I got a nice new L200 last Friday. Its settled ok into my tank and is becoming more active but I haven't seen it feed yet. I've put in courgette, melon and some dried seaweed so far. Does anyone have one and if so how do you feed and with what please? Thanks

I've seen this month on another plec site that many L no. plecs from Brazil have been banned. Can anyone confirm this please and post any links to why this has happened? Thanks

Out of interest what do the Simulid larvae turn into?

Thanks

I would make some large water changes and add a large piece of polyfilter to try and quickly reduce any toxins in the water.

Am I reading your post right, in the fact that you use the water from a de-humidifier to add to your fish tank? This is very bad pracitce even if soap has not been added, as ...

I can see why all this started and why Barbie deleted the post but it all seems a little harsh. There is always the argument for allowing freedom of speech and I personally didn't see anything wrong with the post. However, if the rules have been broken then I suppose a ban can be enforced, as it has ...

I have never heard of anyone advising the use of topsoil, certainly not in a tank you wish to keep fish in. This would be fine in a very large body of water but not in a tank. Flourite is fine but topsoil is a disaster just waiting to happen. The depth of the substrate alone will produce anoxic ...

Unless you are very lucky it will take years to grow on young zebras and get them to spawn. It will then take another year or so to get any fry to a decent size to sell. You ask any breeder of fish. The running costs and effort alone costs ALOT! IMO the best way to breed fish is just for the ...

"Fishnut2",

You clearly do not understand my post so Please do not ask me to reply. If I am correct their questions have already been answered elsewhere.

I'm guessing "southcoast_lad" is aka as Shell anyway! I have long suspected this.

Hi

I'm very confident that both are males. They look healthy and quite mature as well, what size are they?

Possibly young starlight ancistrus?

Couldn't load up Zebrapleco.com website last night. This evening its asking me for a log on to load up the page??!!? Whats going on with this site?

Thanks to anyone who can help.

Tom

I hope your plec pulls through. But looking at the water conditions at your lfs I personally wouldn't buy any fish from there. I realise lfs have high stocking etc etc but nitrite and the addition of salt is a VERY BAD sign! Your plec will be recovering from its stay in the lfs.

Well I sat through all five episodes (150 minutes) and saw virtually no decent shots of the Amazon's aquatic life.

The programme spent more time telling us how many thousands of species there were to discover, how many dangers they faced and how dark the water was. About 5% of the programme was ...

To be honest I think 9 corys in one bag is probably the cause of their deaths.

In my experience Corys do not travel at all well, the few that survived and died during the night probably had suffered too much stress during the journey.

Regards

Sorry to hear about that.

How were the corys transported? Where all nine fish in one container? If so it could be the the stress of this caused the deaths.

Hi

Sorry to hear about your losses.

Just a couple of comments and questions.

It is virtually impossible to have zero nitrate if your biological filter is running efficiently. Are your test kits up to date?

Internal worms very rarely kill fish, they more often than not cause a gradual decline in ...

Sorry to hear you lost your L260.

You say Ammonia and nitrite "next to nil". If you have any readings for these then... 1) your filter is not mature 2) and/or you are overfeeding and or have too much bioload in your tank.

However, if this plec was bagged up for 24 hours plus then this will have ...

Sad to hear shops trying to con their shoppers.

As Racoll says, your plec should be fine. Fin rot is a secondary disease, that often sets in due to poor water conditions and/or stress. If you water quality is good the fins will grow back. Certainly shouldn't be any need to treat.

Just worth mentioning incase you weren't aware, but you need to let tap water settle for approximately 24 hours (with some aeration) before you will get a true pH reading.

Gex18,

L260s are very shy fish by nature and will hardly ever come out unless the lights are out.

I have had 6 juvenilles for approx. 6 months and I have never seen them feed. I just put a small amount of food in the tank after lights out and by morning, most/if not all is gone.

The trick with ...

The L260 out in the open sounds in a bad way. 1) sunken eyes is often a sign of a more long term problem. 2) L260 are very shy.

As has been said, frequent water changes. I would also cut back on the feeding. I would also advise placing some polyfilter in the tank to help remove the excessive ...

A nice colony you have there. Will get a lot of people envious (including myself). You will have plenty of time to wait and plan your breeding method. It will take probably two years to get them to breeding size. If you want some of the best info on the net regarding current L046 breeding, visit ...

I would definitely go for the high temperatures. Over time the stress levels will gradually cause problems with your corys. Obviously it could be something else. ie. at the tank floor bacterai levels could be high and causing these deaths. However, my gut would say its the high temps.

Regards

When it comes to feeding fish, as a general rule, less is definitely best. This is especially true for new tanks and even more so when a tank is very small.

Cardinals are very sensitive fish anyway so even a small spike in nitrite and or ammonia will cause stressed responses.

New tanks should have ...

Is that your actual age, or the age we now all think you are considering this very strange poll?

This is strange because my seven L134s have eaten virtually everything I put in the tank from day one. They are in a 55gal community tank so plenty of competition for food. Nothing special with the water, pH 7.2 and water if hard with a high KH reading also. In my experience the L134 is normally a ...

I currently have some L260s growing on. The water conditions are pH 7.2 with GH 180 and KH 9.

What are the ideal water paramters for L260s? Can I bring the pH below 7 if needed? I am planning on adding some dwarf cichlids.

Thanks

Hi

Full credit to you for doing so much research after the death of your fish. Many fishkeepers just rush straight out and buy another, often because their aquatic store says they are fine to do so. NEVER believe everything you hear in a shop. Ultimately, amny try to seel fish. A good aquatics will ...

Hi

Sorry to hear you lost your new plec.

From your conditions etc. my gut feeling points to the fact your tank only hold 7 gallons. The smaller the amount of water the more trouble you will have with variations in the water parameters.

I would guess that you tank is not fully mature and that your ...