Pet Forum / Aquaria / General / May 2004

Can anyone explain or point me to an explanation of the relative virtues of
sand vs gravel as a substrate?
What comes to mind is that the sand might be  more work initially if there is
much initial washing involved. Also I wonder if sand, to the same depth,

I'm about to decorate the area of the house my fish inhabit.
Anyone know a Fish Friendly paint out there ?
Good experiences or bad of well known paint
names ??

I've finally got my show tank stocked. I was going to tear down my 10gal
quarantine tank, but I think I might make it look a little nicer and
keep a permanent resident in it. What would be a neat single fish
(or possibly pair) with some personality that would be happy in a 10

It's only a couple of months off my 2-week holiday and this newbie has
no-one (who he would trust) to look after his beloved fish whilst he's away.
Although I've seen mention of a couple of auto-feeders, I'm specifically
after one that will sit nicely on a Juwel tank (Vision 180).

I will be setting up a saltwater tank with a combination of fish and live
rock.  I have been reading several books to try and help.  I am starting to
realize this is going to be a pretty expensive hobby.  The help I need.
Please let me know if I am missing anything.  Here goes.  ...

I have some mardel coppersafe.  On the back it says it may be harmful to
plants.  Anyone know if it is and which plants?  The only other tank i can
put my plants in is full of snails.  W.

Can anyone point me to some sites that show aquarium layout and design
preferably with plants?
I have some decorative rock and a rock looking planter and I have a bunch of
various plants being delivered within the next week.  I'd like some ideas of

yesterday my albino corydoras unexpectedley spawned, I haven't actually been
trying to breed them.
I have moved the eggs into a second (empty) tank, this tank has been well
matured and was about to be re-stocked.

I'm considering one of these. But I wonder if there are any issues with this
large triangular tank that I need to know about. Does anyone use one of
these, and how easy (or hard) is it to deal with the fact that the farthest
part of the back is quite a bit farther away from the ...

My tank's been up and running for 18 months or so, and I'm finding it
tricky to keep everything clean and shiny.
I change the water each week by vacuuming the gravel (which I'm sure
helps), but it's still hard to get everything really clean. Examples are

Has anyone seen any of this Bio-Spira in Calgary?
It sets up the tank immediately.... as in no cycling!!!!
I can't find anywhere to order it from on-line, and haven't seen it in any
stores here.

Hi, have brand new pump for over 2 weeks, tank was at right ph level, added
some new fish, n tank has gone all cloudy, won't clear, can anyone help me
please?    kirk34@lycos.co.uk, please if anyone can help me , ty xxx

Would there been any negative benefit to placing aragonite sand on top of
crushed coral, about 2 inches of each in a 55 gallon aquarium that is being
set up for a reef tank?  thanks
currently have about three inches of crushed coral on top of an undergravel

my male dwarf gourami has suddenly become "top heavy" for some reason.
meaning he cant quite seem to level out and has spent most of the last
2 days with his back fin at or near straight up. he looks fine..no ich
or any noticeable rot or abrasions and is eating as if nothing was

Help one of my fish looks very ill , he seems to of lost all his colour , he
use to hang around up at the top end of the tank with his other two pals ,
but he also seems to have a bend in his spine and his fins look a little bit
off , but not missing ???? , theres no kids around and ...