Zev

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn1 ... gallery/12 Link to the Nikon Small World competition winners. This is through the New Scientist site, you can click through to the Nikon Small World site, this is a bit more taxing on the slower computer. Flick through the New Scientist page, aquatic critters are fairly well represented, I particularly like the methylene blue image.

This month - NZ Native Fish Guest Speaker Stella McQueen Plus Dessert Evening Wednesday 15 October 7.30pm The National Aquarium of New Zealand Marine Parade NAPIER

This scary post may also explain some of your absence? http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/learn- ... 33592.html

Ow, Caper! Hope you are on the mend, you are very lucky, it could have been a lot worse... Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Looks pretty thin and scrawny to me, but it could be the lighting/ferts/C02 thing, since it's pearling an awful lot. Not what I would call a good representation of Riccia to use as a reference.

Here you go Alanmin, the submersed version (different tank) - plus waiting for images for the rest of the database!!

So, is it a girl or a boy?

Sag has cute little white flowers, mine hasn't flowered for a long time - probably because I have been neglecting the tank!!

yeah Evil... photos??? And thanks.

Fiordland http://www.frst.govt.nz/news/Winner-200 ... Year-Award

Zazu sounds like a hot item, then? Any bird that gets the better of Evil gets my bid!

And as Alanmin says, most store bought plants are grown emersed (out of the water) and when you put them in your tank under the water (submersed), they take a while to get used to it.

Looking good. Nice male Dwarf Gourami, too - ones with nice classic stripes are getting hard to find...

Hi Pete Welcome - great to meet you the other weekend as well...

Dwarf Sag - Sagittaria subulata may be ok. Don't be fooled by the name, it can grow quite tall in some conditions, and quite short in others. Someone else may be able to enlighten you on what conditions produce which sort of growth.

The sponsor idea sounds interesting, you could possibly set this up on TradeMe along similar lines to this: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... d=74902512 You may need to ask their admin first - and provide something tangible that is 'for sale' such as a certificate.

Replant the trimmings, make a forest!

If it is the Star Grass - Heteranthera zosteraefolia on the far right not behind the driftwood - I usually pull the whole lot out, chop off about half the length, then replant it. (Usually by laying the stalks down and sticking a rock on top of them) This means that you have the nice top growth showing all the time. If you are not concerned about how it looks, you could just cut it down by two thirds and wait for it to regrow, do this selectively so that you have some top growth showing above the hacked off bits, rather than just a bunch of stalks. Don't be too conservative with your trimming if things are growing really well, otherwise you will end up with top heavy plants where they branch off and multiply where you have trimmed them, and get all leggy at the bottom because they get no light.

What sort of setup and lighting do you have?

A Co2 proof non return valve is a must, the normal plastic ones you buy will not hack the pace, I use the stainless one that I purhased off pearlingnz, you had better invest in some Co2 proof airline as well, the normal stuff goes brittle. I have a bubble counter that came as part of a setup that I don't use, it is sort of like the one Suphew described, clear plastic bottle with a green top that you attach the line to. Drop me a PM if you are interested in it.

A fish that slides around on its belly - literally! It cannot seem to raise itself off the bottom of the tank and swim around normally.

We had a Choc Australe male belly slider, he still tried to chase the females around. Daughter thought he was neat...

lol!

Ours arrived today - minus the stamp! The bag has a graunch mark from one side to the other where the stamp should have been - possibly from the franking machine? I like the little green staple on the membership card, too.

Hi and welcome Whiskeysgirl.