ryanjury

A friend of ours who is a good fish keeper has had a bout of bad health and had to down size tanks urgently, I am going to buy some tropheus off her but due to the size of the fish (increased risk/cost of shipping) and her experience shipping isn't really an option. At the moment their tank has been sold so they have been crammed into a tank that is too small so will start suffering soon so I am hoping someone might be driving up that can help, even someone driving up from Wellington that could meet her along the way would be awesome, I would pick up from Auckland end. Any suggestions would be great.

You can do that, or just drill the bucket and put a fitting and hose onto it so it drains out.

You can breed your own live foods or get cheaper food off trademe (who knows what the quality is like) or band together with a bunch of you and buy 2.27kg buckets of NLS and split it up it works out cheap as if you do that..

Ah I see, I think I saw some in diver21s tank looks like mud under the sand

I got mine off Whiskas originally

Don't people just use daltons propagating sand? Failing that just contact the manufacturers and ask them where their nearest outlet is http://www.daltons.co.nz/

I know nothing about transporting frogs but I would be very careful transporting them in ice cream containers in this sun, if the sun gets onto an ice cream container they might cook.

Yeah I meant you should actually spawn them in their own tanks to ensure they haven't cross bred with all the other fish in the tank and produced hybrid babies..

Only if you want to do something with the babies..

Awesome good work Did you have them in breeding tanks or a big mixed tank?

Yeah my old one is 220w it is probably on halt the time due to the humidity level I have it set to so it probably costs around $15-20 a month to run but I think it is worth it for the amount of moisture that is out of the room and it seems warmer with just a dehumidifier running.

I paid $20-30 for mine off trade me, summer is the right time to buy them because not many people use them in summer. Look for one with a drain hole at the back so you can plumb it in without too much DIY. http://www.trademe.co.nz/browse/searchr ... uggested=0

Yeah the air gaps underneath help hold the heat, all insulation is is air gaps which keep the heat in and cold out.. The air gaps won't do much unless they are sealed.. I can't even remember the brand I just went in and brought some no more gaps type stuff that was on special for one lot and the other lot was one I found getting thrown out at work because it had expired..

Will talk to Steph and see if she has any intention of ever using our set of grass if not its yours Simon

I have never tried that way but it sounds like it would work, water flowing through her gills and out her mouth would wash the babies out too..

If you remove her to spit in another tank it can be hard to reintroduce her into the colony (she will have to fight to regain a position of dominance). You can remove and strip her, however if you have no idea how to do this I have found demasoni very hard to strip and I have been doing it for years and I have managed to kill a female dem just from handling her to strip her. Putting her in a net in the tank to spit would be a feasible option she should retain her position in the colony from being in the tank, but the other fish in the tank may try and eat her babies through the net once she has spat them and this will kill them, you can use gravel or something like that on the bottom to minimise this. I usually suggest with people that they create lots of hiding places and just let their dems go for it, they are great survivors with at least a few surviving from most batches so your colony grows steadily. Make hiding places that little fish can get into but big fish can't tiny little rocky outcrops or layers of stacked thin rock work well.

Yeah use any old nails with the ply, the ply stops it from pulling through make sure there are 2 of you to help get things setup before nailing especially when doing the roof, also make sure you know where your studs are in case you want to attach anything solid I would suggest marking the poly top/bottom with a vivid line or something where the studs are. I used standard silicone from mitre10 the cheapest stuff and it worked fine, it actually takes stuff all time to do all your joins lick your finger and then smear it all off probably just as long as taping it by the time you tangle the tape up a few times and have to stick a few layers on to cover the join or where you go on an angle lol trust me I have done it on 2 rooms now ended up ripping it all off (what little was still stuck) and siliconing it.. I haven't found any tape that sticks to poly long term and it looks ugly as well, I was using it and then using a stable gun to hold it on as well until someone mentioned the silicone which works out really well. I had condensation issues behind the poly in my first room so ran a dehumidifier in the second time, when I pulled that one down it was perfect underneath so I would recommend that, it also makes the room warmer. I run a dehumidifier full time in my room on its "normal" setting plumbed to drain constantly outside. I also tried to have half descent lids on all tanks and things to reduce the amount of water that was evaporating. As I said I have built 2 fishrooms using these methods and these are the things I found to improve them, my second room was alot more efficient than my first using the things I have mentioned above.

I posted in your other thread but try Bondor for your poly

Are you talking about the wild kribs? Or normal kribs.. The wild kribs from the batch that I sold recently have bred for someone else that I have heard from so they are at breeding age.

It is hard to tell what way a hybrid fish might throw.

lol is this a wind up Have you tried keeping the taiwan reefs on the current import list? I picked up a pair the other day from a petshop the female was even holding, they are amazing fish and have only been in the country for a short while so chances are you haven't already kept them.

Yeah I agree with that, but by seeing if they will breed will just make more of them, I would move them into a tank where all fry/eggs will be eaten by tank mates and just enjoy them

I just cut little squares of poly and used nails the ply stops the nail pulling through the poly and is really easy to remove when you are done. You can also use silicone inbetween the poly sheets to seal them up and stop any drafts. I got some sheets of 20mm poly from a company called bondor today really cheap they manufacture it so would be a really good cheap place to go and get some if you don't already have some. http://www.bondor.co.nz/index.php/page/4

If you got it off the beach chances are it has been exposed to salt/salt water for long enough to kill any fresh water type bacteria that might affect your fish, just hose it off and use it

I knew a guy who did this and he said you have to do a double layer green house one with inflated walls so you have the air layer as insulation this helps keep the warmth in at night. The single layer ones will just loose all the heat at night.