Pet Forum / Aquaria / Freshwater / December 2003

         New to the game (although had pond fish for several years now) and
I have a couple of questions.
   Got a jewel rio 125 litre tank.  been cycling 2 weeks now.  after 1 week
lfs recom. 6 guppies 2 swordtails and a 2 corys.   All going well, except

I'm looking for a little input on finding a small multi purpose filter ...
let me explain what I would like to use it for:
First off, I would like it to be able to provide filtering for my 5G
quarantine tank.  When the quarantine tank isn't being used I'd like to able

     I've raised guppies and mollies for awhile now. Yesterday I was
blessed with a free used 50 gallon aquarium. Ok, my 55 gallon and the
10 gallon baby tank are for the live bearers but I think I'd like to
try egg layers in the new tank. Obviously I have several weeks to

Just discovered 50+ krib fry and mother and father seem to be looking out
for them really well. Just wondering though when in parents opinion do fry
become food ?
Thanks

I'm thinking of setting up an aquarium.  I like the looks of
saltwater, but I don't want the hassle.  What freshwater fish might I
buy that would look like they might be from saltwater?

Seemed cycling was going well and thought it would all be done before I move
(most likely it will), but I'm a little concerned with what's happening in
my water.
The Ammonia spiked about 4 days ago.  Now the Nitrites are spiking, in fact

test

I have noticed that some families of fish such as Cyprinidae,
containing such fish as Barbs, tend to have caudal fins that are
divided into an upper and lower lobe ie, for want of a better
description, they are forked. On the other hand other families such as

Hi--I am switching to a power head for my tank while for about 2 weeks--I have a simple and probably
silly question. I use a bio-wheel filter whcih I will turn off for about 2 weeks--is there any way I
can keep the healthy bacteria on the wheel alive? Sticking it in the tank? My ...

I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me on the following
subject.
I've bought a new fish tank for my son for Christmas and am trying, at
short notice, to prepare it for the fish by getting the beneficial

In the last 2 days, two of my glolight tetras have died. About 8 hours
before they died they spent a lot of time gulping air at the top of the tank
and seemed to have trouble swimming. Whilst I expected some deaths initially
(I am new to this aquarium business) I am still not ...

I'm intersted in buying a good quality book that gives profiles of
freshwater tropical fish including ranges of PH and water hardness
requirements for each fish. I'm rather keen on statistics so I'd
prefer a book that is full of numbers rather than one that just says

Thanks for all the help you've given me previously! This group has turned
out to be a great resource for me!
I'm now setting up a tank for my Zebra's. I want to use ceramic tiles as a
background, anybody got any experience with this? I'm thinking possible

Shame on me! While Christmas shopping for my wife at Sears, I wandered through
their water filter aisle. You know, the cartridges for the fridge filter, the
undersink filter, etc.
So it made me curious about a couple of things: There was a whole-home filter