peanuts

dont change a thing,these guys are obviously very happy you have done an awesome job,if it ain't broke why fix it!

yep,one thing these fellas ain't short of is the urge.take one female add one male=babies,they is gooood little fishies .mine are doing the same

friggen eck,don't you just hate that.i hope she wasnt your only lady

welcome to the merry band the more the merrier i say

We are of the same opinion. but at least they when called from the pet shop they did act on it (if they hadn't already) and got MAF involved at their end. maybe if more pet shops and fishy people put pressure on the "importers" it will improve the communication and the hobby.

As a result of this "thread" a local pet shop who has these "eels" acutally contacted the supplier to advise that they wheren't "glass Loaches". at the time he contacted the supplier the supplier was unaware that they where not loaches and immediatly got onto MAF who arrived within an hour to inspect. they have been quarrinted by MAF. the supplier advises that 1000 of these came into the country and when he contacted MAF he had 500 still, the rest had been sold to stores. the local pet shop has 30 of them and MAF has said to them we cannot stop you from selling them but we strongly request that you don't sell them and they have placed a "not for sale" sign on the tank. MAF will come and inspect next week.

way to go boyo :bounce: :bounce:

sorry to hijack gem but one of my females was holding when i got home last night :bounce: :bounce: ive got all my fingers crossed for her ,still holding tonight

ob,when you have sorted the fish you have im sure there are lots of people on here that can sort some africans for you,but please research the fish for required water parameters.sounds like your going to have an interesting combination in your tank.might be better to get that 6 footer sooner rather than later glenn

Hi Sam, great to see you joined the forum, you will get lots of advice here, you might like to start a thread/post in the "welcome" section and let everyone know what size tank and what you have - they will be able to give you the advice you seek. cheers Karen

Smidey looks good, but curtain wire is easier to control and easier to grip. the tool we use most regulary is the bbq sqewer (metal rod with loop at end) to hold/weigh down zuchini for the bristles and pleco, saves my teaspoons. and a longgggg pair of tongs to retrive them.

Peter from Port Nicholson Glass, he's in Petone, details are in the phone book or pm us for his contact details.

which type of snails are you talking about?

now that makes pretty grim reading

so sorry to hear that alex ,such a stunning fish too. so the hunt continues.

could also try Zucchinni or pleco tabs or spirlina - mine eat just about anything.

contact or pm Tsarima on this forum - they own a moving buisness - I think they do tanks as well.

that is the case for some gourami but not for the dwarf gourami, - in the case of the dwarf gourami it comes down to colour - males have all the colour females have none or very little. Males can be blue, red or striped but the females (if you can find them), are all grey/silver. Occassionally you will find a female in petshops but not very often as they don't sell, therefore the importers don't bring them in.

First of all the gourami is NOT a female - he is a male - females are grey/silver only. second I believe that they are bitemarks - could be from the other gourami, could be from another fish. the one bite on its own will heal on its own - but the colour won't come back into it - the others are a bit deeper so will need to be watched for fungi. - I have had similar marks like the indiviual mark and did nothing - the fish survived. I would suggest if there are fish fighting you may need to have more areas for them to "hide" try putting more plants in espically those that grow to the surface - or have some plants floating on the surface - this would help them build their bubble nests which they will do even without a female present. - keeps them occupied and will stop any aggression.

Guppies only have a life span of two to three years - so if it was your orignals ones that died not the knew stock - it could have just been old age. Have any of the "new" ones or fry died?

I have breed the dwarf gourami and didn't adjust the temperature at all. found there was no need. I feed them well, they get flake one night and the alternative night they get bloodworm and mysis shrimp - which they love. I currently have two males competing to build bubble nests in the community tank. they keep stealing bits from the other to build there nests - very funny to watch. they do seem to go through a cycle - build bubble constanly for days - then when I won't let them breed - they get on with life and all's great for a couple of weeks - then they start all over again building.

From what I have managed to find out, through many hours of reasearching them.... If you look in some early publications you will see the melanochromis johanni pictured as what you have, but with the blue being somewhat darker in appearance and with the vertical barring being very clear. One such book (African Cichlids of Lake Malawi and Tanganyika, by Axelrod and Burgess, fifth edition p238) describes them as a Likoma Island morph. and they are described as being different to what we now accept as a Johanni. So they have been found in the lake. Are they a cross between a johanni/zebra? If they are a hybrid, it does occour in the lake. Does this make them a species? The same publication does not show the Interuptus, so have they been renamed? Is that in fact what they are. I'm buggered if I know, but what I do know is that they are not accepted as a Johanni by the majority of keepers. Importers and retailers do accept them. I have been watching a pair of these colour up in our lfs and they have very clear vertical barring. Is this a classic example of indecision of species or african miss-identification? Who knows, you make your call! They are still beautiful fish so enjoy them. Sorry to ramble on but, this is just my own thoughts. Anyhow welcome to the minefield of african keeping!

got mine throu the lfs cost about 12bucks

the first lot i got were good clean fish, the second not so ,so they dont exist anymore!!.yep they were bred here.they had nice shape just those friggen spots down their sides.classic litho bothered me for ages just didnt look right. african wil we be gobsmacked in a good way?, or a bad way?

have to agree with frenchy on that one. those litho/freyeri crosses do exist here.do study your fish before buying ,any sign of the spots (didnt know they were called utaka spots many thanks frenchy)please let the seller know(in a polite way of course) why you will not be purchacing their fish.