Show Us Your Aquarium Fish....Past & Present

[PinHead]

the only pic I can find is from 2005..a bit of algae on the glass

[Paradoxx]

Hows this?
i think its a boy, Its the first time i have taken photos of it, Seem'd too get real cranky at the flash an puff up his gills an chase me around the tank! hehe,

Is there anyway too give him a demonic nugget head that is so big it gives him wrinkles? Some look real ugly an cool. others hardly get a bump at all,

[kingtin]

Is there anyway too give him a demonic nugget head that is so big it gives him wrinkles? Some look real ugly an cool. others hardly get a bump at all,

Introduce another, particularly a female, and his hump will grow faster.

kev

[Paradoxx]

Looks like a boy tho??

"its" name is tomato head, I'm pritty much banking on his lump will grow, I'll try and find another devil at a petshop the same size,

Totally different body shape to your old fish pinhead! How big was he???

[Cammy]

I got an Oxyleotris Gyronoides 2 days ago, if anyone knows their natives you'l know why i posted i got one.

Cam

[kingtin]

Well What a wonderful bloody day I've had.

Started to fill up the new 6 footer and left the wife in charge whilst I went to the landscaper to order some gravel for the yard. Got back just in time to see the wife turning the tap off and telling me how good it looked full up. I noticed the leak straight away...............luckily. The boss was sat on the sopha watching it fill and hadn't noticed the pool of water at her feet! Of course, the leak couldn't be near the top, it had to be a quarter of the way up Had to siphon off all the water and rang the supplier. He was here within half an hour and had it sealed with quick curer and he apologised profusely offering me some neutraliser, ager and test kit for free. I felt sorry for the poor bloke...............these things happen I suppose.

Back to square one tomorrow.

kev

[Cammy]

Geez Kev, all that happened because the tank was filled up to high, too much pressure i suppose.

Cam

[kingtin]

Just a quick hand held snap now the 6 footer is up and running.

I'm not one for using "dispensable" fish or other concoctions to mature the tank so for those who may be interested, here's how I get my tanks to "full maturity" within 2 weeks:

I Filled with half rain water and half tapwater (dechlorinated) to arrive at an acid reading of 6.7 and slightly soft. I seeded the tank gravel with one cup of gravel from an established tank and the filter with a small piece of filter foam from an established tank filter.

I put one whole banana prawn (minus head) into tank.......do not remove even though it may look gross by day two

My results: Day 4 ammonia peaked. Day 5 Nitrite shows, peaking at day 8 and gone entirely by day 13.............no nitrates.

Day 14 introduced: 1 red Snook, 1 geophagus surinamensis, 1 geophagus araguaia, 1 paratilapia polleni, 1 oscar, 2 filamentous barbs, 3 silver dollars, 1 green severum. I wanted these fish particularly as they withstand higher summer temps, and there is just enough room for growth to maturity so will not add any more

All fish introduced on same day to avoid territorial scrapping (initially). 2 weeks later, all are doing well, have grown considerably, and to date, no fighting............that'll come later. Yes, I know................the live plants will suffer later too The plastic ones are siliconed to large river gravel buried under the tank gravel. They can be easily removed for cleaning but will be bloody hard for the cichlids to shift when they get big enough. No nitrates to date.

[bdowdy]

just got myself a few sooty grunters, post some piccys later..brett

[Cammy]

Nice going Kingtin, we use that way to do some tanks at work, along witha bit of cycle .

Oh and Bdowdy, your gonna have 1 sooty soon, they are mean little sh!ts.

Cam

[wokii1]

Well, went to the shed to feed my Jack on the weekend, after going away for a extra long weekend. Only to find he had passed on I still can't figure out what happend other than before I left I feed him some pellets that I feed him when I can't be bothered catchin the feeder fish out of the bottom tank. The pellets smelt wrong. But I feed him anyway. Seems to be a costly mistake! Still It's alittle odd?? So now I've got 2, 5 foot tanks that I'm thinking of getting rid of. I'm In bris and if interested pm me.

[kingtin]

4 months down the line and everythings fine in the 6 footer............all fish are now over 15cms, colouring up and getting on ok apart for the oscar and paratilapia who stand face up to each other with their jaws open...........they both back off at the same time but I reckon oscar would take a beating if he turned and ran.

Over the moon with the Fluval FX5............well worth the money and only been cleaned once in 4 months.

In all my years doing photography, I've never mastered taking pics of fish till now. The eye sights going and I took 'em on manual focus so they aren't as crisp as they should be, but at least I've mastered the flare you get from using flash.

kev


George Geophagus Surinamensis...........doesn't do him justice.........the best looker in the tank




Oscar the oscar




Percy the Parrot cichlid (Hoplarchus Psittacus)




Terrence the Green Terror (Aequidens Rivulatus)




Sammy the severum




Sidney the Snook (Petenia Splendida) had to licence him as he's now a noxious species.........grows to 50cms!




Micky the marekeli cichlid (Paratilapia Polleni)

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi Kingtin

Just love micky and terence. Bought a pair of green terrors years ago and they were my favorites. Hatched out plenty of young.

Where would I get a micky from and how much. How agressive are they.
At present i only have a few cichlids in two smaller tanks and the large tank is full of loaches, guppies and a couple of prolific breeding Bristlenoses.

Ronnie

[kingtin]

Hi Kingtin

Just love micky and terence. Bought a pair of green terrors years ago and they were my favorites. Hatched out plenty of young.

Where would I get a micky from and how much. How agressive are they.
At present i only have a few cichlids in two smaller tanks and the large tank is full of loaches, guppies and a couple of prolific breeding Bristlenoses.

Ronnie

Got Micky from Smith's on Sandgate Rd for about 20 bucks. They're pure black in the shop (when they're small) but the colours come out when they're comfortable with their surrouindings. They're classed as one of the more peaceful cichlids but Mickey is really trying to dominate the other cichlids atm.......... no attacks, just nose to nose (particularly with oscar) with mouths wide open...........good to watch and really brings out the colours. There's been no digging yet, so I'm guessing that none of them are really trying to claim territory. He'll grow to 28cm.

kev

[samsnap]

Hi - have been watching this thread for ages! Time to post but I have no photos as yet as they just turn out wrong every time! - will keep trying & post later. I have kept fish for about 17yrs - started off with a display tank of African Cichlids. Had Oscars (he died & my daughter still cries - he got hole in the head- a little person was over feeding him!) We now have 2 large tanks - One has "FLASH" a very grumpy Pink Fenestratus - he is about 25cm long. Because I have no photo to go with this I will explain him as there aren't a lot about that I have seen - He has a blood red head & orange coloration on the top of the body & almost white on the bottom - when the light hits the bottom section of him it has a blue sheen to it. He is very nice looking fish but has Attitude! His tank mate is a lone crayfish that survived after we feed him some feeder crays- that managed to get itself into the lava rock in the tank & hide for the last year! He digs up all the gravel & tries his hardest to get to the cray - Its quite funny really! Cranky B@st@r@.
The other tank has "DIABLO" the Red Devil & His Wife "ROSIE". They are my favs! Diablo comes up to the top of the tank & turns on his side for a scratch & he chases his ping pong ball around the tank when he is bored - he is a bit spoilt as I could play with him all day if I had the chance He is not cranky like other Devils you see. Because their tank is in the rumpus room if you are watching TV or looking at "Flash" (whose tank is across the room) he gets cranky and hits the lids & splashes water out of the tank if its "not about him". He shares the tank with a heap of catfish that hide in the huge cave system left over from the African Cichlid days - They are "ELMO" the Cuckoo cat, B1 & B2 the Bumble Bee cats, "SKIPPER", GILLIGAN", " PROFESSOR" & "MR H"the Clown Loaches (the rest of the gang got lost along the way - took one of those 3hr tours through the rock caves ), and finally "BERT" the Eruptus cat. They have all lived together for about 6yrs now and are all quite large.
Anyway have blurbed on too much - thanks Sammy xx (any hints on how to get photos like Kingtin's would be appreciated (I have a Panasonic Lumix Digital camera)