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Just a little off the subject. I wish my Angels would stop laying!!! I have around 300 at between one month and three months old. And the parents have laid again!! :lol: This pair regularly lay over 100 eggs and raise them without any being eaten. Excellent parents. I know that a good way of stopping this mass production would be to split this pair up but that is not practical at the moment. Every spare tank and heater I have is housing Angel babies!!! I have other tanks with Angels in them but while they are not spawning it is also not the friendliest of tanks. Quite a bit of bickering going on at the moment while they sort out whose girlfriend is who's. I am hoping to sell some to a few pet shops soon so hopefully they will start paying for themselves a little.

Decided to paint the back of the new 5 footer blue so the poor fish are going to have to stay on the floor for another day or three yet. May as well make it how I want it first as I doubt I will be moving this one for awhile. Unless Mother Earth decides to shake, rattle and roll again of course! The floor is drying out thankfully and we may yet decide to just polish the floor as the floor boards are so beautiful under the carpet! The joy of owning and older home is that back in those days matai and rimu were common and 'rubbish' wood. To have a floor like this seems a pity to cover it up. Thinking this may save money and get a nice effect. Leaves for money for fish :lol: :lol: You are right Caryl ... having a canary would be a little less hazardous but the noise they make would drive me nutty within a day or two. At least fish are quiet. Pegasus ... the crack is right at the front .. where the two pieces meet and that was already braced with another strip along the bottom edge! The crack goes under this piece through to the front glass. I have to take of the whole strip along the bottom before even getting to the crack. I think a new bottom would be better as I would be too scared to trust a repair. Not worth the risk as far as I am concerned. I am please it was only water over the floor. It would be so heart breaking to lose any fish. Thankfully it cost us nothing as far as drying goes and the carpet was stuffed anyway and cost nothing to tear at with a stanley knife. Quite fun actually ... being destructive. I have another 45 metres to go yet too!! :lol: :lol:

Not sure if this is the right forum but what the heck! I suppose lots of us felt the earthquake the other day? We did for sure! I raced around checking tanks and watching water lap over the ends of two tanks before it subsided. This morning I was making a coffee (half asleep) and thinking I could hear my spray bar, which is normally fairly quiet. I went over to check it closer and discovered from about two feet in front of the tank the carpet was wet. HORROR! About two inches of water missing from my four foot tank. Mad rush to get another tank inside before I had to leave for work. Left poor hubby to drain water and fish into this other tank. I left work as soon as I could (12pm) to get home and find tank setup on floor in front of the other tank!! Arghhhhhhh Drain that out into yet another tank, filling up every availabe container with the extra tank water so I didnt lose any of it. Fish going from four down to two foot tank now. Move the other tank away and put it all back again. (Exhausted by now). Poor hubby not happy man by now. :evil: Got everything out of the other tank and took it outside to check it over. No huge crack - just a small (1 inch) hairline crack beside the silicone. Thankfully I suppose as I could have lost the lot. Only disappointment is that I have lost my stand it was sitting on. It is saturated and is only gib board so it is swollen and soggy. Also had to cut out three feet of carpet (carpet being ripped up anyway in about three - four weeks). It is amazing how much water a carpet holds! I have got a five foot tank that was going to be used for something else going up tomorrow and everything will be going into that. Well that is my excitment. Bet you are all glad it wasnt you but then you arent a fish keeper unless you have at least one busted tank!! (So I am told).

Welcome. I dont think you are the only 'oddball' around here but you are the only one to admit it in public! :lol: :lol: We will all enjoy hearing about your DIY's - good and bad.

I reckon Caryl! My mum found out where they were and called in and noticed the tank in the shed. As every good mum should do she asked about it. All I had to do was ring and say who I was. Really neat that people you havent seen for decades can still be pleasant. Pity they are moving down south soon as I would like to show them what it will look like.

I have found some relatives I havent seen for about 20 years and wadda ya know ... their son has a five foot tank, stand, filter etc that he hasnt used for about 5 years!!! Says I can have it if I pick it up and they are only 15 minutes away. Woohooo!!!! Guess I have another tank arriving soon :lol: :lol: This is where the cichlids will call home. Think a five footer will be big enough for anything I will get. Just going to go hunting for rocks etc to decorate it. Thankyou for your advice as always Andrew.

I could have swapped you then Warren. You wouldnt want to even try to handle this big guy!! If he had teeth you would lose a finger or too. :lol: And yes he was well fed and looked after so his attitude wasnt because he was starving. Just a grumpy old man.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I couldnt intentionally feed fish to fish! I am a mother and therefore have this large maternal instinct (damm it all) It kicks in right at the time I am about to drop unwanted fry into the tank with my larger fish. They then go back into the tank and I watch them grow up. Patting myself on the back for having such wonderful tanks of babies and no homes for them!!! So I kick them out on the street instead (not literally). :lol: :lol:

I agree too. I dont want anything that is not 'correct to type'. I dont even own mongrel dogs!! Though some people have been known to call them that. :lol: The 'guy' I am referring to Andrew is the guy (cant remember his name :oops: ) that was selling his large blues and yellows. He had a tank (or two) in the wash house with fry in and said he would sell us some of the young ones to start off with. They are getting rid of quite a few as they are buying a house soon and want less to move.

When I first started (seriously) keeping fish I giggled at the idea of an 'automatic' fish feeder but after spending an hour (after working 9 hours already) feeding the fish I could just about be forced to go get 20!!! :lol: Mind you dont think anyone has invented an automatic brine shrimp machine that will, start the hatching process, watch it for three days, unplug it and suck out only the shrimp then walk around feed all the babies!! If they have please let me know where I can get one. My hubby quit!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hello Frances. Welcome to a great place to hang out. Awesome people here and you can ask some many questions and someone will always respond to you. I have learnt more on here in a few months than a few years from books. Hope you let us all know how your breeding goes as you strive for the perfect purple guppy! :lol: Pretty little fish.

Hi Colin. Welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Great place to be and great people. Their combined knowledge is more than any books and in a much friendlier format too I had three Discus but am down to one young Zebra. Had a beautiful large Blue Turquoise but he was an extremely aggresive fish and killed two Dwarf Gouramis and the other young Discus I had. He now lives by himself (again) at a friends house. (No wonder he was on his own when I bought him from a guy!!) He had 'hole in the head' at some stage but was and still is very healthy. Just plain nasty! Anyway hope to hear from you lots regarding the progress of your breedings.

I intend to 'pick' as many peoples brains as possible or that will allow me! :lol: I have a few questions already but so many different answers to so few questions! I seem to get confused so easily. :lol: I talked to various club members on the weekend and got quite a bit of info but each person seems to have different ways of doing things and all their tanks are so beautiful. Andrew did tell me which fishes live together but I was busy doing other things that I clean forgot which was which. Perhaps he will be good enough and kind enough to tell me again. Or I can ask the guy when I collect the babies. Thanks anyway Caryl. I hope you get yours soon. They are just so pretty and I am looking forward to having some colour as most of my fish are quite plain (but still beautiful to me )

Without being rude ... could we go back to the question etc about Cichlids etc. I am really interested in getting a 'small' tank going and now know that different types have different requirements. I currently have a few small tangerines and jewels and, in another tank. four firemouths. Nothing too fancy etc just like the look of these ones. Not interested in the 'devils' so to speak. I am looking at getting some, again, small electric yellows, blues and peacocks. I was told what goes with what but didn't take it all in ( :oops: sorry Andrew). Could someone tell me which fish I have or am getting go with each other? If I have to set up other tanks that will be fine (good excuse for more tanks!). I did a test on our tap water and the ph is around 7.6. I was told (and listened bit closer :lol: ) that adding small amounts of baking soda will increase the ph. As these fish all seem to like different conditions which would be ok at 7.6 or thereabouts and which need higher? Thanks to all that take the time to read this and to answer me. I do go on!! Takes awhile to get into the old grey matter but once in there it usually stays. I am also going for a look at the cichlid websites but there are so many and am hoping I can get an easier answer here rather than spending hours searching for it :oops: :oops:

Brilliant idea. I will go and measure up now. Four bedroom house ... each with double wardrobes ... hhhmmmm ... how many more tanks, filters, fish, plants stones etc do I need? Anyone want any good second hand clothes????? :lol: :lol: :lol: oh ... and shoes too :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok ... where do I go to this chat room again? Oh ... hang on and I will go searching for it

Waste of time eating air. More holes than cheese!!! :lol:

You have been here and peeked in my wardrobe!!! I can't get away with anything nowadays! Maybe I told a teeny weeny fib but I am sure I don't have twenty - 19 maybe but not 20 :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: I have visions of your floor looking like a piece of swiss cheese

Shoes??? What are shoes??? Oh ... those things rich people that dont have fish wear on their feet!!! Only have gumboots here to stop getting wet feet when doing something and everything with tanks. :lol: :lol:

Does the flow weaken with distance? I would have thought that it would only dribble out even with a powerhead. I have about 12 feet to get to the deck and wondered how to do it without buckets. I may give it a go if it isnt going to take too long.

Thank goodness we own this place. I would have to have this many tanks in a rental. Would be a nightmare if told to shift out! Good luck with the move.

Now Warren ... what is the matter with living in a shoe box??? :lol: :lol: Are you moving into a bigger box this time? :lol:

I managed to get 15 Kribs survive in a heavily stocked tank. This tank isnt heavily planted either as the hoplos take great delight in tearing my neat arrangments to bits!! :lol: I am amazed at how many fry they have. The tank in the garage which just has the Kribs and babies must have close to 200 fry in there. The fish inside must of had a feeding frenzy to demolish the fry. Poor parents! They did a valiant job.

Okey dokey .... 4 foot 1 Upside Down Catfish 3 Hoplo Catfish 6 small Bristlenose 6 Pearl Danios 4 Kribensis (2 girls, 1 guy and 1 fry I cant catch!) 1 Gold Gourami (sod killed his wife :evil: ) 2 Snakeskin Gourami (pair) 2 Threespot Gourami (pair) 4 Firemouths 4 Angels Over stocked I know but other four footer still being readied. Running two filters. One internal cannister and one external cannister. 50%water changes weekly. 3 foot 6 Tetras (bought from Napier and have no idea what sort they are!! :lol: ) 3 Emerald Eyes 5 Rummy Nose 1 Zebra Discus (small) 1 Blue Turquoise Discus (large) 5 Bristlenose Cats 2 1/2 foot 2 Zebra Angels (breeding pair) 5 Bristlenose Cats 3foot 42 Marble Angles (2 months old and outgrowing this tank quickly) 11 Kribensis (2 months old) 1 foot 20+ Zebra Angel fry (three weeks old) Phew .... thats the inside tanks ... now for the garage ... :lol: :lol: :lol: 4 foot divided One side ... breeding Kribensis and over 200 fry (one month old) Other side ... 1 Dwarf Gourami, 2 Neon Gouramis, 3 Honey Gouramis, Neons, Glowlights, 2 Bronze Catfish 4 foot divided One side ... 1 Zebra Angel and 1 Black Lace Angel ... breeding pair Other side ... 1 Pleco, 1 Amazon Striped Headstander and 1 Skunk Loach 4 foot Tank is in process of being prepared for splitting of the overstocked four footer inside. One week to go and then I can rehome some. Also have an empty four footer but as soon as I can get something arranged to sit it in then that will be filled with something too. :lol: :lol: Hopefully we will get some cichlids .. electric yellow, peacocks etc I just looked at this and OH HECK!!! Not bad for 6 months back into fish keeping!! No wonder we dont have any savings anymore. :lol: