alanmin4304

Your filter and gravel are the media where food for good bacteria is stored (krud) If you clean the filter and the gravel you remove the food and the bacteria die off,or are removed with the krud. The tank cycles by establishing a balance between bacteria and food so that the nitrogen in the fish waste (urea) can be converted to ammonia then nitrite and nitrate. The plants remove the nitrate. Think of the filter and gravel as a living thing and allow it to become host to all the good bugs that will establish the balance in the tank, rather than trying to keep the tank clean/clean.

I have some chocolate and some gold australe about half grown from eggs kindly given to me by a member of NZKA I have seperated males and females and will grow them up a bit more before breeding them. I am keen on any input on how people breed them and store the eggs so that I can increase my chances of having some success. Some questions: Do you spawn them on mops or peat or both? Do you store the eggs in water or peat, and at what temperature? How long do you store them? Is there any way to increase the ratio of males? Many thanks. THEY ARE VERY NICE LOOKING TEENAGERS

If you crossed it to a normal the gravid spot will be dark as the young will be all normal split to albino.

Your cleaning of the gravel could be removing food and therefore reducing microorganisms that will eventually convert your ammonia to non toxic nitrate that can then be removed by plants or water change. Your pH is OK but your ammonia is too high.

Reducing the light and adding small quantities if hydrogen peroxide will sometimes get rid of blue green algae. Or treat with an antibiotic as it is actually a bacteria.

Lots of water changes helps growth as well. I do about 50% daily. We are lucky in Christchurch with untreated artesian water supply

I think I have seen them at the pet shop in Stanmore Road.

There are approved and not approved plants for import and if approved they need to be quarantined which is a bit of a drama.

Do you mean DO, disolved oxygen? If so I am not aware of any test kits available.

If you are feeding microworm you may be adding the media along with the worms. This will cause a bacterial bloom and polute the water. I feed a lot of microworm and I culture it in 2 litre icecream containers-- one coming,one going and one at peak production. If you roughen the sides of the container with fine sandpaper the worms will climb up and leave the media behind, and you will get straight worms. You will have to lower the water level to encourage the fry to feed off the bottom. I clean the bottom with a piece of rigid plastic tube and the hose joined to that.

With any filter it pays to remember that it is basically a biological filter. The microrganisms are doing most of the work, the media is just the place that they are living. The whole thing is like a living equation-- the bugs expand to fit the food available, remove the food (by cleaning the media) and the bugs die off and will only multiply when adequate food is available. My advice is don't clean the filter until the flow is restricted because it only works properly when half full of gunk and therefore loaded with microorganisms.

I would doubt that BOC would remove the dip tube. The cylinder should be upright. It is not designed to be on its side. The regulator is designed to handle gas and will not handle liquid. As the liquid evaporates it can cause freezing because of latent heat of evaporation and also the conversion of liguid to gas can cause excessive pressure in locations not designed for it. I would suggest you find a way to use the cylinder in the upright position.

I have a friend with a couple of half wine barrels and the same problem with mossies. I gave him a half dozen white clouds for each and the problem was solved. They will live in Chistchurch when the pond freezes over. They come from the waterways around the White Cloud mountains in China where it is extremely cold. They are realy a temperate fish and prefer the temperature cooler, rather than tropical.

Are none of the females gravid? Chances are the have been fertilized by males from the same batch. It would be easy to pick albino offspring early on with the pink eye. Even if they have been with a normal male they could still throw albino (if they do you should seperate them soon as)

My tiny mind has trouble understanding why MAF do not know all the fish that have been legally imported into NZ in the last 10 years as they get a copy of all the invoices from imported fish.

I have never used CO2 so I am no expert. The way you are suggesting will cause more fluctuations in CO2 levals and therefore pH, than constant injection. I use an old fashioned CO2 injection system called fish.

You have to do what works for you. I was breeding angels, not watching the parents eat some/ leave some. If the parents are there and not eating the eggs they will clean any fungus off and remove infertile eggs. This is what often starts them eating the eggs. These chemicals only stop fungus spreading to good eggs. I had most success hatching them in tap water (but I am in Christchurch and the water is not treated) Because it is under preasure in the mains it has more dissolved air. I put the slates into small tanks 150mm x 150mm made for the purpose then larger tanks when the are free swimming. I was in a fish house where the room was heatd so I didn't have to worry about elements. Try different things and go with what works for you. Good luck. The next trick is to pick the genes of your breeders so you get many different types from each pair. It is easier to sell many varieties than one.

To be honest I have never measured it, but you can use it quite strong but so you can still see through it. It will dye any infertile eggs blue and will stop the spread of fungus from infertile eggs. Some people add malachite green and/or acraflavine as well. It is optional.

I used 100mm x 100mm peice of roof slate with a couple of stainless steel hooks glued on with RTV. Angels will generally spawn near the top of the tank. They should lay again in 10-14 days if well fed. Soak the eggs in methylene blue for 5 mins then remove to clean water and place an air stone close to the eggs but not with the bubbles touching them. feed when the young swarm. You don't need to cycle the tank as this will happen as the fry develop. A bare tank is best with the water leval not too high to encourage them to eat the food off the bottom.

Don't do what I did and let the runner grow into the lid---snappedoff most of it and I only got a few plantlets.

Looks like E osiris. Try plantgeek or Tropica.

Plumber's rule of thumb: Double the diameter, get four times the flow.

Objects on fridges often end up on the floor because they get vibrated off. Particularly old fridges (which tend to be more rounded on top)

It works well. I used to have bigger ones, but that is good for the small numbers I have at the moment. I find you can leave the females in there for some time and it takes a lot of the stress out of moving them when due to give birth and also can feed up the young for a week or so before moving them.

Hole in the head is caused by a parasite and is usually treated with metronidazole (flagyl --used to treat parasitic diseases of the gut in humans--like Amoebiasis) 50mg/4litres and do a water change after 2 days. Unfortunately a prescription med available from the vet.