Joze

two things What thickness do you need and............... Kapi-Mana club meeting tonight, if you have a heater in a heater guard and leave them overnight they should be ok.

The best place to go would be Wrightsons Farmlands or RD1. What you need is beyond the comprehension of most plumbers and plumbing supplies. You can get couplings, you will be able to get them locally. From your brief description and seven years out of reticulation I suspect you want to add a universal transition coupling. Basically you need female coupling with one side non PE. Personally when I get around to plumbing the tanks I intend to use anka quick lock couplings. I would also suggest going to pacific pools and talking to the guys there, they understand plumbing concepts for tanks and ponds.

yes the tank is too small for an obviously growing gourami, but it may have been sufficient up until now. If you were to buy her I would say yes get a bigger tank, I will not judge them for this. They answer your question "you will need a tank that it as big as or bigger than this one." Bigger tanks contrary to popular belief are easier and more stable to keep IF you take new introductions slowly that includes water, fish and messing with the tank. You have to be aware of the phosphate levels in foods and be prepared to take the hands off approach. As for the bioload, its not that big of a deal. There are some points to consider, are you willing to throw out all your water additives and chemicals? Are you prepared to go back to basic fishkeeping and common sense? If so large tanks might be ready for you. If you really want to use dechlorinator use a uv light. Its quicker and cheaper than dechlorinator and more effective (town supply water is not stabilised). The only time I look at additives is when I feel like messing with the shop assistants. Always tell them how big your tank is in gallons and when they ask how much that is in litres tell them. My bigger planted tank is around 260 US gallons. Try getting fertiliser for that sucker.

I think I need to take some photos....mine is in a 5x3x3 tank, I dont often do water changes especially in winter. I feed her cat food, wetas, crickets the odd cockroach baby mouse (she is the ultimate way of telling people to separate their mice- they get very squeamish when you tell them hairless is best so your fish doesnt get furballs) and veges. Although she does not look big in the tank she is over 70 cm long, and does stress in a tank that she cannot swim around in. She hates being moved, but likes fingers, and small children. She is happy being in a community tank and is currently tankmate to 2 severums, an angel, a longfinned eel, 1 sailfin pleco and a black ghost knife fish. The only scraps in the tank are when the knife fish and the eel squabble over sunken cat biscuits. There are many things you need to consider about owning one of these fish. They are more like a dog in a bubble - they do need interaction and they need care. They cannot be shifted easily as they get very cranky when moved are very strong and weigh a lot. You must use a knotless net or a carp tube to transport them. I would not advise anyone not in their own home THEY own to even contemplate it. Be prepared to set up a tank once. Be prepared to spend a large fortune on food if you choose to stick with fish food. I use cat biscuits for several reasons, they are cheap, the nutritional value is the same if not less phosphates and more protein, the fish like them, they are non polluting and they float.

yup thats the one.

I can assure you Alan is not Blue and Kim

it doesnt need CO2 its rampant given good light conditions and left to float.

The sulphur and ammonia from the water rot could be tricky.

amazing, the original clump which Ira gave me which grew out of control which I took bucketloads to club meeting which a certain club member grabbed, grew and then sells to other club members and on trademe for huge profit. I dont think I will ever bring leftover plants or fish to club meetings ever again. Why should I when they will end up profiteering on trademe and not being passed on to others.

It is accurate within 0.3 of a degree which is more than enough for fishkeeping. As for the outside I dont know I find that the probe in the tank under the substrate and the unit hanging on the wall is perfect. It also gives me an accurate idea on what the ambient temperature is in the room so I have a thumbnail idea on how hard the heaters are working. I buy the things I dont sell them. I cant use glass thermometers in one tank and I hate liquid crystal reactive ones (mislabelled as digital).

$10 warehouse, garden supply area. Indoor/Outdoor thermometer I use the outside probe in the fish tank

this is my stance I have NO sympathy for ANYONE who smuggles in plant and animal product. A conviction is NOT the end of it. At no time did I bring it up or know that the person involved was a forum member until it was mentioned in public. This if anything makes the offence worse. They know better yet chose to deliberately and systematically flaunt the law and environmental good sense. If the offense had been releasing fish into the wild, I have no doubt that the defenders in this case would be first to condemn. Smuggling plant life in is as bad, if not worse in most cases. More to the point this case makes us (the members) look stupid and severely impacts the credibility of fish and plant keepers and most especially FNZAS. This is very important when it comes to MAF, DOC, Fish and Game and local government. It costs you, the consumer every time you buy anything or pay any taxes. It could cost us all in the total ban of the importation of aquatics. That threat is not as far fetched as you think. I will not apologise at any point for being very angry about this, I dont really care if a forum member has hurt feelings about their biosecurity conviction being publicised.

It doesnt matter who it is, I have no sympathy for someone who deliberately flouts biosecurity rules and standards for their own gain. Too bad if they get caught, no punishment is high enough as far as I am concerned. Too many animals, plants and livelihoods have been decimated through the selfishness and greed of others. What is ten times worse is that it was by someone who did know better, not should have known better. His actions have put all fish and plant keepers in NZ into disrepute.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3866264a11,00.html

Check your electrical connections, it may not be but the possibility exists. Turned out an annoying algal blooms in one of the large tanks was a filter with a broken end, so perfectly broken that you could not see the break unless it was out of the water. Not enough current to bother the fish or me, but enough to send algae into nuclear overdrive.

If you want to pass yourself off as a twit, be my guest.

drink beer seriously though, dont worry about it too much.

drench, tapeworm drench is highly toxic to them

I hardly ever vaccum gravel with ugf, I do however run the uptake from an external filter for a couple of day once every six months or so to pick up solid waste. Many years ago I had a large 10ft tank with a slat glass ugf system built in, it was designed to be vaccumed from the uptakes and never be messed with. Very efficient, always clean, plants loved it and the fish bred like rabbits in it. Basically you put the garden hose in one end and siphoned from the other. No mess no fuss no upset fish. Unfortunately we lost it in a moving house trailer accident.

http://www.selleys.com.au/ARTICLEDOCUMENTS/SIL%20SEAL%20Glass%20Benefits.pdf People choose particular products based on technical specifications, experiences of others, cost and personal choice. Yes, you are allowed your own opinion, but it should be yours. I dont know about other people but " I'll ask hubby" gets my back up instantly.

*choke* $150 *choke* for perlite pipes? For $150 I can bring you 200kg of perlite chip

You answered your own question, too many morons who dont know what they are doing risking the export meat market with pure stupidity. Do not use Ivermectin, although its effective against leeches, snails, and general parasites; it has no effect on protozoa, tapeworms or flukes. It does have some use as its often used to treat salmon for sea lice and has a very low sensitivity point in fish. Praziquantel is in all broadspectrum drenches used to control tapeworm. Available for human, dogs, sheep and cattle. Its normally part of a good quality broad spectrum drench. If it is an ongoing problem it may pay to get a stool sample sent away for analysis (hard to do, but not impossible) Unless you really know what you are doing, you need to talk to a vet who knows what they are doing. If you dont fully understand the lab sheets, you dont know what you are doing If you dont have one who can help you locally, Massey Vet School is only an email or a phone call away. Another thing - take note of the incubation periods as drench is known to suppress earthworm populations, DO NOT put the water down the drain and DO NOT pour it on the lawn. Store outside for at least a week in the sun to degrade safely before disposal. Also be aware daphnia are highly sensitive to drenches as in 90-120 times more sensitive to fish, the same applies roughly to other invertabrates. Rule of thumb - if it knocks off tapeworms it knocks off flukes.

Sharn cat biscuits are made with virtually the same formula, only with less fat. Oils are fats. Darn sight cheaper too by about for feeding 2 oscars and a giant gourami.

Mine dont care, they are all inhaled.

I think so, this eel lay on the bottom unable to swim with a stomach three times the size of the rest of it.