ShawnG

I feel that medicating everything "just in case", running UV sterilizers and even going so far as weekly 100% water changes like some discus breeders is doing nothing to help the hardiness of livestock. If the fish don't build a healthy immune system early, they're not going to withstand stress well in the future. I get healthy fish with good colour and finnage by doing small water changes weekly, using lots of fast growing live plants (water sprite), snails, scuds and microfauna in the tanks. I have similar tap water to what Cory has and I use 1tbsp of reef salt per 5 gallons to help with minerals and keep parameters stable. I don't get multiple hundreds of babies like some angelfish breeders do but I do get around a hundred healthy fish with very few culls by the time they're ready to go to the store. It might not work for everyone but it works great for me.

I have 6 juvenile Bolivian Rams that I am hoping to get at least one breeding pair from. I had them in a bare bottom tank with a few caves and plants but all they did was hide under the sponge filter all day. I'm liking a more natural method for breeding these days so I added some substrate and a bit more furniture for them. They're already exploring.

I used to feed that quite a bit and probably still would. I buy food based on the ingredient list, not flashy packaging or advertising. Lately I've had really good results from the Breeders Blend flake and Pro Growth flake from Angelfins in Canada.

I've tried off brands a few times but I keep going back to the Ebo Jagr heaters from Eheim, they seem to be the best and they're only a couple bucks more at my LFS.

Someon said something about pics so I snapped a couple this morning. Black angelfish fry : Baby Kribensis:

I'd love to be able to have an empty tank in the fish room but it never seems to stay that way. I go to my LFS and I see something I haven't seen in a while so they come home to see if I can breed them (last month it was a nice group of firemouth cichlids). I enjoy breeding fish, I'm not really in it for the money, I like raising really nice, healthy fish and making them available. My LFS likes the fish I bring them and they're always happy to give me some store credit which results in more fish for them anyway. Everyone benefits.

Nice to be here. I've been on and off in the aquarium hobby for the last 30 years or so. I started up again after a 10 year break and I'm surprised at how much has changed in the hobby. Been following the coop on YouTube for the last couple years and I'm glad to see the forum that has been built. I keep and breed mostly South American cichlids and have been moving more into dwarf types at the moment. I've kept almost everything at some point, including reef tanks although I'm not really interested in salt water anymore. Looking forward to learning more and helping out where I can.