sharn

Kia ora all. Gosh, been a long time since I have lurked here. Anyhow, stopping in because I have some fish to rehome. I am closing down my planted aquarium that has been home to a family of Bristlenose and two male Sterbaii (among other fish which are now gone) for the last 10 years or so. I would like to find someone local to Tauranga who has room for some young (many sexable) Bristlenoses whose parents I owned for over 15 years. The father I purchased off Antwan on here many, many years ago. One mother was a 'natural lyretail' which developed as she aged, didn't pass on though. Their young were regularly sold throughout pet shops in the Bay when I was involved in aquatics keeping. The parents lived to a ripe old age of around 17-18. The reason I would like to find a person with interest in 'heritage' breeding is this stock is pretty 'old' lineage and very hardy. Good sized, lush bristled males and generous sized, thick females created these young. The young are not interbred so would be great to add into an existing line you might be working with. I am not wanting anything for them other than a home with an intentional person who will ensure their line is respected, to keep good stock for our local and future fish keepers. They may be a common bristlenose but I think our old lines are worth taking special care of ;) Not sure how many young in total, at least 15. Sterbaii mates are looking for a home also, they are around 8+ years old so in their later years now. Happy to have them go to a well established, experienced home to live out their later years. Both look to be males. Not keen to have them go to a new tank sorry as they aren't really beginner fish, both by species or age haha. Please message me if you might be able to make some room in your aquarium for these little guys!

Ornate Bichir, approx. 50cm in length, suspected female (thick anal fin), perfect condition with all body parts intact. She is well mannered, not confrontational but will hold her own against bigger fish if they are giving her a nudge/want to eat her food. Has lived with other large fish all her life, I have had since 15cm (approx. 5 years old). Must be collected from West Auckland, but I do travel around a bit so possibly can meet someone. Tank mates have been sold, she needs a home with some company and new surroundings. Very reluctant sale, she is one of my fav fish I have ever kept, a real stunner. Offers. I have had her for sale for a while as her buddies moved out slowly, I would rather know she is going to a good home now. If she doesn't get a new home in the next two weeks I will see if she can be housed as a display fish somewhere, suggestions on that also welcome (HFF etc?) PM for more information

A quick run down of the situation, am looking for 'where to next's'... Oscar fish, approx 8 years old. Off food for a little over a month, ate a few pellets here and there, turned nose up at juicy foods such as frozen deshelled snails etc (very out of character). Never had live fish as food, and no new tank mates in years. Began head standing about a week and a half ago. No signs of visable out of the ordinary swelling, no raised scales etc. Moved to a quarentine space, treated with furan-2 as per reccomended dosage for suspected internal infection. Increased temperature to 29C throughout treatment. Added 1tbsp/20L of both rock salt and epsom salt, replacing what was removed from water changes. Bouancy slowly went from gentle head standing to laying left side down (right side is boyant). Have been massaging the intenstinal area daily for the last week (I then suspected a potential blockage gone spetic), with a light rub over the bladder. I can support the fish to release a small amount of *something* from it's anus, which is green/spirulina coloured and intially tar like in substance, very watery and dissolves to nothing. After completing the treatment of furan I gave the fish a few more days in quarentine, before moving it back into the main tank to assess its movement. This just caused it more distress as it had to actively work to keep itself at a depth of 60cm, so removed back to quarentine. Now the right side is beginning to increase in size, in the rear 1/3 of the fish where the end of the bladder would be, no scales sticking out yet. I am considering aspirating its swim bladder as a last resort... Haven't done this before, but if all else fails, it is worth a shot before euthanasia. Thoughts? Other ideas for treatment?

Thanks insect direct, good to know they can heal up from wounds! I think the problem here is that she can't shed that area... It has hardened so much it is almost pinching into the body now- a very thick, deep scab in a way, almost like someone has glued all the scales shut and something has built up underneath? I can physically grasp the area and squeeze it and it doesn't budge under pressure one bit! That's why I have been bathing her every few days to try soften the area, but I don't want to make her too damp and cause a fungal issue...

A while ago my blue tongue damaged some scales on her side/back, on a promptly removed decoration. They were initially quite moist, appearing to be 'back peeled', but then hardened into an almost shell like crust about 1" long on her back! A recent shed was impossible in this area, and I am now thinking it needs to come off as I am unable to manipulate this area under a pinch it is so solid. A few spots of this hardened patch have lifted a little around the edge, exposing pink skin underneath. The rest of her shed occurred normally, with her toes/ears etc free of old shed. I have added some damp sphagnum moss to her enclosure, and have been bathing her every few days for 10-15 mins at a time in warm water but this only softens the area... Shall I attempt to manually remove the hardened area, if any areas lose scales will they grow back and will she have issues shedding from now on if they do not reform correctly? Will an increase in calcium supplementation help her?

I got my Aunty to raid her pesticide free garden for snails and I have a whole heap now... What's the best way of storing them so that I can feed them out for more than a few days? Fridge? Container with some leafy/woody places? I have googled, but all info leads back to snails for human consumption or aquatic snails...

for a daycare pet? We currently house one red ear slider at our daycare and we are looking at making him a long term pet. However, there is a lot of articles surrounding salmonella and young children, and as this is a potentially life threatening illness we need to look into this further. We understand that most pets can potentially carry disease/illness, but we need to weigh up the likelyhood of illness vs the benefit children get from the living world. Is salmonella a very rare occurance from unsanitarily housed animals that only gets publicity due to its nature, or is this a very real possibility in our setting where children may not get to wash their hands before contact with their mouths (hands are always washed before food). The children can come into contact with the turtle either whilst I am handling it, or when he is outside in his freshly set up water trough. The children can touch him, and his water during this time, but they cannot reach his inside aquarium where he resides most of the time. This aquarium is given a 75% water change weekly. We enjoy the turtle as a suitably housed/handled creature for our setting so it would be a shame to move him on, but if there is a risk to health from the turtle then we can find another home for him

Just thought I would share this to see if anyone had heard of anything similar... We have four blue tongues at my place of work, and upon going to feed them yesterday morning I noticed one of them had 2/3 of his tail bitten off, with a big fleshy wound showing :tears: In a mad panic I collected it from its cage, thinking the others were at fault, and whilst I rung around all the reptile nuts I know I watched with amazement (and horror), as this bluey turned around, chomped down on his tail, and death rolled like a croc until he had torn off another cm of his tail, before swallowing it! By this stage I am nearly in tears :oops: and spend the next half an hour fending him off his own tail. After giving it a check over we applied a small amount of pawpaw ointment and bandaged it up with plasters (which he still tried to chomp down on!). He ate within half an hour of this all happening, and is still eating and acting fine. The plasters are working great as his tail is just about the size of a finger tip now Today he is not as interested in chomping his tail, but still tried 3-4 times this morning when his bandages were off to let the wound air. He is still wearing his bandages, and sharing his cage with a smaller friend who has shown no interest at all in his friends plight. The question remains as to how this all started, we believe stumpy is a boy, and the largest one is too (judging by his belly he must have had at least a little bit of tail in there). Did he have a tustle, got bitten, then tried to remove the issue by biting his own tail, or has someone chomped it right off, and he is following natural instinct to eat flesh? We have spoken to three reptile experts, and a few vets and they are equally as stumped as to why this happened. We have been told blueys rarely show aggression, however one reptile expert noted all of his lizards have been more aggressive this year? The wound looks to be healing well so I am hoping he will make a full recovery, poor fella!

You posted a while back but heres my two cents- 1- You are probably borderline in a 125L IMO if you have a strain of Oranda that get to a large size. Some oranda have 15+cm bodies excluding tails. Goldfish are very messy by nature and are comparable to large cichlids so benefit from that extra capacity to dilute waste. 2- Nutrition, overall health and genes are some of the things that influence growth. 3- A good quality dried food (such as Hikari or NLS), in conjunction with a good quality frozen food (this can be home made also) is a good base diet. Peas and other vegies such as cucumber, blanced brocolli/spinach etc are also often accepted. You can feed live food too if you wish, earthworms are a tasty treat. Plants such as java moss and java fern would last with no light, however I would check your tank to make sure you have no extreme reflections in the tank (sometimes white gravel for example can reflect alot of light) as all fish should come out with artificial lighting. Live plants do not make maintenance harder, but can make it a bit more fiddly if you have leaves which drop or get stuck in filters. When you siphon you need to siphon around plants. Pros vs Cons, thats probably opinion. I have seen some nice planted goldfish tanks, but I have come across goldfish which strip plants to the stem overnight. Try and see how you go

We had a type of brown algae in our African tank and we added a few golden algae eaters which seemed to fix the problem. I had read on an internet site that they can be an option when combating brown algaes, GAE can be aggressive though and do get quite large.

First year with NZTC huh? I am just finishing my first year now so unfortunately am still using all my books. I got alot of mine cheaper on TradeMe and used some of my Student Loan assistance to pay for them. If she would like a few notes you are welcome to PM me and I can email some stuff through. I have an awesome resource that breaks down every essay and provides templates for writing them which made things alot easier for me. Good luck to her, its a great learning experience!

Thanks Jaxxnz- so you have used the two together successfully? Ryan- I know it is not usually advised, I was hoping someone may have had past experience or seen it suggested on other websites. I will see how he goes overnight, but if its not fixed with these meds I have no other treatment ideas.

Can you use Furan-2 at double strength with Pimafix at regular strength? My synodontis had sore a appear overnight, which rapidly spread to the other side of its bottom, nose, gill and behind pectoral in two days. I excluded him to hospital tank at 27C, and treated with Furan-2 at double strength. It slowed but did not halt the spread of the flesh eating bug and fungus developed on day four. I applied topical treatments of meth blue three times daily, but the fungus would not let go. I also tried a salt bath, and still fungus does not let go. This morning I did a 3/4 w/c, and added the reccomended dose of Pimafix plus a tablespoon of salt and the fish is still alive- from being upside down nearly dead, to becoming upright and much more lively despite much dislike to being taken out of the water three times a day until now and a very holey net from his fins. Would like to see him better as this is becoming unfair on him (and I bet his breeding partner misses him too) so want to use both treatments if Pimafix has no result overnight.

I am not sure if it has been mentioned but maybe try setting up several litter boxes for a while and keep them spotless (remove all matter asap after its done). Cats are fussy about their toilets, and lots wont go in a box if it has already been soiled. Good luck!

A few things I have noticed on the roads: The majority of people in New Zealand who drive a car and use the road have that vehicle as their sole means of transport. They do not use, or own another type of transport. Most are not skilled/willing enough to maintain total awareness of their surroundings and simply drive. Most are not skilled enough in hazard detection and avoidance to avoid a potential accident if one is about to occur. There is a general belief that majority rules, and that smaller massed vehicles are lower down the chain in order of importance. Cyclists must take responsibility for making their journey as safe as they can on their chosen method of transport, and maintain the view that every other person on the road is there to get them- because to be caught off guard once is a silly, and a potentially fatal mistake. If they can work with a govt dept to make more room for them or whatever they think needs to be done to make their trip safer then thats great, but I think looking at blaming/educating other road users just won't get the results they require. Can a cyclist tell me if they make textile wear that has abrasion resitant properties like motorcyclists wear? I know it would be of no use to a racer, but could benefit commuters?

A week ago we spent a week in Surfers Paradise and I made the trip down to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. "Currumbin operates on a not-for-profit basis, with all revenue reinvested back into the park, in conservation-based research, caring for sick and injured wildlife and public education". There are lots of lizards running freely around the park, from teeny tiny things to adult dragons. I managed to get a few pictures of them, lots were in what I think is breeding colours? Below are links to the pics and a link to a video of two males fighting over a female. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... NY0209.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... NY0208.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... NY0219.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... NY0218.jpg This is a link to their page http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/about_us/

Thanks LA, will have a squiz at that one too when we go artificial grass shopping!

Cool Morcs, thats the way to go! Because I have never needed to care about artificial grass I didn't know it came in colours other than green! :lol: I definately like that colour!

Thanks guys! LA- she told me shes been somehow getting them used to it, so that they are not eating it? Maybe some lizard psychology? :lol: ID- Thats a good idea using just a bit of sand, maybe I can use fake grass and cut holes in it to put sand and my plants in. I will get a fluro for the basking end, and will trial the tank when its setup to see how cold it gets overnight. HJ- good to know the exoterra stuff is ok. Might change the enclosure to full sand later down the track.

Hi everyone, I am going to be getting a bearded dragon and have lots of questions! I have read the care sheet etc but need some specific help with a few things. The beardie I am going to be getting is going to be 12 weeks old and has been 'acclimatised' to sand by the breeder so is not eating it for when I get it. The tank is going to be around 100 x 40 x 40 for now. 1: Sand. I like the black exo terra desert stuff. Can I use this or will it heat up too much near the basking point? My other option is red sand by aqua one. 2: Lighting. I have the option of having either A: a basking lamp (what wattage?) and UVA/B fluro tube or B: a fan heater (made by reptile one, this has a UVA/B light in it also). If I need to get a reptile tube should I get a 2, 5 or 10? 3: Nightime heating. Should I use either a nightime lamp/infared (what wattage?) or a heat rock or a heat mat? Should I run a heat rock in the tank permanently? 4: Basking point. I have a resin desert rock lump thing I will be using. I will be setting up my heat source above the rock quite some time before I get the beardie to check it is at the right heat. 5: Feeding. I think I have got this sorted. It is currently eating mesclun salad, carrots, apple etc and mealworms. I will be getting crickets aswell, and most of the other foods from the info page to rotate. I am going to be getting some calcium/vitamin powder too. I think thats it for now :lol:

The lighter side of these ferocious beasts... I was sad to hear of the incident, but it served as a reminder to me (I work in a pet store). People expect to have their harnesses and jackets fitted and I am regularly rubbing cheeks with all sorts of dogs. I wonder if it is luck I have not been seriously bitten even though I know basic dog communication rules? The above pooch is currently crashed out in front of the fire, snoring and twitching in her doggy dreams :lol:

Aqua One have some grunty big pond airpumps, Hailea do a 6 outlet and Boyu did do big ones, not sure if they still do or not though.

The shop was most likely biding by the PIA (pet industry association) rules. These are voluntry but have age restrictions/suggestions for all animals. You wouldnt believe how many kids come into a shop wanting to buy a 1L small animal transport cage to put three comets in, and some adults are just as bad. I have had kids wanting to buy a finch to keep in an icecream container and they werent little tackers, they were 12-14 years old! IMO these restrictions help people working in pet stores who are not as confident at assessing a young persons capability of care (and the thought put into keeping it) for an animal and it stops comeback from parents. I wont enforce an age restriction on fish if the young person can prove they know what they are talking about and can provide adequate care. Manda, people do have children at 16/18 but it doesnt mean they should be having children, many can barely cook spag on toast let alone look after an animal- and often people of that age get turned away too if they are not able/willing to provide proper care for whatever animal they have/choose.

What about culturing live foods? You could have several variables for culturing microworms- temperature (ie floor on bathroom-cold, room temp and hot water cupboard-hot) and two sorts of food (porridge and ??), you could see which culture grew best for each sort of food and at what temperature that culture did best at (ie the porridge culture did best in room temp and the other culture did best in the hot water cupboard). White worms and brine shrimp are another two you could try? I found those two harder to master than the microworms tho :lol: When i had the MW i mixed up porridge with yeast and water, put in a little of an existing culture, lid on with a few holes (I used a small deli container from the supermarket that the coleslaw comes in) and off they went. They are something cheap, simple, fun and you can feed them to your fish after

Were going, just for a looksee on the bikes tho.