SpidersWeb

I've got a young clown knife, happily eats bits of shrimp/prawn and bloodworms (no live food at all), and it will push any cichlids out of the way (nothing gets between him and the meat!). I agree with above though, they do seem to have poor vision (well mine does), and it takes them a wee bit to actually find food, so you really want to consider giving the fish up or getting another tank. AFAIK Clown Knives would normally fight for their food, my guy eagerly comes to the surface whenever he sees me, and the severums know to keep out of his way. Could try starving him until he eats frozen shrimp. Oscars can only hold so much in their mouth before some falls on to the ground.

haha thats awesome Once its visible to the Jag that it is a convict, it'll likely get eaten. I beleive young convicts are the Jags staple diet in the wild. If it doesn't it'll be even more hilarious hehe I'd be keen to grow out some Jags if you have some available

haha some communication problems in this thread I had problems with this when I used the aquatic mix too. What I did (that worked) in the end was use a thin layer (say 10-20mm), then a good 50-60mm of gravel (washed). Didn't have problems after that. Just leaving it will work too because those smaller waterborne particles that are in the water will eventually get syphoned out over time. If you have a spare filter fill it with cotton wool. The type you get in pillows when wet its very dense and if your problem is sand/aquatic mix this will become full of crud quickly (give it a day or two then check). If this doesn't fill with crud it'll be a bacterial problem. But it sounds like you know what that looks like, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one. The purigen you have should polish the water, just need to get the big stuff out first.

But they wont have the spikes at the wavelengths used by chloryphyll (spelling?). Using industrial 6500K gave me more algae and less growth. PowerGlo etc or purple glow lamps are much better for growing plants as they have much higher output in red and blue wavelengths. A $4 6500K tube is not the same as a PowerGlo or GrowLux for plants. Only place that stocks them normally is pet stores, and they vary in price, think around $20?. If you're not growing plants then just get the $4-8 versions from your wholesaler as HanS mentions. Definately don't use T12 though offers the least intense light and tubes are huge.

Should also mention here that the '18000K PowerGlo' is a 6500k tube (or close to it, something like 6700K according to their data) and it has peaks at the appropriate colour points for chlorphyl use in plants. Sorry I can't remember the terminology properly. Don't know why they call it 18000 kelvins, its definately not. Possibly because of the purple it gives off when you look directly at them. Much better for plant growth than a standard 6500K tube. *edit: completely 100% agree with what purplefish said above

The intial dose on the bottle is a double dose, but I think some people have been double dosing the initial dose (basically quad doseage). Best to increase it slowly over time.

Most people have that tried that resulted in fish death. I did it once when I was new to fish and didn't lose any, but it wasnt flukes anyway, it was just side-effects from the tank cycling (which I think is what yours is too). Ammonia burns the gills I beleive, permanently on a couple of my fish at the time. Learnt my lesson from that D:

Check to make sure ammonia and nitrite is 0. I don't recommend chemicals unless absolutely necessary as it is likely to disturb the balance in the aquarium. Nothing wrong with doing it in a hospital tank though. Goldfish don't normally have problems with flukes, its more of a problem with Discus and other delicate species.

Yep, keep doing partial water changes until 0% are gulping.

All good Yeah probably inside one of the filters. I removed your triple posts Take it easy on that submit button

I'd keep the CF1000. ** As long as their is surface movement (e.g. water doesn't sit still), you wont need extra (or any) aeration. ** Edit: actually thats a lie, I'd keep BOTH

Convicts I need new homes for convicts dont want to give them away as food!

They WILL cram themselves in to tiny locations. Check behind and inside your filters, and in small crevices etc in any ornament. They're known by locals as 'stupid fish' because when scared they will squish themselves in to any cave like object (including the containers used for fishing clown loaches).

Gonopodium is basically 'fish penis' He means 'get a good looking male with long fins' If you put a male and female together they WILL breed, but remember female livebearers can store sperm, so he might not necessairly be the daddy for all of the first batch. I think a lyretail is a tail with two swords, one up top one at the bottom, but I could be wrong. When you get a new male make sure you get one that is the same colouration / strain as your old male. e.g. red crossed with black is eww They are definately not monogomous, livebearer fish are like drunk hippies.

You should setup a convict tank

??? Afrikan was against freezing fish for that very reason. ??? Although please remember humans are mammals, fish aren't, so our bodies don't slow down for a lot longer as we manually control our temperature. Its very different. I dont beleive in freezing either but not being a mammal is worth pointing out there. The fish may well be too far gone to feel the pain.

We don't really, except for the very rare occasion, we mean 'wild' from the country they come from! Although people did go through a stage of 'cold-water-guppies', which were just normal guppies strong enough to survive at <20C. Poor buggers

Bit late now, but an ammonia spike earlier in your post suggests a problem with the nitryfying bacteria. Remember these rules: - never change more than 20% of the water at once (in emergencies 50% can be done but always use water ager to remove chlorine) - clean filters in old tank water, not under the cold tap - leave filters with a bit of grit, dont get them sparkly clean - make sure filters are running 100% of the time pH being high isn't bad, its how stable it is. e.g. 7.8 is fine as long as it's always 7.7-7.9ish. Ammonia and Nitrite should always be 0 after the tank is cycled. Goldfish breed in tropical conditions, so the only problem would be if you didn't have any surface movement e.g. air bubbler or filter pushing water near the top of the tank. Warmer the water is the less air there is dissolved in the water, so you need to have water movement.

What type of fish is Flossie? Caper/Kelsta - another way to euthinise a fish without the tears is to pay somebody else to do it, anyone not in to fish would do it for a dollar, then you can just focus on something else, get your mind off it.

Babies will be identical to him.

You can take a fish to the vet. It's just that most people don't want to spend the ~$40 on a fish that's dying. I've taken an Oscar once, had antibiotics injected in to the spine.

I can't remember the specifics, but Palmy water isn't suitable because of where they get it from, bore water ?? or something like that. Anyway wetpets DO NOT do it to 'encourage you to buy chemicals', they have signs recommending using streams creeks etc. Tap water there has something in it thats undesirable, just can't remember what it was. Welcome aboard

The Animalz vets, Johnsonville and Petone both stock fish. I hear the Petone one has some specialist fish in stock usually. Another good place to check out is the pet store at Coastlands, Paraparaumu by the cash converters. They carry marine and other rare finds.

If it fits through the grate it will. Just put a layer of foam/sponge on top of it.

Stuff with the biggest holes goes to the bottom e.g. ceramic noodles etc Otherwise you're finer media will get clogged. Although if you've got a 'medium' biological media (e.g. smaller than ceramic noodles but not as fine as a sponge) you can put that at the very top, so your bacteria can grow on it, and nothing can ever clog it up. Generally though I just go coarse->fine. If there is room free, I usually chuck gravel or something in there, more surface area the better.