Jadie

Hi, Just wondering, do you have any test kits? Through reading many forums, I've found that it's the water quality that helps your fish survive.. One tip I found was to test your water quality first as well, coz that helps you better understand where the problem could possibly stem from.. I got myself the nitrite/nitrate/ammonia and PH test kits - I find them pretty good.

Hi Andrew, I checked out Fins & Fangs in Wellington and they sold some powerheads (the reason why I know this is coz I stumbled upon them and wondered what they were for! hah)

hehe they sound like great fish with cute personalities Great job w/ the tank - it's very hard work! Go reward yourself hehe

Hi all *wave* HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (gosh haven't been here for ages as have not been online much lately). Anyway, w/ regards to the topic in question for Pet Shops in Wellington - here are my thoughts :- The difference in Pet Shops in Wellington areas are that you may find 2 pet shops selling an item for the same price and find that same item at another pet shop either more expensive or cheaper. Funny thing is at the pet shop where that item could be cheaper, another item that the other 2 pet shops is selling actually is more expensive. Different things they set at different prices - so it does pay to look around. Tawa Petzenta?: I find it pretty good there, I received good advice from the ladies there (have a very friendly uh.. white parrot??*sorry not good with birds). Prices seem pretty competitive - but my regret is my stupidity in buying a bag of polished river rocks for $35. *sigh* and now the white river rocks are turning brownish colour on the brink of looking rusty - tried to wash the brown colour off BUT it won't come off, it seems the brown seeped into the rock itself. GRRRR AnimalZ in J'ville: I got my first set up there, very friendly staff and not pushy to sell me things. The lady that served me was concerned at my first small tank as I wanted to buy lots of fish but she educated me about how many LT / fish. Prices are also competitive -will probably buy the items/fake plants from here. Will also make this my regular visit place to buy goldfish. Pet Corner in Porirua Mall: When I went there, I saw a few sick fish and got scared from buying them. But I bought 2 goldfish there and they still look pretty good (just had to quarantine them). But my gosh, they were expensive for small goldfish. Prices is more pricey (probably to help cover their rental). Goldfish Supplies & Waterlily in Upper Hutt: I checked it out but I think when I went there, there wasn't many different varieties - lots of comets. And lots of the goldfish they had that I wanted to buy were "NOT FOR SALE" arG! I'll try to persuade them to part w/ them one day! hehe - the only problem I had was seeing the goldfish through the water, they had green algae all over and the water and some tanks had murky water so I could not see the goldfish properly =( I ended up not buying any goldfish, but I will definitely go back and check it out in hopes to find a nice one =) Fins & Fangs in Welly: Not many goldfish at all! Me sad! but lots of tropical varieties! Prices were alright (they sell cycle cheaper by $2-$3). Have some cute tank accessories which I'll probably get from this store. Animates in Ngauranga: I was approached by a very well informed staff there, his name is Jamie & he works Fri-Tues. He is a very avid fish keeper (I believe he said over 20+) years xp and he even admits honestly to me that I may think he has a big head but it's coz he knows he is knowledgeable about fishes. He introduced to me a fantastic product (he says it is better than water ager), PRIME!! My god, I read about Prime online and didn't think they will sell it in NZ but thanks to Jamie, he convinced his managers to import PRIME! Quite pricy but it's worth it. I find the staff there very helpful, have been there nearly 4 times and each time, a staff member will ask me if they can help me. I really like their goldfish stocks there, and intend to buy some as soon as my other 2 goldfish have finished quarantine period to be placed in the big tank. I will probably just buy my goldfish from this place and wet products only. (ie Prime) They have lots of tropical fish too - so far all their fishes look really healthy to my newbie eyes. Another thing is I checked out Wet Pets @ Palmy (I made a trip up specially) they ran out of goldfishes!! I was very sad.. But their accessories/items are CHEAP! Thinking of buying the Millenium 2000 but still thinking about it.. hehe.. I intend to make another trip up to Palmy in about a week. THIS TIME I'll ring first to ask if they have sufficient fishies in stock. Golly, I am giving them all business (Uhm, I hope these comments aren't offensive or bad in any way?.. )

Hi there and welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a nice collection of tropical fish??? I saw a couple of siamese fighters and they are so beautiful - makes me wanna set up a tropical tank hehehe :lol:

Hi Merlin, Welcome *wave* - do let us know how your 'returned slimy heater' went as I am curious about it. Thanks!!

Hi everyone !! I have a confession to make.. I kinda put the salt into the aquarium first before I asked the question and I had just put the salt in straight into the aquarium.... some fishies nibbled on the salt too.. but they look fine and guess what? My blackmoor now has his fins all up!! He now looks funny coz he doesn't appear to be "black black" anylonger, it seems that his belly area and his fins are turning darkish brown.. How odd.. but he still beautiful to me.. Just worried at the way he sucks and eats his food off the gravel (I have river rocks (small-med), he doesn't seem to care about his eyes and everytime I see him try to suck food he sucks really hard and his eyes seem to bang against them. Hope he's alright - and now it seems HE is getting territorial now!! How odd, before it's the one comet that used to push him outta da way whenever it's feeding time but now he is pushing them both outta da way! I hope this is alright behaviour? Thanks for the tip Warren and thanks for the lovely welcome Angel 2

Thanks for that Warren - I'll do a 50% water change - still gotta try to find a python syphon coz when I did like 20% water change on Thursday, I saw lotsa poop! :oops: I also added some tonic salt to the tank - can I just add in the salt without dissolving them first? I think after doing all of this, I DEFINITELY deserve my yummy choc's complimentary of Animates! hehehe :lol:

I want a python syphon ! Gotta try harder to find these things!

woo hooO!!! i will go up to Palmy next weekend!!! *cackles gleefully* Thanks for clarifying that they do sell many many lovely tempting freshwater fish.. I'll try to restrain myself! It's good to know there are some really good salespeople out there! When I went to Lower Hutt today to look @ Goldfish Varieties & Waterlilies and checked out Animates, Ngaio and AnimalZ J'ville - they had some niiiiiiiiiiice goldfish and I was very tempted but I am so proud I resisted Goldfish Varieties in Lower Hutt had like a majorly huge backyard all w/ goldfishies. They had too many comets, they are selling their blue oranda's for $15 - looks like small-med size. I wanna get me a nice red & white ryukin

Do keep us updated and tell us how your convo went w/ the glass company!

Hello! Well i went to Animates at Ngaio area and spent about $75 on the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits and got myself a nice box of choc's! (They have this thing going on if you spend over $60 - you get a box of choc's!) This tank has been up for about 1 week now. My results are as follows :- Ammonia : 0 Nitrite : about 0.2 Nitrate : about 3 or 4? I got the Hagen test tube kits .. So do you think there is a problem w/ my water that's causing my blackmoor to be all spastic? The other day as I was observing him, he did spastic moves to the left then right then left then right then stopped... and his fins gets clamped like 70% of the time i see him and sometimes they are up. Don't know what can be wrong w/ him.......

Hi KlatoO! Welcome to the forum - . o O (buy goldfish) hehe :lol:

Hi Warren, Thanks for ya tip! I'll go buy myself some tonic salt tomorrow as well - Just wondering, wouldn't the water ager combat the chlorine in my water for me? Oh yes also, when I bought my 2comets, I think they got bumped around by the lady trying to catch them so had some abrasion's on their scales near their tummy. It still hasn't healed up - will the salt help as well? Thanks very much!!

*wave*~ Thanks for the tips on how to use a long house to siphon out water - I'll def give it a go if I can't find something like the python siphon in NZ. hehehe sorry.. :oops: Just wondering, what area do you look in the trade&exchange or trademe for these siphon thingies? Any idea how I can get in touch w/ Southern Petware or Masterpet? Caryl: Where did you get yours? What did they call it? Richard: Did you by any chance buy that kinda siphon off trademe? I did a search on siphon in trademe, and this guy is selling a whole buncha siphons and he described his siphon like how you described yours. Does it work? -- Hmm, move the pipe up and down in the tank..... is the pipe gonna be horizontal or vertical? Thanks everyone!!

hi!! Is it true that wet pets don't sell any fish? I haven't been there before but was thinking of driving up to Palmy just to check them out.. if they don't sell fishies then I won't go! It's so hard to find pretty fishies in wellington - I am into goldfish at the moment... Gonna check out the Animates @ Ngaio area and check out Lower Hutt tomorrow - just to SEE!! *must resist!!* *must resist buying cute fish!!*... ...

All I can say is "WOW"!! Congrats on the dedication and hard work! You must be proud!! I am sure it is going to go wonderfully! After looking at your brand new tank, I told my partner "Can you please learn how to make fish tanks? I want my own custombuilt one like Warren's" :lol:

hello Kriber and welcome to the board~ I am new here too!! *wave wave* My gosh Pegasus, you must have really really GOOD self restraint to have a tank sitting there so long!! I would've been virtually itching to have fishies in it ASAP! I have very bad patience and always want things done immediately!! hehehe

*wave* Hi everyone again! So nice to meet you all - what a wonderful reception The single white pot looks like a bigger grain of salt.. like.. 1mm grain of salt.. is it still ich? So far no more spots have appeared - I am trying to observe my comets closely but they keep on moving! Wish I can grab em to tell em to be still! hehehe.. not too sure what else to do.. What kind of Nitrate,Nitrite & Ammonia test kits do you use? I checked out a pet store in Tawa and they have I think 2 different brands? One is very expensive (like $25) and the other is cheaper - does it make a difference? Oh yes, do you put your shark 2 just above water or entirely submerged in water? (It's second hand). I also have 2 UGF at each end, 1 end is carbon and the other end got white pieces (airstones?) in it. I thought my tank does not have enough air so i got a airstone as well I'll def get the tests tomorrow .... (*feels the pinch in her wallet*) Man, I didn't know goldfish keeping can be such an expensive hobby! But they are worth it! hehehe :lol:

*wave* Hi everyone ! Sorry about the lengthy intro! I have a question :- As I have bought the big 200LT tank, I am staying on a 2nd level flat (someone else lives underneath), so I was just thinking - how am I going to do water changes / gravel suction without spending the whole day doing it? I've rang the pet stores in wellington and they all say "hook up a big hose and suck!" But I don't want to have to suck on a hose and get fishie water Apparently they are selling these "Python Siphon"s online but so far I can't find any in NZ and the pet stores say "AYE?" when I ask them if they have a python siphon. The python siphon says that no sucking needed, just attach it to the tap? and somehow the pressure will suck out/vacuum out the water and also can refill the tank. For those who have large tanks - can you please advise how you do your water changes? I don't want to have to go through the trouble of doing it bucket by bucket.. someone suggested going to a hardware store to get this valve thing that lets the tap vacuum out water?? Any suggestions? Thanks heaps!!

*wave* Hi everyone ! I have been a guest lurker for a few weeks now but decided to join up as everyone here is so nice to each other! Well, my new hobby started about.. 2 months ago (or was it longer?) hehe I was thinking of getting some lovely goldfish but never managed to do it until 4 weeks ago when I decided to go to Animates and get me my fishie! Before that I was going online trying to find out what things I needed but everything was so new - that when I got into the store, I found myself completely lost! So with the help of the lovely lady there, I got myself a 27LT tank (plastic), 3 goldfish (2 comets & 1 blackmoor), gravel, pump, sponge&carbon/air filter and some decorations. When I got home and started really searching the net, I realised that LO! my tank was way too small for my new li'l fishies and I got worried because one of the comets started to push the blackmoor outta da way whenever it's "feeding" time! And my blackmoor was starting to clamp his fins. So I thought, hm.. better buy a bigger tank right? So about 3 weeks later bought a tank from trade&exchange (approx 200LT capacity) and started to set it up. I went against what I had taught myself online - I got compulsive and STUPID and bought 2 more fishies (1x red cap fishie? & 1x white fishie - fancytails) and then was stuck coz i didn't have my new big tank set up yet!! *DOH*!! So I did the most stupid thing - I set up my big tank, which has a Shark 2 filter (grabbed new sponges? and a carbon/air thingie that attaches w/ it), put water ager in it, floated my 3 goldfish (comets&blackmoore) in the big tank and let them loose! I thought it's best not to mix the 3 fishies w/ the new fishies right? Just in case of diseases?? Hah, am I so wrong? So basically I let my fishies in a new uncycled tank..... I then put my new fishies in the 27LT and they are happy in it - fins are all up (now i'll make it my quarantine tank right?) - seem to be happy. Observing them though. The problem now is :- Blackmoor and the 2 comets are showing signs of clamped fins (but not all the time). I'll go buy the ammonia & nitrite test kits this weekend but I am starting to get worried. When I first got the 2x comets & 1xblackmoor, one of the comets had a white dot on the end of his tail. I thought it was ick but kept an eye on it. It didn't spread out and it didn't get any worse so I thought better leave it. NOW, as I've moved them to the new tank, the other comet now has a white dot on the top end of his tail! Do they have ick? Also I am worried about the blackmoor I really really want my fish to live a long, happy and stress free life. I really want to do things right - can you help? Hope to meet some really awesome people here! Thanks!!