Stella

I don't know that tank or tropical fish, but I am with Billaney. The stocking level is not just the size of the tank and the number of fish, but also the feeding and waterchanging regime etc. You 'get to know' what you tank can comfortably* deal with and what is pushing it. * actually 'comfortably' is the key. If the tank is on the brink of being overstocked, it will always be on the brink of everything going disastrously wrong. Better to have fewer fish than to pack them all in like sardines.

Why do you think it was a parasite?

Spraying is a dominance issue. I lived in an apartment building, 8 units and at one point there were five cats. Cats that had no record of spraying started spraying, including neutered females. It is all about making your mark. Dominant cats often do not bury their toilet, they leave it out as a huge I WOZ HERE to other cats. Less dominant cats bury them. It is not a simple 'how they communicate' thing like with dogs, it is I WOZ HERE plus a very loud AND I WILL BEAT YOU UP. Cats that are left too long before neutering are more likely to spray and exhibit other unpleasant behaviours. Basically the point is to get them before puberty. Cats can be fixed as young as six weeks quite safely (I think). Leaving them to six months or more results in puberty starting and potentially unwanted kittens.

Depends on how well you want the filter to work. If you only want the filter to remove suspended muck it is ok. If you want the filter to actually do what it is supposed to and do the whole bacterial thing, all the bacteria will die rendering it useless for that. If you have low stocking levels and do seriously regular waterchanges you can have a healthy tank with no filtration. But we are talking at least 50% per week here. The filter does not add oxygen to the water, but move the water around which improves the amount of oxygen exchange at the surface. If you have too many fish there will not be enough oxygen in any tank. Plenty of people overstock and reply on the extra oxygen gained from having the water movement, but if there is ever a powercut they can face deaths.

Does your library get it?

Wow, I would love to have a big pond like that! Could do with some serious riparian planting to help shade it a bit, but maybe it is all pretty new? Sounds like a pretty serious selection of bugs you have going there

Yip, that is it. Seen it with my inanga. They DO do that when seriously stressed also. My embarrassing and tragic heat incident a few years ago involved the tank shooting up to 28 degrees in one day and I lost all the koaro. The inanga were pale like you describe (but in your situation it is the darkness to light thing) Sounds like you are doing very well coping with the temps. Now keep that up for the next two months and don't leave the house :roll: damned native fish!

Entire cats and dogs, of any sex or sort, are much more likely to get run over than desexed ones. I am very surprised there was no requirement to get them fixed. Unless you are going to do it properly and the parents are registered pedigrees (or whatever it is called) then you shouldn't bother. There is a whole lot more to breeding cats than sticking them together and waiting. It is a hell of a lot of work, takes a lot of food etc. Sure bengals cost a lot, but you will have animals that are neurotic (females) and smelly and stroppy (males). (warning: I come from the side that believes ALL cats should be desexed and registered, with the exception of registerd breeders. The SPCA has enough trouble with animal abuse, neglect and stupendous amounts of unwanted kittens)

FUN! Have you been native fish hunting before, Caryl? They usually come out a while after dark, the later you go the better. Make sure someone has scouted it out during the day for access and god spots to sprain ankles. Areas with shallow sandy bottoms and flat water are ideal. Make sure everyone has a torch (even if they are weak, they stop people from falling over or being a burden to those who have torches) Gumboots are preferable and/or compulsory. Children should be told to shut up well in advance (...personal gripe) The best way to catch bullies is to put the net in front of them and shoo it in with a pokey stick. Midwater fish: just come up from underneath (net mouth in line with water surface) Eels can swim backwards out of a net just as fast as forwards. Make sure someone has a copy of a book by R.M. McDowall.

Oh sorry, I was after the info to include in my book on native fish, all of whom are hunky dory with salt. My rule when treating whitespot is to treat it until at least one week after the last spot fell off the fish. (Week because that covers the lifecycle in cold water). Often I will treat for a little longer just in case, particularly if it was a bad infection.

There are peltier aquarium chillers out there. Some are quite simple and clever. Some simply stuck onto the glass, can't remember much detail. I am sure someone who understands what they are doing could make one.

Frenchy, I know, the dosages and times are bizarre. Presumably it works becasue of cranking up the temp so the lifecycle goes faster but it still kills them at that freeswimming point. Basically I can't find a decent protocol ANYWHERE for how to use it. If you bugger it up you are likely to get another bout of it and need to use the chemicals for longer. I think for the book I am basically going to say that (in clearer English) and that salt is the best bet for safety and reliability.

So it would seem. I still can take some more waifs, they don't take up so much room

Most wood sinks after a period of soaking. Some it takes a week or two, some take years. Boiling can speed it up, as it forces the air out and the water in, but pots are only so big and it STINKS.

Stray contacted me last night, keen to visit my tanks. Anyone else is welcome to join us, whether you are interested in natives or simply meeting some other local fishkeepers. It will be Wednesday 14th Jan, in the evening sometime....something like 7:30.... We could even go spotlighting afterwards if people are keen and weather allows. PM me for my address. (Note if you have visited me before, I moved house this week.) :bounce:

It will probably release tannins which stain the water yellow or brown. THe amount depends on the wood and how old it is. This is nothing to worry about, it does not affect anything in a negative way, but some people are surprised when it happens and worry. I think it makes the water look nice and 'aged' 8)

Oh, if anyone is interested in getting one of those thermometers, most of the ones when I looked had bubbles in the mercury. These won't work properly. Not sure if there is a way of fixing them.

I bought a minimum-maximum thermometer from the Warehouse yesterday like this: http://www.partshelf.com/minmaxrecthe.html They are $10 each. My original purpose was to track the temperature of the room, which is rather handy to know when battling the temperatures in your tank.Each thermometer has a little blue stalk inside which gets pushed around by the mercury and stays where it is left to tell you where the temperature extremes got to. It is reset with a little button. I pulled it apart to see what is inside (the back levered off). It is just a long flimsy thermometer in a U-shape. Not entirely sure how it works, but it does.... Anyway, it looks rather innocuous and could potentially be submerged in a fish tank! This would help track the minimum and maximum without constantly staring at it....

Ninjafroglet, you have freshwater crabs? I had six for most of one year, but I put some live shrimp in and slowly the crabs started dying off. I have no idea if it was the shrimp or not, I don't think they were attacking them, but maybe they brought something in. I now have one left They are so cute. No bigger than your fingernail and only found up north (ie a million miles away from me). Ninja, how do you keep yours? Axolotl-danio, if you mean the rockpool shrimp (Palaemon), it might be best to ask in the marine section, as no one so far seems to have been talking about them. If you mean the one found in streams (Paratya) then the above replies are true

I did a google (hadn't heard the name before) and it being a marine rockpool shrimp are you really sure you are all talking about the same one, and not the other shrimp, Paratya curvirostris? Maybe just I am confused...

oooh good trick! Oh, just remembered something from last summer. If you have the room, have more bottles of ice than your freezer can take. It freezes much quicker if you chill the bottles in the fridge before putting them in the freezer. Unfortunately with doing the ice trick you can wind up over-taxing your freezer and defrosting everything while cranking up the bill.

Also running at the moment: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=36138 Describes a bit more of how it works. It seems the bigger the surface area the more cooling can be achieved with a fan. You try keeping COLD water tanks at the moment.... my fish should be below 20 degrees....

How deep is your pond? Is it colder on the bottom? The fish can then regulate themselves. If you are worried you can put the hose in the pond and leave it going a while.

Well, all moved in now. Moved the furniture etc on monday and the tanks on tuesday, finished up cleaning on wednesday and finally I get to loiter around the new place today! The trick with the mudfish tank worked really well. COuldn't get as much water out as I wanted, but it worked fine. There was about 10cm of water, leaves and muck on the bottom of the 3ft tank. We moved the tank onto a plank of wood to strengthen the base and carried it fine. The muddies were wriggling about as we carried it, right as rain! The water boatmen that they still haven't eaten are merrily chirruping beside me as I type... The 4ft kokopu tank was a small mission. Very hard to carry. The 4ft riffle tank also had its own set of issues, but is sorted now. The fish were all caught easily and waited patiently in their buckets, with the exception of a shortjaw kokopu who bounced out and was promptly bounced back in (and the lid secured) Sadly I think the new house is hotter than the last (or it is particularly stinking hot today), but thankfully the fish are mostly in the colder room. SO finally it is mostly over, and it is a good feeling. I have a hell of a lot more room and it will be much easier having people over to look at the fish (and see me!) As always, anyone who is interested in visiting is most welcome

There are so many new palmy people! We need to get together sometime (again/still) Glad to hear your fish is fine