rachel4

hey shelley, all i got was four neons. i already had four so now i have a nice wee school. they hit it off right from the start.... all good mates now. I saw some albino oscars in the shop they looked cool but my brother has two and they are massive so not interseted. I am in the process of scoring tank number four so cant wait to get it up and running, then a trip back to shop for some newbies How long have you lived in Timaru? I have just moved here and its pretty cool. Good size town, everything ya need.

Hey Shelley, went to Timaru shop tonight...just for a look :roll: and they have just stocked up. Tanks are looking good. Fish look good too. Specially the ones i brought home :roll:

well i stand corrected... and i like that:Pride Of Mother England

Caper i read somewhere that the eye is the third spot anyway.... thats why they are called a three-spot gourami

you had 18 tanks!! that would just about be a full time job looking after all them

I thought that calling someone from England a pomme, was actually considered to be an insult? My family on fathers side are all from there and I never call them that cause i always thought it was rude By the way Hi Tim

Caryl: wow 250 lt is a heck of a lot of water on the floor!!! what a sight that would have been...looking at my 90lt full i would freak if it burst... i was a bit worried when i first filled it, thinking imagine if there was a slight weak point somewhere and it burst at the seams, it would take hours to clean up...... i would have thought maybe insurance would cover loss due to that happening though... if something was permanently damaged though, maybe i should take out life insurance on fish just in case :lol: I was lucky enough to have my brother who gave me a huge sheet of polystyrene 4cm thick before i set up tanks. He used to be obsessed with fish-keeping, had tanks everywhere breeding and even talked to them, but four children later kinda was too busy to keep up with it. He still has a 250lt tank with 2 huge oscars, and a plec. Shelley: Hey neighbour!! Where in Canterbury are you? I have just bought house in Temuka. Really like it here. Noticed the other day in town that the pet shop has new owners, hope things take a turn for the better in the fish department. And in the attitude of the people!! I really want to go to Chch for a look but can't quite justify going that far to look at fish ( and as we all know ... buy some) so waiting for a good reason to go up there (as an excuse) Steve Slack: Hi right back to ya

i didnt realise kissers could get that big... yeah i thought when they were all bigger i would prob need bigger tank, how big do gouramis get? also i was wondering, i did a lot of water changes until my tank settled down, but is it common practice to keep doing it weekly? and do i also have to do water changes in a cold water tank with 2 gold fish? thanks again for all the good advice you guys have given me so far

ahuh, what a good idea...hey Caryl i have noticed you talking about having polystyrene under tanks... did you have a mishap? I remember reading somewhere about 160lt of water on the floor... was that you?

hey hows it going...I have the four larger gouramis and two pink kissers, a plec and 2 clown loaches, also am fish-sitting 5 small white catfish at moment so they are in there too. The plec is quite small and so are the catfish so i dont think they are crowded. I'm not sure what sex the kissers are, but yeah I have 2 boys and 2 girls so not a good mix huh...if the pink kissers were female would that count?

yeah the smaller one is not quite vertical any more, although i wouldnt say it is lying on its side , about half way between the two.... and hiding behind the filter, fins OK tho, I have heard it mentioned quite a lot, about gourami's being bullies.... think i need a time-out corner for Mr Blue

also Caryl you forgot to mention that a tank wouldnt get stroppy if you played with another tanks equipment :lol: !! unlike my partner........ not that i have ever done that!! and I forgot to mention that even tho he might not want tanks everywhere, he doesnt really get a say in the matter te he he used to have a huge 250lt tank years ago with huge kissing gourami and plec in it , and he has been gazing at mine and reminiscing , but he wouldnt admit it......i know he misses them........ he will easily be converted i know it.....MTS is contagious isn't it

Hi Jude again lol glad to finally get in to the chat room last night...real good to talk with y'all i know this site and everyone on it is going to make my new hobby (obsession?) a lot easier to get the hang of.... bit worried about the mention of MTS though um well er i think i have it, i was looking on Trademe last night at tanks help!! LOL my partner thinks one tank is enough and i have three.....

now it all makes sense... thanks Caryl, the big blue one is a male and the one he is picking on is a smaller male...... the two that are left to themselves are females

not sure what sex they are Shannon, maybe you could help me figure that one out....also how do you know when they are full grown i.e how big do they get.........thanks for the tips, will get some more hiding places

hi guys thanks for replies..... Caryl cheers about the rocks, my bro did say something about testing rocks somehow, but not sure what to use, I read somewhere about bleaching them, but that to me seems extreme so went and bought stones......... worms get to have those rocks to play with now.... although right now they are still sitting in a pile by my back door where I dumped them cause the weather has been shit down here for past week and not real keen to go out there........ prefer to stay in and watch fishes and Caper youre right i have had a few laughs reading thru peoples stories and this way of learning is heaps better ... I have had cold water fish for about ten years, and got a small 30 litre tank two years ago and just had a couple neons and a guppy or 2 with a plec . Recently bought a big house so thought why not get bigger tank...? Got 90-95 litre one. kept smaller one and put 2 goldfish in for kids to look after. just set up a fifty litre for platys to have their babies in as well..... no lid for it tho and cat thinks its their new water trough

Hi everyone I have been reading heaps about all the tricks of the trade here........great site!! I set up a new tank about three weeks ago and had a major crash five days ago, four dead fish...next day another few.. next day more etc. Was so dissapointed cause it was doing so well. So I found out after many hours reading here, that it was due to not enough bacteria!!!! And I thought to have a sparkly clean tank was good :oops: So have been doing major water changes every day ... and took out the rocks i got from river :oops: and things are looking on the up no dead fishies today. I have just one question... what is the story with salt? I put some in following instructions from store... but now I read about people trying to get it out...? So you put it in but then take it out after the fish are no longer stressed... :-?

Have been watching them quite a bit today , blue definitely stroppy!! the two pearls seem to stick together and doing fine but the one bronze coloured gourami not looking happy.... trying to hide behind filter and big sad face should i seriously think about taking blue out of tank?? if so is there anyone who might like to do a swap..... blue is about 10-11cm......and cheers for your reply Caryl

Hi I am new to this site...lots of great advice too I might add...recently set up aprox 90l tank....given four gouramis - one three spot ( or blue ) gourami which chases the others around all day.... it is only slightly bigger than others.... is this going to be a problem? am worried about the stress factor grateful for any advice