Pet Forum / Aquaria / Freshwater / November 2006

I have a Vortex XL that has been giving me some trouble in the last few
months. I've had the filter almost a year and kept up with maintenance
and have been impressed by how well it works until now.
The motor keeps seizing up on me. I've taking it apart and thoroughly

I just changed the water in one of my 30 gallon aquariums, and then
placed my eight Clown Loaches into it, and then sat down for a short
break, when I noticed them swimming around oddly and then going
belly-up.  Out of the eight, only two are still alive, and I have placed

I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 goldfish. I would like to put some
guppies in there. My goldfish is a 1 inch fantail. How many guppies
could I comfortably keep in my 10 gallon tank with the goldfish?

Hey again,
in another thread I've been advised to get some shellgrit or wonder shells
to increase the buffering capacity of my water, which has a kH of 0ppm (very
soft water here).

So I went to the LFS today to get some advice about what to put with my
CAE that will go with the Loaches and Rainbows when we get the big
tank. (I would appreciate your input on that subject as well).  While I
was there, I noticed some 'Diamond barbs'? I think thats what they were

..And it looks very much like fiberglass insulation.  I think I
remember reading something about it here in this news group, but I
really don't remember any of the specific answers,... Any help would be
very much appreciated.~Dean.

Whenever I look at hatchery pictures the pros make their tanks look
immaculate. OK understandably.  But not just free of detritus, also
free of algae.  And sterile looking, without plants or any features.
I'm experimenting with breeding now.  I thought I'd try using direct

Please help. My Oscar jumped out of his tank. I dont know how long he was out.
he wasnt moving when I got home. but I put him back in. His gills started
moving again, and his eyes will follow me but they are hazy. sits on the
bottom of the tank half on his side and half on his belly ...

I am sure I posted this before but I can't see it...
I have a clown syno, she likes to stay vertical while resting during
hours of light.
She tends to stick her nose out, it has got really pink and sore where

I bought some java moss.  Any reccomendations on how to grow it so I
can harvest it to put in other aquariums?  I read somewhere that if it
attaches it self to soomething it will grow quickly?  What's the best
thing to for that and where would I get some?

Hi gang!
I have a mysterious situation... Here's a bit of back ground... 135 gal
tank with 6 med/small Clown Loaches (CL), 3 Angels, 1 Pearl and 2
Opaline small Gouramis, a 1 Blue Ram Cichlid (super colorful!), and

All,
I have a 10 G unplanted FW aquarium with a power filter & 2 small gold
fish. I also have a bio sponge designed in the power filter. I have a
gravel bed comprising of 5-10 mm stones usually available at the pet

Problems maintaining aquarium pH can sometimes be attributed to
improper testing.
The two most frequent mistakes my customers made were as follows:
1) Do not test water immediately after being drawn from the tap.

Hey all,
as I'd expected, my continuing foray into goldfish keeping is still proving
to be a learning curve - I didn't realise that as well as my Tetratest
strips (which test for KH, pH, NO3 and NO2 levels), I needed an ammonia test

Friends,
I have a hangon type power filter for my 10 G tank. I recently found a
new type of cartridge which has zeolite crystals along with GACarbon.
The manufacturer claims this cartridge can remove Ammonia ..now my