Kim&Dan

Thanks for your thoughts! That's what I thought but not being 100% sure I took the advice from the LFS... a lot less to worry about then now

Hi Ralphie! A warm welcome to the forum from us too

A warm welcome from us too

Not sure what to recommend but adding more salt is probably not the best idea, if you've added the recommended dose already... On my pack it says to add 1 tsp for 20l... Wouldn't add more than that for sure though! Maybe there's some meds specific for fin rot out there? You could definitely try Stress Coat or something similar... Do you use a Water Ager? If yes, try to get the ones that contain Aloe Vera - they're supposed to be good for the fishies The one we use is from Science Products - name: Complete Water Treatment and Conditioner. I wouldn't say that the fin rot is caused by stress (even though I am not sure about this) but rather from fin nipping maybe... Were they rotted when you bought them already? If yes, maybe someone was picking on them in the LFS tank... Are there just the 8 tetras in there? HTH

Hey Rory! Thanks for your advice! I think you're right and I'll just leave the PH where it is for now. It's just that in the LFS they kept telling me that our PH is too high, even though the fish don't really seem to mind... :-? Thinking of the plants on the other hand... I have a little tap for airpump tubes - I was wondering, if I were to add it to the CO2 reactor and just keep the CO2 injection at a really low rate - would that be any good?

Thanks for saying hi and good luck with taking those pics

Thanks for that, Luke! I'll try using less yeast then! Are you sure about adding a bit of baking soda to the tank? Is this safe considering the fact that the PH is fairly high already? Bringing the buffer capacity up would definitely be good but what about the PH? Ok, that's good news as I read somewhere that the CO2 is heavier than air and would sit on top of the water Yes, the two reactors are for 2 2feet tanks and they are well stocked but not overstocked. I've noticed the PH going down after a few days - usually from 7.2 to 7.0 in about 10 days. We change 20-30% of the water weekly by hoovering the gravel. Thank you for your advice! Really helpful as always

The Riccia I got (Thanks, Dubbie ) is great and the gouramis love it Dan

Wow, that's IS a tiny fish!

:lol: Maybe the black ghost knife... I am saying this because it's the only fish we've never kept of the ones you have

Well, I am not a pro but from the picture it looks like a Platy to me... Dan Edit: Nevermind, just saw the answer above :lol: As I said - just a rookie here :oops:

I think I might give BN breeding a pop too Sounds easy enough... What PH level is suitable for breeding them?

Not sure if the Croaking gourami is an oddball fish but didn't know where else to post this little story :lol: We had bought three beautiful Sparkling gourami a few weeks ago, who started to grow quickly in their new home. Soon we realised that one of them definitely wasn't a Sparkling one and identified him as a Three-Striped gourami (aka Croaking gourami). He has developed the long fins and looks stunning! Two days ago we moved him to another tank and this is where he really lived up to his other name Croaking gourami, which up till yesterday we weren't even aware of! :lol: Whilst watching a movie I wondered what the really odd, burp-like noise coming from the tank was - I thought it was the filter - but whenever I walked up to the tank it stopped :-? Last night I was able to pinpoint the source of the funny noise -> it is in fact the gourami making it! Quite surprising how loud this little fella can be! Here's a pic found through Google: He looks just like this - soon I will be taking some pics of our tanks

Hey guys! I've built two DIY CO2 reactors as suggested in various other threads last night. They started working just after a couple of hours yesterday and today they were bubbling away pretty nicely. The main reason I did this wasn't actually to speed up plant growth (as they are developing pretty well anyway) but to lower the PH of the water avoiding the powder additive/peat options. As we live in Dunedin the water that comes out of the tap is very alkalic 7.2-7.4 PH and quite soft - I think someone mentioned it in another thread to be somewhere around 2 KH. We aren't actually using water straight from the tap but water from the Speights brewery, which at least doesn't contain chlorine. The PH is still over 7 though. Now, after 24 hours of CO2 injection the PH dropped to 6.6! I stopped the CO2 injection right away as this drastic change surely isn't good for the fish (even though none of them show any signs of stress or the like). I have put the airstones back in there pumping regular air into the tank. :-? The mix I used was in a 2l bottle: 3/4 warm water + 2 cups sugar + 1 tsp yeast + 1 tsp baking soda. The diffuser used is just a regular airstone hanging half way in the tank - most of the CO2 shouldn't even dissolve in the water this way :-? Or does it dissolve itself by sitting on the surface of the water (being heavier than air)? Is this dangerous for the fish, especially for the gourami? How come the PH dropped by this much? Does it have something to do with the water being so soft - ie there is not enough 'buffering' going on? BTW the tanks are both 2 feet in length - stocked with Guppies, Platies, Cardinal Tetras, Kuhli Loaches, Yoyo Loaches, Bristlenoses, Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, Three-Striped Gourami. Any ideas of how to get this working properly? Could I run the CO2 reactor AND the airpump simultaneously to balance it out? My aim would be to have the PH somewhere between 6.8 and 7 ideally. 6.6 should be good for the Cardinals and the Yoyos but the best compromise to make them all happy is 6.8 Looking forward to your thoughts!

Hi skate! A warm welcome to this really helpful forum from us too

Hi Apryl! A warm welcome to this great forum from us too

Wow, poor thing! Sorry, I don't know anything about these little fellas - wish I could help... Good luck with her! :-?

You're quite right about that, Caper! We've finished setting up our fourth tank today :lol:

Hey there and welcome to the forum! Say hi to the 'big apple' from us ... we have a few relatives living in NYC Nice looking tank you have there

I would recommend Otos and BNs as algae eaters. Re the CAE/SAE: we used to have one (not sure what it was now but I think a SAE) by itself and it was quite aggressive sometimes but not harmful. Luckily it only aggroed our biggest male Gourami every now and then, who was able to stick up for himself though, so it was ok. The other fishes didn't have a problem with the SAE but that's probably because the Gourami was the boss in that tank :lol:

Hi Cherie and welcome to these great forums Sounds like you have some nice tanks there. Maybe you can post some pics at some point

Hi Kenneth! Welcome to the forum from us too

Hi Duncan and welcome to the forum from us too If I may ask: Why are those two tanks in your garage still empty??? Is it a rare form of subliminal MTS :lol:

Welcome to the forum from us too I didn't like the Rainbow fish family for starters (just a personal preference - no particular reason) but since we have gotten a pair of Neon Rainbowfish I have completely changed my mind... they are actually really fun to watch, very interactive and responsive to those weird creatures standing in fron of the tank (us) :lol: and a friendly community fish. Don't know much about the Boeseman ones, apart from the fact that they look great, but I guess they are similar to the Neon Rainbowfish Happy Tank-Planning

Congrats