ryanjury

I think they are very short term, kind of only designed for enough power for you to save your work on a pc and shut down.. You would probably have to buy a pretty good one or setup a bunch more batteries for it to be any good in a fishroom, you are probably better off getting a generator?

This does look bizare, I would probably try PP as it would clean whatever it is off hopefully.. It would be gutting to buy these (especially 50 of them!) if they were indeed a bad batch and carrying something nasty and all die Good luck I hope you have them separated?

Hey Mitzy sorry to hear about your golds, I am still hunting as well and have had no luck either Let me know if you find any!

I have made siphon based overflows to join 3 tanks together to share one heater, I have found the u-bend that comes with canister filters the best for it I then use an internal filter with a small diameter pipe jammed in it to pump the water into the far tank (over a heater) and it overflows back into the other 2 tanks. I use 2 overflows per tank to minimize the risk of tanks overflowing and also have the filter set at a height in its tank that if too much water gets pumped out of that tank it cavitates and stops pumping so I theoretically can never have an overflow. I also find giving the overflows a tap every day blows out any air (doesn't happen very often) or crud that has gathered in them.

Awesome congratulations I am glad to hear all is well

I just found this http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 551833.htm

I purchased 7 300W ones because they were $20ea, within the 1 year guarantee period 3 went back because they broke, within 2 years of buying them only 1 still went.. Most of them just died, but one stuck on luckily I realized and saved the fish but I wouldn't recommend them

Its just a shame the jebo heaters are rubbish and either blow up and stop working or jam on and cook your fish I have seen some tiny heaters around it would just be a case of trolling the net using all sorts of search terms and finding a brand etc that was available here sounds like the sera or elite might be the go

Thanks for reminding me about the quiz lol should get back onto that.. Zev that sounds like a good idea we will talk about it.

I would say it is on the higher level for stocking, but you could keep on top of it with regular water changes.. Problems I would have is the low numbers of schooling fish you have in there three danios, four neons 1 clown loach etc... These guys would be better in larger groups but you don't really have the space in your tank to add anymore of them..

The manager doesn't know what she is talking about.. Yes Droncit is good for worming fish (it is just praziquental) but it kills different worms to what the aviverm will, same with metro they will do a different thing..

They are around I believe Paul B had some and I also believe that some may have come in in the latest redwoods shipment..

lol it gets confusing when people post the same question in 2 different forums I answer twice.. There are a few things I think may be causing your problem. 1. Demasoni are very hard on their own kind and should be kept in groups of 12+ to disperse this aggression. I believe that all shops or people selling should pass on this advice as they are pretty much setting people up if they don't but it also comes down to the buyer doing their own research as per usual. 2. Demasoni are mbuna and most mbuna are vegetarians (dems definitely are) they are very easy to give bloat which will kill them, again another thing I pass on when I sell the fish but another thing that should be researched by buyers. 3. Water conditions could also be an issue what size tank? What tank mates? Was the tank cycled? Did you do any water tests? Here is a good demasoni article http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_demasoni.php

Male is my best guess but I have seen females with as much colour in the fin venting would be a good way to tell Your other fish is def not an ob zebra it has no blotching. Some sort of zebra I am sorry from that photo and them coming in as a "bucket of fish" and the fact that most of the zebras in nz are mixed and just left to cross in mixed tanks I would say hybrid zebra they can throw all sorts.

If I had to guess I would say male as well, not all male yellows have egg spots some have 1 some have none.. And alot of female africans have egg spots too some as vivid as males so it is not a very accurate way of sexing it certainly gives some clues though.. Your second fish.. What did you purchase it as and where from?

I think we need to see a photo of this one I have never heard of a "face mask" being used to sex yellows.. Generally you can sex yellows by behaviour and by size and black markings on fins.. Black markings can be deceptive though as some females have quite solid black marking on fins. Then you can go onto venting..

Sounds like what I am working on out of my gold/blonde line

I would love to know who your experts are and where they are from, do you pay these guys for their expert opinion? Do they know the background behind the fish? Do you? It is great to say you get expert id's and then just browse around and do your own but again would love to know who they are Regarding your firebirds (one of the many common name for Aulonocara Rubescens a line bred form of Aulonocara sp. "Stuartgranti Chipoka, also a common name for al jacobfreibergi ) that you purchased as Aulonocara baenschi, what will you be selling them as? Baenshi or Rubescens or Jacobfreibergi? Also where did your a. stuartgranti come from? Using that name alone is very misleading as there are many many stuartgranti variants all completely different fish, when I saw you listing under that name with a web photo I instantly though dodgy. Also if you read up on maleri peacocks their colour can vary "In the lake, Aulonocara sp. "Stuartgranti Chipoka" demonstrates a variable color variation, ranging from sunflower yellow to fire-orange" so some natural variation with a "maleri red" or maleri island peacock is natural. The sunshines on trademe are most likely http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1315 they have been marketed under many names in NZ, including dragonsblood, golden peacock, prime silver etc etc etc.. These are a line bred hybrid fish so shouldn't be given a scientific name and could potentially be given any common name you desire, the person selling should really be a bit more descriptive in their auction to explain this, when I breed and sell mine I go into some detail on them. Before anyone comments although these are a line bred hybrid fish they do breed true, and it does not give anyone license to go and cross them with other fish because they are already hybrids. According to what I have heard, maf do allow more peacock species in under the nyassae name, they are not idiots and if the original intent with sticking a. nyassae on the list was to let all peacocks in (as they were all called that originally) then they will allow them, there is apparently a bible that shows all renaming etc. But I am not an importer nor have I heard it from maf in person, I believe firenzenz is correct with his assumption about the country/lake naming I have been led to believe the same. No one is insulting your intelligence just questioning your methods and maybe trying to get you to listen to reason You could post pics of your fish and I will admit I won't be able to id many I am no good at it and don't have the experience I turn to other places and people to do that for me. It is a very sad day when anyone just makes statements like "I was most importing Malawi over 30 years ago so dont tell me i dont know them." to me that means they think they are gods gift and can do what they like and will never listen to any good reason or other opinions.

Sorry Phill I left out a word in my other post that completely changed what it means I don't believe you would mix the fish I know you know that much. I just believe that you do a few dodgy things with your naming sourcing etc and that would worry me when purchasing fish. It is nothing personal just my opinion, I would probably have to run things differently if I had to make money from my fish, I am lucky enough to not have to do that. That allows me to be ruthless and realistic with what I have, even once I have spent money and years growing something out to find out it is rubbish. The maleri strains in NZ are confusing and there does seem to be some variation in the degree of colouration within the strains. I have kept 3 different maleri red strains and finally found one that I like enough to keep and have just managed to get them breeding. Import list states: "Al. Nyassae" as the only allowed peacock species, at one stage all peacocks from that lake used this name this can be used with maf to legally get most peacock species into NZ as they all used that name originally.

I find the FX5 doesn't filter the fine particles very well, have read about people on the internet buying a "polishing pad" and using that to get the finer stuff, or you could just load it up with filter wool. The downside to this and the reason I don't do it is it will clog up and restrict flow very fast and I would have to clean my filter out every 2 weeks or so not every 3 months. I find them a pain to clean so would rather it last 3 months

I have no doubt you have kept all your fish separate it is where you get them from and the names you give them that concern me. I really think you should get some photos put them up on cichlid forum to at least confirm the id you purchased them as before selling and also ensure you buy them all from descent sources. People trust you and I believe that you have a responsibility to uphold that trust by supplying a good quality and correctly named product. Regarding comment you do not give fish names you purchased some fish as maleris and have now renamed them, is this not renaming them? You could well be the largest but that does not mean you know the most about fish or have sourced quality ones, anyone can buy 200 tanks fill them with fish that doesn't really mean much. Yes you have purchased some fish from me and those are not dodgy, I cannot guarantee what you do with them or what names you choose to give them after you have them that is your choice. It is obviously you purchased them to breed from and that is great I want to see more quality africans being spread around. My comment not to purchase fish from you is based on the random sources of fish and the comments you have made (mainly renaming and "sorting out once adults") and purchasing things like those rubins reds for $2ea in that other thread that were sold as baenshi and had dodgy written all over them. No doubt alot of your fish are great and I know alot of them came from good sources but others, who knows? I guess people could pick and choose what they buy from you based on its source but as you have said this is a "secret" so it is really hard to know. I have also talked to plenty of people who I deal with regularly and the complaints of deformed or munted fish or fish that aren't what they are supposed to be (red shoulder sevs for example) are very common.

Yeah the mislabelling is the major problem.. But the breeding and spreading of hybrids is a biggie too, even if the fish are passed on as hybrids then someone somewhere down the line maybe googling around to some random site and see a fish they think matches their fish and rename them. Generally letting any dodgy fish out at all is trouble. I just hate seeing people get ripped off, especially by the bigger players who should know better and people will trust because they are big. You cannot give the "they breed true" excuse really, second generation hybrids or even hybrids with the same male/female parents out of a colony can breed relatively true, it depends how many generations they have been bred for. Phill when you sent me some apisto's and 2 from 8 were badly and very obviously deformed even to me within 5sec of opening the box and seeing them in the bag bent or belly sliding and you used the reason "I don't have the time to look at every fish I send, I have xxx tanks going and thousands of fish breeding". I seriously doubt you have had the time to grade your fish and see if they are in fact breeding true, it can be the slightest difference in body shape/colour or other defining features which will show they are not breeding true. You would also need to keep every spawn from every female (ideally separately) for at least 1-2years (to see what shape they mature at and any sort of colour) before you could verify that they breed true, from a commercial point of view I doubt you have or will do this. Also if you suspect your red peacocks from Wellington have all been "chucked together" but you can "sort them when adults" how on earth are you going to sort the females? It is things like this that you say that throw all of your breeding programmes into serious doubt. The "peacocks cross in the lake thats how we get new species" discussion. My take on this is they cross breed and then the population has bred to be pure over many generations and then accepted as a pure species, this is evolution and many variables come into it. To me it does not give me license to cross all my peacocks because "hey it happens in the lakes" and develop my own Al. Stuartgranti "Bulls" varient. I guess at the end of the day we have to go by what comes out of the lake as it is documented (well kind of and changes every day) and we have to have somewhere to start?

Some very good points made here, I take the same stance as Barrie on this one we have to avoid these hybrids at all costs so we preserve what little number of pure species we have in NZ. Phill Collis is someone I advise anyone who asks to stay away from when it comes to africans. He may have got SOME good fish off SOME good breeders but this thread here (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=34665&start=30) pretty much sums up what he does. he will buy a species in the case of this thread he brought some "firebird peacocks" which were labelled as "Al. Baenshi" firstly a contradiction of common (whch means nothing) vs sc name so would tell most of us to stay away. Second dodgy thing is the photo is off the net and supposed to be a good example of what is for sale no mention (or even question) of if the fish were bred in species tank parents purchased from same place at same time etc? Latest example is of some fish he purchased as "maler island" which is basically a peacock that originates from a collection point around maleri island and is called Aulonocara sp. "Stuartgranti Maleri" we have various strains in nz called red, gold (sunshine) and yellow. All of these fish are quite distinctive as they have blue heads and basically full or a majority of their body fully coloured. All of a sudden these fish (which are supposed to be maleri's) have been renamed Aulonocara stuartgranti (Chirwa Is.) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/c ... .php?cat=3. They will also no doubt be sold with an awesome photo off the net not photos of the original fish. My problems with this. 1. He purchased them as maleri why change the name? 2. If they are pretty much all blue they aren't maleri that raises the question of if the breeder knew what he was going or if the fish are hybrids? There are plenty of all blue strains of peacocks that have been passed around under all sorts of names that are mostly hybrids (red flush etc). End of the day he purchased some fish and has to make money off them so has loosly matched them with a random profile to sell them on. Most of us breeders would have cut our losses bounced the females (to ensure they aren't bred from) and sold/given the males away as display fish. It has happened to me on more than one occasion, which is why I am very very careful where my fish come from now and always view parents or photos of them. Phill if you are reading this I mean nothing personal and understand it is business and the way you want to operate it just doesn't earn you a good name. If you want to justify your naming then take some photos of your fish and post them here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=14 the guys in here know their fish and will help you out. Just in case everyone didn't know my name is Ryan Jury and I am hiding behind nothing just very passionate about my fish and their future in NZ, and also hate seeing people being ripped off.

Ph can be high out of the tap but if the KH is low then it will drop very fast as soon as you add it to the tank...

I have one and it works fine in my vodafone.. I am just waiting for the website to work to transfer my vodafone number over to 2degrees so I can use it