fishy_t

Thats why boiling is really safe - cause it deosn't leave any residue, but if the rocks are too big the rocks are too big!

So yeah - use Limestone!

I would soak it if I were you - even if its just to remove most of the sea salt. Putting it in a pot with hot water for a few hours would be better, as it would also kill any nasties, but I don't know if you've got a big enough pot!!

yeah that sounds like it would work - if you want small bits for a filter, most garden centres will have a bag of 'Daltons lime chip'. only about $12 for 29l!!!!

Well in my 70l tank I've got 2 small ish bits (about 5x5x5cm ish lumps I guess) And the pH is at a constant 8.2 I guess you could make all of the rockwork out of limestone, but I don't really like the way it is so white - so I've got my limestone hidden behind my rocks but in a place where it gets plenty of water flow to keep its buffering properties working... How big is your tank?! Keep in mind its not the weight of limestone thats improtant but the surface area, so I guess you'll just have to put some in and see what the pH stabalises at...

stick in a few chunks of limestone - completely natural and it lasts a lifetime! (You can buy it from Garden Centre's/Landscapers)

So how many hours did you actually have them before they bred??!! Well done (again!)!!

Go Upper Hutt!

Thanks Stompa - the melting away suggestion does sound good but I don't think its going to be as precise as I need (Keeping in mind the crevices and caves are for small tang. cichlids) But I might use it to get the overall rock surface and then carve out the cracks...

OK, Well I have had a few tonight but I can tell you now that there is no way I'm going to be able to get the whole hot wire thing set up! I think that I'll have to stick with the knife The guy who sold me the polystyrene said that I can use sand paper on it as it’s quite a dense form of polystyrene so its going to get messy but at least I can get some rounded edges on my rocks! I'll stick up some photos as I go....

I've found this site: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_aquarium_background3.php and think its what I'm going to try, I was thinking About siliconing the background into the tank - I know this might seem a bit of an overkill just to hold it in place but it will mean I don't have to worry so much about the integrity of the structure or about any fish/debris getting stuck behind. (As I will be making the rock surface for my tank background which will be over 1.5m^2 total and about 75cm high I think the polystyrene strength will be good to hold it all in place) I got hold of some polystyrene which is about 15cm deep which gives me plenty of depth to carve out some nice caves... WEKA - when you say you used a hot wire - what kind of wire did you use?! - How did you keep it/make it hot?! I'm probably going to try to make a more sedimentary looking pile with the rocks being more layered with cracks/caves rather than rounded river rocks, but if I could use a wire it would give much cleaner lines than a knife and not a messy I guess! Thanks people

Hi there I'm going to be making a face rock face (with small caves etc) for a 550l tank and was just wondering if anyone on here has done anything similar - I've been looking online and I think the best way to go about it will be to carve out the structure in polystyrene and then apply several thin layers of concrete... any idea's/comments?! Hopefully I'll get sterted this week so I'll let you all know how it goes!

Just an update for anyone who's interested!: He seems to puff up almost every morning - seems to help him wake up or somethings! He spends most of his time in the sand up to his back with lets you see just how evolved for being buried he is - eyes, mouth and even gill slits are positioned on the top of his 'face' very odd!! I have also discovered how much he likes bullies - he feeds him self one of those every 3 or 4 days now (Big 3" ones) and as he isn't a very tidy eater, if he doesn't gulp the whole fish up in a oner, the part which breaks off is usually just left to float around the tank!! (last time this was the head up the the pectoral fins!) He seems pretty happy and its really cool watching him dig - he angles himself at about 30 deg. to the sand and with a few beats of his tail he's under!!

Go the sand!!! I've got it in 3 tanks rangeing in size form about 100l to 550l and I think its great! I've found I can use my gravel vac fine as long as I block off the water flow a bit with my thumb (at the out flow end) this lets all but the finest sand fall back to the bottom... Its also a lot cheeper than good gravel! I got mine free from the coast (Quite corse very dark sand so there is not much shell and the pH isn't too high) and also the River but if you want to buy in you can get river sand at any garden cetre - usually about $10 for 20l

Go the sand!!! I think its great too! I've found I can use my gravel vac fine as long as I block off the water flow a bit with my thumb (at the out flow end) this lets all but the finest sand fall back to the bottom

Yep he does - I've seen him do it once so far (not really sure why he did it!) He's not spikey like some marine puffers and its only his throte/belly that puffs up but he does nearly double in size... I'll try and get a pic next time he does it!!!

Mr Hanky, the Christmas Poo, He eats shrimps and he likes them too! As I'm sure you can guess from my latest remake of the famous South park song - Mr Hanky finally had his first meal, comprising of shrimp!! The plan was to catch some freshwater shrimp so they could live with him until he wanted to pick one off but my first attempt failed so I decided to get some from a rock pool instead which is much simpler! They seemed to survive for over half an hour in the freshwater tank which was pretty impressive really! The only trouble was I don't think Mr Hanky’s feeding behaviour is suited to shrimp that are racing around the tank trying to find some cold salty water! From what I've seen so far he is allot more patient than most people! He likes to lie in wait (no surprise) but even if some food is close he still sits and watches it for a good half a minute. If it's still there (as you can guess for last nights shrimp this was a rare occurrence!) The he 'starts up his engines' (if you haven't seen one swim, each pectoral fin look like helicopter blades and also his dorsal and anal which are set far back) and then he glide VERY slowly towards his prey. If all goes well he seems to strike at about 2 cm! This whole process takes over a minute so last night I only saw him get one chance to go the whole way to striking and he missed! After about 20 minutes of watching my partner (who is not a fish person!) said "Mr Hanky is boring" and went back to the telly, and I followed 10 mins later! The shrimp must have died pretty soon after which was no real surprise and I managed to get Mr hanky to eat 3 big ones using some tongs so he did have some to eat, but I'm hoping some freshwater ones will survive longer and relax so he has a chance to catch them himself... Another update soon! (Please let me know if you know of any definate Feshwater Shrimp siteings near Wellington! I couldn't find any in my local stream in Te Marua)

Just thought you might like to see a pic of him

I use quite corse sand in most of my tanks (Collect it either from the Hutt River or down on the South Coast - but you can get good stuff at Wainui Beach too) If you get it from the coast you need to wash it well to get all of the salt etc out, but make sure it doesn't contain much shell (the darker it is the less shell it contains) as shells with riase the pH - unless of course you want a higher pH which guppies would like... either way test the pH to be safe but I would highly recomend corse sand and you can even use a gravel vac on it as long as you control the flow (by partly blocking the pipe!) Good luck...

Ha haa! Not just a pretty face! Well I gave that ago and the temp difference between the water mid-tank and the bottom of the sand is only about 0.7 deg. C with is pretty good. The tank is at 26.1 so I think there should be enough room there for movement... Thanks Blue

OK... so I've done a few tests... First I wanted to 'scientifically' test the temp at the bottom of the sand by sticking my hand in it! Of course my fingers aren't the finest of thermometers but I couldn't feel any temp difference at all... Secondly was keeping the sand clean - one thing to note is that although the bottom of the tank is 'sand' it is mainly quite course sand so with this in mind I had a trail run with my gravel vac (About 2' diameter and about 1" long). To start with it filled quickly with sand but I found if I blocked half of the outlet tube (At the bucket end) then there was still enough water flow to keep things moving and all but the finest sand fell nicely back to the bottom.. This is good as it means I can clean out the sand, right to the bottom of the tank, without getting my hands bitten!! Also re the African tank - I used sand (again quite course - got mine from the south coast but Blue also has a good place at the Wainui beach which is almost the same) in my Tang. tank and it looks great and the fish love it! So I think that about covers it... I should be able to keep the sand clean with the vac and it doesn't seem cooler down there to me.. Also the current owner uses gravel with would be easier I guess but all the sites I've seen recommend sand and I want him to be happy!

Sorry haven't been keeping an eye on my thread! :oops: Yeah apparently he does bite! (From current owner:) "You really do not wanna get bitten by this guy. Strongly suggest initially feeding with feeding tweezers. Then once you are familiar with how he feeds, you can try hand feeding. If you notice his teeth getting too long, you need to feed him crabs (shell and all) This will keep his teeth from getting too long and stop him feeding properly. And it makes the coolest crunching noise. I feed him rockpool crabs once or twice a week and his teeth are shorter than when I got him. I must say that any other fish you put in the tank with him is at your (or more the fishes) risk. On the first night in my LFS the two puffers tore apart 7 5 inch oscars, a 4 inch Jack Dempsey and a pair of really big orange peacock cichlids." Sounds good!!!! About the gravel - what I'm using is sand which I've found usually stays cleaner than gravel as its harder for 'stuff' to get down in between the gaps... But I think I'm going to have to keep a close eye on the situation, as he does sound pretty messy! I'm just using a normal heater but the sand will be warm from the water anyway won't it?!

Also - as I've seen them described as looking "like a floating turd", I think I'll call him 'Poo'

Thanks Lynda Yeah, he's going to be buy him self... I've done loads of searches and not found much really but what I have found is quite impressive! Apparently someone put one in with 3 fully grown Oscars and the puffer ate one of them on the first night! I'll feed him mainly on Bullies from the river I think - there are always tones of them and as he is already quite big I'm not supposed to feed him more than once every few days... Anyway - anyone with some experience please get in touch!!!

Hi guy's Just looking for any tips - I'm getting a Congo Puffer in a week or so and was wondering if anyone who has one/has had one has any tips for me on keeping and or tank set-up. The tank is going now but if you have any idea's its not too late to change it! I've been reading up on line and so I've got about 15cm of sand on the bottom for him to bury himself in and a few bits of wood and a few large ish stones for him to camouflage himself against... I was going to add some plants too but does anyone have any comments or suggestions??!!! Thanks