mrshanepaul

Seen this on trademe and had a bit of a chuckle. When I first seen a few snails on the plants I got from hollywood, I was quite happy to have a new "thing" living in my tank. I am now officially a "snail hunter"... He wants $12, around 0.50c a snail! My favourite comment is: "so you can start your own breeding program as ours seem rather fertile."

Considering powerheads can be obtained off trademe for relatively little, is it worth the effort of having to dismantle and blow out the radiator all the time to clear gunk?? Separate systems sound a lot smarter. Of course you are probably trying for a slashdot article???

Then I assume that you would suggest everyone on this board call their local electrician to make sure their household plugs are round the right way, since this is a danger you pointed out earlier? Or perhaps not... I respect the fact that you are worried about people screwing things up and this board (or anyone really) being responsible for causing any damage. However, in my defence, my post did qualify first that I was not an authority and second, if you are unsure get it seen to by a professional. As we can see, Shae wired it anyway and tested it all out. It is only after advice that he is calling a sparky. One would conclude that this discussion has been helpful on many levels. Had the discussion been the disclaimer: "We will not give advice because of possible liability problems and do not attempt this at home", what might have been the situation then? I most definately learned something so this has been very helpful for me at the very least. PS: When I bought my new aquarium light from the store I was rather surprised to find no waterproofing. (e.g. silicon) It would appear that one simply suspends what is essentially a live wire in a box above a tank full of water. The fish store guy even told me that I could hook it onto the tank with no glass beneath it. (it came with a plastic cover) I am and will continue to be somewhat paranoid about my handling of my light (like have a large plate of glass and the cover under it at all times) and would go as far to say that this is far more of a risk than the situations mentioned above. Also the (small) underwater variety of pumps that feed directly off the mains power and contain all their components inside the pump housing. If the seal broke, this would again be a live wire in a tank of water. Of course these are acceptable risks because they came out of the box... The insurance catch is a biggie of course and this would most definitely warrant a sparky to check it over.

While you are correct that in some electronics it DOES matter due to live/neutral wires, it does not (again AFAIK) in lights. Light points begin and terminate at the same end of the light and there is no chance of a "suppose to be neutral" wire being live instead. The wires from plug lead to lightfitting is about 1 inch on both sides. Even in 95% of consumer electronics, the transformer is wired in a similar fashion and the circuit from that point is low voltage DC. One would assume this is so that live/neutral swaps are not a problem. And, as YOU say, your wall plug may be wired wrong. Since none of us can tell (99% of people on this board will have never checked one) would you suggest that everyone here phone their local electrician to check this because of the huge danger of electrocution?? While I totally agree that you should wire things correctly and not attempt things without being 100% you are not going to electricute yourself, in fact I said as much, I think that you were being somewhat alarmist here? I, personally, found the idea of suspending a light over a tank filled with water at all a VERY stupid proposal in the first place. But I guess if we were worried about every little thing that could kill us, we would never drive cars or cross a road.

Very carefully??? But seriously, lights don't have earths??? AFAIK (an amateur electrician/muck about person) There are only two main wires that must be connected to the light and it does not matter which way around they go. (AC power of course) These will be attached to the ends of the fluro. The earth should be attached (if at all) to the metal casing that you are putting the light into. (don't mix this up....) This is usually a green wire, but god only knows at times. Try testing the final product at a distance on a power point that has a circuit breaker. Of course fluros may be special...but I don't think so. If you are unsure and mind getting electricuted, take it to someone who knows.

PS: Just got two 6 month old golden axies today. VERY happy about that, been waiting for ages for them.

I agree! I said this at the start and end of my post. Compared to me, you are experts. Expertise is relative after all... You assume wrong, sir! I actually quote the protein content for adults AND juveniles and use the juvenile stats. I was mainly talking from a nutritional point of view. I assume that the my "final words" where I mention physical advantages of one over the other that people (e.g. shae) thought I was talking from experience and saying I liked one over the other. (I was not) This was just an example of the practical realities of a food source. It is all very well to say one has 25% better protein content than the other, but if it costs $100/kg and must be harvested from the alps on a full moon, it is not much use. This is NOT a subjective area, since YOU know what you have spent in time/energy/money when you bred them and what is best for you. My main point, which I spent most of my time on, was that the nutritional reasoning that was going on was not correct. My main conclusion was that they appear to be very similar and that variety is very important.

Old urine==ammonia. They used to use it to bleach clothes, tan hides and even cure tobacco?! It is not the pee, but the ammonia. Wouldn't it be better to get it from a store??

Damn, looks like your fish store decided to give you the runaround and squeeze you for a bit of extra cash. Feel sorry that this has happened. Just read this thread earlier and got the immediate urge to check my newly cycling tanks. My nitrite levels have been dangerously high for about two weeks. Have been doing very large water changes to keep it under control. (along with stresszyme) It has been bugging me that the bacteria had not taken up residence yet, since ammonia levels have been zero for some time. Turns out that tonight was the night that they are starting to drop! :bounce: Found a note I made when I laid the tanks down and it is exactly 4 weeks ago I started the cycle. (expecting a 5 week total cycle time now) Was really worried about my danios for a while there - even though they were the "pioneer fish", I didn't want to lose one. The nitrite went dark purple at a couple of times. I monitored them for red gills and the rest of the symptoms of nitrite poisoning, but they were really healthy looking and colourful. (they seemed to improve colour, but what would I know) The advice here is essentially what I have done, so a bit of patience will almost gaurantee you a good tank in the end. It can be a bit frustrating at the start since you want to dive in (so to speak) at the start. I will be using the same process for my third tank. Good luck

lol. Fast fish dude. Actually you need to take the photos in natural sunlight. The indoor lights do not provide enough illumination and the "shutter" has to stay open too long. (of course on digital cameras it is a little different - same basic cause and effect though)

I guess this is the appropriate forum to suggest this... How about: DIY??

Tea Tree Oil?? I assume it is 5x the price of the stuff in the supermarket also?? Although I would not try dumping a random amount on a poor fish of course....

Well I think that if you to treat one of MY clients with such disrespect you would be in for a law suit buddy. Insufficient net size combined with dangerous tank transfer protocols is just not acceptable. We could be looking at 200-300k if we found a likeable judge. Done the trampoline circuit back in the 80's and it was not pretty. We were double booked with a broadway production of Cats. Still don't know why that went so badly....

I work mainly for the UA: United Aquariums. They also call me the fish whisperer...

heh. I think the moral of the story was that fish are moody and complicated like the rest of us.

I had a danio that was looking very bloaty around the stomach. Two meals of peas and it was back to its normal self... Must of had constipation.

I spoke to representatives of all sides and it seems that the guppy found the incessant bickering from the minows, hence the agressive stance. The minows feel that their sovereign rights have been violated by the tetras who continue to invade their territories and have been loudly vocalising this to the guppy faction to try and garner support. The tetras have just split into two factions, one being extremely expansionist. Their infighting has spread to surrounding territories. They feel that a water change, a healthy dose of stress coat and extra food would help things calm down. (The fish equivalent of a booze up at a BBQ) You might want to do this before your nitrate levels rise too high, since the tetras are trying to make explosives with it...

Make sure your water is well declorinated at any rate if they are silver coated. After a few months they may not look so shiney...

Good point. :oops: Done now.

Could be that or something contaminated that part of the tank. Perhaps they got stuck?? I guess you will have to Sherlock Holmes it. Personally I think it was Col. Mustard in the living room with the lead pipe...

Do I LOOK that stupid?? I fried it and used hot sauce...was that bad?? I think she is getting the idea. I conned her into coming down the fish store to have a look and I think she fell in love with the danios. They are very cute. They now have two trademe pirate ships (got both for $5!!) to play with and lots of plants. They are looking more than pleased with themselves.

Another Shane? Hello Shane from Shane

Thanks, I suspected as much.

Hey there I am a newbie to the forum also. How much work and money was setting up a salt tank compared to tropical? Similar or 2x etc??

I am hoping to have a couple of golden albinos. The shop said they were getting a few in soon...at $60 each. heh.