alanmin4304

You would need to know the nitrate leval in your tap water or the test has no meaning

I have some very nice chocolate and golden australe which hatched just before xmas. What age do you people start seriously breeding them? I have kept the males and females seperate and the females are looking rather plump. Also how frequently do you spawn them?

I t sounds like dropsy which is vertually incurable.

It must be tough at the top.

Fish seem to respond better to sea water than table salt (it must be the presence of the other minerals that have been removed from table salt) Table salt also has an agent added to keep the salt free running. I think your marine salt would be best. If it is aeromonas you will need to treat with an antibiotic.

I find I have best success in wooden boxes, they seem to breath better. They get too moist in plastic and tend to climb the sides of the container. I use glass about half the area of the contaier and it sits on top of the media with the food under it.

It is usually grown emersed and sold to the shops that way because it grows a lot slower under water. The growth will slow down from about now and there will be less available. It was kept as an ornamental pot plant in England in Victorian times.

Mouse's ear (Saururus cernuus) It has been grown emersed and will grow as big as you let it that way but is quite slow and small when grow submersed. Needs a lot of light to grow submersed. Those leaves wont grow much but it may throw new submersed growth.

I use a one sided razor blade (easier on the fingers) I am curious how you are going to make a tank longer without replacing the base and both sides, doesn't seem worth the bother

I used to breed a lot of tiger barbs and always kept them on their own. Never had any real trouble but possibly sold them before it all started (still at the cute stage)

Scales?

Looks like the right thing to me. I have two struggling plants which are starting to pick up. Good luck.

Goldfish tend to carry a lot of parasites and it does not seem to bother them under good conditions. The usual requirement is to control the parasites when breeding because the fry can't handle them like the adults, hence my comments on sterility.

The copper sulphate is chelated (with citric acid) this makes it less toxic to fish but still toxic to parasites. Copper is used to treat a number of problems by importers, but it is deadly on some fish. I used both routinely on goldfish I imported from Singapore with no ill effects. I have also used formaldehyde (formalin solution) successfully on goldfish but I could not remember the dose rate. I take it that the rate given is correct. You can use it as a bath or treatment or both.

You can use Neguvon (sheep dip) 3% for 3minutes and treat with 0.25- 0.5 ppm (.5ppm 0f 1% soln = 1ml / 20 litres) or chelated copper sulphate at 2 drops per 4 litres. Stock solution 62 gramns copper sulphate and 35 gramns citric acid per US gallon. or formaldehyde but I can't remember the dose, but the salties might be able to help, I think they use it. All of the above may cause temporary sterility

I have made hundreds of tanks and have always licked my finger. It does not seem to have caused any permanent damage. Others may differ.

There are regulations covering the importation of tropical fish. I suggest you ring MaF, find out what they are called and invest a couple of dollars with the Govt printer in getting a copy. Read them well and remember that the words mean what the words say, not what some intelectual giant at MaF thinks they mean. Good luck, you will need to keep your sense of humour. I was at the meeting betweem MaF and the importers when the present regulations were being worked out and they are not too onerous, but they do seem to be interpreted differently in different areas. May the giant plec be with you.

We never had this trouble under the National Government.

Thanks for that, a great help. These ones I have are 30mm. How long before they change and how old would they be at 30mm? Do they take the age from when they change or when they hatch, and how old are they before they will breed? Sorry about all the questions, want to learn as much as poss before they arrive on the weekend.

Your premises has to be gazetted, inspected by head office people from MAF and approved by the Local Authority. You pay for all this and if you can get through it without an expensive glitze you would be doing very well. I would think you could avoid all that by doing a deal with an established importer.

I was the last person in the South Island licenced to import goldfish and trust me, I did everything exactly right but after 7 inspections in 6 weeks (each by different people) and each at a cost of nearly as much as the 200 fish, they were becoming gold plated. I could not get any sense out of them over the next 4 years quarantene so I froze them into a large plastic bag and told the local manager to count them when they thawed out. I don't think you would want to go there. The importers are running a business and you would be better off making it worth their while to bring in what you want--- It would still be a lot cheaper.

To clarify the above. If feeding live daphnia, mosquito larvae or blood worms do you just put them in the pond or do you feed them in a little dish on land. Excuse the stupid questions but I would like to look after them properly and hopefully breed them later. I have turtles (which feed in the water) are these the same? If feeding frozen food do you put it in the water or feed them on land? Thanks for your help.

At this age will they eat small insects like aphids? Do you feed them into a small dish on land or in the water?

I am getting some small ones (30mm) shortly and any advice on keeping and feeding would be very welcome from anyone who has more experience than me (none) I have set up a terrarium with a 10 litre pond and planted area, proposing to heat the pond to 18 - 20 deg C

In a previous life I used to make the tanks for many of the pet shops in town and in those days it was all second hand glass. Why don't you get one of the locals with some experience to show you how to cut the glass and make a tank. The size will depend on the glass, but it is a handy skill for a fishkeeper to have. It could be a good project for the local fish club.