I get best results with normal temps of 78F, and the cold change taking it down to 72F overnight. This may go lower in the winter, with colder tap water. Remember, the drop in conductivity is just as significant as the drop in temp. Turn the heater off when you do the change, leave it off overnight,...

Any luck fellas?

About a year ago, bought a dozen tiny "clown plecos" for $3.00 apiece. They were actually a mixed group of L-135/169. All are reaching 7-8cm, so its time to get to work.

Probably follow Janne's regimen for L-134. Can anyone add to that with a success story?

Thanks.

I've been keeping one male to two females for years, plus an extraordinary male who keeps three females quite occupied. I have never experienced a healthy male "breeding himself to death". Give them 20% water changes every week, and a big 50% cold change every six weeks, and everyone will ...

Yes, as I said, you've got to play around. I've seen good results with the slave pointed down into the tank providing backlight. Paper the top of the tank with something translucent, a neutral fabric works ok, as a diffuser. I also played around with white cardboard cupped around the bottom half of ...

From a die-hard Nikon D100 owner... Just shot a few days with Nikon D70, sub $1000.00, and stacks up well against D100. If your gear is Nikon, both models are top-end consumer rigs. Both match up well to EOS-10D, which is fine Canon gear. Coolpix are also nice, responsive as well, especially if you ...

Started using Ebo-Jagers years ago, and never went back. Only issues have been with calibration, some are +/- 4F at 85F, which isn't a big deal once you get things set up. (I find more variance with some thermometers) However, I do replace them after a year, labeling each incoming heater with an exp...

In DC metro area, markup is typically 200%. So, retail on fish is three times wholesale price. Therefore, I usually deal to 33% of retail for tank-raised. With the exception of L-046, which I dole out on an individual basis to LFS when they have a known buyer and we split the sale, I get it, and som...

Haven't heard about the garlic trick in years, an old timer, a homeopath as well, laid it on me some years ago and I was skeptical, but it became a tried and true weapon in the arsenal. Natural is usually best! Garlic also has subtle antibiotic properties, and makes a great supplement when fish are ...

Its not an epoxy paint, I use a two part, epoxy/hardener, product. The tape is typical fiberglass fabric, easily found in marine shops, or auto parts stores. I usually use acrylic since I can machine it more easily than glass, and it is generally safer to store stock in the shop. Too much breakage/w...

Quick snaps for the thread... First one...48X30X12 http://grissom.vosg.com/~jebay/plywood001front.jpg From above, covers are removed, but you can see the rabbeted rim. Note the center bracing, and yes, that is a reflection, not an underwater outlet! http://grissom.vosg.com/~jebay/plywood001top.jpg A...

I've done 108"X24"X16" in 3/4 plywood as described above. The nine foot tank has dividers, front to back, every sixteen inches. This is probably the biggest, and was maybe the fifth tank I had built, starting with 48"X30"X12". I've never done the formal engineering on t...

I started out with rubbermaid horse troughs for growing out ancistrus. $50.00 USD for 75 gal., and yes they are lightweight, sturdy, etc...however, mounting accesories to the sides is difficult, since the lip is over an inch wide. The surface was rough, so suction cups inside were a failure as well....

...I've received several requests, so I thought I might share this long winded reply to a request for plywood tank advice. 3/4" plywood, BC sanded for looks. Marine isn't necessary, if water is penetrating the epoxy then water resistant plywood won't save you. 1/4" dadoes and rabbets on al...

in the Washington, DC area, $25-$40 is typical, so your price is reasonable.

julian, Search the site for ancistrus ranunculus, L-034, there are many threads here concerning my favorite plec. Yes, they have spawned in aquariums. Warm, softer water with a good current is good to maintain them. I feed frozen bloodworms and a weekly chunk of zuchinni. Mine occasionally breed in ...

Jehmco sells a spirulina wafer that is impressive. Nice dark green discs, just reeking of algae. Herbivores go crazy for them, and they hold up longer than the Hikari. The Hikari algae wafers aren't bad in a pinch, but after the Jehmco wafers, they look like dog food. (A bit off topic, but Hikari an...

Andrew is one of my best customers, along with the others on his list. In addition...

Rick's Fish and Pet Supply, Frederick, MD
The Fish Factory, Gaithersburg, MD
Showcase Aquarium, Wheaton, MD

All are in easy driving distance of Metro DC, on the Maryland side.

I keep breeding groups of two females/three males. Each group has four square feet of tank bottom, at tank depths ranging from 12 to 16 inches, approximately 40 gallons. Each cell has three slate caves, definitely on the bottom, a location which is preferred. I have kept a group of eight in a 39 bre...

I second Barbie's advice about shaking up the social order. I've gotten stubborn zebs to spawn by splitting up unruly males. Other "tweaks"... 1. Reduce the number of caves until you find males battling it out, then add one back. If everyone has a cave, sometimes the females just seem to s...

I am trying to recall all of the different ways I have killed fry... 1. Poor husbandry...bad/insufficient feed, lack of wood, lack of snails, poor water chemistry 2. Pesticides from grocery produce 3. Bad genetic mix 4. Predation from unruly playmates 5. Pathogens It seems that you have the first fo...

How large is the mortality rate? How long after hatch is it occurring? Is your experience based on a single pair of parents? In advance of your answers... After a month, 5-10 out of one hundred, is not unusual. There seems to be a critical point about two weeks after hatching. Some point in their de...

Hear, hear!...another method of delivery is to mix agar agar, an algae based gelatin, with pure spirulina and then dip pieces of nylon mesh into the hot mix. Once the gelatin cures, these can be frozen for storage. You end up with a strip impregnated with spirulina. The fry can then browse on the st...

Most definitely. I was getting significant die offs between two and three weeks without it. Seems to supply the digestive tract with a necessary ingredient as they mature. Overall growth rates improved as well. This may vary with individuals, but all of the different ancistrus that I have raised hav...

The compressor is not continuous duty, it only runs about fifteen minutes total per day. Again, we chose this system to provide backup during power failures, which are becoming all too frequent in the DC area. Stored compressed air can carry us through, delivering sponge filtration for about a day w...

Each of our tanks contains a sponge filter, almost all of which are hydro-sponge. (Need to plug Jehmco.com!) This is in addition to power filtration on all but cory tanks. No worries about complete media changes in power filters and we can back up for power failures with stored compressed air. Spong...

There are three on aquabid right now.

You could try a home improvement store for raw slate tile. This is unglazed and comes in boxes covering a range of areas. Colors range from black to grey to blue with the odd rust colored piece. Upside is that a box contains a variety of rectangular sizes which makes it easy to cut on a tile saw. Te...

We have been raising ancistrus commercially for some time, and are constantly experimenting with grow out conditions. Our optimal recipe includes: Malaysian driftwood, frozen collard greens, hikari wafers every other day, 78-82F temp, daily 20% water change, phosphate buffer to pH of 7, GH/KH of 3-5...

Second the water change advice. Keep in mind that even if the filtration is excellent, you are still leaving the nitrates behind which are removed by water changes. Might I also suggest adding some driftwood, if it isn't there already. A stick of soft Malaysian driftwood will get worked over pretty ...

We get great results with rigid mesh breeding traps hanging in the original tank. In cases where there are hungry fish in the main tank, a filter bag loosely fitted around the trap keeps them from sucking out the fry. (Finding half of a spawn, half-eaten one day taught us this lesson!) Since we stri...