toughchicken

It was a very good find!

Can’t wait to see more photos of it.

Sorry for the loss of the rainbow shark loopy. Sorry I can't help, but don’t make any rash decisions in the heat of the moment. Hope you can figure something out for the oscar. RJ

Welcome to the NZ Fishroom. Good to see more chickens in here! :-?

we may need to fence lakes, rivers and the beachs soon. :lol: :lol: :lol: RJ

I see your point. the glass divider would have to be lower than the height of the tank by an inch or so, which would allow over flow from one to the next. We may need to have the ability to restrict flow manually (by tap) if the variations where too major. I personally feel that there could be too many variations, and if manual controls are used it may over work the filter. Thanks for your input! RJ

With Tank dividing, there are more methods than one im sure. We are currently looking at getting a larger community tank 4ft, and wish to divide the existing 3ft for separating male & female guppies. And this leads to our existing Ehiem canister filter, that we wish to modify to work for the division. My feeling is it probably wont work, but theres no harm in asking. The plan would be to have two intakes with two 6mm tubes (internal dia.) leading to a 'Y' junction on to a 12mm tube (internal dia.) to the canister, with another 12mm out flow tube to a 'Y' junction attached to two 6mm tubes ending at two 1/2 size spray bars. We are assuming an over flow allowance will have to be provided above the central divider so that both tanks would stay even in water level. intake-----------6mm-----------\---------------------- /---6mm------spray bar ------------------------------------ |------2222---------| -------------------------- intake-----------6mm-----------/-----------------------\---6mm------spray bar Will it work???? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Some more photo's, a little clearer. RJ

Hi guys, Thanks Alan for your imput. We have been reading books etc to try to clarify the situation (particularly by Dr. Carl Ferraris Jr.). It seems that your opinion seems to be more in line with much of what we have read. But in saying this - we will post some more pics and dimensions when they get bigger and we will be able to determine to a more accurate degree what these little guys are. We brought them for about $27 each - so not too expensive but they were only about 5cm when we brought them. The local fish shop stated that the supplier they obtained them from found them very easy to breed and to some extent had them coming out their ears - haha - first time we have seen juvenille whips/twigs like this for sale though. Thanks again guys for your imput. Jess

How far away from the tank are you standing? Every camera has a minimum distance that it has to be away from the object that you are focusing on, even with macro mode cameras. Try taking a step back from your tank and then zoom it in on the item, this will allow the focus to work in its designed proximity range, like most point and shoot cameras. RJ example - my semi professional camera in macro mode, requires a minimum distance of 200-300mm from the item I wish to photograph.

cheers. Thats helped us a lot!!!!! RJ

Okay, let me get this straight... Twigs are Farlowella and Sturisoma, whiptails are hemiloricaria or rhinoloricaria. So a Royal Farlowella is different from a Royal Twig Catfish but belongs to the same genus? Jess P.S. We realise that there is alot out there on the net thats why we are trying to find outs some truths about these lil beauties we brought!! Thanks for your help

I am unsure of the difference now between the 'twig' and the 'whiptail'. You stated that ours would be a 'twig' however, it states on an adelaide aquariam website (quoted below) that all twigs have an elongated nose, whereas the whiptails do not. Our catfish do not have an elongated nose - thus does this make ours whiptails rather than twigs? We still believe that you are correct that it is a S. Panamense. 'Whiptail catfish (Sturisoma & Rineloricaria species) are elongate fishes with long extensions to their tail fins. Twig catfish (Farlowella species) are similar but even more delicate in appearance, and with a very extended snout.' http://adelaideaquariums.com.au/faqs/fr ... ptail.html Can anyone clear up this confusion??

Hmmm... am very confused. I 'googled' the name 'Sturisoma panamense' and most of the pics have quite a resemblance. However a few websites also referred to it as the 'Royal Farlowellas'. Is this correct? Whats difference between a twig and a whiptail? Jess

Hi, Recently brought three juvenille whitails (LFS sold as 'small whiptails'). They are still small ranging in size between 5 - 7cm long. Can anyone throw any light on what type of whiptails these little guys may be? Note: as they get larger they are developing more of a sickle shaped dorsal fin. Jess

Went into Hollywood yesterday, and was talking to one of the staff. It seems they wish to charge more. $700 was the new figure, I dont believe that even if someones was brave to pay $2,100 for the three that they would let them go! But they dont seem to have had any luck breeding as of yet either. But nethier would I with all those people looking in. haha. RJ

Well the decision has been made, and BN has been brought by the LFS, and he was so aggravated on his trip there, he managed to puncher the bag. He has been replaced with three juvenile small whiptalls (Sturisoma Festivum - I think) We will leave red spot pleco to mend his minor fin tears, but any more growth and the move to a bigger home many be the deciding factor to what happens next.

BN has become the dominant fish between the two lately. He has taken over plecos usual chill out spot and has been especially greedy over food. We drop two disks minimum into the tank in the morning (we also feed them zuchinni - always two pieces of anything to avoid disputes over food). However BN is smarter and he will drag one disk under the log where pleco cannot fit, he will leave it there for later and then try and go steal plecos disk which he is happily munching on. As of late - pleco has been submissively giving his disk to BN so that BN has the one stashed under the log and the one from pleco. Greedy lil ****!! Perhaps BN would be happier with a girlfriend - but would this only make it harder for pleco to exist in happiness? What can we do about his fins that have started to tear lately? - I presume that is from trying to root around between all our plants and munting himself or perhaps stress.

Hi All...Once again I have a wee question about my red spot pleco (and by bristle nose) Our red spot pleco (approx 15cm long) and our male BN (approx 8cm long) have been living in harmony for about 9 months. We have had them both since they were very small. they live in a tank which is 90 x 30 x 30cm approx 80L. Last week however we noticed that the smaller of the two - Bristlenose was chasing pleco. Harrassing him constantly around and around the tank. Pleco is a placid gentleman that minds his own business whereas BN is a bit more of a busybody. Pleco is now rather depressed and has been hiding in our plant cover (not to mention uprooting most of it). He used to be the king of our tank - quite active with his top fin always displayed proudly (the photo in our photobucket account shows the happy guy he was only few weeks ago) - now his shies away in the corners, with his fins down and they have started to tear. What shall we do?? Is the only option to separate them??

Howdy everyone - my partner and I stumbled across this website a wee while ago and it is GREAT!! Nice to know that there are people out there that have been hit by the fish bug worse than us!! Toughchicken is Jess and RJ We live in the North Shore and are both Students - both working in the construction industry. We are in our early twenties and have had our first fish tank for about a year and a half, its a guppy tank with a resident red spot pleco and an outsmarting bristlenose who is almost half the size, yet manages to eat the most!! We aspire to get something bigger than our current three footer tank - but will have to wait till we have the space. Additional to the fish we have a third hand hand-me-down cat called pixie, who is a strangle little mottley moggie (ginger and white - not a good temperament combo!!). Favorite Foods consist of expresso coffee and chocolate by itself or drenched all over something else - like strawberries :lol: We own an altezza which we love to pieces. RJ doesnt do books, but when I have time, anything by Bryce Courtney is brilliant! Jess also has a strange liking for terrible 80's music and tragic video clips that sport fluro clothing, bad sunglasses 8) and big frosted hair. she has been threatening an eighties theme party for a LONG time! We both adore travelling, roadtrips, summertime and summer sports which involve water such as waterskiing, wakeboarding etc Thats far too much rambling - it must be someones elses turn now!

this may be of help - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/guppy- ... t7517.html just refering to the note of high water changes and feeding rates that shiuh was under taking. It may be of some help to hear of what he is doing. We tried individual tank breeding and had similar problems, we ended up creating high vegetation in the main 80 L tank and they survived better, but this does not allow for specialised breeding that I presume you are wanting to do. Anyway, feeding babies high quantities of food - much of it just goes to the bottom and then rots essentially poisoning the water quality - thus the need for frequent small water changes. Dont know if this is helpful - but im sure you could pm someone live livebearer_breeder and ask questions and he maybe able to help you out seeing as he is dealing with it all the time (i guess)

Oh yeah I meant red spot pleco. Temporary moment of stupidity - that'll teach me to proof read my posts before I place them. Oh well there goes that idea of getting another to breed with - oh well. We love him or her anyway Thanks guys for your words of wisdom.

Hi I have a Red Pleco approx 15cm long and do not know how to tell if it is a male or a female. We also have a bristlenose which is smaller and when it comes to food the red pleco can be a bit aggressive - so have assumed that the pleco is a male. Can anyone throw any light on this?

B & K, when you refer to salting, are you referring to the use of 'tonic salt' when a water change is done? We had 'needle tail' sometime ago with our guppies but as of late have had no such problem, I’m assuming the change is because of the salting, a cheap method of fixing the problem.

haha. Any one got some zink spray primer?? Needed for rusty jokes! :lol: