Faran

Melafix contains natural antibiotics that can fight fungus and fin rot as well as many other ailments. While it isn't a cure-all, it's a good start for trying to help out sick fishies before moving on to the heavier stuff.

Hi evil, Believe it or not, this has been asked and covered many times before on these forums. To summarize I think thr general response was to either find some way (a release valve) to stop the CO2 at night, or to run an airstone at night which will cause surface agitation - releasing the CO2 while at the same time oxygenating the water for the fish. I'm sure you've seen it before, but on the buttons above, there's a Search facility for the forums where you can bring up every mention of co2 there's ever been.. there's a lot! Blue

Heya sharn, u have my back (but you already knew that). I was just thinking about our convo today when at the LFS looking at the pacus swimming around lazily. Even though I know I'd need to get another huge tank I STILL want some!

Good Morning MCT! Sorry to take so long to see this, must have missed it in my scans over the forums. The best medication to add to your tank for fin rot is Melafix, readily available from your LFS. I would also add Methylene Blue, as the fluffy white bit is most probably fungus and a secondary infection to the fin rot. Meth blue will stain your tanks silicone and/or hoses blue (and anythng you might accidentally splill it on) but it's worth every little blue smudge. Also good for preventing eggs from fungusing if/when you ever want to breed those glowlights! So yes, Melafix for tail rot (and a lot of other things). Good luck!

Have yet to see a redspot with bristles. Snowflake BNs are extremely rare and unless you bought it from an importer or directly from a breeder it's 99% likely to just be a nicely patterned BN. You'll see when you come over on Thursday. I don't have any snowflakes, but many colour variants of BNs.

Ah well, better luck next time. You might have some luck getting your male to pair off with another female, who knows? So Luke and I were chatting last night and comparing notes and it turns out that his pair and my female from my breeding pair are siblings. Suppose they finally all hit maturity at the same time?

Actually, I doubt it was the angels. A fish needs a certain amount of mass in order to move anything underwater (you try pushing a boulder while swimming and see how it goes) and due to the shape on angels and the way the pectoral fin keeps them from getting leverage I doubt they'd ever be able to do any significant earthmoving. While looking at your list of fish, I can't see any that would do any digging unless your ghost knife was really trying hard to find a hiding place. My guess for the cause of the pit would be some kind of water flow. Have you done a water change lately? Interesting mystery. Craig is right though, it sounds like cichlid behaviour. Could someone have slipped in a convict without you noticing?

ya got a female fer yer male? sweet as. Got a bit confused there until you mentioned the colours. It seems you have a happy couple and will soon be crawling with baby cons. Not much for you to do to speed up this process except feed them and keep them in water

Congo Cichlids, aye? I'd be keen to get some for my Congo tank (if it's still around next month - downsizing). They look like really cool little fish, what's the tempermant towards tank-mates? Not sure if anyone has told you this before, but it really helps if you fill out the location field in your profile... yes, we saw you're from Dunners

And they include an instructional DVD with the 05s. I use a 204 and 404 on my 500l discus tank and aside from the occasional air leak (will try vaseline) they're smooth-as. I even got an old 403 sitting here ready to go if I can ever find an O-ring for it. Fluvals aren't as quiet as other brands, but still rank WAY up there over some of the cheap canister filters I've come across lately.

The wrigglers won't be free swimming until about 72 hours after hatching. They have big yolk sacs to devour before trying to move around Mom and Dad will do the best to protect the youngsters but a larger/quicker fish will make an easy meal of them if given a chance. Good luck and remember - if this clutch doesn't work out, you have 13-14 more chances to go. They spawn once a week almost like clockwork.

Visit Paul and get some more female swordtails. 2-3 girls to each boy is pretty normal or livebearers.

I hope you have a LARGE tank if you're thinking of getting one of these. I heard a 5ft tank was the minimum size when I read up on them back in the day. As for the neons, they'd make great live food for him and would probably get eaten even at 100mm. They're basically a pretty freshwater barracuda. Good luck!

Wicked. Too bad they're already endangered... looks a bit like a tiny knife fish...

Kookie, I'm local (Upper Hutt) and can hook you up with some. Would be faster and easier (an cheaper) than Dubbie sending you some...

Set up the new breeding tank last Wednesday and finally moved the pair over on Sunday. They must like it, as they spawned the next day. Parents are busily fanning the eggs and watching over them and the only problem I have now is getting past dad to do the water changes. He even attacks the ramshorn snails when tey get too close to the pot Fins crossed for wrigglers tomorrow or Thursday!

Hi Lynda, Let me assure you that the true snowflake bristlenose (as advertised by dorl on TradeMe) IS rare and not a common bristlenose at all. There are only a few in New Zealand and they were mostly imported or bred from the imported stock, not bought in a fish shop. I've seen the specimens advertised on TradeMe in person and I'd LOVE to buy some if I could afford them. So are you seriously thinking about getting some? Worth every penny, hope youcan breed them to get them out to more members! Blue

hi again, glad you sorted it with the BBS. Yes, the airline goes through the lid, but no airstone is needed and it won't drain properly if you have one. The hardest part of this setup is drillingthe right size hole through the lid and making sure it NEVER tips into your tank (if you're keeping it warm in the same tank you have fish). A teaspoon of salt will only harm the most delicate fish (elephant fish, for instance), but you'll never get the hatched eggs out of your tank! Be sure and chuck some snails in the tank with the fry to clean up left over BBS. They tend to die and foul the water. Devon - were you hatching successfully and now it doesn't work? If so, your water may have gone foul. Give it a nosey and see if it smells off. If you're just getting them started for the first time, follw instructions above and you can't go wrong. P.S. - If you have a warm enough spot, you can put the half bottle inside another (reight side up) half bottle for a stand. You'll need to cut a hole in the side for the airline though. I'm sure there's a how-to online somewhere...

The local fish club is Kapi-Mana Aquarium Club and there's another one called the Wellington Garden and Aquarium Society. KMAC is the only one FNZAS affiliated at present but I think you'd be better off with KMAC anyways as I think WGaAS meets in Paraparaumu. KMAC meets in Tawa on the last Wednesday of every month (two days from now). You'll meet lots of good people and quite a few live right in the Wai with you. Oh, and membership gives you a 10% discount at most of the non-corporate LFSes around on fish gear too, so it's quite handy when building up your setups.

Heya Kookie, another local wellingtonian Welcome and we hope you enjoy your stay on the forums Not familia with the 386 but if it's a typical canister filter then just add some ceramic noodles (can be purchased easily from Hutt Pets or the Wai pet shop) between your existing layers of filter wool and you should be set. Just be sure to wash your hands before-hand and only rinse with current tank water when playing with/cleaning your filter to make sure all those good bacteria stay alive. Take care and hope to see you at the local fish club meet on Wednesday!

Hey Lynda, Just PMed this to you, but may as well post so ohters might read and benefit. Hi Lynda, You're right, with the packets you won't need salt. pH is not the prob, as we have a pH down here from the tap of around 6.8 and mine hatch just fine. So what exactly are you using to hatch them in? You realize that there should be constant water agitation from air bubbles, right? My punctuation drawing isn't the best, but here's my setup... | | | | \ / - half a coke bottle || L - air hose through cap This provides a constant flow of bubbles and has a second function as a handy syphon hose as well when you unhook the hose and use it as a drain. Tun off air (shut off valves are handy here) and set some place dark for about 5-10 minutes. Siphon through a hanky and pour back when done. With the packets, I suppose you should just add half a pack to half a litre of water (pre-measure before pouring the first time and mark the level on the bottle for future fills) and toss all the water after you've seived and start over. Good luck!

ilah, is the L128 sometimes called a "Blue Pleco"? Ran into one of these over the weekend and it was a gorgeous specimen. Any idea what the normal price for them are?

Kyle, if you like breedable rare plecs you should think about getting some Panaque Vittata from NZ Discus. h(just realized that the auction is linked above) I REALLY need to get some of your plecs from you, you have a great collection! As for us, we have a Panaque Nigrolineatus, typical albino (chocloate) pleco and a heap of BNs and just 4 GBAs. Both the Royal and regular pleco will soon outgrow the tanks, but I have a 500 Litre discus tank for one of them when that happens... the regular plec will prolly get sold before that tho.

I think Riccia is by far the best floating plant. Many people use it for carpeting, as well. I had some create a nice carpet on a heater guard, was great until a double dose of Flourish Excel killed it off. If you want some, you're welcome to it. Easy as to scoop out as it grows into mats if there's not too much surface agitation. I've recovered completely from losing nearly all of it in the move, so there's enough to spare. Can TrackPak a bundle overnight for $3.50 and it's some expensive stuff on TradeMe, ask Mrskz

Saw some in Pak'n'Save in Upper Hutt the other day, did you chack there? Only a 10 min drive from Stokes...