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SpidersWeb

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Everything posted by SpidersWeb

  1. Not sure. But best way to get algae off the glass is to wipe it normally, just a clean cloth with no chemicals on it will do. Chemical treatments should be an absolute last resort, if that.
  2. I love my bristlenose too. I've got 5 adult goldens, a huge male black, and a few baby blacks. They're great, never hurt anything, and can look after themselves. Only thing you need to have is a small piece of driftwood/bogwood in the tank that they can suck on. They love courgettes and cucumber or if that's too much bother they'll also go for algae tabs (once they learn they are food). My babies seemed to love normal flake but the adults dont so much. You never have to whipe algae off the glass again too. Awesome fishy. They breed fairly easily too.
  3. Really depends on the individuals, some fighters are grumpy other are friendly, personally I think he'd be best on his own. If you're worried about him getting bored, get him a mirror, should keep him occupied Another option is to trial a fish, put her in, see what happens, if they begin fighting most pet stores will take her back. Its best to talk to the store before doing this though to make sure everything will be ok.
  4. Make sure they're 6500K (Cool Daylight), and they'll be good little tank lights. If you want to get silly you can also buy 110W energy savers from sog.co.nz lol Rule doesn't really work because a lot of the light in an energy saver just hits the bulb itself, they're not as efficent like that but they still work well. For a small tank I'd recommend getting something low wattage, the 23W bulbs can get a bit hot.
  5. Local breeder at our club kept the males together. Not a problem unless you change their territory or move them around. He'd send them in bags of 5 to the local fish store at the time, where they would need seperation.
  6. For growing fish, feeding as many times possible small amounts (eaten within a minute or two 100%) is the best way to get good healthy big fish. For adult fish you're just maintaing its not so important, but I still try to feed at least daily. As long as there is no food left over, and nobody is bulging at the seams, then its fine.
  7. Leaving your lights on can cause serious problems with fish, would not recommend doing this at all. They need their rest period or they are likely to suffer from disease etc Tested this myself by accident once, would never do it again.
  8. Stones are certainly easier to work with. Simple to gravel vac etc and in all honesty I prefer stones. But sand is cheaper, and some species prefer the sand (fire eel, geo etc) which are the only two reasons I'll use sand in my tanks. I wouldn't worry about goldfish eating sand, lots of coldwater ponds have sand in them and the fish don't die. If they do swallow any, it'll pass. Proper sand like river sand or propergating sand is awesome, kind of a cross between stones and standard sand, although I always end up with that cheap '0-5mm' coarse sand which needs one hell of a wash, and half of it is too small to use. Fine sand pieces are a pain in the bum, so try to get sand that is 3-5mm. Biggest downside to sand is it can clamp up and become anaerobic (sp?) in patches. Stones always have gaps between them, so the water around them stays oxygenated, so even if you forget to gravel vac there, it wont be too much of a bacterial-wonder-land. I prefer the look of sand, but always found stones easier for maintenance. Sand also makes digging a little TOO attrative for some of my fish at times. I temporarily put my jag cichlid in a planted sand tank, within a few days it was totally destroyed, and he'd dug the sand so much rocks fell over. With stones the digging was a bit of a slower process.
  9. I dont have a plastic grate, I just have one layer of thin filter foam, and the noodles underneath. Never had the overflow being needed, perhaps make sure the holes below aren't being blocked by algae or small stones? Once you get it going you'll need to decide on wether the current is too much or not, its a 38L tank with a 400L/hr pump on it! If this is the case, I found wedging a small piece of gravel in the intake pipe slowed it down to a more reasonable speed. But even at full speed, the overflow should not be needed, and in mine the foam wasn't even underwater, just gets sprayed.
  10. You can put it whereever you want but remember a few points, if you're using it to pick up oxygen, its needs to be near the surface or it wont suck any in, not a drama if you're not using it to make bubbles. If its feeding the CO2 in, you want it as low as possible, otherwise the CO2 will just diffuse in to the atmosphere. If the CO2 is being diffused by the filter, and you're getting about a bubble a second then keep an eye on your pH, if the pH changes by more than 0.2 a day you'll want to buffer the water or lower the CO2 level. To keep oxygen in the tank, you'll want at least some water movement on the surface. If the fish start gasping, you'll need to increase the surface movement until they can breathe easy. With CO2 you want to least surface movement possible, without the fish suffocating. Plants produce O2, but its hard to get a perfect cycle going, especially with a yeast setup, so water movement will be needed.
  11. Bristlenose are definately the best for general maintenance in community tanks. For beard algae etc some young Saimese Algae Eaters or Oto's will do the best. Although I'm hearing some people raving about the American Flag Fish, not a bad looking fish either, so would be ideal for bba control if it does what they say it does. NB: There are three types of fish commonly sold as 'Siamese Flying Fox', most are genuine SAEs but make sure not to get an actual Flying Fox or false Siamesis. For large cichlid tanks, I've found Redspot Plecs to be the best. I found common plecs to be a little on the lazy side when it came to algae on the glass.
  12. Our local fish store has these also, but they're labelled not for sale. I kind of want one now, see what it grows in to. heh naughty boy
  13. Air pump driving off the CO2 does work, but you waste your CO2. You'd get 3 times the life of a CO2 bottle (8 hours vs 24 hours) by adding a solenoid (150$ish) off the timer your lights are on.
  14. I've recently split with my partner, and moved back to Wellington again. Could only get two tanks in the van, got a pair of 200L 4ft tanks. 1 is very busy at the moment, with everything from Geo's through to my fire eel! Everyone is doing great but it's a mess at the moment! She has all the oscars, but I did get the Jaguar Cichlid, he's such a cool dude but unfortunately living in a 60L plastic container :oops: :oops: he has gravel, and a pot to hide in, plus a few danios (well HAD a few danios). Danios are my way of saying sorry to him lol cheers him up, he's got a 4ft tank in Hamilton I need to go pick up again. Love the cat tank Zev
  15. SpidersWeb

    Im Back

    Welcome back Might want a new avatar, or is that kind of like those prison tatoos?
  16. I prefer to feed during the day, to encourage them to come out, otherwise you never see them. If they're hungry they'll fly out. They also eat wood, and most people dont even feed them (they just do cleanup). So nothing to worry about. As above, they'll just be settling in, when they're older the male(s) will take hold of a cave. I recommend algae tabs as you have got, and also slices of courgette weighted down with something (allen keys are perfect at it). Once they learn that its food, provided you dont feed too much, they'll come out whenever it goes in the tank. My GBAs take about 30 seconds to find fresh courgette and they're all over it like flies.
  17. Java Fern is really good if you can get it growing nicely. When healthy it'll fire bright green leaves all the time, when sad it looks like its always rotting away. Just tie the ryzhome to a bit of wood, and over time it'll grab on. Normally what I do is put the fern down, then put the wood on top, just between the leaves, so the fern grows around the wood. Works well. Other options also include keeping plants in pots, or stem plants which can be weighted down with lead or just have a piece of wood sit on them.
  18. Male and female fighters can be kept together normally no problem, however in a 50L they wont be able to get out of each others visual range so if they do fight it'll be very bad. Yeah redtailed sharks do get quite big and can be aggressive. Not sure about pitbull plecos for size, but I'd stick with a common bristlenose for cleanup duty, the goldens (GBAs) are quite pretty and dont get too big. Of course if you plan on getting a larger tank later on or selling the fish when they get larger, then thats no problem. Keep in contact with us, or join a local club That way if things go wrong you've got locals to help out. Was only last night I handed out a heater to a local member
  19. Cardinals work well in the higher range as an alternative to neons. I've kept clowns at 26 with no problems. WCMM wont like much higher though. Might not be ideal as stu said, but could be made to work.
  20. haha also make sure you have a CO2 extinguisher, not the foam type. I beleive all you need to do is change the tap on top then get the usual regulator etc. Might be worth a phone call to BOC.
  21. Yeah what Milet said. Filtration?? I'd say it'd be ok, but I'd pass on the swords, I always found they got a little too 'nippy' for my liking, but never know, haven't had them in a while, and you already have 4 so it must be ok. Highly recommend ditching the neons, corys, and danios and getting some cardinal tetras, they look the same as the neons, but the colouration is soooo much better. They also grow a little larger and live longer. Almost any tank with cardinals stands out, paticularly in larger groups. Fully recommend the clown loaches too, they're awesome.
  22. I'd say you have a common bristlenose, they grow to 6 inches (~15cm) but often stop at around 10-12cm depending on how they're fed. Shouldn't be a problem in a 40L, just make sure you have a small piece of wood in with him (part of their diet). Guppies might be worth a try too, paticularly if you get some fancy types. There are some amazing colours out there, just gotta find'em. If you want more fish, I'd be inclined to recommend a new tank :lol: and so it begins.......... I reckon the next step is a 150L 3 footer. Can do lots with those and they're not too big to be a problem.
  23. Its more the amount your injecting and how. Bubbling wont do it, but if you're using a filter or diffuser that crushes the bubbles in to the water then you should have some facility to remove the excess CO2 (air bubble pump on at night) or stop putting it in (solenoid). A standard ladder type diffuser or air stone wont be able to get enough CO2 in to the water to cause a pH drop in most conditions (unless your water is very soft).
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