ryanjury

I would be weighing up the cost (plus risk that you may get charged customs on items over a certain value) and also the value that the NZ based guarantee has to you as well.. While most of these things do last the last thing you want to do is save yourself $100 and have it die on you and have no after sale service.

As per all of the above What do you like? I would recommend the africans they are easy to find, cheap to buy, very colourful active and easy to keep.. But if it isn't what you like then you wont keep them Just for starters in a tank that size with african cichlids you could do demasoni, yellows, peacocks or some of the slower growing haps (kadango/dolphins etc).

Hi and welcome! I agree you should join the fish club! A few comments, you might want to consider getting a few more demasoni 8 is not a good number to have (unless you have vented out 1m and 7f but at 2-3cm this is unlikely). You are probably already aware of it but you will need to get a much bigger tank for the fronts in a few years Also be careful your "blue zebras" and snow whites aren't crossing they are both zebras so it is not a good idea to be breeding those 2 in the same tank if you want to keep/sell the fry, not really a biggie because most blue zebras will be hybrids anyway.. I have some very nice red zebras I am growing out (bright orange no black marking etc) to breed from, unfortunately I lost my breeders a while back so I am not breeding any at the moment but it probably wont be long before these ones are big enough to chuck in their own tank and start breeding..

I think convicts/kribs would be ok at 22, but you wont get very good growth rates and they wont breed as often as they would at 26..

When I get my giraffes up and breeding I will breed you some feeders I have 2m and 8f and each female can produce 1-200 fry a month.. lol

That will be Josh's epic meeting I am sure he has something awesome planned, thanks for volunteering Josh

Yeah it was an awesome meeting, thanks heaps to Neon and pinkfish who arranged and ran the quiz It was good to meet some new people and looking forward to the next meeting and hopefully some more new faces at that one too!

See everyone tonight

Yeah long term the giraffes wouldn't be suitable, they aren't particularly aggressive though and would be fine for a few years, I spawned mine in a 170L 4ft tank until they reached 15cm and needed a bit more room.. So if you did choose them you would need to rehome them or upgrade tank in the future.. Dems/yellows/peacocks and smaller haps (electra/empresses/taiwan reefs/azuzures/electric blues) would probably be a good mix.

Best way to sex young cockatoos is to look at the tail.. Males will have square or filaments on the top and bottom edges, females will be rounded, should be pretty evident from 2-3cm long, obviously other things like dorsal fin, anal fin, colour and checks on body help build a bigger picture but it has been the tail fin that I have found is the best and easiest way to tell..

Hmm that's not far from here, might be worth a look

Lots of people aren't a fan of bloodworms because they are supposed to be hard for fish to digest and can cause issues.. If you google or research it they are actually quite a bad allergen for alot of people, to the point where if some people are in a shop when they are opened they can't breath or if they handle them they break out in rashes. Some people believe that it can't be good to feed these to their fish.. All theories and most fish keepers I know feed bloodworms to their fish in moderation with no issues. Blackworms are also good, I feed a few of these to my fish and they love them They are also red/brown in colour.

There is always the potential of that Zev, however with Auckland being the size it is we have to keep things relatively central, as it is we have members who have to travel 30-45min to get to meetings if we move the meeting to someone elses house 30 mins away they have to travel for ages across Auckland and it makes for a big night We are looking at these options though and it would save us on paying for the venue..

Do you know what stores have them in stock? I didn't see any at Mt Roskill, someone said earlier Albany isn't getting them in, guess that just leaves animates stores?

Nice fish!

They are barnacle shells I buy bunches of them from here http://www.shells.co.nz really cheap..

Awesome fish Dan, I also wonder the "local imports" you got were they the ones from HFF? Because I believe they were locally bred from the same stock as the one you have pictured.. Most of the locally bred stock originated from a guy in Levin who bred a heap of tripple red X F1 fish, this created a great strong line due to the mixed genetics but also diluted the colour alot and made it very variable.. After a few generations fish like your one pictured are starting to pop out which is awesome.. Ideally someone would source some of the new imports and cross them with this locally bred strain to get some more colour into it and some good genetics so we should have some good hardy colourful fish

We are trying to get away from the whole fish keeping meetings being boring.. So definitely open to suggestions on things to do if you have any!

Come and visit if you want a look I have 30-40 tanks filled with lots of africans.. Mbuna are difficult because as they get bigger and are more aggressive initially a 3ft tank would be suitable but ultimately when your zebras and stuff get bigger a large 4ft is needed.. It makes it a pain because you need to breed them in species tanks to breed pure fish (although most people just breed them in mixed tanks and don't care but we wont go there). It really depends on what mbuna you are planning to breed, yellows need a smaller tank, dems can be done in a large 3ft.. As for where to source descent mbuna it can be very difficult, most of the zebras in stores are hybrids with random made up names, but there are a few good ones around with breeders and sometimes pop up in stores, the difficult thing is picking them in stores..

I agree, there is no reason not to name the shop that has them in stock? It is not like it is a secret or there is anything to gain by hiding where they are? If it helps anyone I was in HFF Mt Roskill today and they have none, maybe albany does? Or one of the animates stores..

Yeah they are nice, I have some of these too Not quite as good as that but I believe they are the same strain..

Yeah probably would be, meetings are from 7.30 and usually go until 9.30..

I would definitely take it back and ask for a new unit, also ask for assurance that they have fixed the issue (like Suphew has suggested they have) while you are there pick up an airpump and a sponge filter and chuck that in your tank just for back up until you have proven the new filter is reliable..

That is a very good point, these fish have probably already been through enough.. I would set them up in a bare bottom tank (with bottom of the glass painted black to give the fish some security) tons of cover no lighting and chuck some food in. Hopefully they will eat something even if you don't see them doing it.. I still struggle to believe a fish could starve to death in a week or so unless it was in terrible shape to begin with so think something else may have contributed to it, why not keep the surviving one and see if you can get it eating and then buy a couple more to keep it company?

lol sorry I think under 18 is a junior member, good try though :thup: .. Yeah its not a big deal, I don't usually make all the meetings (guess I should really pass the keys on to someone who can make it more often lol) either my wife works till 8 sometimes but try my best