sharn

worms? they can eat all the hosts food... only thing that comes to mind for me

hey, i know a fair amount bout axies so hopefully i can help ya. it is very common for axies in pet stores to have fungus as noone knows how to care for them (ie they eat stones and it can kill them), i bought one that was full of stones (im so lucky he passed them) and anothe who was just a fuzz ball of fungus and had no gill filaments and his gill stalks were snapping from shops . they would be wildtypes (the colour) and its not uncommon for them to get slightly milky looking patches on them, not really noticable unless you look at them in certain lights though. however if its furry its fungus. best method for getting rid of this is salt baths. heres a thing i wrote on axies, scroll down (quite far) and you will see directions. http://www.guppy.co.nz/index.php?name=F ... topic&t=10 another link,just to calify i aint making it up- http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml. www.axolotl.org has some other great info on them that could be helpful to your friend

theyre clumsy as (i own one and i like to think i know a fair bit about them lol) and it could just be rips from hitting things, frank will often bump around in the night and in the morning hell have a few patches of scales missing, theyre really REALLY quick healers. a bit of melafix added wont hurt for now and see how it goes. what size tank, what are you feeding, decor and any chance of a pic? hes not getting enlarged sensory pits or holes in his head is he? how often do you do water changes and how much filtration per hour do you have and what type?

everythign i have read about flukes has reccomeneded prazi so id keep up with that if its strong enough, hope things work out for you!

male agassizis have very distinctive tails, almost like the flame off a candle, the conspicua have very non agassizi like tails lol but like most apistos the females look real similar. youd have to sex them probably to know which type they are if your unsure (ant would be good at this probably) note the third photo in the top row, thats sort of blue? http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en ... a=N&tab=wi. in shop tanks fish are normally highly stressed from shipment, people passing by and those annoying little kids tapping on the glass, incorrect tank mates and decor etc etc which would be why the are not showing their colours their best. most of the normal apistos around here go for approx 20-40 dollars, 40+ is for the higher quality but most average around 30 for sexable. p.s. i owned that lutino oscar in animal antics, had to give her up cause man was she a biartch!

if youve got the money to import i say youve got the money to go over there and travel back with them to make sure you are getting actual zebras, its probably a grand max to go to wherever and back but its piece of mind if you do get the finer details worked out. it is ALOT of effort and time, not to mention thousands of dollars and you dont want to have to fork out thousands because fish died, got killed by maf, were the wrong type etc etc. im sure you could get taken to court if someone payed for a zebra and they turned out to be something else, even tho you didnt know

id say anywhere from 10-15cm on average

i might be, let me get back to ya, so 55 a book plus 6 postage?

i say good on you, but MANY people have tried before and its amounted to nothing, if your a millionaire and dont mind losing all the money you put into it go for it, theyre pricey for a reason, because theyre so hard to get. not being a downer but well, be prepared to lose many nights sleep, maybe ALOT of money and maybe not even find contacts

i like my jebao cause its powerful, quiet, easy to start, easy to pull apart and has four baskets. it runs quietly, you have to put your ear near it to hear the quiet hum. the only downside for me is the spray bar isnt that long, only around a foot or so so ill need to make up my own. getting the air out is a matter of just tipping it a bit to the side and back a few times. bummer deep blue- shoulda bought it a few weeks later hehe (i was the one that recently bought one) but i like to choose my own media, alot come with carbon which i have no need for. its a good price too for the 1200lph bracket

importing for private ownership would cost extremely large amounts, thats why people do it large scale, so they can buy in bulk, get better deals and then sell them with a markup to LFS etc. if you want specifics imported in i would approach someone with a license and see if they can get them in for you

holy moley ant! looking good alright and it is extremely bright, spose now youll have to hand out sunnies at the door :lol: tanks looking good too, whatd ya do with all the other plants? and do i see that co2 thing snuck back in hehe? how much do you reckun it would weigh all up? can a normal ceiling hold that weight? how far away from the tank is it and have ya left the lids on?

ive found my commons and BN dont touch algae, they nibbled a teeny bit when they were younger but they stopped now, and its lucky i dont have any anymore anyway (and yes i do know theyre not just eating it before i see it). mine go nuts over corgette and shelled peas (good for digestion too :lol: ). it did take them a few tries for them to catch on. i suppose once they try the maccas (corgette, algae wafers) they dont want brussel sprouts (algae) anymore always feed him like you would a normal fish, your fish (if your not over feeding) wont leave much behind for him to gobble up. im not too up on cats but do you know what type he is? he looks too striking to be a common but in saying that your cats are probably higher quality than most of ours

what cat said :lol: increase airation and see how that goes. they do sound funny when they do that dont they? had one that would do that once a day or so until i got another filter on and all went back to normal

hmmm, i wouldnt put anything else in, they will mix with other fish quite well but you will have more than you can handle soon enough. a pair of cons is bad enough when they start breeding but 7 pairs your going to be over run so start looking for places for them now, either with other people, LFS or even as food to fish like clown knives etc. they like normal current, probably about 5-7 times per hour would be ok but if you get fry youll want sponge filters or something as the fry will get turned into con meat with the impellor :-? if you still want to mix fish alot go with them, not too sure of any medium cichlids that would go ok, dont think angels would be a goer, maybe kribs? bottom feeders like BN etc would work too id imagine, not sure if they mind tetras etc but then again they can get very agro when breeding so watch those fingers hehe. hope that helps and good luck getting your cons to stay virgins :lol:

i would try and make sure your 99% sure its gill flukes, normally they will hold one shut, not move it the same (look from above to see if one opens wider etc) or rapidly pump one gills, they can also flash themselves on decor etc. the formalin from the LFS is apparently poop as i suspected gill flukes on my rams, got the 5% stuff and it didnt make a noticable difference, apparently you need the 37% stuff but do that in a hospital tank as the formalin nails your filters/bacteria. keep and eye on them and do some searching on the net. hope that helped and good luck

not sure if cycles supposed to come off the line with beneficial bacteria but it certanly wont have any when it reaches you i think its supposed to cycle your tank instantly right? at the most i would say it would provide a bit of food for your bacteria to feed on so would still have to wait out the normal process, takes around a month or so but see if you can get some filter media from another persons healthy tank, it will give things a jump start and caryls right! i had a neon eater who took out 4 neons before i noticed, only one ive come across out of five but if they get big theyll fit them little neons in their mouths alright hehe. gotta remember they are cichlids after all and they will get territorial or agro sometimes but i have found angels are too bad compared to say a jag etc hehe

cycle doesnt work at all, its not refridgerated so contains no beneficial bacteria at all (im not sure if it comes with some but theyd soon die from pollution or starvation as the refridgeration makes them lie dormant), cycle is meant to cycle your tank instantly i think and it wont thats for sure. i think the stress zyme may be to feed the bacteria? the only product i know of that can almost instantly cycle your tank would be bio-spira which isnt available in nz. because you are doing the water changes you may be slowing down the cycle (not sure how to convert m/l to ppm) but you just have to do extra work to keep your levels in check, water changes do that but it doesnt seem to be working in your case? you dont have ammolock in there do you or anything else like that? what are your nitrite and nitrate readings? i agree with misnoma, see if you can borrow some gravel or even better filter media from a person with a HEALTHY tank and that should get things moving. hope it works out for ya

your not serious bout hormone feeding right?

have you checked your phosphate (i think thats the one) levels? you need to find the cause and fix it, it wont be expensive once you know whats doing it, but in saying that im the type of person who prefers to try to go natural and fix the source than just get rid of it temporarily, up to you. and like whetu said, ive heard of people killing fish with alcohol but never to kill algae!

i was the one who reccomended plasterers sand to rogan, ive used it for about six months or so in my axolotl tank with no significant ph/gh/kh changes (ie only natural ones that would happen in any tank, small swings). it is rather thin in that tank but in my planted tank i also have that about 1.5-2cm thick, its going to be quite heavily planted so the roots will help to combat any anerobic pockets plus i can give it a small 'forking' every now and then just in case, ive found it doesnt settle too thick but i am keeping my eye on it thats for sure! IMO sand takes a bit more care than gravel but i think it looks more natural

maybe agression? males can get pretty agro when the female doesnt want to spawn. or maybe she passed from 'spawning stress' or whatever you would call it, producing eggs every 9 days is quite alot of effort and would be a strain on her body id imagine? but in saying that im not sure how often the spawn normally. sorry i couldnt be of more help

body flukes can cause them to flash and zoom round every now and again when they try to dislodge the parasite? thats the only thing i can think of sorry!

do a goggle on 'neon tetra disease' and see if anything comes up, its pretty common and they go cloudy etc. definatly keep and eye on it and see if anything else changes in its looks or behaviour

never seen em here either, always looked out for them cause ive read bout the aussies having lots. they have long finned types too (of both normal and albino). never seen them either