Stella

Tannins are what makes tea 'tea coloured'. Given long enough, a teacup will get stained, but it takes a fair bit of strong tea. Driftwood is unlikely to release anywhere near that concentration of tannin.

There shouldn't be nitrate in your tap water.... Humans boil suspect water to kill microorganisms that could make us sick, it won't remove chemicals of interest to fishkeepers.

Insect Direct - is that latest one a dobsonfly adult? !drool:

A sump could be handy for making the volume of water even greater, which gives a more stable temperature and increases possibilities for oxygenation. The big problem with fast-flow coldwater is that the pumps really crank up the temperature. Though if the galaxiids are the inanga, they are not too keen on fast water. Torries are of course fine with slow water, but you lose some of the behaviours. Could be possible to make a fast water area or use timers if you want to play with the combination. For fast-flow tanks I recommend: (tank volume) x (30 or 40) = (ideal litres-per-hour turnover) If your tank is 1200mm and 400+L it is probably also quite deep? That could make it harder to get fast flow, but also could make it more baffled to suit the inanga, especially if the current is strongest at the bottom of the tank.

Nice! I like the way the inanga are bobbing in the flow - looks like it is just right for them! The leaf litter looks good. How are you finding the sand? I haven't tried that yet, but seen a couple of tanks (yours included!) where it looks really good. What are they eating?

That is really good to see! Just a shame the used water weasels (trout) to illustrate it.

cool fish! ans SERIOUSLY cool name!

Love the microwaved mud! :lol: And great photo blueether! Supasi is the one to ask if you are interested in natives plants. Also check out your library for the New Zealand Waterplants book (Coffey and Clayton). I think lighting might be an issue for plants in this setup, but nitella would probably be just fine. This is a native branched algae that looks like a plant and does just fine with minimal light. There are photos of it in my critter tank thread. (whoa, sudden influx of new emoticons!)

yup, the yellow-bag peat is what I use. It can be a nightmare to sink. Takes ages to absorb water and there is often a lot of fine stuff that gets suspended. Here is what I recommend: 1: microwave it first - put in a large glass microvaveable bowl (glass won't absorb colours/smells), add water and mix to get it wet and 'muddy' and microwave for 10 minutes. (this will be messy) 2: put in tank, fill tank, leave to settle for a while. 3: scoop off the floaties. 4: using a siphon, suck out as much of the water as you can. Refill. Stir up the peat and let settle again, resuspending the fines. Repeat until the water is fairly clear of fines (will be a lovely tea colour) It takes a while to sort the peat, maybe a week for a medium tank, your little one night be faster. Add leaf litter over top - stops things stirring up the peat and gives a better substrate for different critters. Oh, and search the archive, I have talked randomly about the joys of peat substrate

Nope, no filtration, just periodic (3-4weekly) 50% waterchanges. The deep peat is probably doing something, and the plants are sucking up nitrogen (especially the lemna and azolla, which needs regular removal). No idea what the water quality is like, but the bugs seem to be happy. I love my critter tank. Will be a definite chapter addition to the second addition of my book

you can get native fish in NZ Take a strong torch up to the Turitea stream by uni (bledisloe park) and look in the shallows.

unless your garage is lined and insulated they are inclined to fluctuate in temperature quite wildly. Have you tried following the temp in there, preferably with a thermometer that logs the minimum and maximum (cheap from gardening sections) With native tanks it is more relevant to give the dimensions than just the volume - ground are is so important. It will probably be fine for bugs (I love bug tanks!) though you will probably want a light to be able to see them.

Live inverts are unlikely to bring in much by the way of diseases. Most fish diseases are either opportunistic things are are in the water all the time and only can infect when a fish is immunologically vulnerable. inverts are often carriers for parasites, but given that in the wild the fish would be eating these inverts every day of their lives, parasites are rarely problematic. It is much much easier to quarantine all new arrivals than risk all your fish with an outbreak. Hopefully since you saw that spot early and are treating then there won't be too much risk this time.

sleeping.

three weeks sounds a bit short to me, then again every tank is different.

fascinating! Thanks

So is there even a bump or stub? How well does it swim? Bullies don't do much body movement, more pectoral movement (or maybe it is so fine it is hard to see?) I know a site that is teeming with banded kokopu, eels and koura. The bandeds are often missing fins (or are DENTED!), the eels have bite marks and the koura missing legs. Everyone seems robustly healthy though!

brown 'algae' are the silica (mineral) shells of tiny microorganisms call diatoms. While some algae-eaters do eat it, there is minimal food value in it. Algae-rid only kills green algae, and there are ways of doing that without adding chemicals. Both fix the symptoms, not the problem. With brown algae, the problem is usually that the tank is still maturing and will go with time. This is normal for new tanks.

wow, that seems to be a purely educational article! No shock value at all! What is the world coming to :roll: The Chathams rise is a major major spawning area for many fish species, probably because of this upwelling and productivity. They say this is a seasonal thing and the fish larvae are probably having a fine old time in it. Though part of me wonders, as we fish the sea to extinction, if big sea blooms will become more common, without the top-down control by the planktivorous fish larvae and adults?

most fish diseases are either in the water anyway, or brought in on fish. any fish in the pond? I would just strain it if worried. To be honest it is probably just fine for the fish, just try to to make too big a change too soon (unless you have no choice). Any invertebrates that come in with it will probably be good for the overall aquarium 'ecosystem'

does it actually HAVE a pectoral fin?! Is the red a raw injury or something under the skin?

I recommend : (total tank volume) x (30 or 40) = ideal litres per hour for river/fast-flow set-up I like to have the pumps at one end, aimed horizontally and low down in the tank. Have them flow out over a very large flat stone and a bit of open water, then start piling in the rock all down the tank - virtually no exposed gravel. (fine gravel gets washed out of a riffle naturally anyway). With that there will be all sorts of different currents as the water swirls around.

yeah, they might really get stuck into that

mcrudd. Great hearing from such responsible pet owners! Spaying/neutering should be compulsory. I am learning a lot from this thread. Really really logicaland useful info that I haven't heard anywhere else before! My mum had that idea that you 'should' let a female cat have one litter then spay (NOT a good idea!) and we gave the kittens away at six weeks! I guess that was what was done then, but the socialising thing makes so much sense now.

Caryl! Seriously??