Steves Killies

..and then they eat each other..... start with 20 and end up with one.That would make all the importation costs a waste. They are awesome to watch though,esp when they pack hunt a goldfish

Hello 2fishy, In regards to what tank mates they are compatible with, I currently have one male who is in a comm tank with 2 spot gourami,numerous swordtails of various sizes(no babies though),SAE's,clown loaches,bronze cories... They all seem to get on fine. I watch my tanks alot and havnt noticed any adverse behaviour really. If anything he gets slightly hassled by the gourami and large male swordtail,but he dosent seem to be aggressive atall towards his mates. Ive read that they are amongst the better fish(incl Ottocinclus,SAE) to have in a tank to help keep algae at bay. They will also target areas on plants that have been damaged,(eg a hole created by a bristlenose)

Cheers Henry, I have received my book as well, enjoying it heaps already,finally i can have a stab at identifying some of my crypts spp, Thankyou Steve

hi Aquanut, hows the four eyed fish going? Has it grown anymore, begun tocolour up or anything? Pics? Steve

Hi Plantman, Yup Im definitely keen on the book

Hi Antwan, Yup i realised that. Happy glosso- hunting. Just trying to share plants I have in excess or im not using. Enjoy the kaimai's

Exuse me Sharn, That last mssg was supposed to be directed to Rory In wellington,but hey if you wanted any, the mssg can apply to you too. Steve

Hi Sharn, Steve here. we were talking about rams the other day Ive got some pots going outside that are full of glosso,the stuff just keeps growing back.Flag buying it Im happy to share with you Pm me if your interested

Hey dogmatix, Love the tank,plants are charging!! just curious about the lotus in the tank.Certainly looks good,but wondering if you know what species it is.It seems to look quite alot different to other lotus's ive seen around(?? Nymphaea lotus zenkeri??) Steve

Thanks for the pointer J&W. I do try and regulate the amount of live food,and ensure that its all eaten whilst feeding,putting little bits in at a time. Gave the tank a real good clean last night so hopefully with the improved water quality it will help the little ram which has popeye.Fingers crossed. He has maintained eating so thats a plus. Cheers Happy fishing

Hi guys,thanks for your replies JoandWilly,I did some research and thankyou,was it Dropsy that you were referring to?Mr Ram seems to have had all the syptoms minus having the scales protrude,as i recall he wasnt as peckish as normal,and was isolating himself .The only fish i'd added as of late was a single male killie,which is healthy and does not show any aggression to his tank mates. No plants had been added. He hadnt developed any "film" on him,just the obvious change in colour from a fantastic specimen to a pale drab,and the bloating. They get really well fed on white worm and bbs,maybe more regular changes have to be made though to keep everything healthy....er

Hi all, ive recently had a problem with my,bless his soul,wonderful male blue ram. He was the most dominant fish in the school and had awesome colour.about a week ago I noticed him swelling up to quite an abnormal size around the gut area,then he died....yesterday I noticed another smaller ram with a slightly bulbous eye. Seems odd.Could this be velvet disease?or some other form of nasty... I probably should have isolated him with a salt bath perhaps? Your response and advise would be greatly appreciated.. have a safe waitangi weekend

Hi Plantman, you can definitely count me into your next order please. Looking foward to getting my hands on one. Ive got your bank acct details,just gimme the word Merry xmas and a happy new year to you and your family

Ive got a couple of schist rocks you can have if you need it for a cichilid set up

Hi scherazade! You are definitely right when you say its not one of my Killies!Mine are much better than that!!!Just joshing. I dont even have any at the mo,I had a pair of Blue Gularis but they both,successfully, tried to do a "nemo" late one night.i was just browsing,wanted a pic,and well that was the nicest looking fish avaliable. ps if your really that offended I will change it cause[edit=cees]...[/edit]Why not make a breeding pair?!!! .........Back to helping Candy.You can get good plant fertiliser, made by a company called Red Sea, from LFS. R.sea make 5 kinds of fert that you can add to your tank,one of which is a tablet that you push under the substrate near your plants,and that adds alot of the trace elements the plants require,and usually are deprived of in a tank.Might be worth a looksy,but maybe too $. With the java moss,try tying it with thin nylon.If you wrap it quite tightly and close together the clumps shouldnt come off.Java grows quite quickly so it shouldnt take long to cover the nylon. [edit=cees]watch your language[/edit]

Im in the same situation Hummingbird,what wicked plants though eh!!They look A+ in a nice planted tank.Apparently they are grown from seed too.if only a LFS could sell em Nice work Plantman,sounds good. How did yours go with fish,or rather what spp didnt eat them?Id imagine they would make a tasty treat,just like a cray to a snapper? Koura would be cool but unfortunately they are tapu

if only they had known that when they introduced gorse into NZ.But yeah,I agree that protecting our native flora and fauna is paramount.Shame though...all those interesting and beautiful creatures and plants(eg Madagascan Lace)....

Hi Candy, I cant help you out with sourcing another Bornio but I will gladly give you some free plants.I dont have too much to offer but I can send you a piece(or several) pieces of java fern which you can use to tie down to the wood.This plant is also fairly hardy and its roots will anchor themselves really well.Also i can give you some of a stem plant called Ambulia(or Camombia?).This is a common plant and is easy to get going.Stem plants can be simply cut half way up the plant, and then the cutting put back into the substrate,which will then develop roots over the next week or so.So that could be a good way to get some plant cover for your fish. It does grow fairly quickly though,so you can either keep cutting it back, or you may see another type of plant to replace it with. Fish and plant keeping is sooo addictive, there are too many questions to be answered all at once. Ive really been getting into my plants recently and I can tell you that in order for plants to grow well they need 3 basic components 1)Light-generally 0.5wtts of light per litre of water.more the better 2)Co2 enrichment-allows plants to breathe properly whilst they photosynthesize.U can get Hagen/Nutrafin Co2 generators for around $50-$60.These will diffuse co2 into your water and should last up to 4weeks before you have to replace the contents that produces the gas.Check out trade me-search-co2,or a fish store 3)Fertiliser-either liquid form which is just added to water,or what youve seen,fert balls that you place under a plants roots.I think those last for up to a year. ...and ofcourse if your planting plants you need good deep substrate for plants tap roots to go down into.Some beautiful plants(eg rose/rubin swords) need quite deep substrate to root themselves properly Pm me if you would like those plants.Good luck finding everything else Steve

As far as I know you cant get any freshwater shrimp(eg Amano shrimp) in NZ for tropical freshwater.Im pretty sure you can find them in our local streams but havnt seen any yet. I could imagine they would enjoy hanging out amongst the moss

Hey Candy, Hows the tank today? Theres quite a few plants which can be tied down to pieces of log or driftwood,most of which would readily do so in the wild anyway.I may get corrected here but most of the Anubias species(such as Anubias nana) can be tied down using lightweight nylon.Once their roots grow over the wood and anchore themselves, you can take whatever you used to tie them down with off. Other species include Java fern,and moss!!!!Moss looks absolutely awesome but may struggle a bit if your fish eat it too much.Check out Plantmans pics on page 1,under "erect moss growing on DW"(driftwood),should give you a good idea of what it can look like in the right conds. Ive got some moss and flowering Anubias nana tied down to some DW,but i only did that on saturday so its a long way off looking its best. Happy planting

Hi Plantman, Loving the your pics of moss growing on DW. Im in the initial stages of trying that too.your pics inspired me Only tied the moss onto DW in the weekend, so its got a long way to go yet,but, its gonna look v.cool and provide some good cover for my fish.Cant wait. I will post you a pic (once i figure out how,shouldnt be too hard),of the log now,and then in a few months. Ive ensured that the plants have all their neccessities met for them to thrive.........

Hi. Are Striatum's Annuals or non-annuals? Tim

Hi everyone. Im new to the NZKA so go easy on me please Im heading down to Rotorua this weekend so will definately check out Wonderworld. Alan, have you snapped a shot of the Striatum yet? Or does anyone know where I can see a pic to help me identify? Cheers Tim

I have a friend in Dunedin at present and was wondering if you still have any Riccia? Would my friend be able to pick some up from you? Thanks Tim and Steve