New Tank for cichlids!

[|squee|]

Aquasoil cannot be washed! Your tank should be extremely murky now. You have to do a ton of water changes and try not to disturb the substrate anymore. In simple terms Aquasoil is like hardened clay pellets, that's why you cannot wash them. By right the water should be very clear if you set Aquasoil up properly.

[stormhawk]

When you wash the Aquasoil, you are basically breaking it down into "mud". Not a good idea, and definitely not standard practice with such soils. Lay them as you wish, then place the bag over the soil and pour water in slowly. Rushing it will not help. Like what squee said, if you set it up properly you won't have an issue at all.

By the way, the pieces of wood and twigs are normal. They typically float to the water surface after the tank has been filled. All you need to do at that time is net them out.

[sen_jie]

Thanks for the advise. i think i just "slap myself in the face" No wonder how hard i wash, it is still so murky.

tonight shall pour the rest of the soil in and fill it with my old tank water!

[alfredliow316]

Since it's a new tank without any fish, do a WIWO-Water In Water Out.

Just need 2 hoses to do it. One hose from the tap, the other hose to siphon out water. The hose letting in water, think of a way to block out the water pressure entering the tank so that it doesnt disturb the substrate anymore. Do it till you see clear water in your tank. Then you can start cycling the tank.

[driftbaker]

hi guys, would like to seek advice on the topic of the aquasoil. you guys said no need to wash? is it true for all type of sand?

[Aquanoob]

It is for those soil which is clay-based, like ADA, GEX, etc those brown-black or orange colour soil. For those inert type like black quartz, sand, I think you can wash them before use as they won't turn muddy.

[Don90]

Thanks for the advise. i think i just "slap myself in the face" No wonder how hard i wash, it is still so murky.

tonight shall pour the rest of the soil in and fill it with my old tank water!

Bro just pour in the soil, then pour in the water. Theres no need to wash aquasoil.

wait for a few hours or overnight and wait for the particles to settle at the bottom. For those floating particles or small pieces of floating fiber, just use a net to scoop it out.

[sen_jie]

Anybody knows of any angelfish homebreeders around? looking at some fake altums to placed in my tank

[illumnae]

haha what do you define as "fake altums" bro? JZX is supposed to be expected a batch of F1 or F2 Manacapuru angels. No idea when the ETA is though.

[sen_jie]

Erm.. something like pervuvian angels or Manacapuru. Looks like altum but without altum price tag hahaha

Oh! thanks for the head up, time to send lianho a sms

[illumnae]

They've arrived and look good Do note however, that Manacapurus look like typical scalares when adult, just with red colouration. If you're looking for altum lookalikes, you want peruvians or those from Santa Isabel (very rare and more expensive than altums!!!)

Altums are also cheaper than most, if not all, wild scalare/leopoldis

[sen_jie]

Thanks for the heads up bro.

Will drop by lianho's place to take a peep. He have already watsapp me a sneak preview. Looks awesome!

However i may move towards peruvian angel or maybe the real altums still lots of plans in my mind. going through what i really like as well as what my wallet really like.

[illumnae]

You definitely should drop by to take a look. I saw the sneak preview too and it's great

After some further thought, I would think manacapuru would be good for you. 1.5ft height is too low for altums. I used to keep my old 2008 batch in 2ft depth and they maxed out at 11 inches height - definitely not their maximum potential. My current batch is in 2ft 4 inches height and even when young I see better finnage.

[sen_jie]

So can i assume that Manacapuru even when fully grown the total height is one of the smaller species of angelfish around?

[sen_jie]

And idea on how to sex the angel?

[stormhawk]

Not easy to sex. Adult males may form the nuchal hump, but only in a few. Best to buy around 6 pieces and see if you're lucky to get a pair. If I was you, I'd buy Pt. leopoldi. When in good shape they are stunners, and IMO the most beautiful of the wild angels.

[illumnae]

The metal blue "blusher" on leopoldis is indeed beautiful. They also stay smaller than scalares and their beauty is often understated. My opinion differs slightly in that I don't think that they're the most beautiful when compared with altums and some scalare variants, but their reputation of being the "ugly duckling" of the Pterophyllum genus is definitely undeserved. That being said, I feel that they can definitely hold their own easily in terms of attractiveness when compared to their larger cousins. Each species is just beautiful in its own way.

To answer your earlier question on height, Manacapurus will reach nowhere near the height of altums, and not even Santa Isabels. I don't think they reach the height of Peruvians either, though I may be wrong. I would say that they are the size of a normal Pt scalare angelfish, no more no less.

If you want "smaller", I would still highly recommend Pt leopoldi.

[sen_jie]

sounds cool, thanks to all the advise given thus far especially to illumane and stormhawk.

learn quite alot over here.

One more question. How do i differentiate Pt leopodi and mancapuru?

[illumnae]

Leopoldis are more elongated in shape (they are known as long-nose angelfish), and one distinct characteristic is that they have a rather large blotch on the body just below the dorsal fin. Specimen in good condition will also exhibit metallic blue cheeks. They also have larger scale size than altums and scalare on their bodies.

Try googling both species, the most distinctive traits to me are the body shape and the blotch, which you can clearly see from the google images.

[sen_jie]

sure! i am googling now. then as for peruvian angels, is that their scientific name? or is it a trade name as it is collected in peru?

From what i read thus far seems like angelfish have 3 main category, seems like scalare, altum and leopoldis. In this case, where does manacupuru and peruvian stands?