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Wow, it's beautiful. I love the colors. What kind is it? What's his temperament and personality like? is he in a tank by himself?

lol yea, they look pretty close to me also. I see what you mean. It's been probably 15-20 years since I've used a test kit so I can't be of any help there for you. The one on the right looks more green from here but I don't know what it means.

Ah ok. I thought you meant you had a hard time understanding what they meant, not reading them. My bad. I remember when I used to use test kits and those little buggers can be a pain to read so i know what you mean. Doing smaller more often wc's are better than once a week with a large scale...

Are you just starting to cycle your tank? Your ammonia levels are very high. I'm not trying to be mean but I'm surprised your fish are living at .25 ppm ammonia. If your tank is cycling I would do daily 10% wc's to keep those fish alive. yes, you can vac your gravel and I would suggest it as...

It depends, really. When very small, generally, the Serrasalmus species have a hard time being converted from live fish. I've just had my S. rhombeus converted after about a month of trying. The last rhom I had it took many months and even a spell 5 weeks without food before I gave in and got...

Yes, good point, goldfish are very much like piranhas in the way they are abused. I didn't even think about that. I've only had 7 of the 60 or so species of piranhas so that's all the ones I really know about. The above is also just a very quick generalization of what I have now. Even with...

I don't blame you at all. It's better to know ahead of time and be prepared. :) Wherever you are to buy a fish, ask them ahead of time. I don't know anything about Aquabid and for the first time went to their site. I looked for a guarantee hoping to give definitive answer but found some that...

Yes, some are very shy. :) Redbelley's are probably the most shy of all. I have some now that are about average in shynes. I can walk by the tank and they'll watch me, if 3 or 4 people walk by they swim behind the plants and huddle up as close to each other as they can. You can see the fear in...

The only press piranhas get is when it's bad. Kind of like pitbulls. Unfortunately, the keepers I previously described do more damge than they know when they do things like that and post it for everyone else to see and you are exactly right, they only have one for the thrill of the kill...

take a picture of it right away. Put it in a freezer bag and freeze it, they may want you to send it back as further proof. Ask them what all it entails just to be sure.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. You're a great poster, help many people and have a huge heart, I've seen your posts. I shouldn't have quoted you at all and regret it. I'm sorry. I am against all forms of censorship on the internt tho because where would we stop? If it's legal it should be...

I understand why you want that and I'm sorry you're the one who posted it and I replied to as it was meant more for the last thread that was talking about piranhas that it was mainly meant for. If it were up to me, people like that wouldn't be allowed to have piranhas. That would be better...

lol here we go again with everyone wanting censorship of the internet. I don't agree with it and couldn't do it myself but to each their own I guess. Edit from here and below---- Good post. :good: PS. Not being sarcastic. What I typed up top wasn't for your post. It automatically...

I believe you 100% that people say their Texas cichlids are very aggressive. I'm not saying any different. I don't believe they are aggresive when compared to the cichlid standard and the most aggresive cichlids, is all. I also believe that the Texas cichlid is more aggressive than your Oscar...

Congrats Garbage! :good:

maybe the amount of food may be causing the high ammonia levels. I'm not saying you in particular but from my experience helping new people starting out in the hobby, I tell them to feed twice a day but sparingly. Almost to a "T", they feed about 4 times too much each time. What I did was...

Thank you, I'll definitely keep that in mind. That sounds like a great deal. :good:

Are you using a UGF by chance?

Native fish are nutso! Bluegills and the green sunfish (L. cyanellus) are 2 of the baddest fish I've ever had. I've seen smallmouth bass rule tanks and keep every other fish in the corners including largemouth bass twice his size. I've never had a smallmouth but if I ever get rich and can...

They are more community fish than aggressive fish. They might be aggressive in comparison to what you've had and that's fine, they are beautiful fish but I didn't want people to think they were aggressive in comparison to cichlid standards and be afraid to get them. They're kind of like Oscars...

Cichlids couldn't live much further north since it's too cold. I certainly wouldn't say that the Texas cichlid is all that aggressive tho. That sounds like a weird list. :blink:

I don't know about all cichlids but the aggressive ones aren't native to the USA. Although, Oscars and red devils etc are now living in Florida waters. Bass aren't cichlids and belong to the Genus Micropterus in the sunfish family Centrarchidae (sp?)

Warmer water makes cichlids more aggressive because it raises their metabolism. I guess it can be partly attributed to them wanting to breed but they'll want to breed more often when you do a water change and bring the water temp down.

I've had some pairs that would do it every 3 weeks or so. They would probably lay more often if I took the fry out sooner. I'm sure others have different experiences and some may even be more often than that I would suspect. Tell your daughter hi from all of us and for her to keep asking...

Most piranhas will be able to live at 70 but I've heard of some dieing at 68-70 degrees. I keep mine at a minimum of 80 and up to 84 at times. I'm glad you joined this forum also and I hope you post back how it goes for you. :)

No, don't listen to your LFS. 30 minutes maximum. If the rbp's don't go after the food within a few seconds, it most likely will be left alone. 75 degrees is your answer, I believe. Way too cold for piranhas to live comfortably. I would slowly up it to 82 over the next day and you should...

Has anyone ever had Exo's that got to 7"? I see that a lot oin their profiles but I've never had any of mine get bigger than 4"-5" or so and those were only the dominant ones the others were about 3"-4". Definitely not even close to 7". I've heard many others say the same thing about theirs...

What's the temp of your tank? RBP's are usually very easy to switch to different foods. Firstly, I would check your water params. Leaving food in there for 2-3 days will make the water bad and thus, your RBP's will be stressed with high ammonia/nitrite levels and won't eat. I wouldn't leave...

That's why I said above that I'd give his tetra maybe 20 seconds to live. ;) They look so cute there! Innocent lil buggers aren't they? :lol:

I'm not sure about reptiles. I've never had them. PraziPro will kill worms and I swear by it. I never hear anyone talk about it or suggest it on these forums tho so maybe it's just me but like I said, a LOT of feeders have worms and this will kill them. Most people won't even know their fish...

This is what I try for- Large cichlids- 78-80 Flowerhorn- 84 Exodons- 81 Piranhas- 82-83 (Unless fighting then I turn it down to 80 until it subsides) That's all I can really comment on as it's all I keep for the most part.

I did a search to see what I could find as far as videos go and here's one I found. Not the most aggressive display of how Exo's are from mine or others I've seen but an idea what it would be like for your tetra... http://media.putfile.com/Exodon-eating-Silverside

They will kill anything you put in there in all likelihood and definitely tetras. I'd give your tetras maybe 20 seconds to live, seriously. IMO, they are worse than piranhas in some cases, except if the piranhas are really hungry. I've had piranhas and Exodons living good together for quite a...

I want to mention that if you do feel the need to use feeder fish, make sure you quarantine them and use PraziPro. I've seen a lot of feeder fish have ringworms and tapeworms in them that are bigger than the fish. If your fish eats it, well he has it too now. PraziPro will kill them. I don't...

haha yea right. :P ;) My next mission is a tank full of Exodons. :drool:

Best money you can spend.

I've seen much stranger things happen successfuly, tho. You could try it some time when you have a lot of time to watch over them to see how it goes maybe? I might be misreading your post but it sounds like you tried it? If so, how did it go? I'd love to hear your experience if you gave it a...

I've never had Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids so my advice may be off base and it looks like others have you headed in the right direction better than I can. However, with aggressive fish that I have a problem with, I lower my temp a few degrees and it usually helps. I have mine at 82 on average...

Exactly. :good: I liked reading it over and am glad you posted it. I'm pretty old school when it comes to aquariums and I realize there's more I don't know than I do so it's always interesting and educational to read what others think and why. I'm not about to think that I know everything...

There are different beliefs in the aquarium world for most things. Personally, I believe fish can be stunted. If you put a young fish ie. dovii, in a tank that's barely big enough for him and he's supposed to grow to 2', I think it will be dead and stunted before it breaks the glass from being...