Stella

Hi Sandy, I had two 3500L/hr pumps in my riffle tank (4ft, 220L). Both at once created KICKASS flow. One at a time was also pretty awesome, but slow for the fish concerned. Do you want a fast flow tank? In that case take the total volume of the tank, multiply it by 30, and the result is the minimum pump flow to aim for. How big is the tank? Another consideration is temperature. Two pumps put the temperature of my (coldwater) tank up by 7 degrees Celsius in WINTER. One pump also had a significant temperature output. Probably not much of a concern for tropical fish, but definitely a problem for coldwater ones, and if your tank gets so hot over summer that the thermostat is barely on. Alternatively it may save you on heater use though keep one in for stabilising things. As for a spray bar.. with that size pump you want a pretty liberal spray bar, otherwise you risk straining and overheating the pump.

Could be, but some other critter that hijacked a ride is at least equally likely. Nothing to worry about, just something to watch. My understanding is that shrimp need seawater to breed, but I don't know if that is an adult or juvenile requirement, or exactly what the process is. I do know that the female holds the eggs under her tail while they develop. Crayfish babies also stay on the mother for a while, I don't know if shrimp do similar. Here is one I caught that had eggs: http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o165 ... imp003.jpg (later I found her dead with no legs... I have no idea why, possibly fish-induced) It is really interesting to populate a tank with little bugs like these and see what they are and do. You learn soooo much watching these little critters :bounce: A guy I know did a study on 'unintentional' invertebrates in aquaria. Found that most had several (I can't remember the numbers - hey, are you still trawling the forums? help me out here!) He also found several that were previously not known to be in NZ, and that generally pet shops had the highest numbers of unintentional species. (people tend to freak when they discover their own 'unintentionals' but the chances of them being detrimental is very remote)

That is a good reminder with regard to dyslexics, people with other native languages etc. I know a guy with genuine dyslexia (and a masters in chemistry) and seeing it is amazing - it is not simply poor spelling. But yes, people who use textspeak or intentional spelling mistakes because they think it makes them look cool... nope, open for target practise. On a practical level, it ISN'T getting their message across clearly, especially for those with language/literacy issues, but also for everyone else. Including other thirteen-year-olds. For those who think uniformity of spelling (and correcting it) is stupid, the point is to make the written word an easy and clear method of communication.

wheeee! critters rock! Shrimp are totally cute. My ex and I had some, and couldn't tell them apart so we called them Simon. Even to the point of going spotlighting and suddenly saying "ooh there's a Simon!". Then I learned that young shrimp are all boys then they turn into girls. Now big ones are Simones 8) (I have a tank of mosquito larvae beside me as I am just as fascinated as if they were fish. Then again they owe their life to my blood, so I feel a kind of Sigourney-Weaver-like connection....) Awesome seeing blue ones! We had some people on here a little while back find a blue one, but it lost colour before they got photos. No idea what causes it, presumably some environmental variable. Will be interesting to see if yours maintain or lose the colour.

good advice. I would say step up the waterchanges though. Don't increase the volume, just the frequency.

cyanobacteria ('bluegreen algae', although it isn't an algae and can also come in red, green and brown) can cause a tank to smell off... It lies fairly flat and peels off in small sheets.

What about driftwood? Looks natural, provides grip, free. Yes it will rot eventually, but probably you will feel inspired to change your pond/island before that causes problems anyway

Horribly illegal to have anything to do with them other than kill them. Unwanted organism. They spread very rapidly due to being livebearers and females can store sperm for up to six months. They can attack and kill other fish. They don't control mosquitos, despite their name. They possibly exacerbate mosquito problems due to killing off other fish that do actually eat mosquito larvae. They are a problem in many countries, and other common names include 'damnbusia' and 'plague-guppy'.

My giant kokopu (now a little over 20cm) seems to have an infected sensory pore on her head this morning. It looks like a raised pimple, with the pore itself being a tiny white bump on top. Wasn't there last night, nothing else wrong with her, eating well, no recent changes to the tank (apart from putting ceramic media in the filter earlier in the week, it was just running as a pump before as I took the media out after a long powercut). Any ideas?

Yes, Zev is right. And sorry but you have to kill them. Releasing them, even back to where they came from, is also heavily punished. Either whack them into some concrete, use clove oil, or drop them into a container of ice-water. Consider your bullies lucky that they still have fins and eyes.....

At the last freshwater sciences conference Juliet Milne from Greater Wellington Regional Council presented some sediment work she had been doing. Every single urban stream she sampled contained DDT, and almost all were above "ANZECC (2000) Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines". The scary thing is DDT was restricted in the 1970 and finally banned in 1989... Shudder.

That sort of fluctuation doesn't sound too bad. The good thing with fans is evaporation (which is the cooling mechanism) works faster when it is warmer (ie when you need it more). The limiting effect is that it works less well when it is humid... So the fan is probably evening things out a bit. Min/max thermometers can be found in garden departments fairly cheaply, as either indoor-outdoor stations (stick the outdoor probe in the tank) or old-style mercury thermometers (safe as it is encased in glass). Neither are brilliantly accurate but give a good idea of the daily fluctuations. Food: My natives get a staple diet of ox heart and they THRIVE off it. They will most definitely be fussed Cut off all the fat, freeze it in chunks and dice up slices of a chunk at feeding time. I have a little knife and glass cutting slab that I use only for the heart, so I don't even have to bother washing it after. I also use live food when I can find or culture it. The diet you are feeding is probably fine nutrient-wise. In the wild they are insectivores, so high-protein is good. What sort of bullies do you have?

Hi there, Shrimp seem to turn pink when they die, I doubt that they are cooked if that was your worry I don't know what is in the treatment you are using, but crustacea are sensitive to aquarium chemicals and medications. How long have your bullies been in captivity? If it has only been a few weeks then they probably brought it in with them. However if you added a new fish without quarantining then that was your source. Always quarantine your fish for four weeks before they go into an established tank. As for non-staining treatments, I use salt for most issues on my natives, but harsher medications if the infection is severe as salt can be a little slow. Rate: 1/2 tsp salt per litre (pre-dissolve it and add slowly over a day) Regular waterchanges, adding in 1/2tsp salt per litre of water changed. Period: this is the crucial bit! Lots of whitespot treatments say you only need it for a few days. That is because at warmer temperatures the parasite goes through it's lifecycle much faster than for us with coldwater fish. You MUST keep treating for one week after the last spot falls off the fish. The thing with whitespot is they can only be killed at one part of their lifecycle. They go: *Spot on fish *Fall off fish *Cyst on ground *Cyst bursts *Hundreds of free-swimming infective stages (KILLABLE!!!) *Spot on fish So you have to wait till that last spot has fallen off and developed a little further before you can kill it. After that period your usual waterchanges will slowly remove the salt. So, either keep using your current medication, or stop using that and add salt. Salt doesn't 'clash' with other medications but there is no need to overmedicate. It also remains at the rate that you put it in - it isn't photosensitive, doesn't bind to organic matter and the effect isn't 'weakened' by the bacterial load. And all natives can deal with salt. I use salt that is both iodised and has anti-caking agent and it is FINE. There is no actual hard science to say they have any effect, only common myths and people marketing expensive aquarium salt. Looks like you are doing a good job on the temperature! Well done. Not easy this time of year. Some very useful background: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Nymox, it is difficult with a lot of species to do captive breeding for release, because of the risk of releasing novel diseases. Starting a breeding programme requires taking a breeding population out of the wild, from populations that are often tiny and threatened to begin with, and needs to be sufficiently large that they don't immediately have inbreeding issues. We have soooooo many species of lizard that there would have to be a pretty massive commercial program to remove a lot of the smuggling pressure. Think of how people here are about exotic unavailable fish - the unavailable ones are more desired. A legit foreign trade would increase the market and interest in our native lizards, and increase the market for smuggled ones. It is possible, but not an easy fix. I am with Livingart, fine them the estimated value. 15 weeks in a foreign prison and you are back home. You might need to find a new job after that, but really, whoop-de-do.

It is a total joke! :evil:

Iodised salt is fine. The amounts aquarists use work out to part of a part per million. The toxicity of iodine on fish is unknown, so there is no scientific backing for not using it. Iodide is used as a disinfectant for trout eggs at a rate of 100ppm. Uniodised sea salt is naturally 0.2ppm. I would think a bigger concern would be the grain size of 'aquarium salt' meaning that 1tsp of that weighs less that 1tsp of normal salt. Long but compulsory article on the uses and myths of salt in the aquarium: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml Sorry about your disease, Darni. I have seen fish go like that before and have no idea why. I have generally suspected to to be a massive stress thing, who who knows

So I made this very clever contraption that lets me drain and fill my tanks using the hose, just turn on and leave, and race back just in time to turn the tap off. Anyway.... there was this one time when I didn't..... Was getting ready one evening to go up to the Hawke's Bay to see my boyfriend, did a number of waterchanges while getting ready, then lost the cat and various other minor dramas, and raced out to door to catch the bus.... See where this is heading? :roll: So after about an hour I realised I couldn't remember specifically turning off the tap that time. Five minutes later I texted a friend saying I was probably just paranoid but could he please check.... Yeah. Bugger. The water was coming out the door to meet him. He turned the hose off but didn't have a key to get in, but eventually found a non-destructive way to get in. All of the fish in the tank in question had died. My laptop was sitting on the floor. I stayed the night in Hastings and my boy brought me back the next day. I tell you I *really* wanted to detour to anywhere but Palmy! The entire floor area of my decent-sized two-bedroom unit was saturated. The carpet was splashy. I got a rug-doctor to suck up as much water as possible. It made a big difference but obviously couldn't do it all. Eventually got the cleaners in, and it looked like my insurance would cover it. Of course the next day they ring and say they can't cover, as I am renting (I TOLD the first person that!), but to see if my landlord's insurance covers it. No idea who my landlord is, so I talked to my property manager, who said she would try, but there was no guarantee that hey would put in a claim (afterall, why would they?). Meanwhile the house is drying thanks to massive dehumidifiers and fans, but getting bloody hot. Thankfully I was able to ship most of the surviving fish out to my friend's place. My boy and I were staying with a friend. When the house was dry the cleaning guy informed me that the landlord was not putting in a claim. The original quote was $2600.... But since he forgot to plug in one dehumidifier and the rug doctor had taken a day off the drying time, it came down a whole lot. Eventually a bit more negotiation brought it to $1165. (even so I am a student... ouch) I paid it, then got a call from my landlord's insurance saying they were claiming! Of course then that insurance company claims the money back from me... But then I use my liability insurance to pay them..... And I had already paid.... I couldn't even work out that imaginary money flowchart!! Then on Friday I got another call from my insurance, some weird negotiations have been happening and apparently the landlord's insurance is covering everything, and I (or my insurance) don't even have to pay the excess! Full refund on its way!! :bounce: Meanwhile, I learned: 1 - don't leave the freaking hose unattended. 2 - my coping skills have improved dramatically - I laughed more than cried. 3 - not much of value resides on the bottom 2cm of your home. 4 - I have the most amazing friends. 5 - my boy is so dedicated and uncomplaining, and follows instruction well (and my computer still clings to life! However half my fish didn't... )

I haven't had much luck with shrimp, namely due to tankmates liking cocktails... However, they would be fine on their own, and are really cute to watch running around with their noses in the air! They don't eat plants, but algae and biofilms. Wonderful watching them picking virtually invisible bits of food off things and eventually clearing a little patch. Would take a lot to keep a tank clean! Minimum size..... given that they grow to 3cm, I suspect water quality, temperature and oxygen levels are more important. All easier to do in a non-miniscule tank.

Not a good idea to put our native shrimp in tropical tanks. As Zev says they need high oxygen levels - and the amount of dissolved oxygen lowers as the water gets warmer.

I haven't sedated fish before either. Friends use clove oil with great success, even to just slow them down for photos, but obviously care must be taken!

sedate it first?

How do you know pH swings CAUSED the death of the fish? Like others said, stop stressing. Get a 44 gallon drum and put the coral in there, not in the tank. Each time you do a watch change use water from the drum and then refill it so it is primed for the next water change. Better yet, working WITH nature is easier than against, get fish that like soft slightly-alkaline water.

Awesome, thanks for the clarification

What is the deal with caring for these animals and the law? Have you informed your local DOC? Good on you for looking after it, but be careful as you might wind up with an unexpected phonecall, even though you are trying to do the right thing.

a tiny tank like that can make a fascinating pond bug tank. I have one by the window and the light makes algae that feeds the tiny pea mussels, boatmen, snails, daphnia, copepods, boatmen etc. Also the leaves on the substrate decompose and the bacteria provide food. And the wonderful diving beetles get ox heart (and nibble the others). A diving spider could be an interesting addition! They form self-sustaining populations mostly, just dump in pond critters and see who survives. Utterly fascinating for the geeky who love anything that lives in water