alanmin4304

Back on line again after shakey shakey. Destroyed two thermostats again with water splashing everywhere. That Sumner fault sure is sharp and viscious. Hoping to get all my submersed plants to the petshop in the next couple of days assuming it is not munted. Emersed no problems at the moment. Iraq is becoming atractive at the moment. Would the last person left in Christchurch please turn out the lights.

Balansae likes calcium as do the crypts from Sri Lanka as that is the conditions they come from

Can you get the local petshop or a friend to do a test also to make sure your test results are right.

How to make yogurt in Christchurch---don't use water. 1/4 packet of mix, two heaped tablespoons of skimmed milk powder and add milk.

An airstone increases the surface area of a tank and therefore allows for a higher rate of stocking which can be useful if a shop, breeding or quarantining.

You can only get them over here when they are a bit stuffed.

Buy a few ugly but useful plastic plants with broad leaves. Put the corries in a bare tank with one plant and a sponge filter. Feed them well and they should go even without the cold water changes. When you see eggs on the plant swap it for an empty one and put the eggs in another tank to hatch.

I am sure someone will correct me if needed but I understand that they require fresh grass that is busy growng because it contains a hormone that makes the grass grow. This stimulates them to breed as there will be plenty of grass to feed the offspring. This is why they can be difficult to breed in the middle of summer when the grass stops growing and goes to seed or in the winter when it just stops growing (down here anyway). My breeders get two glasses stuffed full of grass and it lasts one or two days depending on how many there are.

In slow sand filters used to treat drinking water for many towns and cities there is a layer on top of the filter called schmutzdecke which builds up and does the cleaning work. The princliple is the same in an aquarium filter. When you remove that the filter has to build it up again before it works properly.

Filters work best when half gunked up and far to many people overclean their filters.

I will give you 12 guesses what they feed on. Bacteria cannot live on ammonia or nitrite alone.

The gunge is home for the bacteria but also acts as a physical filter so best not to clean it unless the flow is restricted.

Jim, I think you are a wee darlin and luuuuved the oysters.

I use heavy short glasses of water with the grass stuffed in them and they stay fresh until eaten.

Ranwater in town tends to be acid because of the SO2 it picks up on the way down. Good for breeding fish that like soft acid water but could be a shock on a water change.

You definately don't want it as it could make a big mess when it blows up.

Don't clean the filter at all unless the flow is restricted then only clean it enough to get the flow restored. It is a biological filter and the bacteria that do the work live in the gunge in the filter. If you remove the gunge you also remove your filtration. Sometimes all that is required is to clean the inlet pipe to the filter.

Could be a bacterial bloom from overfeeding.

That is a great idea. I have relocated the facility at times but hadn't thought of the icecream container loo.

When I was breeding kribs I used to siphon the babies off and raise them in a seperate bare tank with a sponge filter only.

With a lot of reptiles you either need deep pockets or get pretty good at breeding live food.

My pandas lay eggs at least once a week and often twice. All females will not lay at the same time.

It can be a behaviour caused by irritation of the skin caused by whitespot or velvet, but loaches do have some unusual behaviours.

White poop can relate to what they have eaten. eg Whitworms. It is not normally white.

Checking that his hair was in place?