sharn

Like adodge said most people go for a couple of larger 'focus' fish, a school or two of something quicker moving and then some bottom crew. I think pearl gouramis are stunning fish once bigger and they are often overlooked when young because they are so colourless, angels can also be nice but may limit you as to what you can put in the tank if they developed attitudes when they are older? Maybe a contrasting school of say regular neons and some black neons could look cool, or you can just stick with one sort for a more 'natural' effect. Rummynoses are also cool but a little more pricey, penguin tetras in a large enough school can be quite a sight too. Do you like the corydora catfish? They can be very lively and there are several species to choose from at present. I suggest browsing, look until you find something you like, research it and then go from there. The LFS's are a good place to start looking but make sure if you are talking to someone they arent just spinning you something to get you to buy their fish, a day spent LFS browsing could give you a few starting points. fishprofiles.com has alot of profiles with pictures, NZ cant get everything but it might give you some ideas.

Good to see you found some glosso up the kaimais maoripho3nix (Sharn from KP here), shame there wasnt any shrimp tho, when we got them from up there they would have been a good 500m or so up the river, might have just been our lucky day. It will look great when that glosso gets going!

They have not been on any suppliers lists for quite some times (the ones ive seen anyway). They are large fish, and are harder to house (they can bust tanks, eat thru cords etc) http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en ... a=N&tab=wi

We went. This year, unfortunatly, I have to say it just wasnt that great for me. There was too many people for the amount of viewing space and far too little access to shade (wow it was hot), I spent alot of it well away from the racing in the shade or in the pub :lol: We left early, I heard they finished the racing early due to lack of emergency services? I'm comparing Pareoa to Wanganui tho who have great big hills under trees to sit on, large tv's with live screening of the race to watch and a bit more track space for people to move around. The two years before at paeroa were great, hopefully next year will be good too. Edit: Seems like Alan Satherley in the sidecar didnt make it

As left on my auction- fnzas BURN by brimstonenz.

This is across the board I reckon, you are expected to know nearly everything about everything in a pet shop and learn it on your own time or look like a fool and earn yourself a stink reputation- those that arent interested in fish (for example) when its not their area cant really be expected to spend hours each night of their own time learning about everything a person passionate about fish might know for nothing can they? For some their pay packet is more important than a great reputation with customers (/friends).

Saw this on tv the other day, wicked song I thought, she has done so well to put such fitting words to such a tragedy (the aussie bush fires last year). http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... D=61006149 Watching the news I hope they arent going to a have a repeat this year

Agreed Romeo! This stinks! My partner and I have three bikes between us (1000c for him, 250cc for me and a 600cc track bike- all Kwakas ) so its gonna hit us hard. There are several things that the govt can do to bring down bikers cost on the system- A: FIX OUR ROADS, shingle on a corner to a motorcyclist can mean death, in a car you just carry on as per normal. Parts of the road often have much less adhesion from wear and this changes without warning, in the wet its often down to skill or quick thinking to avoid a potential slide. B: TIN TOPS, people in cars dont see us, or dont want to see us, I could wear five grands worth of gear and still come off worse than the person in their $200 heap. C: SCOOTERS and mopeds, are not bikes, are not warrented or registered, have alot of young inexperienced skool kids riding them and they come under this group? These people wont spend the $1000 on a possibly life saving helmet like most serious bikers and when their head gets crushed by what probably offers the protection of a cardboard box they complain? Please. Overall I say good luck, if by the small chance this happens, we will own three unregistered vehicles.

Jeez guys, didnt you know the best part is the cool tank with the little magnifying viewing windows! And the great little spoon for feeding what smells like green tea? Now if san fran supplied them with their brine shimp i would definatly buy them!

I do remember reading something about how goldfish have some sort of thing in them that stops vitamin absorbtion so can cause deficiencies. Fish probably shouldnt be considered a regular food source for axies, not only can they do damage to a axie but they arent really designed to handle digesting fish scales etc. If you want something live try freshwater shrimp, they are a more natural diet and less scales too! They also usually live a while in the tank before they get snapped up so are something cool to look at and mine stayed well clear of the axies (didnt pick at them or anything). Live worms are also good like dante said, slugs, moths, assorted bugs etc. The hothouse frozen axie tucker works well too, doesnt go mushy and fall to bits like another brand seems to do. I feed my adults every second day but you can leave them longer. All the above is IMO/E tho

Really? Where abouts is it? Will stop in next time we are doing the loop on our bikes and check it out!

Im pretty sure Paeroa and Coro dont have any pet shops local. Find your nearest one and they should courier one to you. Make sure you get a breeding trap that newly hatched goldfish cant slip out of! Some of them have large netting or slits on the bottom for fry to escape= goldfish in the tank having lunch! Edit- not sure about the floating thing but they arent like salmon with the dying thing.

Welcome! Work on him with the Oscars, guys seem to love em cause theyre big and ballsy and they can sacrafice bugs to them in front of their mates :lol: Maybe show him some 'gently pursuasive' vids from youtube

:lol: Awesome Ira, *very* well put and I whole heartedly agree

I found them peaceful with the gold honey gourami, caudimaculatus cories and albino glowlights I have housed them with however I cant keep them alive for the life of me! Not sure why... We had them in groups of 10+ to start with, till they started dying off.

If your tank water was changing too much after waterchanges just do smaller more frequent ones?

Do remember Nymox that those calculators can be a bit of a hit and miss thing sometimes, for example some say 1" of fish per 10L, well if you have ten neons which equals 10" total that would mean by their calculations you need 100L (which is *heaps* of room) but if you had 10" of oscar in a 100L tank that would be grossly small. Its really their 'mass' that is the important part You have *heaps* of options for fishies that can go in your 40L tank and even more if you are getting that 90L soon!

I will double check just to make sure, he said he had received an email from MAF advising him of this, he didnt say if it was nationally or just local. The council man did ring suppliers in Auckland and told them they could no longer supply to anyone tho?

They have changed their minds! Now we can sell what we have, but not order any more and the suppliers are not allowed to sell it to us any longer... Cant be too desperate to control it now can they :roll: Not sure about the legalities of trading privately and it sounds like MAF dont really know themselves!

:lol: Good to hear you got it all sorted, hopefully she wont be too far off doing her thang!

Heads up guys, the 'powers that be' have decided no more straight leaf vallis at all, its far to hard for the goobers to tell apart from the other banned sorts so Americana is to be no more. Got a visit at work to let us know, apparently it was decided last night and they have yet to let any wholesalers know :roll: Twisted and Spirilis is still ok apparently. Break out the photoshop to remove it from any of your pics! :lol:

Thanks so much for helping her Mark, she bought it into me and I had no clue whether it needed vet treatments or something just like you have suggested to her so I sent her your way :oops: It wasnt bleeding freely when she saw me but that was in the morning around 10am. Hopefully its ok

I agree with Alan, it does suck but at the end of the day they could put the best care into those fish from the time they arrive in their shop and if they are poor quality stock (hardiness wise, which everyone suspects anyway) then nothing will save them, and the shops wont get their money back from the importers for them so if the do refund they are out of pocket big time. Thats why I wont be ordering any for our shop unless its a special order- too risky!

We have a green big rubber ball (20cm width) thats hollow and has heaps of holes. It has a blue smaller soft ball in the middle which floats and its lasted 6+ months with two 55kg rotties tugging on it and chewing it. Our oldest pops Tuff balls (tennis balls with super thick side walls) but this green thing has lasted ages, I guess because it just folds under their chompers. Its made by Masterpet and should be at the LPS. Wouldnt work in a ball thrower but might be a toy that will last a little longer. We have had solidcores in the past they lasted ages but we cant get them anymore (and we have a 'intellectually challenged' dog who would probably jump into its path and get knocked out given the chance)

They were available around 1 1/2 years ago and havent been on the lists since. My guy looks like all the net pics so I hope hes not a cross!