Delta

Pegasus said: Funny that you should mention that :lol: I carry a tape measure everywhere and have been measureing all the plastic tubs I come across to see if one can be cut to fit exactly over a glass tank creating a rim or plastic or collar, and then the overflow/waterfall/spout could be fromed by melting the plastic and pulling it into a spout shape. Just need to find the right box. Spotted one that would fit a 2ft tank but it was AU$35 each (heavy duty builders type tote box) and I don't think I can justify hacking into it with a saw and blo torch at that price. Pitty though it has great moulded handles either end that would make excellent overflows. Dianna. PS:How do you quote text?? I don't think my attempt will work.

Hi Everybody!.... Cat re:automatic (in tank) brine shrimp hatcher I have seen one!!! It hangs in the tank and the BBS swim out into the main tank when they have hatched, it was a long clear tube a bit wider than a UGF riser and about the same length, was air driven...., the shopkeeper assured me it was for a freshwater tank too, I was in a hurry so didn't really understand how it worked or how many brineshrimps it supported (not enough for growing fry I wouldn't think) and when I saw the price tag of AU$55 I stopped short and didn't bother to take it out of the box. I should go back for a better look and maybe the DIY minds here could come up with something. cheers, Dianna

I have been thinking a lot about this system, .....blaming Pegasus for the black bags under my eyes..... In another post here somewhere there is a sponge filter setup vertically, Hamburger Meshismit??? or similar. Do you think they would work for this system? One in each tank? Or would the water only flow thru the top half of the sponge. If this did work then the only thing needed to run it would be something to move the water from bottom tank to top tank and the sponge mats would look after themselves. Maybe the sponge material down the bottom could be more porous where the flow is slower??? I'm still playing with leggo when it comes to DIY.... Dianna

It is common for them to bash up anything with long fins when they are in breeding condition and best to condition them away from other types of fish, but you can condition a bunch of betta girls together. I keep my females all together in slightly cooler water than normal 22C, when not conditioning, they slow down a bit and aren't so agressive, but there is always a dominant one, but with plenty of weed and an open ended tunnel they can hide and sort out a pecking order. But sometimes if you separate them (even into a breeding trap) get very agressive and cannot be returned to the girls dorm they are so stroppy. I have one in an unheated golfish tank doing because she cant go back with the others, she gets so cranky she has killed 2 male bettas while trying to spawn with her(seperate attempts, they never recovered from their injuries) But if you are conditioning them for breeding then raise the temp slowly to 28C. Otherwise keep them a bit cooler like I mentioned. Keeping them in condition for breeding(that means full of eggs with white spot showing) but not breeding them can put them at risk of becomming egg bound and/or the eggs not being viable and they will eat them. You can spot these type of eggs as they are flattened and not a nice round shape. Another thing, are you sure they are females? Are they showing the white spot ovipositor(? spelling) that is really the only way to be really sure that you don't have a short finned male. And then you only see the spot if they are in breeding condition. Sorry if you know all this but I'm not up with who keeps what and what they do or don't know. And it's late/or early? and I'm in whaffle mode :lol: Hope that helps anyway, Dianna

Goldie, I have divided tanks for the Bettas which I have put the guppies in for the moment. A three foot tank divided into 5 setions, one section has male guppies, another for the females, and the remaining 3 sections have been opened up for fry growout - there are also 20 betta fry in with the guppy fry which I cant count (going crosseyed from trying) I spotted the obviously gravid females in the shop and thought I'd give them a go. I'm getting a bit frustrated with having to keep the fighters separated and for all the fighters beauty which is what attracted me to them in the first place I find I am missing watching fish swimming free and interacting. One of my males(Black body/red tail and dorsal, fantail?) has a white dorsal fin, I don't know if this is a major flaw, or common, but I think it looks nice so I want to breed with him and see what I get. I haven't seen round tails yet Pegasus, I'll have to keep an eye out, are they large like the fantials but rounded, or a smallish round shape??? Pegasus knows I love the "cascade" system so I'm keen to set one up for guppies now and I spotted the "Hamburger mat/sponge???"filter which I think will work in each of the tanks on the overflow end(act as a fry catcher too) so thats the state of the nation in my house. cheers, Dianna

Oh that long! Thanks Ira, So a female from a mixed tank in a shop is pretty much a marked woman :lol: How early can you sex fry? what do you look for? Dianna

I recently got my first lot of guppies, and I'm so excited as I now have babies everywhere. I got such a shock, I'm used to looking for Betta fry which are tiny! I have 3 Tuxedo male guppies, red tail and dorsal and black body, and 2 females that I'm not sure of. For selective breeding; How do you make sure that the pair you want to mate have mated?? Obviously you separate them :lol: But I'm wondeing how long you need to keep the females isolated to make sure that they are not storeing sperm from when they were in the shop tanks. Dianna

Hee hee :lol: Too far south for crocs, no eels here as far as I know too built up. But how do you clean weed??????

Hi Pegasus, I think you've mentioned this bucket set up on Boronia too? But now that I've seen the pics it makes a bit more sense now. I want to make a few of these!!, how does the water get into the bucket? I'm not sure I understand although I can see all the pipes connecting them, do you use a pump? Also if I filled one with gravel do you think it would work like a filter? If the overflow was long enough to reach the bottom of the bucket?

well there is definately nothing in there, and I had the job of scooping through the sludge (pooh!) in the bottom of the pond just to be sure as they were just going to fill it in. I was really hoping to find something too. So Mr Bunyip has moved on to make way for the Yobbo barbeque area :lol: Dianna

Thanks for that Caryl, It must have been a Bunyip :lol: I went over for a look today and couldn't find anything, came home with a bucket load of weed though. They are going to punch a hole in the concrete bottom and let it drain tomorrow so I'll know then if there is anything in there or not. Ended up filling up the old bath out back just in case, and thought I'd better put the weed there for a bit before I add it to my tanks. OR Should I put a bottle of something in with the weed to sterilise it first??

Can a large goldfish that has been in a pond for years be brought back inside and put in a tank? I'm sorry if this sounds silly, but I have no idea and didn't want to shock it by bringing it into the light and noise??? A friend has a new house with pond, they are landscaping and plan to remove the pond which is green and overgrowing with plants around the edge etc.., while they thought it didn't have any fish in it, they tell me that something HUGE splashed around when they started to bucket the water out. So I haven't seen the fish yet but want to set up a tank ready for it, or should I put it in a tub outside??

Hi Ira, Yes you can keep them together if they are from the same spawn but what you end up with is one dominant male, and a bunch of males that mimic females with the short fins to avoid being picked on, once separated they go on to grow long fins but are always a bit behind and the aim is to produce long finned males fairly quickly. The females can be kept together but if you accidently separate one for a while they become agressive too. ( thought it was a male, silly me, she has longer fins than I was used to seeing on a female, only realised once she started showing an egg tube, will definately be breeding her though) Dianna

Hi Richard, If it's mossie wrigglers your after, just something to be aware of they need to breathe air from the surface through a tube on their rear, so if you have a lot of scum or slime floating on top they will not survive. I collect the eggrafts and bring them inside to hatch and the newly hatched wrigglers are really tiny and you won't catch them with a normal net until they grow bigger, so you might have some there they could still just be too small to net yet. Dianna

Hello, and Thanks for the welcome! I've just started breeding fighters this year, I started with a few from the pet shop, they spawned and all the fry survived, so then I immediately ran out of room as they matured and had to be separated ha ha, so future spawns are on hold until I build my "Great wall of Bettas". And in the mean time I've managed to find a few of the fancier tail varieties like crowntail and superdelta for future breeding. Other than that the only other fish I have are bristlenose to keep the tanks clean and some neons. I haven't had any tanks since I was a kid until this year, was always moving around. But boy! I had no idea how much I missed them, and can't get enough info about all types of fish now, but you all know what I'm talking about... It's great to find these forums and I look foreward to hearing/reading about everybodies tanks and fish too. cheers, Dianna

Well I knew It would be dangerous to come here, I've been reading the posts and already you lot have inspired me to want to keep more varieties of fish. 'Him on the couch' will not be amused I'm Dianna, I've "crossed the ditch" (Pegasus's words) from Boronia. I'm near Sydney and I mainly keep and breed Siamese Fighting Fish, and mossies. Great place you have here, thought I'd betta say gudday. Dianna