Ok, I feel a lot better now. I s'pose the plec's will be able to get a few now and then and what ever other fish I put in there too since they stick themselves up out of the gravel just waiting to be picked off.:) You're right, just another step towards a more "natural" environment, or at least as ...

So what yer sayin is that I bought tubifex, under an assumed name?!...Well THAT's annoying. I don't often feed live food because I think prepared stuff is safer, although perhaps not as nutritous. I haven't bought tubifex, by that name, in may years due to their bad rep.... So now it would seem I ...

Hmm, what are blackworms??.....I knew somebody would ask me that!!...They are tiny little worms, perhaps 2-4 cm long, very popular over here as a live food. I don't know their origin, but they aren't tubifex worms, which I wouldn't feed due to their bad reputation. Apparently they are aquatic and ...

Set up a new 58usg tank less than a month ago, for 3 L260's and 1 L114. Fish are doing well. I fed them black worms last week and I may have over done it. I see that the worms have set up house-keeping in one corner of the tank. I see bunches of them sticking out of the gravel swaying in the current ...

I'm using a Mag 7 for circ in another 75 and it's quiet also. I keep them in the tanks. It simplifies plumbing (for my aplication) and I use the heat from the pumps to help keep the tank temps up where I need them to be...no sense wasting "free" heat. Haven't dropped the 950 back in the tank yet. I ...

I use Danner Mag Drive water pumps in all of my tanks for circulation. I recently bought a 950gph to add to one of my tanks. It moves a huge amount of water, but it was noisy right from the beginning. I contacted their customer service folks, Christine Nestor, and she was very helpful. She helped me ...

Well, I am quite pleased with the results of the renovation, but I don't think the fish have accepted the new caves yet...maybe it's the scent of the silicone they don't like, which I s'pose will fade over time. They seem to gravitate back into the rocks, which are now on top of the slate caves. I ...

Yes, there are "quiet sections" where the current seems to be minimal, mostly on the discharge end, below the spraybars, in addition to the caves/rockwork. This level of flow is fairly common in Loach setups, 20x or more tank volume.....Initially, I had the 950gph spraybar aimed below horizontal ...

I have a 285L tank, 4 ' long, with 2 L75's, 1 L114, 2 Syno. Brichardi, 1 Syno. Angelicus, 5 Siamese Flying Foxes and 5 Torpdeo Barbs. I just upgraded my pumps to push over 1500GPH thru the tank, length-wise, in a river tank setup. This LOOKS like a heck of a lot of water movement. I have a Mag ...

Well, I did the tank re-scape this weekend. I did decide to leave the fish in the tank and carefully work around them, although I think they were pretty p*ssed at me. I removed all of the old rockwork and installed two new slate caves sites, then replaced about half the original rockwork on top of ...

That was my thought also, but I wanted advice from more experienced catfish folks.. Seems like it would be less stressful than chasing them around the tank with a net and dumping them in something strange for a few hours. I'm prebuilding the cavework (slate) outside the tank, so it won't take too ...

I'm going to be doing a major take-scape change in the next few days. My L's and syno's have outgrown my current rockwork configuration in their 75usg home and I'm pretty sure they aren't very happy. I have a plan to build new caves, re-layout the rockwork and move some plants around....big job ...

OK folks, the concensus is in:) Thanks for your inputs and I will follow your advice. I'll give them a couple of groups of townhouses instead of a few single family homes. It will save space and allow more and smaller caves sized to accomodate current and future needs. ...Never heard the 1+1/3 rule ...

OK folks, only started keeping any of the bigger L's a year or so ago..successfully anyway. Currently I have two L075 sabajii and one L114 pseudacanthicus . Later today I will be getting an L091 . All my fish are young right now, but they are growing and I know they will reach 20-30cm eventually ...

Siphon it out the nearest window, that's what I've always done. Much easier and faster than the painful bucket routine!! If you can't do that for some reason, use a longer hose and run it into your bath tub. That should be low enough for a good siphon too. You should be able to find an adaptor that ...

INCREDIBLE PIECE OF WOOD!! Now THAT's a root!! Sure would love to find something like that for my tanks. I mean find literally, since I'd imagine something like that would cost an arm and leg at the LFS. Beautiful find:)

Hello again folks. I'm building a canopy at the moment for a new tank. My previous experience with canopies was that they get wet inside from condensation. OK, that makes sense. What can I use to coat the wood inside that isn't likely to leach out and drip into the tank from said condensation??? No ...

Clever Jerry, very clever...you did make me laugh and I'm at work, so that's not a bad thing. Yes, I have read the Cat-e-log too:) I s'pose the cherries could be small enough for a meal if they'd sit still and be eaten. The bamboo's tend to be somewhat larger I guess. I dunno, just saw the shrimp ...

Hey folks, I think I'm getting the shrimp bug!! I'm thinking of adding some cherry shrimp and bamboo shrimp to a tank containing L260's and an L114. They look like they'd be a neat addition. Anybody keeping shrimp with L's?? Only down side I can see is that the L's might squash a shrimp now and then ...

Hello Jerry58. Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I agree that it's more likely rapid changes than gradual ones, in either direction that are likely to cause problems. In my experience fish can tolerate extremes well below their comfort zones. Probably not so well in the upper direction due to reduced ...

OK, never gave much thought to this before, but in 20 years of fish keeping I have always made it a habit to replace my tank water with WARMER water, 2-5 F. warmer. I use the python hose setup and preadjust the temperature at the faucet, prior to refilling the tanks. My take has always been that ...

Most of us use PVC of some sort, in various sizes and configurations in our tanks, and I think we'd all agree that the standard white variety, while rediculously cheap and functional, isn't esthetically pleasing. After some searching I found clear PVC available both online and from a local...for me ...

Hello Ivo and welcome!! Your catfish will generally appreciate a good amount of current. I use large capacity pumps in my tanks, from 2000lph to 4000lph, but I divide the returns through DIY spray bars. That way I can move a lot of water but the pressure at any one point is not too strong. It allows ...

Good Morning All. I just "discovered" the L134, Leopard Frog pleco...who makes up these names anyway??...Well, it looks like a fish I'd like to have, soooo, I'm asking for info from current keepers of these guys. To begin with, the cat-e-log says they get to about 4+ inches, 10-12cm's. Does that ...

Hello again Richard. Well, the angelicus is new also and young (small), so no problems from it so far with my L's. I have heard that they can be nasty fish though, as opposed to my 18 yr old S.eupterus who seems to get along with anybody he's ever been housed with in his long life, large or small ...

Good Morning Richard, or perhaps it's more like noon in the UK. Yes, I thought perhaps picking up a couple more of the brichardi might be a good idea. So far I haven't seen any problems with any of the other neighbors, but the tank is crowded, or I should say the tank isn't, but the rockwork is not ...

I just picked up two S. Brichardi, great looking fish. Anyone keeping these guys that could pass on some info would be appreciated. I have them in a 75USG tank with 20x lateral current, a river tank setup. Also in the tank are an S. Angelicus, two L75 Peckoltia Sabajii, a young L114, three L260's ...

Mats, yes I think I got all caught up in the hardware and was so pleased with my "discharge the pump thru the caves" concept that I didn't think thru the needs of the FISH, which is what the whole thing is about to begin with. I'm rethinking the the plumbing thing now and I have a plan "B" that ...

Hello Dave. Yes, my plan WAS to have the backs closed. The water would have been plumbed up through the bottoms of and into the PVC caves, thereby forcing it out through the fronts. Apparently that configuration isn't likely to please my fish as much as I'd hoped, so I'll do something more ...

Yes, I s'pose that does make more sense from a habitat standpoint. Fortunately, although I have all the hardware and the fish are currently residing in one of my 75's with "friends", I'm still on the drawing board, so to speak, and it's easy to change layouts on paper. Thank you for the input Mats ...