I wonder whether a better tank will refold the operculums. Obviously, if this is the cause, putting them back will only be an option if the soil has been improoved

That can happen because you changed it, or by good plant growth. But that would require more than a year I'm afraid

Basil will not work, the seeds are very sensitive towards to much water. I'm afraid the plants will not like too much either. My rosemary is also not found of too much water. Mint however does appreciate watrer a lot.

I have an enclosable bveranda, with fishtanks. These are on the ground, so they mare more ponds one can also see from aside, together with air filtering over mats. Between these mats, my Papyrus sp grow just wonderfull. This species gets over 2 meters tall I also added once a Begonia (leaf type, not...

I never even heard about artificial turf, but as with all strange materials, I would need to look at the ingredients. You made a few good points about some of them, UV resistence is most often not a problem, weed resistence I would not trust either. The problem is, however, that the ingredients are ...

Odd that accimatizing to 32 C added 5.5 C to their range, w=hile 7 C gave only 0,5 C

Is it that lower temperatures are harder to adapt to or would something else be the explanation

Still, 3.4 C is a temperature a deep tank can provide all winter. Apparently C paleatus is winterhardy indeed.

Peat will not help lower the pH? If you use used peat and new peat in a 1:1 ratio, than you add a buffer. The pKa of humus - that is peat - is around 4.5. Therefore the buffer will try to get the pH at that value the trick is in the used peat. That will be revitalized if the pH gets under this valu...

In our tanks, we need to buffer the pH. Most often we do this with CO2- carbonate buffers, but under pH = 5 these so not do much. In nature, the very size of the waters also helps buffering the pH. A dead cow will spoil quite a few cubic meters of water - but not a river. I think that is why fishes ...

Reading this I'm so happy our tapwater is never chlorinated.

This is a problem I never have had to face. Still, I've had bad waterchanges, but not this bad

Thanks for the insight! i actually thought it might be the opposite. My mind goes to this being something to do with your water chemistry, such as water is too hard and them not being able to hatch properly. Here the question is, what is hard ater and what does it do? Waterhardness refers to the co...

I read the paper, completely, and Jools summerizing is remarcably correct. More to the point, I get the feeling that polictical correct language is something one sees especially in English. That is, especially in the UK and the USA people tell each other not to use certain words because these could ...

I'l be getting solar cells Monday 26 June. That will help reduce my fishkeeping footprint - I use more electricity for my tanks than thw average sized fiamilies would do.

So that will help a lot. Still, my brother races with a car, and compared to them, we're quite green

mosat hybrids are sterile, However, S granulosus comes from Lake Tanganyica, with quite unusual water parameters. I wonder whehter your hybrids, most likely descending from riverine species, would like that water. Further I would assume the hybrids would have some influence on your granulosus. I wou...

As far as I know, if it is safe for us - that is, food graded - it is supposed to be safe for our fishes. While Victor is right - when in doubt, try with easier fishes, but such a test would, could take very long. After all - if you intent to expose yuor sensitive fishes for 10 years to the stuff, w...

A book of all sweet water fishes in the world would be too much to ask for. I have the book about sweet water fishes of Mexico - not much catdfish - but this one book is ome 300 pages. Large pages.

The book you would be after would be thousands of pages, a few kilos in total.

In the UK this opinion is not the common, but here, in NL, around 45 % share that opinion, I'm one of them.

Better still, here the owner of the land is entitled to all the sand he can withdraw from it - and while we cannot own bodies of water, we can own the shore

As central America is poor in catfish, and swordtail lack almost all agression outside their own species (I am a member of Poecilia, the Dutch lifebearer association) I would not hesitate combining cats from far wasy Still, they need to vope with hard water and sords prefer it cool Even X helleri is...

Congratulations!!

I would say, fish can adapt. Problem is, a fertilized egg is a new individual, which will have to start to adapt. But in very hard water, an egg of a soft water fish, will not have enough time for this adaptation. That being said, the conclusion would be that all fishes would need water which resemb...

You mustbe a very happy man

All the luch with raising the fry

To me 60 cm size would be a 60 * 30 *30 cm tank. However a 50 * 40 * 40 cm tank does contain more water (80 L instead iof 54) which would seam to e bertter. However for territorial fishes, or ones that like to swim length is more important than liters. So yes, sometimes length is sufficient informat...

Once I changed water, nothing special iI do that more often, and the amount was also normal. But what was not normal was, that an hour later half my headstanders - 3 of the 7 Laemolyta taeniata and 5 of the 9 Abramites hypselonotus started tolling in the tank. I lost them all Had I been away, this w...

Groups always do better. In some species males need competition in order to even try. In others, the group helps the fishes to feel at home In a tank, we always select on the ability to adapt to life in a tank. Some do better than others, and if you start with more, chances are much better you have ...

As far as I know, Pangasius are unlike any other fish. So it will be very hard indeed to find something similar. Free swimming catfish are extremely rare, and most often found in areas where you find lots of catfish. The bottom is their preferred place, but some might leave the bottom, if competitio...

I would start to wonder at 70 cm or 25 inches, indeed

The arguments are that a bare bottom is easier to claen, but a saubstrated one reduces stress. I personally think less stress will increase growth, and make the fish hardier against any disease. You won't be surprized I use sustrate. In fact I even use plants and rlittle stones to reduce stress - bu...

In the Netherlands Siluris glanis, native, is protected. I always assumed it was native all over Europe, but apparently it is not. This way, it can be an invasive species in Italy - only one day driving away.

As water of 4 C is the most heavy there is, the bottom of your pond will remain @ 4 C in the coldest of a normal winter with this depth. Still 4 C will be found Not many fishes are imported from southern South America, but perhaps you could be luckey with fishes from north America. Further I would r...

While Corydoras sterbai is said to be amongst the Corys with the most potens venom, ist is harmless for people. still, cleaning the rocks every other day is far too much cleaning. That would stress any fish. The rocks might gget a greenish blush, which will help getting the water good. But even if t...

With regard to reselling these fishes, chances are one could face a patent lawsuit in such a case for selling fry. However, it could be one is free to sell the original bought fishes. In Europa, if one would buy a patented product, one is free to resell it. But not copy it. The legal status for offs...

As far as I know, they are legal in the USA, but forbidden in the EU. And I would not know about other parts of the world. Still, legal or not, they are manmade fish with an ethical aspect. I dislike them, but I'll try to remain as neutral as possible here. Do we have special entries for albino Cory...