Faran

And welcome to the other cause of MTS than babies.... fish that need a tank to themselves Give him time, there might be a reason why he's being aggro.

LOL Juze, we don't know all that much either. Just enough to know we have a lot to learn The forums and the club help out a lot, specially when you get a sick fish. You'll soon find out that vets hardly ever know much about caring for fish and the advice on forums and the internet (and the local clubbers) are the best resource to turn to. Don't be shy or scared off by people with tons of tanks, we're all people and some are just a little more serious with the hobby (20+ tanks) than others but you'll soon find out that when you start getting baby fish another tank is needed and then another. Keeping fish is one thing, but it's hard to keep them from having kids when they're happy!

Congrats on the BN bubbas! We have some floating around the discus tank an our Blue Rams just spawned in there (again) as well. Spring is here....

Sup Juse, welcome to the fish room. KMAC is a local Welly club with a meet in Tawa last Wed of every month. All good people and lots of good deals on equipment and fish (people doing clean-outs and breeding). Currently the club has the following fish breeding (off the top of my head): Congo Tetras Guppies Rainbow fish Dwarf Honey Gouramis Swordtails Platties LOTS of different cichlids (electric yellows and torpedoes, etc) Blue Rams and the list goes on and on. Basically, by joining the club you'll get a chance to buy young fish at great prices as they get ready for sale, as well as getting a 10% discount on fish and equipment at Hutt Pets and other fine FNZAS affiliated establishments. Not to mention the 100+ years of experience between the members to help you do pretty much whatever you want with aquaria. Welcome and look forward to meeting you!

Yup, it has tea tree oil as well as lots of other stuff. The Tea Tree Oil recipe above will save you heaps of $$ though.

kiwibird - the major difference between males and females is the belly. Males have flat bellies and females rounded. Later on you can make out the males by the white flashes on fins when "dancing" but I'm not sure how old they are. The belly is usually a good indicator though. Alan - completely agree about snails. Ramshorns in particular (yup, invested in ramshorn stock last week!). They're awesome at cleaning the tanks up without harming fry.

Actually, I'd be keen to know as well. We got 1/2kg of flake (split a kg with another local fishie) and I'm wondering how it'll keep as it'll be a while before I get to use it.

Oh, got me! It's hard enough to play with fry let alone eggs and milt in a test tube. I was asked not to hyperlink pictures in the forums, so check this out: http://images.google.co.nz/images?q=blue%20dolphin%20cichlid&hl=en&hs=SPu&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi and for good info and a decent pic of both sexes... http://www.gcca.net/fom/Cyrtocara_moorii.htm

Hi Jane, The website set up for NZLA is temporary, isn't it? I'm new to the club so a little vague on why NZPA was moved to MSN. I have servers and experience as SysAdmin so we could get the NZPA website back up and running soon enough. Let me know what you think. blue

LOL pearly... if you only knew how hard it is to take pics of fry... No joke, I just sat for about 30 minutes earlier today trying to get decent shots of the Congo fry for an article. No love, either. polgara - congrats and good luck! a little blue will keep fungus away. Some also recommend tea tree oil.... add 5ml to 1ltr of water, then add 5ml of that solution to every 4.5 litres. I'm switching to that in the future. Keeps seals from staining and the rest of the problems with the methyl blue.

No worries, I'll let you pick some out someday when you come visit us as neighbours. You'll probably end up babysitting a few during a move so you can decide if you like them or not

Holy cow! klay, I just went through and saw three of your past tanks and I'm in awe, bro! The skeleton tank was amazing, the riverbank scene impressive and this tank just... well, as a big fan of brackish tanks, this is the best I've seen. The only things you were missing were some Mango tree branches, mudskippers and 4-eyed fish. I ran across archers on the Brooklands price list yesterday. Seriously made me stop and consider setting up another brackish tank. Any suggestions or advice on where to get the proper fish and plants?

Penguin Tetras!!! Just kiddin! Jude, I'd have to honestly recommend guppies for that situation. They'll keep active and playful and will settle the tank down a bit so they get off the gravel and have some fun. Otherwise platies or swords... and I think we know where to go to get lots of those! If you want some guppers I can bring you down some 1-1.5cm bubbas from my fry tank (biggest I have so far) next time we head into Wai. They're just starting to colour up and you could have some really gorgeous guppers in there!

I just spent an hour catching fry to find out eggs are still hatching and fry are still laying on the bottom working on yolk sacs. They're VERY hard to see among the muck (main reason I haven't cleaned the tank spotless yet) so I'm forced to leave the tank as-is for now. Suprising turn of events was the discovery of a few small ramshorn snails in the tank as well. Considering I sterilized everything before going in that tank I'm at a loss how cyclops, worms, snails and just about every other beasty imaginable got in there.... Stu- thanks for yet more words of wisdom/experience. I'll be trying to get a BBS hatchery up and running today to crack these 90% eggs a "good friend" (have omitted his name as he got some unexpected popularity last time) hooked me up with. Well, at least I have the fry separated for easy feeding and tank cleaning. Will be doing water changes from the larger tank quite often, with no filtration in the fry tank.

And Pegasus just told me that they're mostly water... yeah, guess I could do without them after all. Will be removing fry and filter and UV-nuking the tank and giving it a good clean, then putting the fry back in. Thanks for the advice, guys!

I’m raising Congo Fry and keeping them with a culture of Cyclops, hope you don’t mind a ramble… I’m a big fan of microworms and can’t see the worth of the trouble of BBS. I think our Congo Tetra fry would appreciate BBS as it gives them something to chase after, but they’re growing quick and strong on the microworms and Cyclops culture. Have you ever had Cyclops? Can they harm fish or fry? The most I’ve found on Cyclops is that “they are included in frozen high-quality fish food†– so are they dangerous alive? Planning on moving the fry into a smaller “grow-out†tank and can always UV-nuke the tank and kill the Cyclops off once I do. Just wondering your thoughts on it… Cyclops on left. Just a note - I THINK the current culture is the same as these...

It's a wicked tank, but you need to put up more pics than just the one end-shot. A compartment-by-compartment shot as well as a full frontal would show more of the tank, and the wicked fish you're breeding.

Right, back to the topic. The tiger barbs should be fine with the BNs but sometimes they can get a bit nippy and you'll have to keep an eye out for that. Have you ever thought of snails? (yep, again) We had a couple fish that were MURDER on BN fins (and almost every other fish) so we hooked the tank up with some snails and they did a wicked job of keeping the it clean. Also, they don't die when there's a temp drop...

LOL! Yeah, I have a feeling that isn't going to work... something about water density and rates of falling and speed of fish.... if you thought birds were hard, loaches are worse. I purchased a "bait trap" from the KMAC garage sale merchandise the other day. Will be modifying it to get it to work properly as they swim out in no time. In the meantime, we had a convo about catching loaches here.

Good luck getting the yo-yos out. They're sneaky little buggers that don't like being caught unless you remove everything from the tank and then you'll STILL be looking for them hiding somewhere

Hi again Deb Guppers are fun, interesting and a great starter fish. You'll soon have babies to raise and a tank full of them. VERY eager to get food they'll give you tons of attention and follow you around the room. Advice for livebearers - add some sea salt to the tank. Approx 1 level teaspoon to each gallon (4.5 litres) or water. That works out to about 20 teaspoons for the AR980. Be sure and check out the chat room on these forums id you haven't done so already. There's a button that goes to it on the menu bar between "FAQ" and "Search". Most people go there around 9pm. Have you already checked for a local fish club near you? You're not really part of FNZAS until you join a club. Joining a club will introduce you to local hobbyists that will be able to help you with advice, equipment and even fish (at breeder prices - imagine paying $2 a guppy instead of $7). You'll also be possibly entitled to a discount at a local fish shop (LFS) on fish-related gear. Your fish club coordinator will be able to help with that. You can check here for a list of clubs and info. Once again, welcome and it's great having you with us! Look forward to seeing you around!

I think what's happening is basic pecking-order establishment. Another question - are you sure you have a male and female? If so, how? Ripped fins is completely normal and don't worry too much. Add some melafix or stress coat stuff and they'll repair quicker that you'd expect. By the way, did that snakeskin guppy I gave you make it? I never heard from you about it.

Yeah, they "Cycle" would do that but the bacteria will die off if nothing more to do...

Hi again Deb Actually heading out the door, but I'll try and answer those questions for you. Jager is a VERY good brand - made by Eheim. The brand is excellent but the wattage is low. You'l find that the 150W heater will be on quite often as it doesn't meet the "1W per litre" rule. Water changes - we have Discus so we change quite a lot of water. I recommend 40 litres once a week for that tank with an average community tank. Snails actually help with cycling a little. They eat and poo so they give the filter something to do. You could also put in a peice of fish or meat to start decaying - and putting off ammonia for the bacteria to start cycling. Have to run, take care and talk to you soon!

Hi Deb, welcome to the forums! We have an AR980 as well, they're great tanks though we find the hood filter a bit loud. I'll pop up a link for you to see pics of it later. You're going through the initial cycle and things are just starting to get settled. You really can't overdose a tank with Cycle, so don't worry too much about that. More is better in this case. Basically you're trying to establish bacteria in those ceramic noodles and filter pads in the filter (water and gravel as well, but I'm just sticking with basics). The cycle will give you a head start with that, but you need to add a fish or two or start feeding the empty tank (with fish food) to give the bacteria something to do, or they die off. Now, you noticed the colouration of the water and the drop in the pH. That's a good observation. The driftwood in your tank is giving off the brown colour (called tanin) and lowering the pH as well. This is a good thing as many fish feel "happier" in tanin water - just avoid putting cichlids in your tank with the low pH as they're happier in a rock tank with high pH. Sunlight - well, you're going to want to avoid direct sunlight. If your tank starts growing brown algae you'll need some direct sun to help the "good" green algae start growing and kill off that nasty brown stuff, but aside from that direct sun causes algae growth and can be hard to clean with the gently curving glass of the AR980. Block as well as you can. Heater - well, one of the most important things to do with a new tank is to get the heater working properly. Get a 200W heater (a 300W will do too) and pop it in asap. Get a thermometer as well and start getting your water warmed up. You need to get the temperature at a proper level and stable before adding any fish. Aim for 25 degrees for now, you can go warmer if your fish need it later on. Lastly - READ. Go to your library and check out everything you can on fish and aquariums. Find out where your (chosen) fish come from and what water temps and pH they prefer. Try and find fish that are compatible and don't always trust the shop clerks at the fish shop - they hardly know what they're doing half the time. Oh yeah, you can see our AR980 here.