alanmin4304

PM me if you want to see my setup. Everyone has there own way so it pays to check a few and see what might work for you.

They will survive all year round in Christchurch even when the pond freezes over but only breed in the summer.

Java moss and Java fern live in very wet conditions like near a waterfall and I doubt it would be wet enough. Most tropical aquarium plants you buy from the shops have been grown emersed and will survive OK so long as the roots are kept moist. I have a terrarium which is half water and half land for fire bellied newts. Cardamine and hydrocotyle will grow in the water and then onto the land. The biggest problem is getting enough light for the plants. I have 2 x 1ft tubes which supports them plus a miniature fig but it won't grow any Echinodorus I have tried. Trial and error I would think.

Chlorine reacts with nitrogen compounds in the water to form chloramines. When your eyes burn in a swimming pool it is caused by too much monochloramine rather than too much chlorine. As the chlorine disapates the chloramines move from trichloramine through dichloramine to monochloramine. If this irritates your eyes in a swimming pool what is it doing to your fish? Monochloramine is used in the US to treat water supplies and if it kills bacteria what is it doing to your fish?

Cardamine lyrata also.

Riccia fluitans, azola rubra, banana plant , Indian fern, lotus and vallisneria come to mind.

My statement also stands: Only acid water corrodes copper Local Authorities keep the water alkali for that reason Our hot water cylinder has been in use since 1945 and has no holes in it yet. I have seen acid water supplies eat holes in copper pipes in a matter of weeks. There is less iron in the reticulation system now which can be a problem in building the protection up but the water still needs to be acid.

2 will pair up and drive all other fish away.

In the first few weeks of the life of a hot water cylinder or copper pipes an iron/copper amalgum is formed which is resistant to corrosion and protects the copper. Copper only reacts with acid water and that is why Local Authorities keep the water slightly alkali. If the copper is going into solution there would be pin hole corrosion in the pipes or cylinder within a few months and water all over the place. As well as that, copper is very toxic and will cause violent vomiting if drunk in any quantities.

The amount of drop in temperature will depend on the % of water you change if you use cold water. A rapid substantial drop in temperature is a sure way to end up with white spot. If you are a lazyarse like me , the best way is to make water changes easy by getting a connector that allows you to add water at near the right temperature rather than stressing your fish. I do 50-60% water changes with a hose connected to the fawcette and blend hot and cold. It is no more difficult than filling from the garden tap but stresses the fish a lot less. It is easier than curing diseases.

All floating plant will block the light to some extent.

They are like most cichlids---lovely until they want to breed. I have two pairs breeding in a community tank at the moment with a cave each at the ends of a four foot tank and a war zone in the middle.

I would go with the thermometer

Usually they don't know what it is. In my case, after a while they added that this is the legal oxygen weed Elodea canadensis (but it wasn't). It is actually the responsibility of the Regional Council in the area it is being sold from.

A few weeks back someone was selling Lagarosiphon on Trademe so I left a message which was ignored. Sent a message to Trademe and was ignored. Sent an Email to the people who visited re Plantman and it disappeared and they sent me a thankyou email. By then they had sold about six lots all over the country. They had it checked by "their experts at NIWA" and confirmed what it was.

The bacteria in the filter will multiply to balance with the food available which will be from urea from the fish. I would do a big water change, then leave it a couple of days before adding fish slowly---like one every few days. Feed only a very small amount so you don't cause a bacterial bloom in the water. The bacteria will multiply to form a balance with the fish in a couple of weeks and all should be well. If not don't ring me I am on annual leave. It is all about balance--- I have some tanks which are lightly stocked with no airstones or filters and all is well because they get regular water changes and are lightly stocked. Don't add anything but fish and a tiny amount of food and give it time.

Goldfish usually carry a lot of parasites (gill and skin flukes) which they are able to tolerate. Fry and tropical fish are not as hardy so it is in my opinion not a good idea to put other fish into tanks which have had goldfish in.

If chlorine is a strong enough oxidising agent to kill bacteria imagine what it is doing to the gills of your fish even if they are still swimming.

Leave a small pilot light going 24/7 and make sure there is food available whenever they want to eat. When I was breeding live bearers I fed them on a mix I made up which was frozen but remained in a lump when thawed out so you could take out the left overs and put fresh stuff in each day. More water changes would help as well --like 50% 3 times a week. Female live bearers wont grow well if gravid at an earky age so they will grow quicker if you keep them virgin till mature. I know nothing about leopard fish.

Christchurch water is only slightly alkali so water changes should bring it down.

Only a girl in the weekends.

I keep mine at 25-26 which is what I hatch them at. But I have a heat lamp so their basking area will be a lot warmer than that.

When I was breeding angels pearl scales were not around but whites were a double blusher and double gold gene, and black and silver (striped) are dominant over both. If you bred the offspring to each other you could get some interesting and probably atractive young.

High pressure weather is goldfish deer velvet.

One could easily pay 5 grand for 5 frogs and get all the same sex, or get a pair and breed them to find the market flooded with thousands at a cheap price. They would be a bit silly not to have bred them and if they can get a grand each they are not silly. Watch this space, they will eventually be just as good looking but a hell of a lot cheaper.