peanuts

the eco filters are great - we have a 2234 running and its wonderful - primes easily and easy to maintain - BUT it only pumps 500 litres an hour the 2233 pumps around 400 - 450litres an hour. we also have a CF1200 and it also isn't a problem to maintain. it also pumps 1200 litres an hour. so value for money is the CF1200.

woo hoo,when i was doing my evening feed spotted a fry on one of the terracotta pipes.on closer inspection lionheads everywhere with mum and dad defending them.they are in my 6foot african community tank so i guess its survival of the quickest nonetheless im stoked its only taken 2 years just as well im a patient man aye.

I have only ever had a problem with Dwarf gourami and dropsy, it has never affected any other fish I have had in the tank. as I said in an earlier post the Dwarf's easily pick up diseases. so this may be a one of case. but as Alan said if any of your other fish would pick anything up from this it would be the neons, they are also prone to a disease of their own called neon Tetra disease, so I would be keeping an eye on them all the time. but this shouldn't be a problem as sitting and watching fish is part of our hobby.

Unfortunately dwarf gourami are prone to diseases, good that you have separated him as it sounds like dropsy if his scales are sticking out. and I'm sorry to say that there is no known cure for dropsy. having him separated means you have the choice of wait and see or sending him to fishy heaven.

looks like you could have scored yourself one of each - nice going as females aren't that easy to come by. now if possible have some floating plants or plants near the water surface and see what happens.

Pet shops only sell males as that is all that they have to choose from - if they happen to have a female its by pure chance as the importers don't bring them in. the dwarf gourami can be kept quite happy on their own or in pairs or more. it doesn't bother them. and males can blow bubble nests even without a female present if he so chooses. yes the dwarf gourami are prone to diseases but they don't spread to other fish, even other gourami.

all gourami are community fish, I have had guppies in the past with all types of gourami event he kissing gourami - with no problems. with the dwarf gourami - if they have colour - whether it be red or blue - they will all be boys - females have NO colour are a dull grey or silver.

The new shop is called Animalz, used to be a vets only but have expanded to include a shop. Sarah who used to work/manage Animates runs the store. call in and see her - they offer discount to club members. fanastic shop and the tanks and sump where all made by Peter from Port Nicholson Glass.

how big is he?,the bigger he gets the better he looks they are one of my favs ill get some more one day(glenn says as he crosses all his fingers and all his toes) one lonely male just dosn't cut it

as for the tangerines the ones that i saw were sorta like a faded electric yellow but obviously the shape of a peacock,quite nice but im still undecided on them,

hey guys to me it looks like a stuartgranti maleri "sunshine" theres a few of these doing the rounds at the moment,but of course we cant use the varient. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1408 try picture 4 have a look see what you think glenn

i heard it was one down by the lake front in taupo

the only one that i have found that survives and grows is anubias nana,java fern and vals didnt last long in mine all got trimmed at ground level, the java really struggled then wilted,dont know of any others sorry,im still looking. have heard that some of the cryps can do quite well thou.

Where did you catch them from?? if the bristles breed in the main tank, then chances are that the few you caught are just that a few, the rest will be where you caught the few from. my bristles bred in the main tank and he fanned so hard he fanned the eggs into the open, so I put them in a breeding net and raised them myself - i am unable to count them but hazzard a guess at 100. can't advise on growth rate. but if you wanted to put them back in the main tank they will proabably survive, if there are plenty of hidy holes and no night predators. though in doing that in will mean that you probably won't see them for awhile.

as far as i know it is all tied up with genetics,any fish has the potential to throw albinos if the genetic mix is right,with the potential to throw mixes of both hence why he is calling them albino baenschis as any that are thrown normal will be beanschi or royal blues whatever the parents my be.my albino zebs/afras (have yet to prove my suspicions as to what they are) have done exactly that with a drop of 30 odd producing 2 normal coloured ones. hope this helps

in the time that I had dropsy it only affected one fish and didn't pass to other fish. I have heard that it will only pass to fish if the fish "explodes", ie the belly opens up allowing the inside to move through the tank - I am unsure if this is true or not, as once I had determined the fish had dropsy I removed from the tank. Dropsy Symptoms: Bloating of the body, protruding scales. Dropsy is caused from a bacterial infection of the kidneys, causing fluid accumulation or renal failure. The fluids in the body build up and cause the fish to bloat up and the scales to protrude. It appears to only cause trouble in weakened fish and possibly from unkempt aquarium conditions. as the above says it occurs in weakened fish, from numerous threads on this forum a conclusion has seemed to be reached that the imported gourami are not the hardest of fish.

I orignally thought dropsy too, but when I have had gourami's with dropsy they have eaten and the scales started sticking out rather quickly - it may turn out to be that in the end - but at this point we are being told that the scales are not sticking out so there is some hope.

I am not an expert in fish diseases - but I can say that that behaviour and size is not normal for a dwarf gourami. I can advise that you have a MALE gourami. and from reading on the web I suspect that he may have constipation. Constipation Some fish are more susceptible to constipation than others. Usually fish with more compressed bodies like angelfish and silver dollars. Symptoms are loss of appetite and swelling of the body. The cause is almost always diet. Usually, with a change of diet, the condition rights itself. that info was taken from http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... nstipation from previous posts about constipation on this forum, people advise giving fresh veges, ie shelled cooked peas - but whether this will work with gourami I don't know. do you have any frozen blood worm or live food that you could try him on?

do you have a picture? what colour is the gourami - if it silver/grey then it is probably a female and could be full of eggs - however if it is coloured it is probably a male and if its tummy area is large then it could be sick. can you describe exactly what it looks like - colour of fish, what part is "large", are the scales sticking up, any redness on any part of the body. how is it swimming, whereabouts in the tank. this information could help if you are unable to supply a picture. cheers Karen

will my post has been and gone and no AW so will have to agree with caryl - Wellington gets theres last.

fingers crossed for you then Paul - but we do have that good old Wainui water working. and the photo is great - but seeing these fish swim with their long fins is even more WOW

I know you can't set up till you return but you might like to check out the prices on some of the "equipment" before you return in case you can source it cheaper on that side of the world. :roll: oh and of course welcome to the forums.

now thats what i call a rock wall! awesome job well done man.

I'm impressed, as it is sooo hard to determine the sex of kissing gourami, so before you can breed you need a pair. well done and keep us posted.

i have to say when i first saw the pic i to thought beanschi but now im not to sure.when these fish are imported are they all from the same batches?,from my understanding they are farmed.do you think that it would be possiable for the supplier to have several batches of jacobs of different variants in different tanks and come time to make the order for whoever it is that buys for good ole nz,wants say 150 that they make up the batch from several tanks. just a thought i had cause with the difference in this lot they just don't look right to me.i also got some from the recent shipment which i recieved the same week as africans lot and yet the banding and colour of mine is closer to callums than africans but that is not to say africans arent jacobs,there are too many variants to be sure but seen as we dont get variants here we have to make do with what we get.it is a bad thing that we have no variants here. do the importers/exporters say a jake is a jake no matter where in the lake their ancesters come from.maybe we should talk to the importers see if they can shed any light sorry guys for the longwinded reply for this i apoligise glenn