Faran

A recent change in lighting caused a massive surge in my Tiger Lotus growth. I've never let it flower but thought it would be nice to compare with the Red Tiger Lotus flower I did last year. For some reason the white flower seems more elegant than the pink flower and is definitely easier to take pictures of at low light The scent is amazing, pure perfume. Maybe my previous flowers were too far away to smell but I didn't get to enjoy the scent like this. Anyways, hope you enjoy. There's another flower bud halfway up to the surface which is twice this size, so should have an update soon.

danilada - why don't u strip them from her to save them, hun? You can do it pretty easy with the round end of a paperclip and a tumbler. I think Mystic had a good post on here about it once upon a time. Sometimes nature needs some help, trust me! cichlidmad - congrats mate, always a memorable day when you get your first successful breeding, natural or not Thanks for sharing with us and if you got excited enough to take pictures we'd love to see your new babies

I've got a bathtub outside but need to shift them into the garage before it gets too cold. In a couple of months they've doubled the population and I only wish I'd had them out there the whole season! I'm deliberating keeping them with WCMMs, any thoughts?

LMAO, awesome :lol: You really do have GBAs coming out of your ears, dontcha? Heck, even yer snails are being recruited as nannys!

My Book 3 still has the original $60 price tag on it so I suppose that's the RRP.

Hi Spink, I have an Aqua One tank with the same above filter setup and a hole in the outlet like yours. Most people here seem to think she's getting stuck in the intake but I know what you're talking about. That hole is to allow water to flow straight down and prevent any "dead water" under the outlet. You can do a couple of things to prevent this from happening again, one being the steel or plastic mesh idea which I'd try and silicone on, or you can wrap the whole outlet with an old stocking which will prevent this from happening again but if the stocking gets clogged up the water will start to overflow the box filter and go on the floor. I'd try the mesh solution. Love the names, by the way Come over for a coffee sometime, always nice to meet local fishy friends Blue

Hi fishcat, I've never heard of an albino zebra before, do they still have the black stripes that regular zebras do? Recommend keeping them in a large grassy plain rather than a tiny aquarium, like zoos do. Feed lots of grass and hay and keep out any stray lions. Obviously I'm pulling your leg here What kind of albino zebra are you talking about? I would assume danios but you could mean cichlid. Both have very different answers.

I personally don't think a beginner CO2 setup really needs it. Just an opinion.

There's a tool company that sells through TradeMe which carries the sodastream fitting regulators - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farmi ... 996506.htm - and I'm pretty sure you can get the reg alone for under $100 but in the end you're better off with a proper (and safer) pressurized setup with taps than the slightly dodgy sodastream way. Solenoids need to be CO2 resistant as they can be corroded by the gas. As for doing without the "extras" it's much like running an aquarium, for a proper setup you need the basics. The only extra I can recommend avoiding with a CO2 setup is a pH controller.

Yup, at 2 weeks your fry will be ready to switch from green water to decap, which slowly sinks and the fry find it very easily every time and will soon be constantly prowling the bottom of their home looking for leftovers anyways so the decap works just fine for them. As alan mentioned the first few weeks are the most important and you'll want to make sure you clean the bottom of the container daily. In my opinion decap fouls the water MUCH less than dying artemia and leftovers can be cleaned very easily by adding a small snail to each container but this isn't neccessary. Try a little decap and try some live BBS and you'll find you get the same results but with a LOT less work with the decap. Good luck with the bettas!

Mine have been sitting in drawers unused ever since I found decap...

I hear the same question about aerating an outside pond/bathtub all the time. Short answer - run a long air line to the tub from the air pump inside. With 76M of siliconized air tubing for $25 on TradeMe it's a cheap easy and inexpensive way to prevent electrocution.

If you buy a total packaged system you're limited to the accessories that the manufacturer makes for that setup, while if you get the common JBJ style regulators you can do really fun stuff like add a splitter with individual needle valves - Which saves the time energy and money of buying a whole new setup when you get a second planted tank. You can get splitters to feed up to 6 tanks from one regulator.

It should be easy enough to jam the bulb of an Aponogeton into a crack in the wood and get it growing in there permanently. Swords are the same, they'll just root out in every direction. Neither will grow properly in wood unless ferts are added to the water as they're heavy root feeders. You'd have to tie down Ambulia initially but it could affix itself fairly well if undisturbed.

First pic is a small earthworm. The bloodworms being fed in the next two pictures look like they were frozen anyways. As HaNs mentioned it's a lot easier but it's also a lot safer. They thrive in filth and the frozen ones are well cleaned for feeding.

Riccia can be grown attached to driftwood but it's a difficult process as it's a naturally floating plant and does not like being disturbed.

Hi Alan, been a while Pressurized CO2 is a big investment due to the price, but I've always been happy with the results I've achieved with it. 1. CO2 bottles can be sourced from many different places and most have a standard thread for regulators with the exception of sodastream bottles whick are in their own category. CO2 can not be refilled by any pet shops that I know of, but Cylinder Testing Stations (where you go to get your LPG bottle retested) generally fill CO2 bottles for about $7 per kg. Prices vary on location. Testing labs are a good place to source recycled fire extinguishers for an inexpensive CO2 bottle. Fire extinguisher companies such as Wormalds will happily refill your CO2 bottle but will charge much more than anywhere else. BOC won't touch bottles unless you're renting from them, which works out much more expensive than buying your own. 2. Solenoids turn pressurized CO2 on and off with the lights to save money and prevent waste. Counters give you a rough measurement of how much CO2 is being injected so you can adjust the flow. pH monitors measure the pH of the water and add CO2 to lower it to the desired level. This only works if your system has a solenoid. They all join up in many configurations - obviously you will have a co2 bottle with regulator, solenoid goes in-line between regulator and aquarium. Solenoid may be plugged into pH controller or light timer. Bubble counter may go anywhere in line between bottle and regulator. 3. Budget should be anywhere between $350 for a basic pressurized system ($200 for regulator with solenoid and bubble counter and diffuser, $150 for a 1.8kg recycled fire extinguisher bottle) or over $1000 if you want something with all the bells and whistles and a pH controller. 4. Ceramic diffusers and reactors need occasional cleaning and you should always have a CO2 indicator in your aquarium for monitoring. Cheers.

I'd have to say the ones that myself and the other person that bred them are about a year away from being sexable and therefore won't help you much. I recommend getting two males as it stimulates spawning.

Hi everyone, Two weeks down the line and I thought I'd do a quick update. I've spoken with Cylinder Testing Labs all over the country and every one of them agree that the destruction of my bottle was done incorrectly and unjustifiably. I've gotten that in writing from one local company in Porirua (highly recommend them over the Lower Hutt guys any day!) and the promise that many of them can be phoned during the DT hearing as witnesses/expert opinions if needed. They've also clarified that a LAB application should cost no more than $200 total rather than $300. So I started a ERMA complaint when this all started, the cylinder lab guys are filing a complaint with their Union, and soon I'll be swinging by the DT and filing my paperwork once I get it all together, including quotes from overseas on total costs to replace the unit which was destroyed. Thanks for everyones input and support in this matter, it's good to have such a broad range of experience to call upon when completely baffled by something which has happened unexpectedly! Will update this as things progress.

Males are very 'hairy' with odontodes all over the body and much thinner than the females, who seem to look gravid all the time in my tanks. Don't worry too much about what they were called when they were sold. I tried making a L002 purchase from the same importer after seeing the pics of the L226s and was told they died and was directed to a TradeMe auction with the price tripled. You're lucky you bought them when you did! I spawned mine about 6 months ago and have a good group of F1s that I'm growing out to hopefully breed some day. If you can post some pics I can attempt to sex them but pics of only one are needed if they look the exact same. Do both of them look smooth or hairy? Skinny or fat?

Agree with above comments - Riccia and Tiger Lotus. Paekakboyz, I just got a new T5 light for my living room tank and it's wicked, come by for a look and check out the riccia and tiger lotus at the same time.

Agreed, the auction details form the wording of the contract which a buyer agrees to when they bid on the auction. Any terms and conditions that are in the auction are legally binding so if a seller states that they wish to screen the buyer before selling the fish that's it, done deal. This would be impossible if the fish were to be shipped around the country but since it's pick-up only it's completely feasable. Good on them for wanting their babies to go to a good home only.

Strongly recommend trying PMDD (Poor Mans Dupla Drops) during your experiments. HaNs/speedsailer sells it on TradeMe for a good price and it's a lot easier than trying to source the ingredients yourself. As you can see in the description you can have as little as 100g delivered to you for only $8. This will last you a while and it's equivalent to buying several litres of shop stuff.

I think the main point of this argument is flawed. Many of you are talking about proper military boot camp with weapons training and beatings, like what I went through in Marine Boot Camp when I was 18. It taught me loads of discipline but that's not the point. The Youth Offender Boot Camp has no weapons training for obvious reasons. It trains kids (with plenty of exercise) survival skills and puts them in a field environment for a period of time where every action means comfort or discomfort. This teaches them that their actions really do make a difference in their lives and survival. With a few weeks of this and getting away from the modern world of internet, cell phones, drugs and their friends which are influencing them, most youths come back with a totally different perspective on right and wrong. Better relationships with parents and authoritative figures, and a camaraderie with fellow boot camp recruits which is usually stronger than even a gang brotherhood. David R - you talk about the first generation of welfare and prisons. In my neighbourhood we have many families with three generations going through the institutional cycle. This is far from the first gen, mate.

Most common reason is that mom and dad moved the brood too close to a filter inlet, or you did a hasty water change and the babies all perished aside from the most hardy of the lot. Another common reason is that the parents got freaked and ate the fry. Happens all the time, part of breeding fish!