Delapool

Hi  - FYI, date has been changed to the 31st January (unless school has some sort of COVID issue, etc but to give people a heads up on date change). Rest of details still the same.

Just a bit to get started but congrats on the new tank!

I’ve always used aqua-one canister filters so can’t comment too much. I don’t mind them but don’t have automatic priming, etc. I only clean mine out once or twice a year (it’s a planted tank) so a little different as don’t need so many of the nice features.

Imo UV filters on canisters are a waste of space.

I’ve swapped the wool filters to fine sponge. Not quite as good to polish the water but heavily planted. I run a small internal filter that gets cleaned more often and is backup.

Once your tank is cycled (up to 2 months) and stable (say another few months) then the nitrifying bacteria tend to be more bullet proof. Just about any media will suit them - I no longer worry about which has best surface area.

Another flower

Long shot of tank (no more tiger barbs for me, too much little trouble-makers).



Shrimp tank led arrived (cables everywhere now!). Just have to wait to next auction to get more shrimp and guppies.

Info below from PCS Facebook group. Hope to see you there!


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Do you like Central American Cichlids? Then don't miss out on our special "International Guest" March PCS meeting. Coming out from Kentucky USA is Rusty Wessel to deliver a fantastic talk for Perth Cichlid Society.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 10th March at our regular meeting venue - Atwell College, 201 Brenchley Drive, Atwell 6164. Start time is 7:30pm and doors open at 7:00pm.

Food and a drink is provided free on the night along with a great talk from Rusty. Don't miss out! Super raffle prize on the night.

If you are a PCS paid member it is free entry. All other people who wish to come it will be $10 entry to cover costs and food/drink.

Rusty Wessel resides in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, where he maintains over 30,300 liters (8,000 gallons) of freshwater aquariums, predominantly containing species of the family cichlidae, which he successfully raise and breeds.

Rusty has taken his hobby to a point where he has successfully collected fish from the countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, from 1983 to the present, for a total of 26 trips to this date. A beautiful and elusive cichlid discovered during one of his expeditions to Honduras was named by Dr. Robert Rush Miller, emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, after him in the June 1996 edition of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, Theraps Wesseli.

Rusty is as well a prolific author and photographer, and his writings or photographs have appeared in wide distribution specialized and prestigious publications, like Aquarium Fish Magazine, Aquarist & Pondkeeper, Buntbarsche bulletin, Cichlid News, Ad Konings' Cichlids yearbooks, Freshwater and Marine Aquarium and Tropical Fish Hobbyist.

In the organized hobby, Rusty is currently the "Convention liaison" and "Back issue sales person" for the American Cichlid Association and a speaker participant for the ACA speakers program. He is past chair of the ACA board of trustees (1990) and past convention chair (1990, 1996). In addition, he is an active solicitor for the "Guy Jordan Endowment Fund" (A fund set up under the ACA to grant endowments for cichlid research). On the local level, he is currently the treasurer for the Louisville Tropical Fish fanciers. Rusty has been awarded with the greater honor the American Cichlid Association gives to its distinguished members, the ACA fellowship.

Rusty has lectured and judged numerous fish shows throughout the United States, including the annual "Florida Tropical Fish Farmers" show and several ACA conventions.

I think there has been some growth. Life would be complete if the algae would go away hopefully the H2O2 treatment works as it was fizzing merrily away on the algae.

Also like the tank much better with the backing on.

Next flower

First flower from aponogeton - bit shaky but looks established.

Lotus lost all the long leaves but looks to be going ok near ground level. Be awhile before I have to worry on pruning it

Tiger barbs and angelfish (a match made in heaven ). Some quick photos before tank clean of glass. Nitrates 10ppm and phosphate 0.25ppm.

Photo of driftwood buy from auction. Impulse buy (one of many!), but quite like it. Thinking of tank re-scape and add more substrate over holidays in a few weeks now.

I found a great night as well. Great auctioneering [emoji106]

I would like to take a moment to introduce our Perth Cichlid Society 2019 international guest - Larry Johnson.

Larry will be delivering some talks on Malawi cichlids and his times at Lake Malawi on diving safaris and working with Ad Konings and Stuart Grant.

You can see Larry Johnson on Tuesday, 5th March 2019 at our club venue Atwell College. Tickets are available on PCS Eventbrite -

Larry was first introduced to Lake Malawi cichlids in the early 70’s and has been keeping and breeding them since then. The fish room has got bigger over the years and was consumed by these beautiful fish. “Tropical Fish are a full time job for me”. He presently runs almost 100 various size aquariums at home, and has been importing Cichlids from Lake Malawi since 2006 from Sutart M Grant. Stuart was a dear friend of mine who passed away in October 2007. You can see many beautiful underwater pictures that have been taken over the years on his website here.

In January 2003 Cichlid News Magazine published Larry’s article and pictures on the genus Mylochromis. Larry also discovered the interesting feeding behaviour in Sciaenaochromis fryeri and photographing for the first time a new species of Lethrinops sp.”mbenji roundhead” and Otopharynx speciosus at Nkhomo Reef.

Larry also contributes time as a moderator on several forums and is a contributing photographic author to The Cichlid Companion Room and Buntbarsche Bulletin for the ACA.

Larry spent two months in Malawi (2009 ) installing Anti-Netting Devices around the Maleri Islands and conducting a Cichlid Survey in conjunction with the Stuart M Grant Conservation Fund. Here is the latest update of the Stuart M Grant Conservation Fund in action! (2014 Ps.saulosi release at Taiwanee Reef).

Book & photo credits
-Malawi Cichlids in the natural habitat (4th Edition) 2007, 3 pictures.
-Malawi Cichlids in their natural habitat (5th Edition) April 2016, 20 pictures.
-Cichlid News. Cover shot April 2018 issue.

During September 2013 Larry assisted Ad Konings (thru the ‘Stuart M Grant Conservation Fund), along with others, in placing Ps.saulosi back on Taiwanee Reef. These fish are being produced by Stuart M Grant Ltd which operates the largest Cichlid Export facility on Lake Malawi. During September 2014 Larry supervised the placement of Ps.saulosi back to Taiwanee Reef again, along with other Cichlid Enthusiasts, who were willing participants.
The plan for 2014, 2015, 2016,2017 and 2018 will be much the same, with participants from the current Safari joining in again!

The 2017 transplant of Chindongo saulosi (formerly Psuedotropheus) to the reef was a record number that year of 717 fish along with members of Perth Cichlid Society and Malawi Italia!

In his spare time you can find Larry at local fish clubs (Hamilton & District Aquarium Society) and others doing the “fish thing” (speaking or attending).

In September 2018 he will travel to Lake Malawi for the 18th time.

Larry does a few different talks but is mostly asked for the most current ‘Swimming with Cichlids’, (Updated yearly) on the most recent Lake Malawi Safari trip. Also providing updates on the Conservation going on in Lake Malawi.

Very nice - I like the layout and air bubbler going as well (although I was bad and used to run pirate chests, etc when I was a kid).

As per usual, can we kindly ask all bags of fish / plants are well bagged so no water (or lava rock) escapes [emoji3] Thanks!!

[emoji106] guess they would sit more near surface as well?