Faran

Hi Ant, The pressure is bowing the glass, which is not a good thing. Recommendation is to try and fnd a local tank maker who may or may not be able to add a centre brace while the tank is filled with water. This is as simple as you/him/her cutting a piece of glass with the exact measurements of your two side braces, and siliconing it across the middle gap. With the bowing I would venture to say that the tank will have to be emptied. Good luck and happy fishing! Blue

My recommendation for spawning egg broadcasters/scatterers - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 230064.htm Seller has 4 different types of "plant" mats. One looks very much like, er... hemp and I honestly had the best results with it out of the four. Just be sure and remove parents asap as they can get under/between and eat eggs.

I highly recommend "The Good Shed" for all your schist needs. At $1/kg it's just about the cheapest you can get, and if you go the the Kaiwharawhara location (not too far down the road from Animates) they have a good enough selection to suit just about any need/size you may have. I've gone there for everything from tanks (caves and aquascape) to ponds (surround pavers). I'm pretty sure Billaney was the original person that told me about it, and Chris Downs reminded me when I was in need again. Happy to pass on the recommendation.

heh, those little guys ARE cute as a button, no wonder you're keen to get some. 3cm max size is too small for me.... I'd either need a decent size version or a big tank full of them! Not a bad idea...

Had a 12cmCongo Puffer (tetraodon miurus) available in BOP but has been sold. Was this the type of puffer you were after? What do they have at Hollywoods?

Thanks Laura, you beat me to it Female livebearers quite often succumb to swimming problems such as head-standing and tail-standing when exhausted by males. As moving them to a breeding trap may stress them to the point of dying it is often best to put them in a tank of their own or even separate males and females when not breeding due to this. As a general rule, it is often best to have 2 females to every male when dealing with livebearers (as opposed to the 2 males for every female with egg scatterers/layers) as males are... well, single-minded

Hi Kookie, For a good planted base the usual recommendation is Dalton's Aquatic Mix under sand or gravel. You can get it at any hardware barn such as your local Mitre10 (saw 15L for $10 this weekend). As for plants, see what Chris Downs might have available or talk to your LFS about ordering some in for you if they don't have it in stock. Brooklands is decent for wholesaling aquatic plants but you won't be able to order directly. Good luck. Blue P.S.- TradeMe is a good place to get plants, otherwise. I saw pygmy chain swords on there just the other day.

I've found that when only doing a small move (like cabinet to cabinet) you can often get by with just temporarily moving most of the water into containers, shifting the tank and then putting the water back in. A little late in this occurance, but may make your next move a little easier Just a note - have LOTS of people handy when moving a tank with gravel/water/fish in it. Feel free to take out any and all decorations (specially rocks and large objects that may shift and damage the tank/fish). You'd be suprised how heavy a tank can be... the more, the merrier is proven very true. Specially on your back!

Congrats, Jude!!! Is this a tank, a pond or a half-barrel?

bought mine from the drug store (pharmacy).

The problem with albinos is that the drops are so small that they'll ALWAYS be hard to get, no matter how much you breed them. Don't get rid of all your other guppies quite yet, a but like putting the cart before the horse... 4 trying tho!

Sure; why not, it's gonna be a freshwater tank, right? Was it just a tank or the whole deal (cabinet, hood, etc)?

Congrats, Devon So just two babies? Small batch. Is she still quite young? What was the father?

Wear some disposable gloves then remove him from the tank and hold him in a towel soaked with water from the aquarium. Use a sterilized needle to gently open the abcess and examine to see what type of fluid (if any) excises. Remember; your primary purpose here is to explore, not do surgery. Don't go digging around while you're in there!

Hi Radu, It's called "Head Standing" and it is a symptom caused by Intestinal worms, Kidney damage, toxic water (do immediate water change) female fish may do this when they become exhausted from the male's breeding attempts. My guess would be toxic water with the situation you described. Change your water. Lots of it. The carbon may help but it's a tough call on if it would be enough. Good luck and I hope your tank recovers. What kind of fish, by the way? Blue

Could always be gill flukes causing problems but don't jump the gun and start treating for that unless you know for sure. Caryl is on the ball, as usual. I usually keep an airstone in my discus tanks as the warmer water makes it the extraction of the oxygen harder. Beautiful tank... are your two adult discus showing any signs of breeding?

I have 4ft light hoods that come with a 30W bulb. They're also adjustable to fit larger and smaller bulbs. I have a wooden hood that came with two sets of double 48" standard flouro light fittings. Works just fine, but they're getting a bit of rust on them as time passes on...

I'd like to ofer Chakuna some help in another way that makes he/she find a digital camera to use... don't think many 10 year olds have access to good cams these days, but the world is changing! Please visit the following links and you may be able to identify your fish. Flying Fox Chinese Algae Eater BTW, this Flying Fox gallery seems to sound the most like what you're describing... If neither of the above, I'll continue assisting if needed. Blue

Ever wish you were filthy rich and had nothing better to do than create masterpieces out of your fish tanks with any plant or fish you desired? Seeing that makes me dream....

Hey jammos, are you sure it's a lemon spotted green? When I was there last he had a "Blue Plecostomus" a.k.a. a Phantom Plecostomus. Same as the LSGP but with a blue colouration instead...

All I can say is that discus aren't that difficult to own.. but breeding them sure is! I've gotten into the lazy habit of doing hose water changes in my fishroom and blame the deaths of the first batch in the breeding tank on that. I read on a few forums that restraining from water changes until the fry are free swimming may prevent the parents from eating them, so I tried that.... to find that the quickly diminshing water qality kileld off a majority of the eggs before they even hatched. My next attempt will involve a water tank pre-warmed and adjusted to the proper parameters for water changes while the eggs/wrigglers are developing and, of course, for the delicate fry. The last change I will be making for this next attempt will be the replacement of the tall terra cotta pot with a proper breeding cone from the LFS. I really don't hink this will make a tick of difference, but you never know! The main purpose will be to try and get a tighter clutch of eggs for easier fertilization as the last few batches have been amoeba-shaped and I've noticed that the egggs on the outside die first - either due to improper fertilization, or the parents aren't able to fan the complete clutch all the time and miss a few at a time resulting in death. Oh, I've laso changed from a single sponge filter to a dual-sponge filter to TRY and keep the water qual better... Crossing my fins for the next spawn which SHOULD happen next Monday afternoon if they keep to the current schedule.

tanks - I was just educated about the monarchs just last night. The swan plant, a.k.a. milkweed, has a toxic milk-like substance that you can see oozing out when you break a leaf. it is this toxin that the monarch caterpillars build up to make them inedible. Due to this I wouldn't recommend feeding them to.. well, anything really - unless you've raised them on pumkins or otherwise as recommended by Alan. And this comment isn't just speculation like the the cichlid plants

We moved in almost two months ago and are now just getting to the end of the long list of must-dos (and money, too!). With a rather long commute to/from the city it will be a life of long days and trying to keep up with tank maintenance afterwards. All very exciting, yes, but a lot of hard work. Thanks for the enthusiasm, though!

Hiya Caper! We're good. I (Blue) am going through the rather frustrating process of trial and error to get a good successful discus spawning. Other than that, going back to Uni in about 2 weeks and have recently bought a home about 40km outside of Wellington (the capital city of NZ). This is allowing me for enough room for a decent fish room setup and I'm actually now slimming down my collection to make room for proper setups (getting rid of nice tanks with cabinets and hoods for racks of tanks, if u know what I mean). Soo..... that's about all, for now. Ryan - any clues to solving the mystery of the gravel pit?

Could be a gill parasite (such as gill flukes) which could be preventing the neon from getting oxygen from the water (a bit like hyperventilating). Then again, gills are pretty sensitive and can be easily damaged from ammonia or any other of a number of variables. Rather than taking my above observation and running out to the store and buying every gill fluke med known to the LFS, try quarantining the neon and see how it does. On a last note, neons are usually poorly made (genetically) due to inbreeding and it could just be coming across one of the many afflictions that plague them. I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but there aren't many adult neons that look stellar due to this...