pay the overnight shipping on the Bio-Spira. It is live bacteria & has to be kept refrigerated to remain alive. It's not cheap to begin with, so why take a chance on it being dead when you get it? You never know how long it may sit in a warm mail room somewhere via regular shipping. I...

If it's the bendable/shapeable type of pipe cleaner, those have a metal core that may not be good for the fish?

Yep - my older cories are lazy too :rolleyes:

You can buy a little low cost valve to control the air pump flow if it's too much - a lot cheaper than buying a smaller air pump.

I'm not sure either. Check the temperature too.

The sparkling could well be from some of the components that AvaBanana mentioned - such as particles of quartz or mica, not necessarily iron pyrite.

Not if you can run out & get a heater as fast as J4MES did! The water could have been a bit warmer by the time he got back and saved a little extra time till the heater could raise it further. Sometimes timing can make a big difference!

At 10:30 UK time it's 5:30pm EST US, when a lot of us Americans get home & start checking email, etc. Then at 9PM EST, there may be a slowdown as that would be 6 pm on the west coast - about the time the West Coast US people may be getting home and getting on the net. Other than Chicago in the...

The bottle idea sounds good - I'll have to remember that one.

The API test will measure total ammonia - even the ammonia that's tied up by the AmmoLock. My test mentions that in the API directions. That's why I ordered the Seachem ammonia test - it will let you test for both free (toxic) ammonia, and total ammonia. Edit - I have no experience with the...

Sounds like you've done the best you can do till you can get a new heater & thermometer. When my heater failed it stuck on and cooked my fish while I wasn't at home. I would rather have had your situation. You might want to put in some ich med if you have any - that junk tends to attack the fish...

Ewwww, Yuk! Some fish just never learn! :sick:

How about PWC (Partial Water Change) or just WC (as in a 25% WC)

Beautifil fish! Take really good care of them. :rolleyes: I'm not sure if you've seen some of the other posts on these, but the Galaxy is near being wiped out in it's very limited native habitat. A lot of lfs have stopped offering them for that reason. I'd like to think that yours were tank...

Hi Kal-El. I'm running out of ideas. Hopefully the gloves & mask will make a big difference. I had a thought about some type of good air filtration unit that could be placed near or over the tank - not the ionizer things as I don't think they really do anything, but the type I'm thinking of are...

Hello and you're welcome. OK on having had the allergy tests - I thought you probably had but asked anyway. Yes indeed - your own health comes first! I guess if you can put up with trying a few things more before giving up, try the gloves & the painter's mask & see what happens. Question - does...

It's starting to appear that there are way too many of us getting paid to surf. But shhhhhhhhh! I'm sure glad the back of my monitor faces the door to my office!

From work here also. I've learned to try to control my time in here - otherwise I get nothing done!

and try not to be exposed to inhaling the fish food dust - it may be hard to avoid not getting down next to the tank to watch them eating, but the gloves & this idea are worth a try. Or have someone else feed them when you're not near the tank.

Hi. That's a bummer on the possible allergy. Have you ever had any allergy tests done? I did a Google search & found a lot of hits. 2 mentioned allergies to the fish food itself (hope these links work): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...p;dopt=Abstract...

Throwin away my toothbrush & getting a cleaner shrimp instead!

WELCOME!

I agree on the salt, but didn't mention it because it just starts the neverending "salt debate" every time I do (even though I successfully use it in all my tanks, and with several non-molly species as well, including cories). But, I never said that! :no:

I'd get the biggest air pump you can afford (without really going overboard). You can always cut the air supply back with a valve if it's too much. And the bubble wands often get an algae growth on them that slows down the amount of bubbles. In that case you could just open up the valve to...