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Cupids are eartheaters, so they should be chill together. I would often see them grazing in mixed packs with my Geophagus.

When I feel the need to protect fry, I get two wide pored sponges. Always two. I cut holes in the top of them, so that the intake pipe can fit without being jammed. Usually, that puts the hole off centre. I use large sponges - that's important. Aquaclear replacement sponges are ideal. The holes...

I'm sure that has a lot to do with what goes wrong in us, but things were going wrong and killing us on a regular basis before processed foods and chemical soups. I come from a long line of men who died young from factory related diseases, and of women whose exposure to manufacturing was much...

They aren't that different from us, in many many ways. How many things can cause us to list to one side, act vague, talk garbage, etc? The list is long. It is with fish too. We just simplify it because we don't have any way of really investigating what's up. I don't know of anything...

I don't really worry about it. A healthy fish is very unlikely to get caught. A sick, or long finned 'fancy' fish might be in danger, if it already has problems swimming. A filter can also catch fry. Generally, a fish that can get caught on the intake is one that should be in an isolation tank...

I don't keep pearls anymore, as I decided that centrepiece idea was for displays, and not for vibrant tanks. I lost interest in using fish as aquascaping. If I were to get pearls, they'd be in their own tank now, so I could see their behaviour more closely. I'm not discounting the idea of the...

There is another possibility, said a guy who kept pearl gouramis for many years. They are lovely fish, but they have one special bad habit that may be your problem. They murder each other. It's quiet, discrete and fast. A sharp hit to the gill area along the keel of the fish will produce...

In small tanks, it's Betta only. Hobby Bettas are deformed. Their needs don't relate to the wild fish they were bred out of. I've kept wild caught Betta splendens, and they were so different from the multicoloured, large, over-finned things sold in stores that I don't think the lessons of...

I got contacted today by one of the people I gave fish to before I moved. He has the 2 species he got in good numbers, and offered me my pick when I visit my old haunts this Fall. I like it when things like that happen.

I figured the feeding was good, but the fish looks starved. That says serious health issue. But it is still a nasty fish in an aquarium, if it survives.

I got many years of reliable use out of maxi-jets - they were my go to for many years. They've been around for a long time, and have a good rep for what they do. Most of the ones I bought ran 15 or so years before they wore out.

The first Bolivians I had were a fantastic blue, green and yellow pearl-sheened fish. Most of the ones we see now are different - a browner fish with a beautiful neon red dorsal line, but not a lot else. I've seen the blue one in stores a couple of times since then (around 1995...) but the brown...

The relative size of the eyes doesn't say good news. That's a fish, that for whatever reason, looks starved. It's probably a runt because of a digestive problem. My limited experience keeping Tilapia/Sarathrodon is that they are who they are, at any size. They are apt to be be very aggressive...

I'm inclined to say 'she', but I agree the fish is very young and I suspect the jury may still be out. The spots look to be on the fin rays, and those are often cysts from minor injuries, rather than from parasites. All you can do is watch them. I've never liked the idea of calling them rams...

I could never get mine to breed, and so I never saw that behaviour. They reached full size and lived for several years, but reminded me of juvenile Cichlids. They tended to hang in a small group, travelling around peacefully but usually with a lead fish and a 'tail gunner" at the rear. Mine also...

Once the fish are in, I never top off. I do a water change since I'll have stuff out anyway. Evaporation takes the liquid, but leaves the minerals behind, so your water hardness gradually climbs with top offs. But during a cycle? I'll leave that to others.

It's not a fish I'd buy two of, but if that's what you have, hope for at least one male. I found them very social, a bit like angels for the group dynamics, without as much of a mean edge as angel society tends to have.

Is it spitting as chewing? They often pull foods across the rows of teeth on the roofs of their mouths, as they can't chew via jaws as we do. I bred 3 species of Amatitlania/Cryptoheros and had no problem whatsover feeding them. They ate everything, though I usually make freshly hatched brine...

You do know the legend of the phoenix....

I thought you said "Cubids", the illustrious giant cubist rat eating Cichlid. Yeah, it's those. They get to 23.76 inches long and eat rats, driftwood and aquarium glass.

It's a Bororas species. You have to look at googled images to see which one as several are popular in the hobby. They are nice, tiny shoaling fish from Asia.

My solution, alas, was to recognize that I don't have the space for the tanks I'd need to properly keep non dwarf Cichlids, and to adjust accordingly. I just put a pair of Chromidotilapia nana into one of my 75s, while the 75 beside it has a group of these smaller Gabonese Cichlids. Two 8cm...

I couldn't agree more. I don't especially like Discus, though I have kept them. But this applies to the fish I do like. I don't want to have a fish for a year. If I like a species, I want it around for a long time - at least as long as it can live and not just for as long as it can persist in...

That is a cupido. Where are you going to put them with all the Cichlids in that tank????

Wait til they start capturing and importing moderately bumpy ground creek loaches.

I can't say there's one aquascape that's gotten me - as aquascapes are like glimpses of the sea. Seconds later, they've changed (not literally, but close). I spoke with a guy who worked with Amano set ups, and he said most were taken down soon after the photos. Living things can be arranged, but...

Before suggesting starting salt, I'd want to know about any other fish in the tank, to be sure they wouldn't be harmed by it. Also, it may give a clue as to cause, if that caudal fin has been nipped. I'd also ask how often you have been doing partial water changes. I would increase the amount...

The thing with fish breeding is that yes, it can take some prep. It isn't automatic, and very few hobbyists breed tetras. But if you can pull it off, you have bragging rights, and great fish. We often can't afford big shoals of beauties like rathbuni. But with a bit of work, we can make them...

You could do it with the group Colin mentions - hardwater Lake Tanganyikans. I also suspect Apistogramma borellii might work. They are small Apistos, and their behaviour is a bit off beat for the group. It's a question where labels like Apistogramma become a negative, as it would be species by...

They are neat, but at that price, remember you need a group. You could get just a few and breed them. I doubt it would be hard. But 3 or 4 and they'll be unhappy fish.

I also prefer 3/4. It costs a bit more, but it's considerably more solid than 1/2. Be certain with the metal framed rack that it doesn't wobble in any direction. Not all of them are well made, and I don't know that brand.

The fin development on that angel is not what it should be. A lot of the fish sold with weird colour mutations have poor fin development. But at least it's trying.

That's minor. You should see them when they really go west! You can bring that tank around quickly.

My best java moss growth is when it's being hit directly by a filter outflow. Since I use a lot of live food, I don't get as much debris in it, but I do get algae ruining it most of the time, if it's in slow moving water.

My "recipe" for eartheaters was 20 gallons per fish, with no companions. It could go to 15. A 5 will cause the death of the fish. Putting it in a small tank is a slow way of hitting it with a hammer. That seller really put you in a bad situation, with no regard for the fate of the fish when he...

I'm glad to be wrong there. I dislike nerite eggs!

They look like nerite snail eggs.

Mbuna don't set out to eat each other, as largely herbivorous fish. But they do like murder, and once you've killed a tankmate, I mean, why not eat it?

Oh what I'm missing, said the Roman maiden who fell in love with a gladiator only to see him disembowelled at the Saturday Matinee show. They have a way of murdering each other, and the one killed is always your favourite one.

I always thought that if you bought manzanita wood, it was because it would release tannins for close to forever. I thought that was the goal. Being cheap, I've never bought aquarium decorative wood, but have used a lot of native hardwood and tree roots in my tanks. They don't give me enough...