ryanjury

Yeah your 6ft will be awesome for them Sweet the tangs are good, depends what your into I guess, you can cram alot of fish and get alot of colours in with malawi's, but the tangs are just personality.. Eventually the fronts will get big enough to eat fully grown brichardi, I have seen pictures of them eating fully grown electric yellow males, but that is very long term as they're quite a slow growing and maturing fish.. From what ive read the fronts are quite slow but are early morning feeders and can have a munch out while others are sleeping..

Yeah captive bred is alright, I thought their initial ones were rescued from the wild when they were brought in injured? But not to sure on that, I certainly wouldn't be keen on them going out and harvesting wild dolphins.. Yes they do get trained to do their natural things on que however its not like they're in they're going to force them to do it.. It is stated at the beginning of the show that the dolphins have off days and sometimes don't do any tricks if they don't feel like it and thats that.. Anyway it is a sad day and I think very sad they are unable to get anymore dolphins, and hope the future is still good for marine land and its other residents.

To me there is nothing wrong with getting some captive bred dolphins to promote conservation of a very endangered animal. The captive bred dolphins cannot be released in the wild as they wont have the instints etc to survive. I think if the dolphins at marine land were unhappy or suffering they would be showing signs of stress and not showing off jumping and having fun and outliving ones in the wild.. To me it is no different to keeping tropical fish (which some people argue that it is cruel as well) they were captive bred and some of them are endangered in the wild.. To me if a child or anyone see's these animals and gets amazed by them it is one more person who may be likely to want to help them in the wild, then its a good thing. I guess the cruelty to animal thing is very easy to jump on and get all up at arms about and throwing accusations around but at the end of the day it is all up what you interpret as good or bad..

I agree with Wok on this one.. Yes wild animals shouldn't be caged for our pleasure, but these were great for conservation and teaching people about them. If you have been to one of their shows they are not forced to do flips etc for the croud it is one of the first things they say. Dolphins do all those behaviours naturally, we were lucky enough to see some dolphins over here the other day doing flips etc heaps of people chucked on gear and swum out to play with them. My wife and I were there about 2 years ago and talking to the staff about it and they said they had put alot of work into getting captive bred dolphins (bred for places like marine land) into nz but they weren't allowed to. It is a very sad time for marine land, I hope it doesn't end up being the places demise and having a heap of rescue animals struggling to be fed and needing to be rehomed..

I don't really know much but have heard the darkening is linked to dominance.. Maybe the smaller ones are intimidated by the bigger ones some more so than others at various times? Time to colour up depends on how well bred they are, if they're stunted, the strain, how clean your keeping the water, what and how often your feeding and again dominance to name a few... I think the breeders can grow discus out to coloured up very fast on lots of good food and large daily water changes. Glad to hear you have 3 months with no issues that is a good thing with discus You must be on the right track

I think the inital post was edited Cyathopharynx Furcifer and Paracyprichromis Nigripinnis "Neon" aren't avaliable here as far as im aware but someone else might know.. Brichardi and fronts would be good but eventually the fronts will grow big enough to eat them (that would be years down the track). You could probably get 10-12 fronts and thin them out as needed down the line to get a descent ratio, there is nothing worse than ended up with 5m 1f out of 6 and things not working out... Instead of brichardi you could consider pulchers they are basically the same but I think pulchers look nicer its OTY really.. You could also add some lelu's or jullies check out http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/8-foot ... 33670.html for some idea's.. Are you completely sold on the front's? Because you could setup a mean malawi tank in that tank also. Your cats should be ok in there they should be fine in the ph and strong enough to keep safe.

Egg's will be creamy coloured for the first day or so, fertile ones will darken until they hatch around day 3 or so.. You will be able to tell if they're no good as they go really white and get fluffy like fungus that you sometimes get on fishes wounds etc..

Tank looks awesome and will only continue to get better as the fish grow into it and colour up Congrats I know its been a long time in the planning/setting up

Yeah I realised thats what they were when i saw the pic's.. And I thought who would kill 13 of them? Surely they're allowed in Aus and you could have found someone to qtine them at the drop of a hat..

Because our net goes through aus found this page when looking for customs stuff.. Cant believe this guy thought he would get them through customs, also cant believe customs destroyed 13 endangered fish and couldn't find someone to qtine them and even put them in zoo aquarium or something.. Article http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=10759 Photo's (click for close up) http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5768

Rain water sitting in a concrete tank can have a higher ph, also her tank ph might be higher because she might have some buffering rocks or substate in there..

They are nothing different to most other mouth brooding african species.. Just let her hold 2-3 weeks and strip her if you want to, or move her to her own tank to spit. Feed the fry anything that will fit in their mouths they wont be fussy. If it is her first time don't stress too much if she spits early it can take a few times for them to hold successfully and especially if she's in a mixed tank she might get spooked out..

I usually clean out filter media once it slows down, on my big tank 2-3 monthly on the smaller filters 1-2monthly.. In saying that I cleaned them out before I went overseas and im leaving them for 3.5 months and they will be fine. General rule is when the flow starts to decrease clean them out I am also a cheap ass I don't replace the media... If it gets so sad it doesn't fit I pad it out with the cushing stuffing that I use for filter wool alot cheaper than buying the correct pads.

Oh yeah I know who you're talking about they're cool really nice people.. Not too sure what those blue peacocks are will be interesting to see what they grow out like.. Glad to hear it is all working out, hopefully things stay sweet as they grow.. As above it wont really matter if things cross breed unless you start selling the babies.. There is always a risk of it in mixed tanks best bet is to setup another tank as your fish mature and start holding then it will be sweet

Yeah that silica sand looks wicked I have a bag of it at home but haven't set it up in a tank I think there maybe problems with it being too fine, I have issues at the moment with the FX5 sucking up crushed coral and argonite and thats nowhere near as fine.. It would be interesting to see how it goes, maybe set it up in a smaller tank first?

Awesome I noticed they had some in wetpets before I left.. Watch the auratus they have a rep for getting downright nasty and your tank is relatively small. Did you manage to get some electra and kadango's as well?

Yes there is a large risk of it.. All the zebra's will breed with each other with no problems (cobalts, blue and red zeb's) the melo's might also get in on that action (are they the blue melo's or did you get some auratus?). The hap's/peacocks are all also likely to cross breed - kadango's, electra and dolphins and peacocks. The convicts, kribs and lionheads should be ok because they're egg layers and pair forming.. The zebra's are the most likely to cross I would say it is almost certain, however all the others can cross but depends on heaps of variables, the only way to be sure is to only have fish of the same species in a tank you intend to breed from. On another note thanks for helping out I really appreciate it, and it sounds like you have some new fish which is wicked

I think you are a bit confused, didn't I explain in my first post after your dig that I only keep and breed these guys because they breed true and are passed with no sc. name etc associated with them? There are plenty of people who do and will keep breeding hybrids giving them incorrect names and selling them these are the people that I have a problem with. To some degree I wouldn't care if people came straight out and were honest about what they were selling. Obviously this is less than ideal because the hybrid fish are out there and others will try and rename them and pass them on, but at least its honest and people know what they're getting. David R and firenzenz both feel the same way, they are hybrids (maybe morph's would be a better way to describe them) they have names and they are passed with those names and also people know what they are. I always tell people they're a line bred hybrid fish and don't occur naturally in the lake. To me there is no problem with them. If you don't understand from the above posts the point im trying to make there really is no point in me flogging a dead horse trying to explain it to you.. Your entitled to your opinion and if you don't like dragons bloods or ob's or any of the designer fish all well and good to you, I breed them because I like them and think they're something different.. To me it seems your trying to start something and I know who your friends with and where its starting but it is pretty petty even for that person..

lol good observation yes I do dislike hybrid fish.. However I do keep and breed OB peacocks and dragonsbloods, everyone who has brought them off me know's they're hybrids and knows what to expect because I put that in the auction or description and never give them a scientiffic name. I also know they breed true (ie throw the same off spring).. These are hybrids but have been line bred and became somewhat acceptable in the hobby the fact they're the only 2 "pure" hybirds to have a profile on cichlid forum shows that. I know of at least 3-4 of the more experienced keepers/breeders in nz who also have a strong and vocal dislike of hybrids who have or do keep/breed both dragons bloods and ob's for the same reason's. The hybrids I dislike are the ones where someone has a heap of peacocks/mbuna all breeding in one tank and then gets some random fry makes up a name.. Or someone who buys a random peacock male and then a random female and makes up a name. Who knows what the fry are, or what they will become. The main problem with them is you don't know what your going to get, some of the fry may resemble one species some another but future generations will be different.. If there are more hybrids created we are potentially diluting the pure fish stocks we do have as they are crossed back and forwards. If the lakes or even nz's borders are closed we might end up stuck for descent stock. To me dragons bloods or ob's (if they aren't crossed with other species) don't run the potential of being mistaken for anything else, so I am happy to breed them and pass them around and also happy to inform people they are line bred hybrids. Nice dig though I knew that someone would have it.. The hybrid/non hybrid argument can and will go on as long as we are keeping fish, and there will always be people for and against it.

Yes, a man made hybrid fish, mine breed true I have a few culls each batch but still get fish that come out like the parents.. Most probably something along these lines but who can be sure with hybrids? http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/720/product.web Fish that look the same are also called strawberry peacocks and all sorts of other numbers internationally.. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/720/product.web

I don't know where they come.. My guess is that someone somewhere was breeding them and got a mutated one come out and then just bred for that mutation until it bred true, people will breed whatever will sell.. Colours are usually the same between the balloon's and normals.. My one was what I would call a normal long finned gold.. It is probably possible to breed the balloon shape out, but probably not practical as it would probably take many many years and alot of breeding to get there.. I believe (if they're not infertile) that balloon's will produce balloon offspring.

I would be surprised if the cd did have drivers for 98? Thats a very old and not supported operating system now.. Have you tried googling for a driver? Or maybe just try a generic camera one see if you can get it going that way?

Well that is pretty poor to me it sounds like the cd is dud if it wont open on your pc, does your cd drive work or have you tried the cd on another computer.. You can still get drivers off the net just google the full name of the camera plus drivers and make sure you get one for your windows system ie xp or vista or whatever your running.. Hope you can get it going these things can be a real mission at times.. Things are good over here hot and dusty glad to be missing the nz winter but still cant wait to be home

Have you tried opening the cd and double clicking on a setup or install icon? Sometimes they don't have autorun.. If your cd is won't run at all either take it back ask them to help or give you a new one, or do an internet search for the "name of your webcam" drivers and download some.. If its a descent brand one you can probably goto the manufacturers website and find some drivers for it, once they're downloaded run them and follow the instructions.

Sorry to hear about this Nav.. I don't really have any advice but some things to think about.. Did all of your discus get it or only one? If all of them got it then it is likely to be something to do with diet (I know you haven't changed it but maybe your food went off or it is from wrong food for too long?) Or water conditions? If the fish are floating then its likely their swim bladders are playing up, has the swim bladder blown up or is the stomach? About all I can think of is maybe try some epsoms salt to relieve the internal swelling and maybe pass anything that might be stuck? Have you got any pictures?