brocky05

Think I saw some in New Plymouth last week will check on Saturday and get back to you

Your africans will love it mine did use a layer of polystyrene then a layer of rocks as a base for any structures and then at least 2 inches of sand. Make sure it is not too fine as it will stir up too easily and will look horrible when your fish move around. Africans wil love this especially tangs as they love sifting through it looking for food as in nature. Also IMPORTANT try to get sand that is free of iron as it is murder on filter impellors :oops: . hope this helps

Hi Steve In regards to your comments on sexing these fish it is not that hard but if the fish are of similar age the male will be the larger of the two and just prior to his anal fin you should see what looks like a piece of fin seperated from the rest of the finand he should with age get the typical hump that some tanganyikancichlids get. You are right about the rocks in the tank the more the better with lots of holes in and out also preferably with sand as a substrate. Hope this is helpful. Andrew

Hi Peety I agree with joze an old curtain can do the job but any type of net designed for birds/butterflies etc will do the job but it takes a while and you need to take the fish out obviously (I hate it when you dump a pile of silt and leaves and see a fish in it). Consequently the fishpond eventually became a sandpit but my son enjoys his new play area.

Hi steve Congrats on your sucess the julies are great parents and now they have spawned and raised babies they don't stop :lol: Lucky for some . Oh and if you are checking Kriber yes it souds like you too will be watching babies soon.

Hi Caryl I had a similar experiance with a 303 fluval it was in my garage on a turtle tank and my darling wife puled wrong plug :roll: . The filter was really smelly and nasty I used plain old rock salt in hot!! water for the canister and impellor as for the media I left it soaking in salt water for a couple of hours. Finally just replace carbon with new and boil foam filter and re-assemble . Andrew

I know just how you feel cat although you got off lightly I once had a four footer go and was at home at the time but heard nothing, woke up in the morning to find water and gravel all over the lounge and all my lovely fish dead the cause was my nice cichlids had dug down through the gravel causing rocks to move cracking bottom of the tank which caused the front to blow out. The most upsetting thing was that my large clowns were spawning at the time . To stop this I now only use sand in my tanks with a piece of polystyrene under the sand to stop rocks cracking the glass if the fish dig! And to top it off the insurance company would not pay to have carpet dried out $750 bill :evil:

You could try using some calcium carbonate in your tank as it works as a buffer and does help increase P.H slihtly it is availible from most shops that supply farm pumps or swimming pools use sparingly in community tank as does increase water hardness and most community will not handle hard water.

I dont know if this is the right place to post but I saw some cockatoo dwarf cichlids in lfs in New Plymouth yesterday as well as som dwarf flag cichlids very nice little fish also they had som good size clown loaches.

Flow is not generally a problem as I use an 802 p/h good for about 1400l/per hour and use good tubing but garden hose will do.

Have seen a red one but it was a long time ago and it was in Auckland and expensive

One of the easiest ways to do water changes is to use an old powerhead filter and a long length of hose that fits over the outlet of the powerhead simpy drop p/h into tank put end of hose outside or in the bath and switch on, just leave plastic for filter insert on p/h so you don't lose any fish and to refill tank put p/h into kitchen sink /bath tub get water flowing at suitable temp put in plug turn on p/h and relax until tank fills.

Very nice fish and yes macka will be drooling over that frontosa but he just brought an identical fish from me.

Hello All I agree about the price of the fluval but I have had an ehiem filter before and found it to be a complete pain when cleaning and reasembling,the fluval is far superior

Hello all I am new to this forum and was wondering if anyone would be interested in exchanging my Frontosa for a few young Tropheus Dubosi or some Tropheus Moori the frontosa is approx 25cm long and is very quiet at the moment he is the only fish I have as I recently sold my large tank that contained my other male frontosa. so if anybody can help me to obtain some dubosi or moori in the central North Island preferably I would appreciate it. Cheers Andrew