Interfecus

Probably planaria, scavengers.

Hi, nice collection of tanks! I wish I had 135 tanks!!

Really? I was under the impression that all bees stung and died after doing so. The bumble bee that stung me thought so anyway. Bumble bees do seem to have a weaker sting though, i've been stung by a honey bee too (just about a week ago) and it hurt ALOT more. Not a matter of region I was stung on either, both bees got my feet.

UG filters are what I use but some people condemn them because they are unforgiving when it comes to cleaning. UG filters should be cleaned out at least weekly or there is a possibility of detritus getting under the plates where it can't be vaccumed. This can cause harmful bacterial blooms. As long as you clean them often enough there is no problem though. Remember that UGFs often seem cleaner than they are and be careful though.

I had forgotten about Australian problems with fruit flies. We have a large fruit industry here as well but fruit flies were around from the start. We only have certain species here though, there was a huge problem with some new accidentally imported species a while ago. Drosophilia Melanogaster fruit flies are here already though. Yesterday I found some of them on some strawberries and my uncle joked that he should take them back to Australia with him .

I'm currently testing an idea for an improved culture medium for fruit flies or microworms. I rediscovered a pot of "Crystal Rain" produced by Watkins which is made of crystals which soak up water and release when drier than a certain level. These are mixed with potting soil to prevent plants from drying out. I'm trying using them in cultures to keep moisture levels right, absorbing excess moisture or releasing to keep culture moist. I first added them to a very wet culture and they soaked up all the water, allowing the culture to start production. I've just set up three more cultures made through this method: 1. Take 1tsp of water absorbing crystals and add to 400ml water (half capacity). Leave until all free water has been absorbed. 2. Take 1 piece of bread and cut to fit nicely in the bottom of the culture container. 2 litre milk cartons with removed top halves will fit a crustless piece of bread nicely. Tear up crusts and any left over bread from the piece into small chunks. 3. Place expanded crystals into bottom of container to a depth of 1 to 2 cm. 4. Place bread scraps on top of crystals. If very few scraps were left, add some flour or more torn-up bread. 5. Place container-sized piece of bread on top to form a reasonably flat surface. 6. Mix a few pinches of yeast with warm water (1/3 cup per piece of bread). Stir for a few moments to activate yeast, then pour over surface of medium. The water should soak through and any excess will be absorbed by the crystal layer. 7. When no free liquid is on the surface, add at least a dozen fruit flies to start culture. Please post any suggestions or experiences to do with this idea. I hope that this will form a cleaner medium that should also be easier to clean out. I will follow up with results from these test cultures.

No, bumble bees sting too. I've been stung by one. The sting is extremely weak though.

Bloodworms aren't quite gnat larvae: gnats bite but bloodworms are the larvae of non-biting midges. Glassworms are gnat larvae. Are daphnia bins easy to keep?

I missed the post as well, but believe that it was perfectly reasonable to delete it under the board regulations: I haven't seen the post so I can't be sure but from the sound of it your post could be seen as abusive or slanderous.

I'd try starting new cultures of each in case one gets competitively excluded.

I find that the people at animates generally seem to know quite a lot about fish. One there used to breed siamese fighters and has given me alot of advice on breeding mine.

I'd take some. If you're really worried then you could make up a mild bleach soltuion and dip it in that for a few seconds, then rinsing it thoroughly. a 20% bleach solution should probably kill off anything living on it. Take plenty of weed though, some might well be killed by the bleach even after a quick dip.

Sounds good, I see the problem with overly sterile water though. You could probably introduce them to a non sterilised tank and give them slowly decreasing amounts of medicine to solve this. Yes, I see the point about the actual value but I was mainly thinking of costs to replace stock. Even worse though, you could lose a new strain of fish being bred, prhaps even years of work. It would probably work either way, the steriliser is just like getting insurance on your car: it costs you but decreases risks. Each to his/her own opinion.

Water changing isn't the trouble: when you keep 100 fish in the same water supply you can't risk leaving out sterilisation. If one fish got any disease then it could spread to all of the others and lose you up to $1500 worth of fish (100 adult males at common LFS price $15) PLUS sentimental value. You would also lose several hours in cleansing the system. A UV steriliser would prevent this. If you're running a business of these then a mistake like that could ruin your business for many months. You could probably do without it but I wouldn't be willing to take the risk. Does anybody know where one could be bought so I can take note and buy when I've saved enough to embark on building a condo.

Where can you get a UV steriliser for one of these? How much do they cost here? They'd probably make up most of the cost.

Use a tea strainer to catch smaller mozzies.

Can the beetles climb out of an icecream container? I just got larvae from biosuppliers a couple of weeks ago and they're eating the potato I've been giving them. My current setup is an icecream container inside a larger container partially filled with water. I'm worried that when I get beetles they might climb out into the water. On thing you might like to note is that the eggs laid by the beetles take a month to hatch, they may just seem to stop.

"Pails" : Yours aren't metal, are they? If they're made of certain metals then they could be making the water toxic to the larvae.

I'm glad you have another buyer. I have the equipment to take on more fish but I have to learn more discipline and breed 1 or 2 species well, not just buying tons of species. If I bought every fish I liked then I'd be in even more trouble with my bank balance than I am now . I've spent nearly all of my savings just in the past 1 1/2 months since I started this and have had stuff bought for me by my mum. I've probably spent over $500 already! In about 6 months or so I might well start breeding killies though.

I have all except for practical experience rearing valuable fry. Let me tell you though that before attempting to breed siamese fighters I researched the subject for around 10 - 15 hours over a week. I have brine shrimp and am trying to get a microworm culture right now. Please tell me if you believe these to be wasted on a beginner in fish breeding. I am always willing to learn and, it being the school holidays, I have plenty of time on hand to attend to my fish. I feed all of my fish on live foods, clean the tanks weekly, and I would certainly breed any fish that I raised.

The eggs of the albinos.

Pegasus: Yes, I'm going to breed them. I first decided to launch into aquaria 1 1/2 months ago on visiting some websites about breeding bettas. The male guppy is yellow with quite a bit of black giving him a look quite like a flame. The females are both yellow as well, but with different levels of patterning. The male siamese fighter is red except for a blue/green smudge on his back and blue stripes between his tail rays. One female is red/blue, the red starting at the head and fading into blue down until the end of the tail. The other female is red with blue/green between her tail rays. The 'plecostamus' is, of course, speckled brown. I'll get pictures of them ASAP, when I can borrow my dad's digital camera.

Yes please! I would really like some. How much would you charge? I'll send you my address via email if I believe the price to be acceptable.

I just started keeping fish myself 1 1/2 months ago but have had fish around the home since childhood. I have 2 10g tanks (both freshwater) and keep 1 male siamese fighter, 2 female SFs, 1 male guppy, 2 females, 1 plecostamus, 5 neon tetras, and about 20 guppy fry.