Faran

Hiya scooby! Not sure, but if you get any bubbas from them we'll be keen to buy one (or 2) from ya! Love the shape and personality of these guys and looking forward to having some in our family someday! How's the weather in Levin? Nice and sunny in WGTN 2day! B&K

"As you do" but can I ask you a question? Did the betta fight back when being attacked? Did the malawis tear it to little peices or swallow it whole? There's a bit of difference between a small fish being eaten (quick death) or a larger fish having a painful, fearful death. I can be heartless sometimes and completely emotionally unattached, but these are our pets that we've taken on with the intention of treating them as well as possible when under our care, and cruelty to them is something I just don't stand for. That's my 2 minutes anyways....

Puppies, small children, kittens and.... Dude, seriously. Bettas go through enough in their lives not to be fed to cichlids. Guppies breed like rabbits and some need culling, so I can understand popping in some of those to feed your Malawis, but bettas? Expensive, beautiful, abused.... those poor fish deserve better. If you're going to feed your malawis something, feed them neon tetras or guppers. Perhaps feeder goldfish (though I haven't seen many of those around NZ). Though at the moment I have a bunch of fish that I'd love to feed to some larger ones, I'd still rather even give them away than do that. Personal opinion here, others might not have a probem with it at all....

Wow, that Korthausae yellow male is a really nice fish. Good pics, and I'm glad they now have 40% lass fat, you feeding them those Weight Watcher BBS?

I got a DVD called "Fish Tank Telly" that has a NZ Native tank as one of the 5. Pretty interesting to watch, recommended if you ever come across it. I found it in the WGTN library when I was trying to find Discus books.

Those are reproductive spots, not algae. Many people think their Java Ferns are diseased/fungused/algaed but it's just its way of fruiting, if you will.

Good point... now I need to go and figure out how to get that gravel out in an orderly fashion. Will be noisy, but I guess vaccuming with a straight hose into a bucket will do. As for filtration - simple sponge filter all the way. They're great items to have handy in any tank, whether as a primary filter in your hospital/fry tank or as a secondary filter in a big tank for micro-filtration.

I have a hospital tank that I'll be using for fry. I've decided to put in some gravel and such, but will be "nuking" the tank with a 30cm UV light before putting the youngsters in. I'll just be removing the filter and running it in a bucket until the light is off (1/2 an hour should do). Think this is a decent idea or should I BBT it?

Wow, you really thought that one out. Good solution, let me know how it works out for ya. Personally, I think Mel should gravel vac her tank and try and find it. If it's gone, it's gone!

Hi Jack, Well, depends on if you want a ton of snails. The typical Animates "Mystery Snails" are a brown version of the golden apple snail (I suppose mystery sounds better than "brown apple snail") as far as I can tell. You'll find that they breed rapidly and soon you'll be trying get rid of them whether your fishies eat a few or not Also, baby snails are very good at hiding, so just look around your gravel and you might still find them in your tank!

Swimming up and down against the glass is typically stress behaviour and the best thing you can do is to add some Stress Coat (or similar product) and leave the tank alone for a day or so. Good luck, the gourami will hopefully come right in a few days. Any idea why the other gourami passed?

Hi Chickybabe, Discus are perfectly suited to neutral pH (7.0) and there's not much else you need to do aside from the driftwood in the tank and the peat in the filter. Shell/shell grit in the gravel will cause the pH to rise, so you might want to check for that. Otherwise your setup sounds fine. A few things I wanted to say though. First of all, nice setup! The tank will look marvelous when the plants grow out a bit. Quick question though. What is your Nitrate level? How often do you do water changes? What is the pH of the water (that you're doing water changes with)? Lastly, have you treated your tank with any meds lately? There's a few copper-based meds that would kill your cory cats and leave the rest of the fish perfectly happy. Good luck and I hope you find peace soon. Discus are a nervous set-up period but once they're settled in you'll find they're some of the easier fish to take care of. Just keep in mind that they can only tolerate a pH change of 0.2 at one go, so be watchful of that. Blue

Just wondering how goes it with the breeding of these guys. My "Billy-Bob" got stuck in an ornament and passed a day after being released. I suppose it was internal organ damage, but who knows. He's still in the freezer next to the Hoki fillets if anyone wants to do an autopsy :roll: So there's a big empty tank now with no billy-bob. Would love to get more of them if there's any bubbas floating about from a successful coupling, so PLEASE let me know, tah!

Hi there, We use an air tube and slowly vacuum the tank with it. Just be careful and separate any fry that you accidentally sucked up from the junk and pop them back in the tank. I'd be keen to know what other people do though. Blue

We concur with Caryl

Hiya Modern, was hoping you'd chip in about the leeches. That's a lot of salt for a 80L tank! To anyone reading this that may be trying to deal with leeches - check compatibilty of all your fish before trying any medication. Copper based products may kill your catfish - including Bristlenoses, Plecos, etc.

True.... and add some salt anyways

Hi Lynda, Check this post that a member put up yesterday - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/paradi ... t8239.html From his experience I'd avoid it. Always worth a shot though (with caution), I've seen tanks full of fish that just aren't supposed to get along!

Hollah! :lol: Welcome to the site, hope to see you around!

Lemme know when u roll, I'd be keen to go on a road trip as I've heard a lot about that place

You mean this guy from your album? I'm figure out what you meant by "red pleco" and I'm assuming you mean Red Spot, right? If so, there's not much point (if you're thinking about breeding) as they require big tunnels in mud dams/riverbanks to spawn and they get along no matter what the sex is. And as catbrat said, it's hard to tell unless you know what to look for and have a few to compare with. He's the resident pleco smartie

Yup, it's called bleach and they sell it with a Pam's brand name at Pack'n'save That was a joke. Did a little googling and most advice is to "soak the fish in a salt bath" but no overall treatment for them. Once again I advise adding some salt....

Hi again Melster , Sounds like you had a leech in your tank. Could have come in with anything that you've brought into your tank from a pond or stream, or perhaps picked up with some fish. If it's a leech it can compress body segments and end up a little ball the size of a piece of gravel - which worms really can't do. Very hard to find once they try and hide. Do you put tonic salt in your water? It's very bad for some scale-less fish like elephant noses but very good for livebearers. It also helps prevent little critters from living too well in your tank. So, keep an eye out for the "worm" and put up a pic if you can. How to get rid of leeches? I think vinegar if it isn't salt. I know a member (Modern Angel) of our local fish club had a leech infestation... wonder how he got along with that....

Yup, salting water with tonic salt is pretty much essential with livebearers. One level teaspoon for every 4-5 litres.

Hi PJ, do you salt your guppy tanks? "needle tail" is avoidable with salting. Otherwise, it could be good ol' tail rot, but this sounds like needle tail to me....