Faran

Oops, didn't see the replies. Thanks guys, really happy and excited, it's a big responsibility and we have two Ragdoll cats and all the fish so it's a little scary too! As we're on the North Island and the breeder is on the South Island we're doing the whole process by phone and emails so it's a bit hard to pick the one we want. We have first pick of the three brindle and white boys but as you can imagine it's hard to choose without meeting them :-? Here's the boys side by side. We haven't picked which one it will be yet but the one mostly in the pics I posted before was 2 spot (now called George). There's more pics but don't wanna sp@m. Have a look below

On this same topic, can someone please direct me on where to find a listing of "Youth Boot Camps" in NZ?

Putting peat in an old stocking is easy and tidy, it's my preferred method at least.

I wasn't meaning the kokopu. only talking about the mudfish as I reckoned they'd have some kind of survival mechanism and wondered if the goo had anything to do with it. Did some further reading and they really do need vegitation to keep them moist. BNs can completely close off their gills it would seem. It makes sense when you notice that they stay in logs when removed from water, so a male might spend quite some time in an emersed cave waiting for the water level to come back up before finally trying to make it back into the water. I had a male GBA survive a massive tank die-off by jumping through a hole in the lid and staying there until I found him in the morning. Sole survivor.

Just came across this post and I'm really intriqued by the mucus on the dead mudfish. I'm assuming this is a mudfish like on the DOC website - http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=33220 - and if so, the mucus like goo could have been a protective/preservative coating to keep it moist during the dry season. Did you happen to pop it back in the water to see if it was still alive? I've found BNs out of water for many hours and came right when put back under water, even one that looked pretty dessicated. Took a few days for his eyes to come back out but he made it! Sorry for your losses!

They're just sorting out the pecking order and establishing territories with the new arrivals. Things should settle down and neither can do much to actually hurt each other unless they're fighting for a breeding cave. Even a small BN can kill a larger pleco with the curved ancistrus spikes. You shouldn't have much of a problem with them, give them a couple days to sort things out.

If anyone is heading FROM Tauranga TO Wellington, please let me know. Gannet has something I need and transport is proving difficult. Will fit in a medium sized poly box. Cheers!

They'll mostly eat the bio-film that grows on the courgette rather than the courgette itself. They'll scavenge all night when the rest of the fish are sleeping, don't worry too much about them finding the food

CONGRATS!!!! Feed with slices of courgette weighed down with a bit of lead, and decap or BBS is a fave.

Your new tank will hold roughly 275 litres. Recommended watts per litre is 0.5 so you want to ideally put 140w of light over it. This would be best accomplished with a double 4ft t5ho at 54W per bulb for 108w total. This should do a great job of lighting your aquarium and stimulating plant growth.

Our new puppy is still with the breeder and will be coming home next month. Very excited, as we've been waiting for a proper English Bull Terrier for over 2 years now Sorry the pics are so small, will take heaps when he arrives!

Have to say that a map of the States makes absolutely no sense to me.

Many tetra eggs and fry are photosensitive meaning that any light will kill them. He's talking about putting a black rubbish bag over the tank to black it out. For a very descriptive and informative article on breeding Cardinal Tetras, please visit the link to the FNZAS article below - Breed 500 or more Cardinal Tetras

Try Flourish Excel. It'll help the plants use the nutrients instead of the algae.

Hi Michelle, I just had a look at the auctions you posted and my observations are that the eyes are disproportionate to the bodies, meaning all three discus have had growth stunted. It is very likely that they will never grow much larger than they are presently and therefore should be avoided as stunting causes complications which dramatically shorten the life of a discus.

Ah well, he only cost ya $13 anyways

My Cardinals are big and happy. They're kept in a 28C neutral pH tank with 30% water changes twice a week. MH lighting really sets off the colours, particularly the blue. Fed on colourbits and I hate to say the school of them impresses people more if not as much as the discus

Sex of offspring is often determined by the temperature, try keeping them cooler and see if there's a better ratio.

Ancistrus Punctatus (L182) I keep and breed L144 - very common Ancistrus SP3 - most common Lots more out there!

Try and make a trip to visit the breeder and see the tanks and fish before buying, so try and find a local breeder for your first discus experience so you can check out the setup and LEARN from them. Also, try not to get really cheap discus that are only 25 or 35mm long, it's too small and that's the main reason they die.

Probably the dirtiest tanks I've ever seen, too.

I'm still loving my chipped Xbox1 with 500Gb HDD. All games though, my movies and shows are on a couple Tb of shared network drives

If you're talking about the "PTERYGOPLICHTHYS" all the pics are off planetcatfish and it's most likely a common pleco or leopard pleco. Cheers for the heads up though

Sorry, didn't read the whole post there. Fish suffering from hex act much like you would with an upset tummy. They hide and sulk a lot and are picked on rather than being agro. Erratic swimming sounds like territorial display or perhaps a bung fin. Give it a couple days and keep an eye on it.

Hex can affect any fish, particularly cichlids from anywhere in the world. Best treated with Metronidazole http://article.dphnet.com/cat-02/spironucleus.shtml