SpidersWeb

Ages ago we bought some tiny little GBA babies, so tiny, fed them up on courgette and watched them grow originally in a 20 litre tank with a sponge filter. Well to cut a long story short, they just laid their first egg cluster :bounce: I'm one very proud almost-daddy. Now generally when it comes to first time eggs, I have the preference to remove the eggs so I can raise the fry in a specialist tank rather than trying to catch them later, they can show off their parenting skills at a later date. So I was going to run out and buy one of those so called guppy breeder hatcheries :roll: and do the artifical parenting thing. However three questions: Does the guppy breeder thing work, and will it keep the new borns inside and the 30 or so young curious kribensis outside? Will pulling up the week old cave, stealing the eggs, pointing and laughing, give my male GBA emotional problems that may lead to problems in the future with him not wanting to breed again? The eggs are in a cluster (as usual), do I use a net, my hand or some other method of retreival? I've only done cichlids before and they normally lay it a handy removable oranament so I dont have to manhandle anything.

Importing Prazi without the proper permit is naughty as it's a prescription only medication here, but it is awesome for flukes/worms. Not saying you can't get it sent in the mail, just dont tell people you're doing it

Also this link might help us ID it http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.h ... worms.html I got $5 on Roundworm.

Seriously, dont put Formalin in there. So far all we've established is that the tank has worms that are white and freeswimming - this is not uncommon in aquaria.

Stuff at LFS is only 5% I think. Also unless you're seeing these worms actually biting on or attacking the fish, then a Formalin dose will just make your tank problems worse. Most disease treatments also damage your bio filter etc making your tank have to recycle, which can result in fish loss due to ammonia or nitrite spikes. It can take a tank 6 weeks to settle in to a nice cycle, and meds etc just make the process harder. Worms are normally a sign of overfeeding, so reduce feeding to a small sprinkle once per day and see how you go.

That smell isn't 'tank water' as such, but just water, when carpet gets wet it makes that smell. The smell goes away once its dry, make sure the room has good air flow (leave window open etc), an electric heater/fan will help too but isn't required.

I'll try, but that might be a risk I have to take :lol:

At a guess I'd say the black widow tetras, I'm really not a fan of them. Seems I'm not the only one, I got given 8 of them recently for my oscar tank I haven't kept Honey Gouramis, but my dwarf gouramis have always been cute little angels. Of course it is also possible he got damaged/sick and the fish just ate his remains. Normally if a small fish dies in my aquariums, its almost unrecognisable by the time I see it. I had a perfectly healthy SAE in with baby kribs and platties in an established 200L tank, came in one morning and oh my god, dont know what happened but I dont have an SAE anymore and those little baby fish had done a good job at 'completing the cycle of life'

Na ramshorns lay in a sack like you suggested. If they're individual, I'd say they'd have to be neon tetra eggs.

Yeah my first thought was snails too. If they are singular and perfectly round then its possible they're neon eggs. Neons will breed if you put rainwater in, but normally do it over java moss etc and the eggs dont really stick to the side of things.

They're killing your fish?!?? Are they attaching themselves to the fish? Are they hanging out their pooper? On the big ones, do they have an anchor, like a secton that is thicker than the rest of the body? If so, they are probably tubifex worms, they live in the gravel normally eating excess food, they're harmless but my fish dont seem to like eating them. They're a pain in the ass in my oscar tank. Good luck! I'm in Hamilton next week for a week, so if you're still having trouble I can poke my nose in.

For the filter inlet: Your LFS may stock a product called the 'BioClear Sponge Filter' its an air powered filter that is often used in fry tanks, and cost me about $8 last time I bought one. Now the handy thing with these is with a little effort the filter foam can be squeezed over your filter inlet, I push hard and twist and eventually it gives up and goes on. I did this on a Jebo tank however, which came with two inlet options, a big bulgy type fitting and another which was pointed and a little thinner - the latter worked, so you'd need to make sure the standard strainer isnt too big, or if you can remove it so you can put the filter over the pipe itself. It will need cleaning whenever water flow is reduced too much. I have used pantyhose before but I found it clogged up too fast (like 1-2 days). Curtain netting might work too, or an old fish net......

Yep. Danios are friendly and almost invincible. They're often used as dither fish when breeding cichlids because they're too fast to be caught, they'll even survive in cold water.

Some confusion there. An Elite 15 is an 'internal filter' that sticks on to the glass. Hang on the back filters literally hang off the back of the aquarium, and are external. They actually pick the water up and dump it back in, thereby agitating the surface and oxygenating the water. An internal filter (like an Elite 15) will provide oxygen if it is creating movement on the surface of the water. If the water isn't moving at the surface, then no oxygen is being added.

'River Sand' is apparently the best stuff, but I just went to Mitre10 and purchased some coarse sand (dont get fine sand). The biggest downside to using cheap coarse sand is that it takes a long time to wash until it comes clean. What I do is quater fill a bucket, then hit it hard with the hose, then tip the water out and repeat until I am able to stir the sand up, wait 10 seconds and the water is clear again. River Sand normally has these superfine bits already washed out from what I hear, but 'Coarse Sand' is cheap and easily attainable from any hardware store. Remember dont make it too thick or you'll get big stagnant areas that will go nasty.

Brown algae is common and fairly harmless (yey) unlike some of the beard algaes. It seems to only pop its head up when there is excess nitrate in my experience. The bristlenose should eat it, and its easy to wipe off the front, but to reduce its growth just make sure to keep up with your 20% a week water changes. If you use a product like AlgaeFix make sure to have an air pump running as it really makes it hard to breathe in there.

If you are talking about African Cichlids (bright pretty colours) they are normally 'over'stocked to keep agression low. With lower stocks, fighting between males can become problematic I'm told. I dont keep africans, just what I was told. American Cichlids don't like being crowded though.

Works fine for me? I haven't heard anything about it being disabled. subz - once you get your photos online (photobucket.com or your own personal webspace etc), then you can copy'n paste the URL to the image here and put around it. For example to get the FNZAS logo to appear I used this code: [img=http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fileadmin/logo_FNZAS_90.jpg] I've been intending to do a step by step guide for beginners, but I just haven't found the time yet

Divide by 3.8 not 3.6

113 gallons As a rough guide in my head I just divide by 4, but an easy way to do proper conversions on the internet is with google. Just type in: '430 liters to gallons' or '50 inches to meters' or '10 meters to feet' etc etc Enjoy

Some discus do that. Normally they will learn to stop doing it by themselves. Unfortunately discus are one of the few fish where removing the eggs is not possible, because the baby fry need to feed off the parents. Good luck for next time

You should only add salt to a freshwater aquarium when there is a disease problem. Do not add tonic salt. It is also not good for the plants, but does make a good general cure when something goes wrong, but its much better to give the problem fish a salt bath than to salt the aquarium. I'm a big fan of salt as a cure, but definately not as a water additive for a freshwater aquarium. Any freshwater fish which requires tonic salt should have been culled when young. They dont have salt in the wild. (Also note that tonic salt and table salt are both 'salt' as such) Stress Zyme helps but its not needed. What helps more than anything else is seeding the tank, gravel from an established tank for example, or your plants (if you dont dip them in any chemicals that is), or some wool etc or similar from somebody elses setup. If you can find someone happy to donate to your cause, it'll speed things up a lot

Hey sub, I did the numbers at that filter seems like an ideal choice of filter. If the fish are having trouble like you suggest in your post, then try placing the filter in a different location (side of tank instead of the back) so that current is diffused more against the glass, or put a rock or something in the way of the output to help diffuse the flow. Good luck get creative, Jono

Fluval 103 is pretty piss weak. Something like 450L/hr? 4x2x2 is 432 litres. I generally aim for 5x an hour turnover on my filters. So 432 x 5 = 2,160 liters per hour So that's a pair of Fluval 405s, or AquaOne CF1200s, or (my favourite) Jebo 819s. I think you'll find a the CF1200 is about the same price as a Fluval 103 too. AquaOne also make 2200 and 2400 models which would do the job nicely. Other options would include the Atman UV which is basically the AquaOne 2400 with a UV bulb. I wish I could recommend the Fluval FX5 but I am hearing too many bad things from owners. Oh and price: CF1200 (1200L/hr) is $150+postage online, Jebo 819 (1200L/hr) at our LFS is $185.

Hey Danz, AR980 is 215L so you probably want to consider 2 x 150W. If you've already purchased 2 x 200W then that is fine too. When the tank is at the proper temp, the heater(s) will shut off by themselves (unless they malfunction). So you wont need to worry about frying them You can turn the thermostat up or down to get the temp just right, and the heater will keep it normally within 0.2 degrees. You'll find your tank more expensive to run in the winter, and cheaper to run in the summer. Also, not sure if someone has already told you, but Danios are tropical and goldfish aren't. Danios will live in coldwater but they certainly dont like it very much, and you really want a school of at least 6 etc as they're a schooling fish.