pride

Ended up being 4 males and 1 female. Got a batch of fry this week which i tipped from the females shell into a fry saver and left her with a few to look after. They dont swim around like other fry and do alot of sitting and skimming on the bottom. I managed to count roughly 50 in the fry saver and have feeding on hikari first bites but going to hatch some baby brine shrimp and see how that goes. Not the greatest of timing as im heading overseas for 3 weeks so my daughter will be in charge of feeding. From everything ive read calvus are difficult to successfully raise from fry. I will be manning my daughter with a large pipette for feeding and cleaning the bottom of the fry saver.

West Ryde Aquarium have now just closed down. The site has been bought by chemist warehouse so all the shops are having to move out..sad

Ive had these guys for around 6 months but having some difficulty sexing. They range between 5 and 10cm. The ones all shown here im thinking male and assuming another which spends nearly all the time in the shell in one of the pics female. The larger one is always guarding around the shell but does allow the others near it. Anyone able to confirm from the pics shown all males? Such a comical fish the way they interact with each other.

Anywhere around Sydney that still makes solid pine timber stands? Everywhere seems to just have these gloss finished cabinets that look like they are from an ikea factory. Anyone know a place that has raw solid pine setups?

Just came across this great vid on youtube posted recently by Australian Biotopes. Great info and shows how devastating the impact is releasing ornamental fish in our native waterways.

Also quite a few lots of apistos

I think they said about 100 lots issued for the auction didnt show. I think about 300 and some lots went through. Lots of the usual bristlenose varieties and electric yellows. Alot of chewere and moorii and a few lots of calvus. Dont recall any lake victoria stuff go through and a few americans like angels, blue eyes, blue acara and brasiliensis. I think the big purchase buy were 11 tropheus that went for around $200. Also some rare plecos which were passed in due to not meeting reserve. I hadnt been to a major auction for some time. Enjoyed it but unfortunately not much of what i was looking out for. Congrats to club committee and volunteers who are still doing a great job running it.

Also is anyone else having issues with the forum search function with a message saying there was an error - wait 5 secs before trying again?

Ive got a JBL PRO Aquatest kit which tests everything but I have no idea on its shelf life. Would anyone know how long the test bottle solutions last? I did manage to find on the box on the back a “conservation 03.2021” which i assume could mean expiry but wouldnt think all the tests in the kit would expire at the same time. Ive had it for about 4 years. What kits are other people using or recommend? Refills seem difficult to get hold of for the JBL kit or quite expensive.

Thanks Chris, Should hopefully give me a couple of hours then and in time to grab some bargains

For the Major Auction nights what time do they usually wrap up? Want to go but have some other things on in the afternoon.

Have been messing around with Chat GPT and it can write up some great species profiles in seconds. Maybe Chat GPT can start moderating the forums and answer all questions…funny times

Thanks for that, would love to have a go at doing some proper biotope tanks for particular rivers or lakes

Came across this account on youtube and has alot of good content showing American cichlid species in their native habitat plus alot of other species of fish. https://youtube.com/@belowwater Anyone have any other good similar content found on the likes of youtube?

I actually picked today up a group of geophagus brachybranchus. Aiming to grow them out for a year then move to a 6 x 2 Will post some pics soon once settled in