Ageofaquariums

Well worth looking into getting some magnified shots of the fish, even at x65 flukes are very obvious on fish. We use a x65 clip on for a smart phone to ID flukes in the shop here. Makes it easy to then snap a photo or video of them. Meds are expensive, and side effects can be brutal....  so you really want to make that ID.

Heres some vid we took for a customer using one. Getting a picture or video, means that even if our ID is shakey, there is the option to post on other forums and get more input from specialists on the particular nasty.

I love my angels and discus though

I found I could get the cardinals to spawn daily, but the tiny batches of eggs made it unrealistic to raise them. Its a tank per batch, plus a struggle to keep adequate levels of correct size food for each batch. Much much easier to do a single batch on same day of hundreds (at least) of eggs.

Totally agree on the above, that conditioning with live food is key. Back in the day it was all about mosquito wrigglers, and you couldnt just buy them frozen like you can today!

Finely chopped frozen earthworms were routinely reccomended. These days chopped HUFA soaked freeze dried blackworms takes it to another level.

The use of hydrochloric acid (muriatic) was once a lot more widespread in breeder operations too. These days more likely to be sulfuric. On a hobby scale the use of blackwater extracts can easily achieve the same results, albeit at the cost of some water clarity.

I'd also agree that serpae are trickier to spawn.....  but for me spawning has always been the easiest part. Raising fish to sale size is the real meat of the challenge!

Also.

On an operation like this, step one is to start a journal.

Test, record. Try, record and try again.

When you succeed its important to have the data recorded to repeat the feat!

Due to the bristlenose in the Australian

trade likely being the result of multiple Ancistrus species being hybridized, its normal to expect some variation in fry.

NLS 1mm cichlid pellet can be fed to pretty much every fish on the planet. You have to compromise if you have mixed species and different sizes. They are other options but the 1mm NLS is my suggestion. Good for fry to adult (unless lake cows) and perfect for predators or herbivores.

The above is true, but many people break the rules and get away with it. If you are going to "mix lakes" you really do need a plan B for if it doesnt work!

Sinking pellets are more likely to be cold extruded. This means less nutrients have been destroyed by the cooking process.

You can put a vigorous airstone inside a floating fry saver. Thats what I do for my hoplo breeding swamp tank

I believe there is a limit to how much you can actually oxygenate the water.  If your surface agitation is enough to allow maximum gas exchange, I don't think using an air stone with it will increase the amount of oxygen in the water. 

 

While this is true, you can increase water oxygen with nano bubbles. I hate the misty look they create in displays personally, but interesting for mega-intense fish holding.

Things to keep in mind, canister microbe colonies strip most oxygen from water flowing through them, so important to have outputs agitating water surface to degas co2 from returning water.

For the OP's aquarium, a single aquael 10,000lph reef circulator would be my suggestion. Only 20watts at full power. Silent. And will agitate most of that aquariums surface area.

The main issue with using electricity to bust raw sewerage, rather than microbes to convert it to nitrate, is that if you lose the hydra pump you find yourself in a situation where ammonia/nitrite is suddenly building up. OK if you catch it in time but can be heart breaking if you don't. No real difference to losing fish to say, the cold when a heater breaks, or lack of O2 when a filter breaks.  Just something to keep in mind.

Ozone tends to be more of a threat to skimmers and aquarists, than to fish. Ozone sounds all friendly being made of oxygen, but its not quite the same! If visitors to your house can taste a coppery taint to the air, its time to turn it down and open a window! Also check your skimmer is rated for use with, as it doesnt always take long to effect the acrylic.

1) ID the nasty.

2) choose best medication to kill nasty AND not kill yer fishy

3) find med and calculate dose rate.

4) if possible test dose rate on one fish in a bucket first.

5) remove carbon and other chemical filtration

6) dose med when you have time to watch for adverse fish reaction to meds.

7) be prepared to water change IF fish react badly

8) mark down date for retreatment IF nasty lays eggs

9) test/inspect fish to ensure nasty is dead

10) quarantine new fish AND treat with a prophylactic treatment to ensure no re infestation.

A cheap 60X clip on microscope for ya phone is like $5 on ebay and will let you ID the nasty in question. Capturing photos lets you ask other aquarists for help, and makes sure we know the enemy. Theres often no greater danger to a fish, than an aquarist treating them for a disease they dont have!

Quite a few breeders of them over the years in QLD. Many were being pumped out by Mario in Wishart and The German Steve. But yea QLD forum would be best way to find someone who ships. Guy posting as None, would have a source surely.

Likely still someone breeding the Rhamphochromis macrophthalmus in QLD. At least I am sure it was macros.

A sandwich of good hard bio media (eg marine pure or ceramic rings) between quality coarse sponge.

Throw a bag of chemipure in there to bring some sparkle to the water, and yer good to go.

Quite cool just how much water is usually oxygenated just falling into the sump