Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
PH in a cichlid tank
I did have a large piece of bog wood, some ornaments and some plants. I went up that evening after getting you mail and bought 8 kilos of the white tuffa rock for the tank!
I took out the bog wood and ornaments and put them in another tank.
The rocks look deadly and the PH has risen, yesterday it was up to 7 so il test it tonight and see how it is.
I noticed the fish are breathing quite fast? there not at the top of the tank there swimming fine and i havent had any deaths in months, what could the prob be? My water tests came inyesterday as:
PH 7
Ammonia: .5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 (i think!! its the next colour after zero)
What do ya reckon?
Emma
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First of all, You really need to find the common and scientific names for your fish, It makes life alot easier. there are thousands of 'Blue fish' in lake malawi, be more specific and when you buy fish, get the name.
Jack Dempsey's are large, aggressive cichlids from Central America, they enjoy neutral pH with some hardness. They do not belong in a lake malawi setup(which is what I presume you are going for), get them out. As with the 'silvery fish'(please find the names) and the sucking loaches. When you eventually rise the pH, these fish will not do well. I would always advise a purist set up, IE not adding fish from a different Biotope to another one. The same with the tetras, get them out, they will suffer from the cichlids as they grow and from the High pH.
I see you did not mention your Yellow tail elongatus and the otopharynx?
Qui Vivra Verra.
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Ok, im really freaked out now... Are you the guy who served me in the shop last night?
Thats so funny!! Small world eh? !!!
Do you know if I brought some fish back would they let me swap them? I need to get a home for the 2 venustrus anyway, theyre not getting on well. If not dont worry, i can bring them to newlands.
I dont know about getting rid of Jack Dempsey - id be heart broken, im getting attached to him, Jack is quiet enough he never fights with the small fish, I wouldnt want him to suffer though...
Is it possible to get cichlid flakes? I feed them the pellets and brake them in half but I still sometimes think they might choke smaller fish
Are ya sure my new fish is gonna go yellow and blue stripey? I was lookin at them on the net and i think its just the Pseudotropheus flavus that does that ? is that what i got?
I dont mind either way he looks really cute! he has a yellow face!
Thats crazy that ya knew who i was! I got a shock when i saw this this morning!!!!
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It depends on the size and the condition of the Venustus. You can bring them back but I am unsure as to what you might get.
Ideally, the jack dempsey shouldnt be in there, as time goes on when he's not a baby he will attack other fish and wont appreciate the hard water. Maybe it would be best to moniter his progress but I can only see one real solution. The tetras definitly should be taken out.
Yellow tail Elongatus is not its scientific name naturally enough. Recently this particular fish was assigned to its own Speices call 'flavus', so it is probably correct to call them that. Read the following informative links:
www.bigskycichlids.com/Pflavus_article.htm
www3.sympatico.ca/ps.mcfarlane/flavus.htm
This is what it should eventually look like, Also, i would add a few more of them to make him feel secure.
It is a bad idea to feed Malawi or any african cichlid to much dry foods, which is what I think you are doing. Feed flake by all means but supplement the diet with Krill, cichlid mix(available at aquatic village) and Cucumber. Feeding to much dry foods can cause malawi bloat which kills. Also avoid bloodworm as it is too rich in protein for the mbuna.
HTH
Qui Vivra Verra.
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Hi Dav.
I noticed the fish are breathing quite fast? there not at the top of the tank there swimming fine and i havent had any deaths in months, what could the prob be? My water tests came inyesterday as:
PH 7
Ammonia: .5/
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 (i think!! its the next colour after zero)
What do ya reckon?
Emma
Apart from you having Ammona in your tank you just raised you ph too much too quick. You fish are in ph shock. You tank water has just become 100 times more Alkaline overnight.Even African cichlids can not tolerate such a hike in Alkalinity. Never raise or drop your ph by more than .2 a week.
Do a water change and add some filther bacteria until you get the Ammonia down. Safe water is the best.Add a capful every night, do not use cycle.
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