alanmin4304

I agree with amazonian green water is best. For small fry like fighters I used to use a blood transfusion bag and line and let it drip slowly into the tank and use a pilot light at night to keep them feeding 24/7. The advantage is that it is alive and not a dead source of food for bacteria that can go into a bloom and use up all the O2 in the water. First you have to have a good source of green water.

The easiest slate to use for spawning are the slate tiles used on very old roofing. Cut them down to the size you want.

It can be adjusted but it is set at the minimum of 1 deg.

I have just built two tanks and got a friend to build a stand. It is from 25mm box section but the bottom is the same as the top in the picture and that sits on a sheet of 18mm mdf. It is evenly spaced over the floor joists and the ring around the bottom distributes the weight better than down through six legs making points of pressure. The stand contains two tanks 1200x450mm and when full supports a column of water 800mm in total. If you take the force of the water and put it down through legs you are making horendous point sources of pressure on the floor. The stand,mdf and polystyrenene are painted black and it all looks OK.

As I said, it is working well, it has just been a challenge for someone as electronically iliterate as myself. The problem is not the gadget but the brain cells trying to control it. It is true--- if all else fails "read the instructions"

I have gone digital and that is the problem. Set point 22, histeresis 1, lowest temp 20, highest temp 24 and actual temp 21. Read the instructions (a problem for us guys it seems) Cuts in less than set point and out at set point. Made in USA with instructions from Mongolia. I may have been dropped on my head as a baby but I would have thought that if you set it at 22 that is what you would get, not 21. However it works, it just helps to have Irish ancestry.

Lotus and banana plant are water lillies and want to have a floating leaf. The submersed leaves are the imature stage of growth so you are realy fighting against that all the way.

I have a thermostat that is cleverer than me. If the hysteresis is set for 1 degree and the set point for 22 deg will the temperature range between 21 and 23 deg or 21.5 and 22.5 deg. My question relates to the actual temperature reading which remains in 21 deg.

PMed again

I think that works best on green water-- free floating, single cell critters

It is tubifex. Years ago all the pet shops sold it live and we use to sell it to them for $1.00 / lb. Great fish food. I have it in my turtle tanks-- came in on the plant from the river I think.

I have a bath of water that has been there a couple of months and should be alive if you bring a container. Did you get my pm?

I used to breed thousands of angels and always removed the eggs. I used to have a bare tank ( 24x12x12 inches) with a 100x100mm slate with hooks hung off the top of the tank as angels like to spawn near the top of the tank. When they have laid remove the eggs to a small bare tank I used 150x150mm and place an air stone in front of the eggs to cause good water movement but not on the eggs. The white stuff is fungus that attacks the infertile eggs but will spread to the fertile ones if left. Dont use methylene blue unless you have to, but it will stop the fungus spreading if needed. I used to place the eggs into water straight from the tap because of the lack of bacteria and high disolved air content (but our water is not chlorinated) Do not feed until the fry all swarm up and start swimming, then bbs. Move to a larger bare tank after about 1-2 days to rare because 150x150 tanks get polluted too quick. Baby cories or snails will help keep the excess food under control. Good luck.

The easiest thing to do is over feed, polute the water and kill them. You only use a fraction of a boiled egg yolk in something like a handkerchief and shaken in water until it goes slightly cloudy and a very small amount of that fed many times daily. A good trick is to make up a small amount then freeze it into ice cubes. Drop a cube into some water for a short time then take it out and refreeze it. Realy--realy small amounts often. A couple of snails will help get rid of excess from the bottom of the tank. Daphnia are way way too big for fry even put through a fine seive. the fry are about as small as they get. Green water is best because it is alive and less likely to polute. Egg yolk will very easily cause a bacterial bloom that will use up all the O2.

That is one very nice fish, has he found a girlfriend yet?

I got mine when I was walking by a pond beside the Waimakariri river and looked in as us fishy people might. I saw about a dozen little fish shoaling and their behaviour made them obviously not bullies. I managed to catch them into a plastic bag and get them home but they did not do well in a pond.

I double dosed with flourish and the discus had no problem. My guppies got suicidal though. Hard to put the blame as they tend to anyway.

Builders work in mm and dressmakers work in cm

If you want the volume of water to add meds or other treatment don't forget to allow for the gravel, gap at the top and any large solid objects. The old tanks were based on pretty standard measurements that were useful. the standard tank was 24x12x12 inches and held 2 cubic feet (12 gallons) and every inch of water was a gallon.

I have just built a 1200x500x400 tank devided into 6 sections and heated from under the tank. I is working OK at present, will let you know how it goes with fish in.

I have never tried it but I have heard of people using a little RTV on the rhizone to attatch to driftwood.

Wunder has a range of ingredients, if I remember correctly: meth blue,malachite, quinine and acraflavine all of which should have an effect on white spot. I can't remember if it says to treat more than once, but it should work.

Why would you want to. Remove the trout and the original species will expand to fill the gap. Life was OK before the missionaries turned up.

It is basically calcium carbonate and is virtually insoluble. It will react with acid and increase the calcium and therefore hardess in the water. It acts as a buffer because it uses the acid in the water to react but will increase the hardness relative to the acid available.

Ira, couldn't agree more. The problem is that they are a very powerful lobby group because of the money derived from licence fees. The Maf are more concerned about banning tropical fish to protect trout and salmon than to protect the native species that they feed on.