alanmin4304

Goldfish carry a lot of skin and gill flukes which the adults can tolerate but the fry cannot.

It is a venturi. The water from the tap running to waste sucks water through the hose to the tank so the tank water and tap water go to waste. When finished you alter the gadget and it sends blended hot and cold water back to fill the tank. They fit on a fawcet. You unscrew the filter off the end and screw this on. I found that the fine thread on the plastic stripped so I made a connection myself to fill the tanks which I use after siphoning from the tank. I understand Mike has a metal connection which would overcome that problem. I also was not happy puting tank water down the kitchen sink so I siphon onto the garden then fill.

Cabomba does best in still water but ambulia will tolerate more movement.

They are not like most fish that you can condition up then get a very large spawning and remove the adults. They lay a few eggs all the time and the eggs and fry are very difficult to see. You will probably spot the first fry hanging on the sides (sometimes easier to spot with a torch at night.) You should get a few though as they are harder to stop than start breeding.

I haven't grown cabomba for years but if I remember correctly it doesn't like too much water movement.

I think they need a dry area for basking so their shell dries out. A lid over the whole tank may make the air too moist. I put a lid over the basking area only (to stop them crawlng out) and leave the rest open. ialso provide calcium blocks and cuttlefish bone.

There is a red variety that is harder to keep.

You can use snail rid but the active ingredient is copper sulphate which can be deadly on some fish. Ifyou have a spare tank you could put the fish in there until you get rid of the snails (and CuSO4) How many excuses do you need to get another tank?

I have never used 18000K tubes but growlux (blue spectrum 3500K) tends to make plants compact and red ( like yours ) tends to make plants spindly. Might pay to watch the plants and see how they behave.

I sell plants on trademe and try to give people a fair go. You may be defeating the purpose to ask for a picture of the actual plant as it means that stem plants need to be picked and photographed then on trade me , then wait for payment to clear and to beginning of week to send. The plants could be in unfavourable conditions for 2 weeks. I post representative pictures of the actual plant for sale rather than pinching pictures off the internet, but I prefer not to disturb the plants until just before puting in the post. (apart from the one in the pic). If people are not happy with what they receive I would hope they would Email me and give me the chance to remedy the situation rather than posting bad comments straight off. It is not always easy: If they go missing in the post it is not my fault but if I say I will replace them them then I will have lots of people claiming they went missing. We do our best and hopefully most people are happy and at least get plants that have a better chance of surviving than many from the pet shop. And hopefully some that are not generally available.

They look as though they are infertile and have fungussed so won't hatch.

You will need to seperate the larger ones out as they will bully the smaller ones and get all the food, then eat them. This is common with many fish.

With the big sword plants the outside leaves will die off. It is best to remove them as it promotes good new growth and removes a lot of nutrient that will be released if the leaves are allowed to decay. They look better as well.

My compost heap has thousands of ordinary worms in it so you should be able to get a small worm farm set up and grow ordinary worms the same way. A compost heap (or worm farm) wont stink if you keep it aerobic. It is only the biproducts of anaerobic decomposition that cause the problem.

I think worm cultures are not the average garden worm but a specific type (which may or may not be good for fish). Garden worms are probably OK but less productive.

With stem plants I generally pinch them off a couple of leaves from the base and then replant the bunch in front of the stems. I don't trim swords. You are best to leave the young plants on the runner untill they have developed a half dozen good leaves and a strong root system. At that stage the larger of the baby plants can be carefully loosened from the runner and the smaller ones left to develop further. They can also be planted in the media if you wish (while still attatched if they have enough roots)

Your filter is a biological filter rather than a physical filter and therefore it is the bacteria living on the crud that do the work. You should only remove enough crud and make sure the pipes are clear in order to restore the flow. The filter works best when half full of crud.

That looks pretty healthy and is propagating well. It is not easy to grow and likes your conditions. If it was me I would leave well alone and see what happens.

The intake pipe on my eheim gets clogged every few months and I blow water through it to clean it because it restricts the flow. It is on a tank with three adult turtles and the filthy buggers produce a lot more waste than you would get on a tank with fish. I would keep an eye on it and clean as required but not just because it is there.

On this site. Look under plants---Plant articles---Recently declared aquatic pest plants. It is listed as Arrohead (Sagittaria saggitifolium) ---and is not the plant in question. My humble apologies to Amazonian and all concerned.

It may not be easy as it is an unwanted organism which is barred from sale, propagation, distribution or commercial display. Big Brother is watching.

Lovely pic. Don't tell Wok or it will end up in the wok

Coating ponded water with a light film of oil is used to control mossie breeding so if they are still alive they will be OK. It stops them getting their breathing tubes out of the water.

It is not all that easy to grow so if you have it growing well it would be a piy to waste it.

If there are no fish in there it will be quite safe. The fish should eat all the live stuff in there.