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;-) It's the same on here though. Forums are where sheep gather.

Stunning shots Tom. No. 8 is the one for me! :-)

It's a red cherry shrimp colour morph. Just like the yellow ones, orange ones, blue ones and green ones, they're all colour morphs of the common red cherry

If you ever get to the Bracknell area there's a guy does me 5kg ones for £20

Excellent quality!! Delivery good and just need to mention, their driver doesn't use deodorant! LoL

That edging on the light unit really transforms it into such a pro job! Well done mate, I love it! Don't get carried away whilst waiting for the tank and start varnishing that bit of bogwood though! LoL :-)

That really is looking beautiful Tom. So good!

Over the course of a day or two seems excessive. I'd do it over an hour or two and feel very confident. Things are looking great with the lighting and cabinet! Nice work mate!

I've read that it should be a worry but I don't know for sure. I guinea pigged a few tetras and shrimps with a waterchange :-)

Ponds are the best proof of how good rainwater is. Every pond in the UK has a regular top up with rainwater. Fish are fine. :-)

I've been experimenting with rainwater since I moved a few tanks into my new place. There's 2 butts already set up here with taps on so I just couldn't resist. The tapwater's as hard as buggery round here so I'm really hoping to see a difference in my South American fish. I went online, here...

LoL yeah that's about right. I think Angels are at their best when they're growing and competing for food. Once they're sexually mature they turn psycho!

And Darrel, don't beat yourself up about that mate. I think Angels are very good at killing eachother off!! For me they're the crazy Bimbo of the cichlid world. You can look at them all day, but you're glad ya ain't living with them! Gavin

Mine spawned on Anubias leaves. I didn't give them much choice right enough :-)

Well I've since moved house, my tanks have been somewhat neglected and things are looking shabby. But, nothing's lost. Everything I have at the moment is preparation for something else. I've a massive emersed project to start fairly soon and I will no doubt use much of the plants I have in the...

You can opt for larger HC. Not sure what mine is but it has done amazingly well emersed and growing out of a layer of common moss scraped from paving around the back of the house :-) Check out my thread 'pics of my emersed stuff' It went wild in the end and grew back into the tank water!

He's shocking at communication!! I mean beyond terrible! But.... When I was going through the planning and design for an open top 6.5ft. His ideas of a particular Bracing design were more knowledgable and convincing than another tank manufacturer I was speaking with. His CAD type drawings are...

You'd be better off putting in some lovely Silver Dollars hehee!! But guys this is truly awesome!!! What a great project and advert for Fishkeeping and planted tanks. I think whatever fish go in there it will be an amazing display! If it can't be pirana then Angels and Geophagus. Top tank...

I'm leaning toward 6watt bulbs with 45 degree angles. I have a feeling 9 watts will be too bright and I'll be be dimming it down as far as possible. On the description of 9watt bulbs on a page on Fleabay they say that they're the optimum strength for lighting a room. I only want to light a...

Hi all, I'm planning a large tank, 6.5ft long x 26wide x 20.5high. I'll be building a huge foam raft with substrate in troughs to plant tall emersed plants into. Inside the tank will be nothing but anubias on large pieces of wood. What I'm struggling with is the choice of bulbs. I want LED and...

If you use square section tubing it will be stronger. To create bends, at the point of the bend cut 90degrees of the section away, leaving only the outside bend. So, you've cut three sides and left only one. But with a 90 degree gap missing you can now easily bend the frame until the cut edges...

Hi all, So who uses who and any good or bad reports to offer please? PM me if they're bad. Cheers :-)

Hi Alastair, Not been on here for while. Great final photos! Did you come to a decision on lighting for the new project??? I sent you an email by the way. Cheers Gavin

Just had chance to look at the replies. Many thanks guys, that's kind of what I expected. I'll look at the varying price on the 2 quotes I'm impatiently waiting for. Any Suggestions on custom tankbuilders would be considered??? Cheers Gavin

Hi All, Just considering a new large tank and would like to know the downsides of using Opti White glass. Does it scratch easier? A urging else to worry about? Etc? Big thanks Gavin

PM sent :-)

Try ASTAX. Great fish and shrimp food and extremely good value. http://www.ta-aquaculture.co.uk/

Re: Baby shrimp successfully hatched from a dead female! Fantastic work! Your wife's a genius :-)

Does it look like this? This is just a pic from the Internet of a damsel fly nymph. Have you seen the hatched adult fly???

Re: A Chocolate Puddle - pic update I love it Alistair. It looks so clean! Tom and yourself have hopefully started a trend for big shallow square tanks, with jungles growing out of them :-) I'm all for it and hope to see more. Who's next??? Cheers Gavin

I once kept cherries with rummynose as well as embers and they did fine. Give me a PM if you're looking to buy some :-) Cheers Gavin

Ok, I was only kidding but until the order comes from Aquariumplantfood, blahblahblahblah will to do :-) "The nitrate haters" I love it :-) Cheers Clive. Gavin

Thanks Darren. I think I'll add the other stuff and knock my lighting down from 8 to 4 hours. Not sure what our local tapwater is like for nitrates but I do have a healthy fish sticking so I'll feed em well and instruct the Missus to do so while I'm away too :-) KNO3 is good, but ya can't...

Hi all, I dose MgSo4 Trace Kh2Po4 KNO3 I've ran out of KNO3. I've just done my water change and could have sworn I have another bag of this! So my question, would the plants (all slow growers) do ok with the other ingredients until about Thursday???? Thanks Gavin

No it's definitely not air coming in. I think we've figured it out now. It looks to me like the previous owner has taken it apart and cleaned it back to almost new condition. But, I think he's not put the bush and O ring back in the right way. Will report back, as I think it could prove useful...

I've got 2 myself and they're great. But this one has something missing/wrong inside.

Hi all, My friend has a secondhand FX5 filter that makes a horrible mechanical noise. It runs and looks to be working ok but the noise is too much and after a chat with someone at Fluval he purchased a new impeller unit. But, with the new impeller fitted the noise is still there. Any...

Hi All, I know alot of Plecos find these plants too tasty to resist, but has anyone experience of a fancy pleco that didn't eat the swords???? Thanks Gavin

The shabby chic rim and the sash window gives the whole thing an old world charm; not sure about the closing shot of your scuddies though :sick: :) I couldn't agree more, a really simple and classy example. And I laughed so much when I saw the scrumpled kegs on the bed!! What the f...

ND Aquatics, St Albans. I can't recommend the quality and value enough. Seriously impressive and cheap delivery! Black silicone looks great! :-)

Hi all, I've done well with RCS and kept Amanos. So what cool looking shrimp does y'all recommend for me to try next in my small planted cube tank??? And has anyone got stock to sell??? Thanks Gavin

Cheers gents, it's good to have a laugh :-)

Haha! Cheers for that tip Darren :-) And if it works for promoting growth on fingers, is it worth a shot elsewhere??? The wife could do with a bit more I'm sure lol

Thanks guys, Ollie, don't you just tell your kids you'll chop their fingers off if they mess with your stuff??? Fear is good :-) Luis, so if I chop it well, would you chop exactly halfway between the leaves or close to the top or the bottom of the stem between the leaf growths? It's took so...

That corymbosa just keeps getting bigger and better. How high can I grow it???? :-) How do I get it to flower??? Any suggestions????

Cheers Luis :-) Ok the raft design. Alistair, firstly I've tried bolbitus and got nowhere. I hope you do better and give me the secret. The raft is made from closed cell foam. 3 Layers stuck together and shaped and cut:- The cat litter came from my old tank and I placed the whole thing in...

This has been a very enjoyable project started end of feb. If I'm honest, there's been more thought gone into the tank and raft design than the plants. It really has been just a case of trying whatever I liked the look of from pond, house, garden and aquatic plants. A little read up and then...

You've little to worry about with oak and most hardwoods. Getting them to sink is about the toughest part of the process. I left the bark on and put a few ottos and a clown pleco in the tank. There was a bit of stuff coming through the bark for a while but that's gone now and I'm about 8 months...

Maybe putting a fish in the drop checker is a better indicator than blue solution!? :-)

Goldfish tank oportunity I got my recent custom tank from ND aquatics, St Albans. The quality is amazing! Depends where you live?

Can't see a problem with your idea, but it will save you using de chlorinator. Leaving the water standing overnight does the job of chlorine evaporating. :-)

Here's a pic of the tank, for all P@H cube fans :-)

I'm always disturbing them :-) I have a bunch of fry in there too and was netting some out recently. But there's always some breeding going on in there. I tend to notice a population explosion once in a while but having fry in there certainly keeps the numbers down.

I was fearing that would be the case. I wonder why she's done that!? :-/

I've had breeding cherry shrimp for a long time in 2 tanks, and always understood them to give birth to tiny baby shrimp. So, what are these things!?!? Anyone seen this before???

Luis This is fascinating! I really like reading of others who fight the norm. In this hobby of folk following the old paths like sheep it's refreshing to see you and some others giving those Pre Conceived ideas a kick up the backside. Big pat on the back and best wishes from me! :-) Gavin

It wore away the whiskers on my catfish. Corydoras Arcuatus :-( And apparently they dont grow back.

Wheelie bin! That's what they're for :-) Fill it to the brim and but something heavy on the lid to keep it down. Then practise the art of patience. Sometimes pieces with lots of holes have holes you can't see that hold air of course. Can take forever but once it's almost sunk you can screw it...

Hi Luis, I've not been on here much for a long time, but I'm picking my new tank up on Friday so will be starting an emersed growth project. These pics of Hygro are great! I've grown a stem of hygro corymbosa that looks very similar to yours and it's been transferred from one tank to another...

My experience of the person at Java plants was awful! A complete lack of customer care, and a ridiculous amount of phone calls and messages left before any contact was finally made. Took weeks to process a refund when the plant I was after did not arrive after 3 attempts. Maybe I was unlucky :-/

I agree, they're evil! They breed without a mate so, one can and will become hundreds! And it will happen almost overnight so act now and keep an eye out for more of them.

Hi, I've tried it a few times and had no luck with it. I have a feeling my lighting was too close, it didn't like the ripple on the water or there's something else I've gotten wrong??? But it's been tried on 3 tanks with varying setups, from high tech to low and slow. It's beaten me every time...

Dwarf Plecos I can re assure on the Ancistrus Claro. I've had 6 in my tank for a long time and they've not done any plant damage at all. Having said that, I do feed them well :-) L200, amazing fish but they sucked the life out of my anubias leaves! I've not tried them yet but a nice small...

Upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S2 from an Iphone 3G. Im sending it back! They're close to the mark on.some features and the extra size of the screen is great, but for overall use and ease, the Iphone is still my favoured choice. :-)

I had a problem getting my one zebra Otto to feed. He was left from a group i bought a long time ago. I kept trying different veg and the one that got him feeding was red pepper. Blanched. Now he's eating any veg, blanched or not. And will rummage the substrate for small pellets too. It has been...

Re: EI & breeding fish Hi I've had success with Geophagus Pindare in my planted tank that im probably doing EI way too high on the doses. I've purposefully kept up with the regime, and the tanks now overrun with fry :-) Gavin

Just to be sure, take a water sample to your LFS. You'd not be the first experienced fishkeeper to believe all is fine with their water. Worth eliminating this I suppose, but yes, he could just be an old boy on his last er... Fins :-/

Wish I could help you mate, I've never treated for HITH, I've only used different foods and additional waterchanges. I think the marks can take a long time to go completely and often the scars don't disappear completely.

Great looking cube! :-) Did you actually get a light with this kit from P@H?

It's always guesswork as to what has caused HITH or 'Hole In The Head' but I'm not experienced enough to suggest anything else it could be. What Id suggest is google it and look at pics of other fish to see for yourself if it looks like your fish problem. Have you always fed bloodworm? This is...

I agree, and it's a mystery condition that folk blame everything for! At the end of the day, stress of some sort will most likely be the cause. All you can do is look at your tank maintenance, tankmates, etc and look to improve things. Foods with earthworm and garlic will most likely help heal...

Cool. And they don't uproot things??

I've read here some mention of folk keeping corys in tanks with cat litter substrate. Has anyone noticed any damage to their barbules? I think that's the right word lol I've always been conscious of putting corydoras onto a sharp substrate, I've only ever kept them on sand so far. I do have 5...

Just my luck! If you have any left I'd really appreciate that, thank you. Do you agree this would look better in the foreground than hairgrass? Or should I fill in the gaps of sagitarius with hairgrass??? Hmmm

Alistair, Which is the right name for hairgrass? I'd like shorter rather than longer. Is it Eleocharis parvula or acicularis ?? Have you or anyone here tried dwarf sagitaria planted in cat litter? I'm trying to decide which to finish off this tank with I have a personal feeling that sagitaria...

I have a recently scaped tank that I'm really loving the look of with this reddy cat litter substrate. Having never used anything other than playsand or pool filter sand, this stuff seems extremely light! And difficult to root small plants into. Are commercial fertilised substrates heavier...

"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal I love this tank! It's very daring with colours and the amount of wood used. I'd like to re scape my big tank one day and will be looking to your huge stash of driftwood once I've a bit more cash in my pocket. Do you envisage growing any plants out if the...

Oh there's loads!!!! :-) Up until recently I was fairly unfamiliar with planting in gravel or sand. All my earlier planted tank efforts have consisted of the ranges of anubias, java fern, bolbitus, moss and some cryptocoryne. Tanks based on cichlids and plecs that like to sift and dig. I've also...

Hi Sanj, Thanks for coming back after so long. You'll be happy to hear we have a new fence now :-) but that's got naff all to do with Co2 or EI or any possible GSA on my Anubias leaves ok. lol The tanks always changing, and I guess is looking more natural rather than showy as time goes by...

What plants for a Peruvian #biotope? Sorry if I've missed this info somewhere, but what size is this tank?? Have you put the angels in already? You not fancy a small Geophagus presence??

What plants for a Peruvian #biotope? Love it Luis! Gold tetras are a great choice too. Some fish really suite tannin stained water and low light. I keep thinking about silver tip tetras shoaling with green neons for a low lit tank :-) Apistos would be lovely in there too. Cheers Gavin

Send an email to them or call them to see if they respond quickly. I have a feeling you may wait some time. A part time, don't care enough attitude is something to avoid. But try them for a chat first :-)

I have had cherry shrimp breeding constantly in a few different tanks since I introduced 3 shrimps that came in a bag with a few young plecs. Theyve always reproduced, the best tank for this was a low tech, hard tapwater, planted tank. The only thing that stops mine increasing their numbers is...

Couldn't decide which was the best pic :-) Apologies for the poor quality pics. iPhone needs a new lens I reckon :-) Added a pic I took when first setting up. Bit better I hope?

Contact Steve Chester from British Cichlid Association. He's a big fan of pencilfish and breeds a number of them. PM me and I'll pass on his email :-)

Most wood is ok, but yes avoid pine and other evergreens. I'm never sure when I pick up a piece without exact ID but its always worth a shot. You need to spend time preparing it which usually tells you whether any nasty stuff is going to leach out. I leave it in a spare tank or bin to soak for...

Excellent! Then you have fish food live and ready for consumption :-) It is a form of ephemeroptera. Mayfly are the largest of these and this little felloe is what flyfisherman know as an 'Olive' There's about 27 different upwinged insects of this genus. All are edible to a fish, I'm pleased to...

Stem Rot & Decay.. Anubias & Hygrophilia species Cut all the rotten pieces away and then turn on your koralia 24/7. That's exactly what I did and I didn't have any further problems :-)

Stem Rot & Decay.. Anubias & Hygrophilia species Hi, I'm not sure if this is the answer but I had a similar spate of problems some time back with anubias dying here and there around my tank. It was caused by fluctuating temperature. It was summer and I had problems keeping temps down but...

Does anybody ever go from High tech to Low tech?????? :-/

Thanks for your pointers there, much appreciated. Although it sounds as though Low Tech could prove higher stress!? I've actually watched our 2ft thrive with hardly any effort. No CO2, rarely add any ferts and waterchange every 2 weeks or so. Plants do take longer to grow new leaves, but they're...

Thanks for the kind words :-) The tanks going ok actually. Had an attempt at a spawn from my Geos. The largest 2 fish paired up, but as is often the case they messed it up. Let's see how they go next time around. I'm having thoughts of changing things a little though. Hi all If I chose to go...

Your tank definitely has great potential, but no matter how healthy and green the plants are, the first thing we'll always notice will be the traffic cone! Your discus will find somewhere nice to spawn if they want to reproduce, a piece of bogwood or rock or even chunky plant leaf. I know we...

Have you kept them??? If so, tell us about the tank, conditions, flow, tankmates etc??? Be good to hear the benefit of a successful keepers experience. Cheers

That's really nice Luis. I think that splash of colour in the leaves is perfectly placed. Well done :-)

Hi George, Why don't you leave out the Festivium (the most difficult to keep!) then have plants? I saw pics and vids once of a rooty stretch of river with large dense patches of low growing echindorus. It looked great! *speak to Dan27 off PFK on his and other folks experience of Feativium*...

Don't add a layer of filter floss! This will be clogged and reduce flow to a stop in a matter of 2 weeks. Mine don't throw out much rubbish, but a little occasionally, and I don't worry too much about it. If that gunk is in your filter or in your tank, it's in the system somewhere and shouldn't...

You guys are unreal! I take the 'generous offer of plants' Receive heavily algaed moss and badly affected Windelov and I'm the bad guy all of a sudden! George I understand your sentiment and maybe I should not have been so hasty, but we Brits do have a habit of getting walked on and we all too...

No I just paid the postage, £1.50. But the annoying thing was the time spent only to have to dismantle the display and trim it all away. I can still see BBA though :-( Had some great plants off here too Luis, but this is the second time I've received rubbish! I just wish folk wouldn't do...

Hi all I'm feeling a tad disgruntled. Have any of you really regretted the plants you've purchased or been given by other members? I've had quite a few great plants and been happy with most, but today I received some moss and a windelov fern, that really disappointed me. I'd received a nano...