Tks Mats for reply. I've been unable to find the Fava Beans in local grocery stores here in California. Will try Lima beans (cooked) and sumplement with blanched yams and cucumber.

I use canned fava/broad beans a lot, as you can just freeze a bag of them and drop a couple in the tank every night. Very convenient. Tks for reply Racoll. The fava bean seems to be the same as we call a 'string bean'. When feeding them, do you first pull the beans out of the pod and only feed the ...

:D Just wanted to let RAC0LL know that (2) L-18's are still alive and doing well (since Feb 2007), in my 40 gal tank. They feed on frozen brine, frozen red blood worms and use Hikari algae wafers in between, along with Shrimp pellets by OSI. They stay separated with one residing in a huge artificial ...

Here's an update - Out of (4) purchased, (2) have survived with the advice I rec'd. I'm willing to accept this 50% survival rate, as I was new to keeping L-018's. They are feeding well on frozen red worms and frozen brine and they have accepted the Hikari pleco algae wafers. I alternate each of ...

and for the last few days they have all been off their food, and rather listless....I usually give them one disc of food each per day....also, their colour has been rather palid. I completely changed the tank water about a month ago, but didnt touch the filter Hi, I'll try and help - Go easy on the ...

That's interesting.....so by accident I set up with substrate which was the most non-toxic environment. No wonder the fry have been so healthy and grew so fast. One would think their same cave of choice to breed in, is the Hotel California, the way all three pair used it, one after the other.

Hi Eric, I have been raising Bn's for last year. I kept and let 6 BN's, pair off and grow to 3 1/2 " (males 3 1/2 and Fe's 3"). In the meantime, had a choice of 3 caves in this 40 Gal tank, figuring that each of the pair would stake out a cave when they were ready to spawn. Instead, each of the pair ...

I suspect the culprit (in screwing up some of my water readings) is the 'wardley 3 in 1 (7.0) water conditioner, that I used in this 10 gal tank approx 8 days ago. It claims that it 1) buffers PH to 7.0, 2)ammonia neutralizer, eliminates clorine and cloramines. I have completely stopped using it and ...

Tap water: Ammonia: .15 PH 7.8
Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 20 Hardness: 7.5
Clorine: .2 Alkalinity: 100

Purchased test kits & heres latest results of testing the 10 Gallon tank:

Clorine: zero (safe)
PH: 7.0
Ammonia: .05 PPM (still little high)
Alkalinity: 120 (ideal)
Hardness: zero (very soft)
Nitrite: 3.0 (Stress)
Nitrate: 40 (safe)

Tks Racoll , mats P and Dead Serious for your replys & valuable info. Following every suggestion and its working; no more dead gold nuggets and 3 have survived. No, the 10 Gal tank is not cycled. I destroyed the good bacteria (nitrosomonas) by a)completely cleaning out my Fluval 303 cannister filter ...

Thanks for your detailed reply. I read your article on water chemistry & Plecos / very informative. I don't have a water hardness test kit/will buy one asap. 7 days ago when I brought the gold nugget plecos home, I used: Wardley '3 in 1' (7.0) Water Conditioner. It buffers to 7.0 PH, It is an ...

Running a Fluval 303 Cannister filter + a sponge filter on the 10 gal. Have three gold nugget plecos left, and the three med. angelfish. My 40 gallon tank is 35 inches long but I have 50+ Bristle nose pleco fry in it. I can't wait another 3-4 months to finish raising the BN's to saleable size ...

:D 7 Days ago brought home (4) 3 1/2" Gold nuggets (L-18)Placed them temp. in a 10 gal. tank with (3) med size angel fish. One pleco starved itself after 5 days. Fed nightly; pleco algae wafers and fresh zuccini. Also frozen brine shrimp & frozen blood worms, every other day. Other (3) plecos are ...