7 Foot, 1074 Litres, 284 Gallons.

[always4lora]

thats the guy me and T1 got our marbled motoros from in blackpool. Spoon head meens nothing, well looks to be a deformity more than anything. I had a look at it when i was there, its in a tank with a pair of marbled motoros and it kept going for them, quite bad really. It had gill curl, not too bad but it had it. And also had a deformed anal fin. Its not the best example and i wouldnt trust it in my tank! And i wouldnt want to give £300 for it. Maybe £200, or less as it is deformed. You can get good rtg's for that price so id just wait.
Not got any more pictures yet, been taking the sand out today as my water was going cloudy, its just bare for now but might find some nice fine gravel to put in it. Picking up 4 6 inch geophagus surinamensis on friday so will add a bit of colour!

Sweet , the guy's advertising it as no gill curl so screw that, i think the spoonheads just the not a straight line from the main body to the head, i don't mind them.
I had some of the geo's you're getting , theyre really smart fish, my male grew really fast and the female got left behind so quite often they had a divider between them! lovely fish and fun to watch! There's a fully grown one at north lakes and it looks really nice. Is gravel not more likely to damage the rays when they bury themselves? i prefer sand as it's easier to clean , atm i'm doing about 15% water change daily on my tank to keep up with the poop the rays and plec give off. my water stats are spot on just not nice to have dirt at the bottom lol.

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah they are nice, should look good!
The sand keeps getting sucked up into the filters when the rays move about, took about a litre of sand out of one of the eheims last week! No fine smooth gravel wont harm them, they wont be able to bury in it as well but i need to comprimise somewhere. I prefer sand but never mind, so if anyone wants about 40+kg of sand let me know! Haha

 

[bae1994]

huh wierd you say that lol

ive been thinking before restocking my tank about swithing to gravel but also cant think of any ware to off load 125kg of sand lol although im sure the cats would love a sand box

 

[T1KARMANN]

the thing is will ALL Asian aros and any aro for that matter they need to be kept with other small fish from small or they will attack anything that moves to fast

spoon head is a trait that some have but its mainly reds that have it

i would start with something small like 6-7inch then add other fish asap i have never had a aro attack a ray but every aro i have had had been kept with rays from 7inch

 

[dave_oddballs]

i was watching it, and when the rays went up the side of the tank, like they do, the aro was just charging at them with its mouth open! wouldn't like to put it with my fish! and it definitely had gill curl, not maybe, but definitely, as he was on about slitting it or something to make it go! and its first fin ray in the anal fin was all twisted and snapped, probably the reason that he bought it about half the price he is selling it for!
if or when i do get an asian i'd do what T1 said and get a small 6-7" fish, then at least you give the fish the best chance to get along, grow up together kind of thing.
Bae; my sand was about 2" thick at least all the way through and i just siphoned it out with 1" pond hose, came out quite easy, there is still a bit in but that would have been what was on the rays and in the plants etc, so i think i will be taking bits of sand out daily for the next week! ha
the water is still cloudy though, and i changed 75% of the water yesterday. i cleaned one of the eheims out last week and took loads of sand out of it, i can't clean another out yet, will wait another week or so but i think the sand slows them down, i took about a litre of sand out of the eheim last week! going to order some more eheim polishing pads off ebay today i think, then now the sand has gone there should be nothing to block them up!
also when i go and pick some fish up this weekend off indigoj on here i might buy her fx5 filter, so i'd have 2 eheim 2080's and 2 fx5's, then thats as many as i can fit in, and if its still cloudy after that i'll call it a day, haha
the big plant on the rock is going tomorrow and the java fern later in the week so the tiger fish will be peed off as they spend their days in there, but im hoping once they have nowhere to hide they will become less shy and be out more, the tank looks empty when they hide!

 

[bae1994]

yeah thanks its just were to put it afterwards all i can think of is a huge sand pile on the garden lol

 

[T1KARMANN]

i have had the sand for about 1 month now and i have nearly had enough of it i hate the way it sticks to the rays i may remove it in the summer and look for a heaver weight sand

 

[dave_oddballs]

tell me about it! i know for a fact the rays like the sand as when it was in there they was always under it with just their eyes and spine poking out, but like you said its always stuck to the rays, they are constantly swimming about at the moment, still a bit peed off i think. i will try and find something along the lines of a heavier weight sand, or fine gravel, but i still want them to be able to bury them selves to a certain extent, i think they feel more comfortable.
the bigger problem for me was the sand in the filters, i think it would only be so long before the filters got knackered, i was underestimating rather than over exaggerating when i said i took about a litre of sand out of the eheim!
i just ordered a pack of 3 eheim 2080 polishing pads off ebay as the ones that were in were knackered and weighed a ton with the sand in them!
the water is still a bit cloudy, maybe i cleaned the eheim too well! and i took out the polishing pad which probably held quite a lot of bacteria, when i replace the pads it should clear up, plus with the other eheim and the fx5 there should still be plenty enough bacteria to keep this tank good. 1 problem after another! ha

 

[always4lora]

Are you still getting another eheim 2080 of t1karmann? going to have hardly any room in your cupboards! i find my fx5 kicks #16##### over the eheim 2078e but the eheim's are a little more cheaper to run

 

[dave_oddballs]

i think T1 did a deal with his eheim 2080 for the d.campbelli off madman-james,so might just get the fx5, might not yet, just got some polishing pads for the eheim 2080's so will if this clears up the tank before i decide, if i get another filter it will be my last cupboard used up. i don't need anything in the cupboards anyway apart from maybe the test kits etc and they fit in the cupboards with the filters.

 

[T1KARMANN]

both 2080s sold just 2 x 2078s left and the 2 x internal 2252s

one of the 2078s is meant to be sold on the 10th

 

[dave_oddballs]

well i took a couple of pictures this morning whilst the lights are out and the rays are active, im thinking the female is catching up in size with the male? what do you think?

will be sad to see this female go but putting a deposit on a very nice light based marble female today, then there will be no swapping or changing going on! i will be happy then!

Dave

 

[always4lora]

well i took a couple of pictures this morning whilst the lights are out and the rays are active, im thinking the female is catching up in size with the male? what do you think?

will be sad to see this female go but putting a deposit on a very nice light based marble female today, then there will be no swapping or changing going on! i will be happy then!

Dave

Until the scobina come along

 

[dave_oddballs]

well yeah, but they will be more of an addition than a swop haha

 

[T1KARMANN]

you may as well keep the female 2 females are better than 1 as it spreads aggression from the male when hes ready to breed