Faran

Howdy an welcome. We now have "Cat TV"s in just about every room and our lil pusses spend a LOT of time longingly gazing into the tanks. They also seem most intrigued by our loaches, particularily a 6" long yo-yo loach whom our girl thinks looks like a mouse with a til fin and she SCREAMS and runs over every time he comes into her view. So another hearty welcome, be sure and join a local club and check out the chat room!

You don't actually have to go upgrade your camera for better pictures. Wait until it's dark and turn off all the lights in the room, and make the tank as bright as possible (turn all tank lights on). Hold the camera close to the glass (but not too close as sometimes it can spook them) and try and use a Macro setting, if possible. Good pics though, nicely done.

Hi Eileen, You asked about discus and there's plenty to know. I'd recommend hitting up the local library or Google for tons of info on these amazing fish. But let me start off with a few basics. pH 7.0, water temp 28-30 degrees C, 25% water change at least twice a week. They prefer to be alone but you can get away with adding a few fish to add activity. Keep in mind that many fish will be uncomfortable in those water temps and you'll have to get black neons or other high-temp tolerant fish. Lessee, what else. They're very sensitive to changes in water conditions. "new zealand discus man" sells them for very good prices, as does "discus haven" and of course the usual randoms on TradeMe. Here's our tank: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=7892

Bill, I think Werner was helped out with what he needed. As for anyone else helping, it's a bit $$ to send some guppies down to him....

From what I see, it's a 75cm tank with basically the same setup as my Aqua One AR980. When I added a Fluval 204 to that tank, I used the spaces built into the hood filter for running wires to put the input and output hoses from the Fluval. It's not a perfect fit, but it works.

Just thought you should be aware... http://www.killerguppies.com/ :roll: :evil: :oops:

Nice one. I saw these last month at Chris Downs' place and they're an interesting fish. What are the conditions?

If the nitrate is 5 then there's a lot of fertilizer in the tank that the plants aren't using. Is the tank densely planted? I'm guessing not, as enough plants would use the nitrates. I'd recommend using some Nitra-zorb and to add more plants. Otherwise, lots of water changes and be sure and get the lower level of water near the gravel, not just suck stuff from the top.

I think it's kind of mean to let the fry perish like that. Just my 2 cents. When my fish are happy enough to mate, I try and set things up so they get a good chance of surviving and the fish get to raise young like their instincts tell them to. Besides, if you ask the LFS how much you could sell juveniles back to them for, you might be pleasantly suprised. It pays for an expensive hobby just a bit...

Well, I'm definitely going to worm them as soon as this bloody Angel Fish is out of the tank. Someone from these forums has been supposed to come by and pick it up since Monday and still no show. Frankly, if I don't hear from them by tonight I'll be putting the angel on TradeMe as I want it out of the tank asap. I got lucky earlier and finally got that last lyretail out of the tank. Fun fun fun trying to keep discus happy...

True, you need to read the label and make sure. The generic Water Ager that we use here only does chlorine, but in the USA and Canada the water agers (like Aqua Plus) would most likely remove chloramine as well.

Hi folks, just getting ready for any impending disasters with my discus tank. I've had two lyretails pass within the last week for unknown causes and we're watching the tank VERY CLOSELY to make sure there's nothing wrong tha might affect the discus. Now, the lyretails were at the completely wrong temp at the wrong pH. We know this. Frankly, the only reason they were there was to home them while we got a tank sorted for them by themselves and they're SO HARD TO GET OUT. Ah well, just one left now and for the life of me I still can't net the bugger. So, here's my discus-related questions. Drontal pills - same medication for cats and dogs, so I can just adjust the dosage and use a 4kg or 6kg cat pill (or one of each) and combine with 20L of tank water for treating, right? Fluke tabs - anyone know where to get them? When treating with a tank of B/Ns I should put the discus in a hospital tank for treatment, right? Are the fluke tabs something that the discus need to be exposed to for a certain amount of time? Thanks for everything, yer time and help is appreciated.

Hiya DX, welcome. The fry you saw was probably a guppy, as they give brth to live young and it's honestly the only type of fish that could have "accidentally" bred out of that group. The fry are pretty crafty and I've seen some grow up entirely without any protection from the other fish. Be sure and get a breeding net (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 641403.htm) for the guppy so you have a place to put all the fry when they're born. You can even try putting the prego mom in there the day before once you've been through a few births and know what to look for. That fry is probably still alive and very very good at hiding. If not, you'll have some more within a few weeks! Anyways, enjoy the tank and try not to overstock it. The neons that died initially were probably knocked out by a chemical spike during the natural cycle that takes place within the first month of a tank running. Lots of great people around, try and join a local club! Blue

Hiya Caper, been a while! I'll try and answer some of the posts from today in one go. First of all, the water. Now, ideally you want to use rainwater (even toxins from old house pipes can kill your fish) but if you can't do the rainwater thing, then you should add aged water during water changes. Now, aged water is either water that you've left to sit for at least 24 hours or water that you've used a water ager/de-chlorinator on. Keep in mind that you can do either-or. Now, as for the water bottles, that's a no for time-aging. There's not enough water surface on the little neck of the bottle for proper aeration and chemical dissipation. Perhaps if you only fill them up 80% (before they start getting narrow at the top). You may as well get some buckets instead, as they'll be easier to handle probably. So yeah, you can add water ager (Start Right) and use the water right away as it'll dissolve the chlorine and chloramine, if you don't have it handy then let the water sit. Here in NZ we can practically use water straight from the tap (bar bad piping) as most places have almost chemical-free water. Just a little chlorine to kill a few bugs. I also saw a post about brakish water. That's when you add sea salts to a freshwater tank to simulate marsh-like conditions for the few fish in our hobby that live in rivers near the ocean - like puffers, archer fish, mono angels and a few others. Basically, if it says "brackish" it means "salty". That's about it!

I can get step-down converters (with UK plugs) for about $75 which handle 90W, more than you need for that UV clarifier. Way cheaper than DSE.

Amen.... gorgeous fish, but $240?

So yeah, PJ and MRSkz are the people to talk to Good luck with your endeavors!

If you own your own house it's easy enought to cut a small hole in the floor for a wire or two. Then it's simple. As for the tank, I'd go hexagon or round. Have to look around to see what looks good from above toher than fancy goldfish (maiin reason they were deformed was for seeing from above) otherwise you're going to be sitting on the floor a lot looking in on them. Also, I'd pobably go with a glass frame with four small glass pieces for easy access to the tank. Would take two people to lift off that glass to do maintenance on that tank... nad could you imagine the cost to replace the glass due to chips and breaks? Ouch. Great idea though, I'd be behind putting together a business to make them in NZ. Think there's enough demand?

LOL, it's a great idea but it'll be bankrupt once people develop a small personal air purifier... could you imagine how quickly a planet could turn into a moon if people just jumped on stuff before they thought it out?

Damn, that's a great idea! Let's bottle Clean Fresh NZ air and ship it over to the nastier cities of the world... like LA... and sell it with a little oxygen mask and stuff.... yeah....

Hi there, I'd recommend PMing PeneJane and MRSkz. They're in your neck of the woods (I think) and both have guppies as well. Good luck and welcome to the site! Oh, if you can't get the guppies you want locally, you might want to ask your LFS (local fish shop) to ship some down or you can always look on TradeMe. Problem is the cost to courier them all the way to you... would be even more pricey than the fish alone....

Personally, I think feeding the fish is one of the things I enjoy most about having them. That, and breeding them. If you need an auto-feeder, then you're just too busy or lazy to do the rest of the maintenance, probably. As far as going on vacation and needing to feed your fish.... I think many people get a little nervous about leaving the tanks unattended for a week but the fish will be fine. You'll have a cleaner tank than ever, too!

One month later and that link don't work....

Hey there, feeding is a tricky subject. Here's my advice. A fish stomach is about the same size as a flake of food the size of its eye. Fish WILL overfeed and tetras will do a bit of a feeding frenzy. Try putting the flake food between your fingers and holding it under the water surface to avoid air getting into the guts from gulping from the surface, and you should be able to control the amount of food that some of the piggier fish get this way. In the end you're wanting to have nice, streamlined fish that don't get bouyant or rupture their guts from overeating. Remember, fish CAN die from too much food. You're doing well with only feeding twice a day, but try feeding much less than you are right now. A teaspoonful is HEAPS for small fish like that. Knock it down to a pinch twice a day and replace that pinch with the bloodworms if you want to give them a treat. Also, give the tank a day a week of rest with no food. This will give your fish a chance to clean up any scraps or refuse. I usually do this the day of the weekly water change. Good luck and have fun with that tank of yours, sounds wicked!

Well, time for a two month bump. So we've become accepting of our newly acquired MTS. We now have 3 full running tanks and one hospital tank. The 3ft beveled is still a primarily African tank with assorted bottom feeders. The Leopard Ctenopoma is a big ticket item as he swallows half-blocks of frozen bloodworms at one go during feeding time. Our amazing newest tank is a AR980 discus tank. You can see some pics of the discus tank here and the other tank is a 2ft tank with all the previous inhabitants of the AR980. Lots of guppies, neons & penguin tetras, WCMM and some very VERY cute young Blue Rams we acquired last week. Here's some pics on Photobucket... we're still putting it all together, so scuze the mess and any empty albums! http://photobucket.com/albums/a378/BlueandKim/