alanmin4304

If the tank isnot well planted it is likely that the parents will eat most of the fry.

If you are on Council water supply the chances are that your tap water is slightly alkali. Water changes will bring the pH back and will save you buying shares in the local pet shop. The pH will normally drop from fish waste and you may be over feeding.

They often grow at different rates and it is the fancy ones that are often the smallest. If you seperate them by size the smaller ones will be less likely to become tucker for the ugly ones. You need to do this when the big ones can eat the little ones.

mg/l is ppm. It is normally expressed as mg/l

A problem with small tanks is that they have small lights and ground cover plants are at the bottom of the tank (surprise, surprise) and also usually prefer a lot of light.

If some are getting a red nose they are realy realy happy and spring is on its way.

If there is more than one heater and one thermostat they willonly work on tanks of the same size. Check that the thermostat is OK by opening it up and checking the look of it. If old the contact points can be rusted or the magnet can have come unglued. If they fail they usually fail "on".

Only fish people talk in degrees. Scientists talk in ppm. The water in Christchurch is about 45ppm hardness expressed as calcium carbonate. One degree is about 18 and a bit ppm so Christchurch is about 2.5 degrees---relatively soft by international standards. When Europeans talk about hard water they mean it will hold up a teaspoon by itself.

Don't forget that it is the crud and not the sponge that makes the filter work so don't clean it too much or too often.

perhaps you could visit both and see which one is best for you.

SAE is Siamese algae eaters---more eficient at eating algae when small and the black line goes all the way through the tail and no gold stripe above the black.

If there is you will see them easily with the naked eye

Because the seal on the thermostat had to be opened to adjust the temperature they were not waterproof and could not be submerged. You could run a number of tanks of the same size with one thermostat and a heater in each tank.

You don't need to boil them till they nearly disolve. I just chuck them in briefly when I am boiling water with peat.

If they are the old ones made by Betta in Christchurch you probably should hang on to them as they must be going up in value. They were an element only and you wired a seperate thermostat into the system. It is what us oldies had before combos were imported.

I use dark coloured acrylic and small fishing net floats as they are easy to sterilize and see any eggs on.

Because Auckland University had permission to import them under controlled conditions for research doesn't make them an allowed import.

CO2 reacts with the water to form carbonic acid (hence coca cola has a pH OF 4.6 if I remember correctly) The carbonate and bicarbonate are used as a buffer and will react with the acidity (H+ ions) and increase the pH again. What you need to remember is that this reaction generally leaves calcium ions and will increase the hardness, which may or may not be a problem depending on what fish you are keeping.

Prostitution has always been legal. Living off the earnings, pimping or soliciting was not. The point I was trying to make was that these people are supposed to know what they are doing and I don't think they do. The importers should also know what they are doing as well. They are trained to spot a fruit fly on an orange but fish is such a small part of their job they are not trained properly. I spent over 30 years working as a health/building/plumbing/drainlaying and dangerous goods inspector and you can't inspect things properly if you are not trained properly. Maf are supposed to be the safety net that picks up the honest mistake made by an importer but in my experience most don't know the front from the back of a fish and because of that are not generally held in high regard by the importers.

There may be some good reasons for not importing certain organisms but many of the reasons given by maf don't stack up. I have been told turtles were because of salmonella (which can be carried by sparrows, lizards,cats dogs,domestic poultry and many other animals). Goldfish by a disease which I forget but which is a risk to salmon and trout. Parrots because of psittacosis (which is endemic in the pidgeon population in Christchurch and probably many other birds in NZ). Like BK I think they would be taken more seriously if their reasons stacked up a little better. Having said that I feel better, but still think maf and the importer were at fault and both should have known more about their respective jobs. The breeder should have also thought a little deeper.

Goldfish can put a heavy load on a tank. I would suggest you move a few at a time and let the bacteria grow to fit in with the increased load or feed lightly and do frequent water cahanges until the balance with load and bacteria is met.

He may have been asleep.

I think daphnia might be a bit big until they are a few weeks old. I use newly hatched brine shrimp and microworm. My microworm cultures last a couple of months. What were you culturing them on?

I agree with Caryl. Also, rather than rinsing it clean in water from the tank I just rinse off enough to get the flow going again. As I said earlier they work best when 3/4 gunked up.

Thanks for that info. Goes to show--- I learn something every day here.