alanmin4304

I have dealt with Bob Ward since Redwood Aquatics was a shed at the back of his house in Redwood and all though he can be a grumpy old bugger I have always found him to be very well informed on matters pertaining to fish and plant, and more importantly very forthright and honest,which is more than I would say about some others in Christchurch. I have found his prices reasonable as well.

White clouds are not a tropical fish and do better at lower temperatures.

I think the plant in the picture is Sagitaria subulata as it can grow in many ways depending on conditions.

Osiris is sold as all sorts of things. I bought a few rose that turned out to be osiris.

I used to drip feed green water with a pilot light day and night for the first couple of weeks, along with brine shrimp as soon as possible. Most people breeding fighters only get a few through to maturity. They do have large spawnings and the massive die off happens in the first few weeks through inadequate feeding and only the tough survive. If you feed them properly you should get hundreds. I found they are like goldfish,and no matter how well you feed you will get different growth rates so you need to keep seperating the larger ones out to give the small ones a chance.

I am not sure about this bacteria but amoxillan can be used at 3-4 times the strength that other antibiotics are normally used at (1 : 100,000 or 10ppm I think)

Is there something in the vodka or is it just a convenient form of ethanol, and if so would I be able to use half the dose of ethanol from my friends still before he gets out his bagpipes and turns it to whiskey.

Remove any of the outside leaves that are a bit rough or yellow and remove about one third of the roots and plant so that the roots are as spread out as possible. The existing roots tend to die off and it will grow new roots. The existing roots will sustain it while that happens.

Most of these swords are on the Tropica site.

My osiris flowers under water as well-- strange. When the plantlets develop at the flower nodes there is usually more than one at each node but only one or two develop. When you remove them the others get a chance to grow. If you cut the runner you waste all those partly formed or yet to form plants.

I think it is what you thought it was Echinodorus martii (ruffled sword) I have one also and I don't think they are very common. I had one years ago which sent out a runner which went a couple of times around a 4ft tank. My present one is about 500mm high and I am hoping it will do its thing also. Carefully weight the runner down below the water surface so it still gets lots of light and allow the plantlets to develop then carefully prize them off, don't cut the runner. Usually it will grow more in a few months. Good luck.

What type of sword is it? I think all the Echinodorus flowers are white.

They can have large spawnings and you will only see the white eggs. There may also be large numbers of fertile eggs. Just wait and see if any fry start dropping out of the nest before you do anything rash.

Someone on trademe sells baby paua and /or instructions from time to time.

Sorry, gave it away ages ago and posting pics on here is a bit of a drama for a computer iliterate like me. See if the two of you can follow the words and come back if you have questions.

It pays to sell the plants while they are still at the imature leaf stage. They tend to grow rank when larger and all you see in your aquarium are the stalks. I suspect that may be why it is outside in a bucket. This is the plant the varigated swords are a first cousin to.

Has it formed any seeds?

I did a bit of work years ago with perspex and it can be OK to work with. It can be bent by heating in hot glycerene and the glue used is perspex dissolved in chloroform. It works as a solvent glue like gluing PVC. I made what you are looking for out of glass and RTV. I made a tank 600mm x 600mm and another shallower tank to fit inside it but 50mm shallower. Divide the smaller tank into 50mm x 50mm squares and put stainless steel mesh on the bottom and a couple of straps on the top so it sits inside the larger tank but clear of the bottom. You do an instant water change by lifting the tank half way and letting it settle again. Fighters develop good fins this way because they are always "showing" to neighbours and you are not so tempted to sell them early because of the drag of water changes in 127 jars.

I have a number of wooden boxes I have made with sliding opaque plastic lids. I line the box with plastic to keep the moist media off the wood so the boxes don't self destruct. I use potting mix from pots were the mix has expired and needs replacing. I feed on sliced luncheon. I think you want a relatively neutral media so they feed on what you add rather than the media and they definately do best in cool conditions, and they are photophobic so you need to exclude all light.

You may find that at that temperature any fry that hatch will be belly sliders and not develop properly

Caper--- Baby red ears are carnivors and eat more vegetation as they grow older. My adults eat about 50% vegetation, 25% turtle food and 25% meat of one sort or another.

They are no easy to sell or give away but make good live food.

The fry do best in a bare bottom tank for the first while I found, and if the brine shrimp is hanging round the bottom keep the water leval down. You want them surrounded by food night and day if you can. Microworm is not as good for food value but is cheap and easy for when you are a bit low on bbs.

Don't cut the runners. When the plantlets are ready they will become loose and you can work them carefully until they come away. Many amazons will produce further plantlets on the same runner a few months later.

Get thee to a nunnery?