alanmin4304

Rodney is 0274670046

Rodney Fletcher generally has a few for sale. Try facebook

You can use the smallest variety of brine shrimp nuplii available from www.brineshrimpdirect.com or vinegar eels, or microworms.

It is a bit of a "catch 22". If you sell "at the back door" (which includes trademe) retailers will not buy off you unless they are so cheap and so good that they cannot resist. At that stage there is not much in it for you.

First thing to learn is how to get cheap glass from the glaziers and how to cut glass and make your own tanks.

Look at what the shops sell them for and you will probably get 1/3 of that if you want to sell them. Next thing is to have what the shop wants when the shop wants it. Most live bearers are slow to grow on. and they need to be good quality ones.

most aquarium plants grown commercially are grown emersed and people do not seem prepared to pay much more for those grown or converted to submersed growth.

In a previous life I used to breed 50000 tropical fish a year which were mainly sold to one wholesaler who had 125 outlets to sell to. I also used to grow and sell aquarium plants to most of the pet shops in Christchurch as well as on selling plants from other growers. Hamilton may be too small of a market if you wish to get serious. You may need to extend your market. You do need to grow mainly bread and butter lines to pay the bills and then branch out in to some of the more risky but financially rewarding lines. If you are lucky you may cover your costs but you will not retire on the proceeds. Also made aquariums for a few years. It can be fun but best not to give up the day job.

It also takes a while to develop a reputation so that retailers or wholesalers will buy from you. You have to be able to deliver the plants or fish that they want at the time they want them.

When I was breeding guppies I made a "V" trap and put the gravid females in there. Get a 50 litre tank and build a trap that fits inside that tank. The trap is about 2/3 the length and small enough to fit inside the main tank.. It has sides about 1/3 the depth of the tank and then tapers in a "V" leaving a matchstick wide gap at the bottom. The fry fall through the gap and cannot be eaten by the adults. After a few days they can be removed to a raising tank. Some people add a lot of plants such as java moss to give the fry somewhere to hide.

I will be interested to see how it goes. I used to convert submersed to emersed then plant like a normal pot plant and water daily in well drained pots and media so the roots get lots of water and air.

If you are planting plants that have been grown submersed they may die off because the leaf structure is different to emersed growth. You need to grow them in shallow water in order to produce emersed leaves. They do not need to be moist, only the roots do.

The reason people try to avoid males is because they want to kill each other from day one so you have to be able to keep them separated..

Yes.

I wouldn't add biological supplements. Your problem has been biological overload from too many bacteria. Your biological load from that small number of fish will be low and will be the actual load from your actual fish. This will then culture the actual bacteria your tank requires (so long as you give up overfeeding).

Only a tiny amount that they can eat in a few minutes.

You will need to get the water back to full oxygen before you feed. They will not eat when they are stressed out trying to get oxygen. They will be OK without food for a few days and there is probably heaps still in there anyway.

Your fish look "pinch gutted" (which means they have not been feeding) and your water looks cloudy . The latter means your overfeeding has caused a bacterial bloom and the bacteria are using all the oxygen up(that is why the fish are at the surface. You need to remove all the excess food and do a massive water change. Your fish may not have been well when you bought them (they are not showing any colour) or they are now stressed out by the lack of oxygen. Your stocking is low so there should have been plenty of oxygen. You only feed what the fish can eat completely in a few minutes.

Well done.

If you want fish to get used to a new food do not feed the usual food as well.

Should be OK if you thaw it in the fridge.

They are in between microworms and white worms. You can sort the smalls out of the whiteworms by putting a clump into a glass of water. Thebig ones go to the bottom and you can decant the small ones off. The grindals are easier. Good food for newly morphed newts.

Membership of clubs is very low and that reflects on the federation. I think there are over 3000 people on the Christchurch totally tanked site and about 6 turn up to meetings.

Can send you a starter culture of grindal worms for $10 (overnight courier). PM me if interested.

That is right.