Joze

I am seriously thinking about building a fishroom, before I make some serious mistakes, give me your do's and donts. I so far have room in the basement which will need a builder in as it leads underneath the house, draughts and all. It means I will need to move my wine cellar (damn). There is power, on its own relay with RCD and access to plumb hot and cold water and sewerage. I was also thinking about investing in a UV steriliser to hook up to the water bore (which is smack dab in the middle of the prospective fish room). It has level concrete floors. Space might be an issue though as the room is not much bigger than the average kitchen. Either that or I shift it to the garage or take over the no 2 lounge. OK all you handyman types. I open my house for ideas and inspection. Since I am god in our house I can pretty much put it where ever. I might mean buying an expensive benchsaw for the oh at some point but in the end I will prevail )

I actually have them set up like that now. There are several ideas running around in my head from a hydroponic type setup to cascading tanks. I really like the idea of cascading tanks as it could be made into an indoor water feature, which would suit where I keep the fish. (bar, pool outside, rec room). Considering the room is in need of some serious renovation, I thought it would be nice to integrate a cascade tank feature into the room.

I have been thinking about doing a large betta tank in this arrangement but obviously in a different size. Any opinions on this?

considering the extremely large amount of nematodes present

they were thrust on me by the local school as they had, had them 5 years and were sick of them. I have found the only way to to feed them was reptile sticks (still on small container bought 12 months ago) and the odd bit of liver, these two are really lethargic feeders so I feed them once a week if I remember. A good source of saprophytic nematode (those horrible little white worms) for the tropicals. The axolotyl tank is chokker with java fern and java moss (I still think it grows like a weed) and when I feed them I tear a bit off the moss and drop it in the other tanks. Ever seen java moss attacked en masse? I then replace a bit as the axolotyl tank temp (18c) doesnt encourage it to grow. If these worms are caused by overfeeding, how often am I suppose to feed/starve them. My mother swears I am starving them.

I have a large male adult zebra angel that I either find a mate and buy another heater or.............(preferably) find someone that would like the fish in exchange for some community species.

Actually it isnt really hysteria. NZ is not affected by whirling disease (there are other parasites and viruses that do similar damage though) like many other countries. YES people are trying to protect their income.....wouldnt you? Relaxing the regulations and allowing trout to be sold in restaurants would create a multi million dollar poaching market, and access to waterways would eventually be stopped completely Whirling disease is an important factor as it is a parasite that attacks the nervous and cartilage system of trout. I do not know whether it affects other species that are not in the salmonoid family but you never know. Something else to note. Whirling disease Quote from www.whirlingdisease.org "Whirling disease" is a disease of Salmonid fish (trout, salmon, whitefish) caused by a microscopic parasite known as Myxobolus cerebralis. This tiny parasite has a fairly complicated life cycle which involves two hosts; a small worm(tubifex, sludge ) that lives on the bottom of a stream or other body of water, and a fish. The fish becomes infected after a form of the parasite (the TAM stage) emerges from the worm and enters the water column. The parasite finds a fish, attaches to the fish and penetrates the skin. The parasite eventually finds its way to the cartilage of the fish where it matures into the mature whirling disease spore. It stays there until the fish dies, releasing spores into the water, which ultimately are ingested by the worms and the life cycle starts all over. There is a lot of information available online about whirling disease and trout and salmon importation. Who is to say that NZ native fish would not be affected???????

Was someone looking for a stainless heater? 300kw $98 at the Tawa pet shop. I wouldnt look too closely at anything else unless you are good at keeping your mouth shut.

If you are heating REALLY large volumes of water, would it be feasible to use something like a spa bath heater. I have one in the garage at the moment, (usual story getting around to installing it) and it has thermostat, and heating element with range from 20C-40C, the pump is also adjustable. Has anyone tried putting together an arrangment like this?

I do not test my tanks, I very rarely check the temperature (all I usually do is put my hand on the tank every night before I go to bed). I feed the fish when I remember but never more than twice a week for adults. Last time I did a water change was when we shifted house a year ago. Ok most of you would cringe at this but my fish are huge and dont die on me, the tanks dont appear to spike and the plants run rampant. Cloudy and dirty water is something that is "not in my backyard". I also very rarely turn off the light, although one side is dark and one is light. There is also very little algae in the tank(ok the fish almost live on it) For some reason the fish like the no touch, no fiddle approach. My tanks are understocked though, so this makes a huge difference. However if my tanks did need attention they would get it straight away. I have never been afraid of looking after them, just take a holistic approach. It is an environment after all.

I have a HUGE zebra angelfish in a tank with a couple of bottom feeders. Last night I thought hey, I will get it a mate and have a go at breeding them. Did a bit of reading up and discovered that the tank set at 22C is incorrect. Considering the "she" is extremely active and will not tolerate other species in the tank other than the ones that are in there now, it doesnt appear to affect her being at 6-8 deg lower than recommended. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? :roll:

Contrary to optimum growing conditions I dib them into the substrate. My mother swears I could make plastic plants grow. Family Polypodiaceae Continent Asia Region Country of origin Height 15-30 cm Width 12-20+ cm Light requirements very low-high Temperature 18-30 °C Hardness tolerance very soft-hard pH tolerance 5-8 Growth slow Demands very easy A real classic! Microsorum pteropus is a water fern which should be grown on a root or stone. If it is planted in the bottom, do not cover the rhizome because it will rot. Keep in position with a piece of fishing line until it has attached itself. Easy to propagate by splitting the horizontal rhizome or by using the small adventive plants that grow on older leaves. A hardy plant which grows in all conditions (even slightly brackish water). The black spots under the leaves are sporangia, not signs of disease as many believe. Recommended for both beginners and the more experienced. Herbivorous fish often leave it alone. Used to be called (mistakenly) ''Microsorium''.

If not, I have java weed and something(damned if I can remember) broadleaf that goes black, rots and new plants grow and drop. You can have some. I have started a new and much larger tank but taking a few plants wont make a huge difference.