Feelers

As a common poster on an octopus forum I can easily see why many of the heavyweights here get annoyed with answering the same questions each time a new person joins. (I'm guilty of that too) Every few days on that forum "I have a new octopus, bought it at the lfs - what do I do now", type thing. , Its good that someone so young is into the hobby, dont think of the people here as telling you off, more that they are teaching you. Personally I love this forum, a diversity of opinions and beliefs, and I dont think I have seen any bad apples. Granted there is some conflict - but at the end of the day who cares? Check out the Iduncan vrs Wasp confrontations that are strewn about the saltwater forum here. I love it!!! And at the end of the day, I think they like it too. What would Days Of Our Lives be without a little drama? - (even worse) :lol:

When I say Chineese manufacturing, I dont mean "good" brands that are based somewhere else but get them built in China, I mean brands like Jebo, or Jebao ect. I definately think it will happen, especially given the counterfitting economy, From the cheap imitation products I have seen myself, they all do quite well.

Personally I hate all the politics and marketing crap that's within the hobby. Deltecs are obviously awsome but they are also at the premium price bracket for what they are. I can't wait until chineese manufacturing gets better, and the high cost brands have some real competition. My eheim cannister filter knockoff is pretty awsome, and at around the 5th of the price, I'm stoked with it. (granted I havent used it for long so time will tell) I never feel like I'm getting a good deal when I buy (new) aquarium stuff, its that shallow empty feeling like at the cricket when you have to buy beer- and its $4 a bottle. It tastes good, but its just not the same. 8)

I have seen some massive deep-sea isopods, 30cms long and probably 12 cms fat. They look real creepy. Heavy too, kinda like an armadillo. Has anyone tried feeding slaters as a replacement? They are also isopods, but they presumably have a different nutritional makeup. Just a thought.

I think from what I've read there is a minimum tank size (quite large) for a mandarin, so that the pod popluation is big enough to sustain their eating habits. I think mandarins are really hard to get onto prepared foods maybe. If your really keen you could have a specialised pod rearing tank above then main one that overflows into the display, someone else was talking about this on another thread. As far as I know, lots of cracks and crevaces, and lots of food/waste help them reproduce, and possibly a dsb might help? Also I think they like rotting seaweed but unsure on that.

Now this to me is a perfect photo: brilliant, and the reflection is great too.

I spose that answers both my questions nicely.

Layton your probably right - I just know Canterbury is, so just assumed Chch. While I've been there theres been heaps of violence, rapes, murders, a serial armed robber who has done 9 shops and is still on the loose. HQ of the National Front (natzi idiots), boy racers and street gangs that were both on 60 mins within the last 3 months. Hahaa, I was gonna mention the "trash" thing - on the money. White pants, black G strings and bleached blonde hair with cowboy hats.

hey now - Im careful about the PS thing, and I dont mind PSing at all, as I said IMO the top photo is overdone. It's definately outa whack with the rest of the photos. He is obviously an awsome reef keeper anyway, I was more interested in whether the vibrant colours shown in the top pic would be as bright as real life. (and I suppose I did jump to the photoshopping conclusion on the top photo - ) :roll: for which I apologise 8) , which is what sparked my question in the first place.

Christchurch is a very violent place. Apparantly the high sucide rate (highest for any city in the world) is due to the positivly charged nor-westers and their depressent affect - no really! Violent crimes everywhere. It's quite an odd place really.

Hmmm I might hit them up about it. I played the straight know nothing chump - which I am. I'll give them a ring. I know a friend who got it for $350 a year ago. $200 is a big saving.

Another one (top pic) with a little too much PSing IMO, can you tell if he has edited stuff in the pics other than the top one? Pic 2 doesnt look like it has been edited. Pic one looks a lil outa whack. Still very cool though. I kinda prefer the un-adultered pics, but just because I have never seen a reef tank other than in photos - do acro colours really look like that in the top photo when veiwed in person? Does that actually represent a true to life comparison of how strong the colours can get?

Im not too sure on bristleworms, but I would hazzard a geuss that decapitation will very likely kill it. -Just did a bit of a research - the head may grow a new tail (but unlikely), but the tail won't grow a new head. So as long as you got the right end your definately fine, and even if you didnt, your most likely fine. Out of 8000 species and none specifically attack vertabrates unless they are very large, and only a small group attack inverts. It it looks like this then you might wanna do something about it.

What does the low iron glass do? Is this to stop iron leaching into the tank?

Is adventure dive the one in Onekawa? Because that one was $500 too, I think the prices must have been raised unfortunately.

So you can get a dive for $300? , I'm in Hastings so I was gonna do a dive in Napier, that was the price from Divehq Or is this the price if you own your own gear? Whats PADI? from what I understood I would have the basic qualification after doing this course.

How come deltecs are so expensive in the US?

And for some reason the ap1004 - (the ap1003 minus one eheim 1260) gives $772.776 NZD, the price of adding one pump. The same pump can be found for approx $200NZD on some US sites I quickly found. So there's Deltec adding $570NZD to stick on a pump , not a bad earning for a 10 minute job. (btw I have no idea how long this would take) I find that rather questionable to say the least.

And he can chuck another pump on there if he really needs overkill. Just out of curiousity, what would an ap1003 set you back retail? A quick look on the deltec site and a conversion gives me the rather large sum of $4,412.04 NZ. And how do these skimmers work? Are these needle wheel too?

I was thinking the same thing, trying to get my parents into the hobby - but to no avail. T'was a good find for free though Do you think a local plastic manufacturer would polish it for me? (for a price obviously)

A poor diy attempt? Apparantly you can sand this stuff though, there are a few kinda deep scratches where the sanding is.

Well, I managed to get this nice 62L hex tank for free from my friends parents who were about to throw it out. Just wondering if you guys could help me make it look a little tidier. It has been sanded and I want to know if I can get it back to the brand new acrylic luster? Any suggestions? I tried a drill polisher but that didnt do anything. Are there any shops that would do polishing on things like this I could ask? And would anyone hazzard a geuss to what it would be worth? Cheers guys.

Could you use UV or ozone on the water storage tank?

Is it true that these attack livestock? I thought that they were assumed to be bad as they have been seen eating dead fish(and thought to be the cause) - but I thought that they were purely scavengers. When I get my tank I want as many animals as I can get. Those worms are cool!

Have you guys seen those snake-star things? I was reading through an underwater NZ photography book, and they were from dives in the Milford Sounds. Very cool colouration black and white stripes, I had never seen a starfish like that. Could they be kept in a refridgerated tank?