Search results

I've always ordered my plants online, I use tropica to research for growing advice then I order the plants from aquaessentials. Always on time, always well packaged and healthy. Even with covid lockdown in place!

What is the water purifier you mention in the filter media? Is that something you've added?

a tank that isn't balanced causes algae growth this is the rule to remember. Also I don't recommend keeping things like nitrate removers or phosphate removers in long term, also get rid of the activated carbon. You should only have that in after medicating or maybe refresh once a month and keep...

Thanks guys, that is as I thought but it’s hard to tell with Young rainbows. The fish isn’t displaying to the other males either so I’m pretty sure it is a female. I’ll keep a look for the blaze though.

Hi guys, just wanted a second view on whether this rainbow is a female. I'm pretty sure it is but the dark head keeps throwing me. It's a bosemani about 6 months old.

There's always a few that do ok. I would have like 60 plus eggs and maybe 10 from a hatch after the other fish have nibbled a few. When they used to get to 1cm long and had colour mine just went back into the community tank. Be sure to take out any runts as well.

Ah btw if you have a cannister filter you may find a few in there so check it on this week's water clean. I always used to find 5+ in there after I took out the bulk of eggs I could find

Dont forget to take out any eggs with visible fungus or that look white.

I always used a little air stone and did daily water changes, be careful not to suck up fry, I used airline for my water changes. I would get a banana worms culture untill you can get them onto baby brine shrimp.

Can you post your tap water tests as well

I have spent alot of time battling algae of different sorts. Looks to me like a severe green algae issue in the first posts likely due to a combination of organics build up and excess light. We've mentioned spectrum and duration but not intensity nor the type of plants you're growing...

Hahaha... in for a penny in for a pound goes the saying...she has been warned, when I retire the fish room project is starting! I like the hidden culture that may work as it’s me who does the gardening! It could be a wild aquatic pot...is there any risk of getting rogue organisms in a culture...

Thanks Colin, sadly my other half isn’t a big fan of me keeping live foods out of the packet and if I have another tank I’ll likely end up divorced or at least sleeping in the garage with them. I won’t buy anything that isn’t moving or has dirty water but what I was wondering is can I improve...

Hi all, so my fish get live feed every other day be that black worms, bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp etc. When I buy some of these packs from my local store the food occasionally looks questionable. Is there anything I can do to improve the quality of the food before I feed my fish?

I think your initial post may be slightly taken out of context Bonning and I think your latter reply above helps clarify matters. Might be worth just amending the original post to state that first. I think your point I quoted above is the crux of the discussion. It’s whether mass producing of...

Btw you would think that LFS would do more to heighten interest in the hobby as it’s their business which is effected. If goldfish didn’t die in two weeks when people had then maybe more people would keep fish?

A thought provoking post and kudos to you for sharing your opinion. That is what forums are about. Forums will do different things for different people, there are also varying degrees of advice and views on forums which are created by the keenest posters. I have noticed here, the advice is very...

Also the breeding tank is now ready to catch the next batch!

Yeah it’s my first time keeping guppies and it was more the misses who wanted them but I’ve gotten quite attached to their individuality. Each of my guppies is unique and that’s really grown on me. I just haven’t had sight of her at all today which is very unlike her, she’s normally the...

So I had only seen one fry, presuming the rest got eaten by the rainbows and swordtails. However the plot thickens, I did my usual 50% wc this morning and now she’s vanished...literally cannot see her anywhere. Yesterday she did still look a bit big but was feeding with the others. So I...

Hey All, So my female guppy guppy gave birth this morning. I wasn’t prepared at all. I did see one new fry that was swimming close to the surface and doing fine. I went to work and had another look for the little guy when I got home, and he was no where to be seen. I have a 350l planted tank...

Agreed I always have issues getting the food down to my swordtails!

If your committed to RO it’s the best way to do it. Saves time and money long term. My unit was like £80 and I can make 25l in about 15 mins as my water pressure is really high.

Your pearl gourami will struggle as well with the hard water. They like dead still water with a load of branches and reeds to swim through. If it was me I’d soften it up with RO and go for some corydoras. Get a black background and some tannins in the water and the colours really ping then.

I’ve kept Agassizii and boreli in the past. Giving my RO unit a rest now and trying my hand at Rainbows.

It’s all about lines of sight, put the cave entrances facing away at either end and you want to scape a W shape. In essence the caves are at either end with a refuge for the male in the centre and two plants or logs or both to stop line of sight. My females were always fine with the male size it...

It’s as if the iron inhibits the nutrient uptake, with the extra iron, more chlorophyll, more photosynthesis, more nutrients used up, more growth, less excess nutrients, less algae. Win win. Shame it took me so long to find!

You won’t be disappointed but get the tannins in there and they want the water really soft.

They are very territorial as well so you can’t keep loads 50litres per breeding pair. When you get fry they will chase off everything

I spent a long time breeding Apistogramma Agassizii. Brilliant fish really interesting great maternal instinct and I had fry coming out of my ears. Get the tannins going and get the GH down to 2dh and they spawn like crazy.

Btw I tried the extra iron dosing, I’ve only raised it by 0.1ppm but already plants look greener and growth has improved and algae resistance. My slight diatom issue has been eradicated!

Time to start breeding Stan...your next project maybe?

Yeah I’ve been waiting on some guppy and rainbow fish specials for weeks... still not heard anything further.

It sounds like ferts were your issue but, don’t forget without a strong turn over of water your plants will not get the ferts delivered to them! In your tank picks your taller plants are doing ok...anything at the bottom is looking very sick. You need to get all those plants moving with a...

Good to hear the rest are looking good Alice. Keep water changing regularly and see how it goes. If another gets bloated again and gets the white poo then we can treat for parasites.

right Alice number 1 lesson forget PH. Ph is a by product of the minerals in the aquarium. The general hardness (GH) is the total dissolved minerals in the water. Some fish need harder water to get the minerals they need others need soft. The process is osmoregulation so in essence the passage...