Interfecus

If you need another one, PM me your address and I'll send one out. I'm already about to post one so I might as well do two. It will just arrive as some worms in some water, double bagged, so you'll need to set up a container when they arrive. If you think a culture of microworms is dead, try starting a new one from it anyway. You'd be surprised what they can survive and you may not see them if they're only present in small numbers.

Welcome to the fishroom.

Remember guys that you get free entry if you show any fish... How do you enter them in advance? Do you have to arrive on the Friday even if you enter in advance?

I'll post some if you PM your address.

Alan, frogs can absorb oxygen through their skin. They can stay underwater for quite a long time with that. When they come back up to the surface it's usually more to do with them being very dim than needing oxygen. If you don't move, they don't notice you and come back up because they think the threat has gone. If they get trapped it is still possible for them to drown though since this system isn't very efficient at all. ACFs are completely aquatic so they don't need places to climb out. Most frogs are semi-aquatic and need to be able to climb out of the water. For tree frogs like mine there must be no deep water at all since they swim quite poorly and can get trapped and drown. By the way, I believe they have ACFs at the National Aquarium in Napier. You need a license to keep them though. P.S. It seems kind of stupid to try to smuggle in adult frogs in body cavities! I still woundn't try it myself but I would have thought bringing it in as a bag of frogspawn would be much more successful since more frogs would fit in a limited space, they wouldn't move, and they don't need to breathe.

OK, I've read the thread. Maybe the options weren't clear enough. I would classify a misconception in this case as being the same thing as a myth. It does not have to be an intentional deception to count as a myth. To claim that there are two types of guppy ("coldwater" and "tropical"), you would have to demonstrate that the "coldwater" strain had a significantly higher survival rate than the "tropical" strain when exposed to low temperatures. I'm not demanding a rigorous scientific experiment here, but before any such claims can be made you need to have some evidence that there are in fact two different strains that differ with respect to tolerance of cold. This could be as simple as putting a divider down the middle of a couple of tanks and for each tank have 5 "coldwater" guppies on one side and 5 "tropical" guppies on the other. Leave the tanks in a cool place in the house or outside at about 12 deg. C. Count the number remaining each day and use that to produce a frequency graph of survival times for each strain. They would have to share the same water and get roughly the same amount of food each day to keep conditions equal but that isn't at all difficult to do. I agree that it would be possible to breed a coldwater strain given several decades to do it in, but I don't think that's likely in this case or they would just say so to people who inquire about the difference. Chances are the person selling the 'coldwater' guppies on trademe is either deceiving people or has been deceived themselves as to the nature of these guppies. Given the fact that they're blacklisting anybody who asks questions about it (not that I've seen how it was asked) rather than offering an answer to them, I'm currently more inclined to believe the former.

Cover them well and don't worry too much about it. As long as the container is very well sealed you shouldn't have a problem. If it falls away a few bangs should restore it.

The purpose of this thread is to encourage experienced fishkeepers to comment on their experience about the reality or lack of it of coldwater guppies. I don't want to stick ideas in people's heads so I won't say any more. Please answer the poll and post if you want to add any comments.

No pink frogs in NZ, that's for sure. Bright colours like that means it was quite probably a dart frog, which you can't get here. Only highly poisonous frogs can afford to be brightly coloured. Be aware that frogs will eat absolutely anything that will fit even partially inside their mouth. Their strategy is that if it moves, eat it. Frogs are sensitive to practically every chemical you can imagine. Do not use salt or any form of fertiliser (even buried in the substrate). They must have an area of land or dense floating plants to climb out on and rest. You need to maintain a high oxygen level in the water. For a full tank, this means aeration. Remember that frogs have no gills as adults and have to breathe through the limited surface area of their skin when underwater. The frogs shouldn't release any toxins that could hurt the fish. None of the frogs present in NZ have any real poison at all. No threat there.

The filter bacteria will start to die after 24 hours without a current of oxygenated water. If this happens, your tank will have to go through the process of cycling again. The fish will take much longer to be harmed, and the lack of a filter won't hurt them if you do regular water changes, about once every two days. The nitrite spike if your filter re-cycles may hurt them though.

Kevin counted numbers at our last meeting (KMAC) but didn't collect names. I believe the count was about 10. If you need names, I intend to go.

I don't know whether you've tried this. If you haven't, give it a go. If you have XP, try right clicking on the program and selecting properties. There should be a compatability section. Select the box saying "Run in compatability mode" and select Windows 98 from the dropdown menu.

Pointing them at each other will mean you'll get a lot of turbulence, dissipating some of the force of the current. The other option would be to pump the water above the level of the tank to a spray bar or something.

Looks like the whole thing is just out of focus. I think the automatic focus can be confused by the glass if you try to get too close, which may be what is stuffing that up. I don't know anything about photography, but that would be my guess at what causes that problem.

How are things coming along with registrations for show fish? What number has been reached now?

Stick a reasonably wet mix of rolled oats, tap water, and a teaspoon of sugar in a bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, making it significantly thicker. Spoon into a plastic container and let it cool. Add a spoonful of medium from your old culture and stick a lid on the container. If you prefer, you can boil the porridge in a pot instead of microwaving. The end result should be thick with a little bit of surface water. Whenever it gets too dry, add a sprinkling of tap water. Result: thick porridge with a small amount of sugar. The yeast will be transferred with the microworms but a bit extra can be sprinkled on if you like. Simple but extremely effective. I wrote an article on it in the May 2004 edition of Waterlog, the Kapi-Mana Aquarium Club newsletter, which is available here. My method there is slightly different as I keep changing it. Both are equally effective but I now prefer the microwave method since the resulting mix is smoother.

Welcome to the fishroom . I warn you that once you enter this forum you will be up to and beyond those four tanks in no time! It's amazing how many things you can do without just to buy another aquarium...

It works reaosnably well in this case breakaway, but don't forget a component in your next electronics test . LEDs aren't too fussy, but teachers are!

To do a similar thing for a different supply voltage just subtract 3.1V from it and use that instead of the 8.9V in the equation. You'd waste much less energy with a smaller power supply.

Breakaway, that doesn't quite work since it ignores the presence of the LED in the circuit. Your calculation gives the resistance required to produce a 20mA current through the resistor without anything else being in series with it. If you look at that tutorial, it suggests that you need to apply a voltage of 3.1V across each LED and have a current of 20mA. For one LED and a resistor connected to a 12V power supply, you must have a voltage drop of 8.9V (12-3.1) over the resistor. R = V/I = 8.9 / 0.02 = 445 ohms The 470 ohm resistor is still fine though.

Powdered flake works well, you could feed that until the BBS hatch

For those who haven't bought a copy of the photo CD for the Fiji Conference I recommend you do. Mine just arrived today and some of the pictures are absolutely stunning. Caryl is charging $2 (!) for a CD containing about 500 photos, each in both a medium and a lower quality level. For those who haven't had a good look at the AW yet, some of these pics are absolutely stunning. Caryl, you should be a professional photographer.

Ira, why not take a sponge filter and a heater and use the chilly bin itself as a temporary tank? Another option would be to get a couple of cheap plastic containers such as the ones in the Warehouse and run a small filter and a heater in that. I have one of those set up for rearing some fry at the moment. They work fine as long as they're not on display.

Don't moonlight systems usually have a flickering effect? You could do that quite easily with a 555 timer.

Why use a power adapter, Ira? You could run it for months on batteries.