alanmin4304

Although it can be a pain in the butt repairing tanks sometimes it can also be a pain getting rid of a broken tank as they don't fit wel into a rubbish bag.

People who sell breeding pairs do so because they have bred them almost to death, or they eat their eggs, or they eat their fry or in some other way they are no bloody good. If you want to breed you should buy good quality fish and preferably unrelated. Best to get fish from different sources and pick males and females from different batches. With cichlids you can then put them together and see who fancies who.

Dorspy is even worse than dropsy and is also incurable

I have heard that peat has bacteriacidal properties. White spot is an opportunistic parasitic infection that is usully present but would be discouraged if the fish are in ideal condition because the water is how they like it. Fish in prime condition are able to resist it but if the conditions became more adverse it would probably return so it would not have been eliminated, just discouraged. That would be my guess.

I am not certain but I would think that a gardneri would not cross with an australe

If it has colour showing on the fins it will be a male but you may have to wait to find out which sort.

This plant has been used in some countries to strip nutrient from oxidation ponds used in sewage treatment before the effluent is discharged to a water course. The plant is removed and composted, taking much of the phosphate and nitrate with it.

For those not going to the meeting----They are called fighters because the males fight. The males are also agressive drivers and can beat up on females that are not ready to spawn. Females are OK together and a spawning of males and females can be kept together until they start fighting but males are best on their own (there are exceptions but not usually worth the risk) The males are seperated out but able to see each other in order to encourage fin development.

In the last few weeks two people have been selling lagarosiphon as oxygen weed on trademe. The first one I notified the seller then trademe and nothing happened. I then notified the people at biosecurity who visited after I bought smuggled plants off trademe. They checked with NIWA to be sure about the identity of the plant and when confirmed they refered it to the Regional Council who got it removed. The second lot was removed by the seller when informed what it was. It would be best to notify the Regional Council as they are now responsible for the control of what used to be called noxious weeds.

Killies do best on their own but can go with some other fish. I keep males and females seperated because I find they breed better. I keep males with sae, cories and clown loaches, and females with sae and guppies. They can be fin nippers and do best on live food. I keep mainly plants and they and the killies do well at 22-23 deg. They generally don't like strong light but do well in a strongly lit tank with lots of plants. I keep them in Christchurch tap water which is slightly alkaline and about 45 ppm hardness. I breed them in rainwater with boiled peat added but put them in tap water from a few days old. If you don't have many tanks you would be best to stick to one species. Join the killie club and you will get all the help you need.

Most algae eaters don't confine themselves to eating algae and will also share in food given to other fish. I have siamese algae eaters with clown loaches and killies and they do well on live food and the algae in the tank. I also have a large pleco with turtles and fast swimming guppies that do well on turtle pellets and oxygen weed. They get pleco tabs about once a month. The guppies do better than ones in other tanks and are now on about the fourth generation. Pleco is the same age as the male turtle (9 years) and is over a foot long. I haven't heard complaints from any of them. If you want your algae and snails eaten you need to make them attractive tucker to the relevent fish.

nemines--- Sodium hydroxide is drain cleaner but it is also added to water supplies by providers when the pH is low to avoid corrosion of copper and brass. It produces hydroxyl ions which combine with the hydrogen ions to form water and the sodium ions remaining are as toxic as common salt. Like many things, toxicity is related to concentration. Caper---- Fish come from all over the world and therefore from various water conditions but many can be adjusted over time to live and breed in conditions quite different from those they originated from. They vary from soft acid to hard alkaline

No problem, I used to do it years ago. A little bit of water added prevents freezer burn and the faster they are frozen, the better the quality.

The shimmer is part of the pair bonding behaviour. You will see the eggs if you can see where they have been laid

I have bred thousands of peat spawners and never done that yet. The thing most people forget is that only a % of eggs hatch and more will hatch next time and so on.

I think pH down is phosphoric acid and may cause algae problems. It will not reduce the hardness. The easiest way to get soft acid water is to collect rainwater and boil some peat in it if you want it more acid. This is what I use.

They hover in front of the eggs and fan water over them using their pectoral fins. They also pick up the eggs in their mouth, clean them and put them back. This looks like they are eating them which if you are lucky they are not, or unlucky they are. They will however often eat non fertile eggs. The fanning keeps fresh oxygenated water over the eggs and this is why an airstone is used if the eggs are removed.

You should be able to get a piece that size and braces from offcuts which are at a better price usually---ask around.

It has been around for many years. I used to sell it (along with many other similar plants) to the pet shops 30 years ago before it was declared a class A noxious weed. It was popular with goldfish breeders because the root system was great for spawning.

They may not be so keen to spawn at a higher temperature, but you could try keeping the egg temperature up and report back. You may not be sexist but the buyers definately are.

NO. The picture is not very clear but it looks like Ceratophyllum demersum, also known as Hornwort or Coontail. It is a nationally banned plant which is ilegal to posess. It is brittle and breakes easily whereas pine tree (Mayaca) does not. Compost Heap.

I use unwashed river sand for growing plants (from the nursary) Do a LOOPY but only wash the course stuff and add JBL micronutrient to the fine stuff. That way you get fine gravel without sharp bits and plant growth.

I have a tank with 300litres of water and 3 adults and it has an Eheim external turning over 900litres/hour. My babies have no filter but I siphon off the gunge and do water changes 2 - 3 times a week. You pays your money and you takes your pick.

I found they go best in rainwater with peat added and over netting so they can't eat the eggs.

Turtles are pretty messy so you want the biggest filter you can afford because you will need it when they mature.