SpidersWeb

:lol: :lol: he just posted it! All good though. Fizgig - sorry for the assumption, I've never heard of this rapid cycle before, certainly looks good.

hehe bag of worms there! Unofficially, yes they are. Ask your local store to order in some 'Red Danio', they're identical in appearance to what you see on the glofish websites. Try also: Zebra Danio Leopard Danio Pearl Danio They're all very similar except for the patterning.

Ok then, how do you cycle a tank in 2 hours? Did you test for nitrite and nitrate? I really should clarify what we're saying by 'cycle' though. The term 'cycle' is used to describe the process of the nitrifying bacteria to build up the population to levels capable to dealing with the fish waste. Its a naturally occuring process that can take up to 6 weeks. Most people use fish as the ammonia source to kick things off. A cycled tank is also called a 'mature' tank elsewhere.

Despite its name, a Siamese Fighter (a.k.a. Betta) might be the answer. This will eat baby platys but otherwise they're normally quite harmless and they're too slow to be of much harm anyway. Definately some awesome colour and finnage Platys dont normally hide in the tank, mine are always begging at the front, perhaps you need more or maybe they just need to get used to you, also make sure nobody is thumping on the tank or anything that might be scaring them. I'm looking after another persons platys at the moment, took them about a week to get used to me as their new feeder. I've got platy's downstairs that all swim in to one corner of the tank and start splashing about whenever I'm in visable range of the tank (~5-10m), I did raise them from birth tho.

Its only at 74F, which would be a coldwater pond on a warm day, and a good temp for danios and neons etc should be fine Tank definately wont be cycled though. That takes weeks without being seeded. Certainly the best looking goldies I've ever seen though!

Electronics are normally more efficent and AFAIK they dont need starters which simplifies things. Magnetic is cheaper and easier to get though. If I was going to do it again, I'd go electric, but when I built it I was like 'umm some ballast thingees and those starter things and do you have the plug bits? so it wasn't until a while later I realised I was even using magnetic ballasts. All of my tanks run magnetic ballasts at the moment, and I've noticed they (ballasts) get quite hot.

Hey Ikan, You can get the AquaOne CF1200 for $138 + $5 postage (cheapest at the moment petplanet.co.nz) or Jebo 819 (same spec) for $180ish at hutt pets. I would recommend getting them new since they're cheap. With anything, half retail is the most you should pay for a used item. I'd pay $~50 for a 2nd hand cannister up to 1200L/hr. Some may pay more for special Fluval or Eheim versions, but $150ish for a brand new 1200Lhr filter that works fine and parts are easy to get............ you get where I'm going with that haha Have fun, Jono

A valid point was regarding 'where will your adult fish go', which comes back to 'research fish before you buy' and pet stores should make sure customers understand what their new pet is (many do these days). We're in a rental, with over 2000 litres of water in the house, not a problem at all, in fact the landlord is over at the moment repairing a roof for us right now. As long as you dont damage the property its fine, and this is where the real key is - weither its a big tank or a little tank, in rental properties always watch out for your carpet, dont let water sit underneath stands because the carpet WILL rot. This coincides with Joze's point on being considerate. While I'm in agreeance, I did find the way it was said very condescending.

With 1200L/hr it should do the job fine, however there isnt as much media as an external. I'd go for it, but at some stage later down the line I'd certainly look at upgrading to a cannister. I've got two tanks at the moment awaiting cannister upgrades :lol: just remember those weekly partial water changes!

Irrelevant of brand you'll find faults. It's just the level of quality control that varies between companies.

big cichlids Oprah or Jerry?

haha, was that the list? :lol: :lol:

Just wanted to mention unplugging the heater will not have any affect on the temperature of an aquarium that is being kept hot by external measures such as room temperature. This is because the heaters thermostat will ensure the heater either doesn't turn on, or doesn't turn on long enough to have any effect. I'm guessing you had another reason to unplug the heater, I just like to make sure people dont get the wrong idea. Its 27C in here today, and I'm sweating like a pig Seriously going to save some $$ on the power bill though.

Kribensis are really strong fish, good luck

Heaters never have accurate thermometers, think of it as a vauge guide rather than a temperature setting. Also give it some time to work.

Well time will tell, at the moment they're using a 650L and a 200L tank, but once we get it fixed some will be using the 450L instead of the 200. Something like a 6'x3' would be awesome when they're adults though. All depends on how they go when they mature, might need a 2 tank setup anyway to seperate those who dont like each other.

Thanks heaps for the good wishes Fish turned out to be fine :oops: was just constipated, it was a big lump though! They weren't pre-loved fish, they were imported. They're Bloodred Oscars (we bought both as soon as we saw them). I'll put up some photos soon, they're amazingly coloured. We now have 7 oscars

Festive Cichlids are a lot of fun. They'll jump for food, eat from your hand, or try to eat your hand (like mine). I got attacked for adjusting a heater once, but thats half the fun I guess They do get very aggressive at times, but normally only guard their own little spot. I'm moving my trio in to a species only tank soon.

Yeah I do 50% changes on some of the tanks, just dont recommend it to new people much in case something goes wrong.

Heatpads are basically an element that goes underneath the tank, rather than inside, normally they're custom made. Handy when you have lots of small tanks in a row that are too small to fit heaters in easily. IMO the simplist option is just to buy multiple heaters, running 6 heaters isnt a drama, and will use the same power as any other heating method anyway and offers the most flexibility.

:lol: I'll have to get some gravel to fill in that bit, but yeah its worse, it makes me cringe when we drive in sometimes, no scrapes yet though.

Cheapest aquarium type fittings I've found are from SwitchedOnGardner, just the normal AquaOne/BigBoy types. ~$120 for a double 4ft. I've got a 150L planted tank with 2 x 20W tubes, and its going great with or without CO2. My 200L tank has 5 x 36W tubes and is a pain in the bum with beard algae, so dont be in too much of a rush with lights Mastertrade etc will do full fittings too, but they'll be designed for roof mounting, so you'd need to wire them up yourself and they wouldn't look pretty. Oh and DIY CO2, I use a $35 Elite filter (200L/hr) as a diffuser, some air hose, some yeast, some sugar, some water, and a coke bottle. Getting the amount of yeast right is the hard bit, but it works well and will get the plants pearling in my 200L for under 50 bucks

Yep, its on Petoria Street opposite Tony's Tyre Service, if you take the lower hutt exit off the SH2 motorway, then go straight through the first roundabout, then straight at the second, its on your left. If your car is lowered, watch the driveway :-?

Yeah its near the anus. I just had the thought that he might just be crazily constipated. Will let you know if it disappears. We only got him yesterday, and my photo from yesterday shows there was no lump, so dont think its a tumor, oscars seem to get them tho, there sure is some uglies out there. One of the adults at LFS (an unwanted fish from customer) has a tumor on its lip, they called him 'Pimp', cracks me up. Apparently you can surgically remove them though.

Welcome, If you're interested in the upper hutt club, we're meeting tomorrow night My personal preference to stores is hutt pets, half the forum is going 'grr' at me right now for saying that I'm sure :lol: Basically the deal is, they're definately the cheapest, but not necessarily the highest qualtiy. I also like them because they support the hobby more by taking in unwanted fish, and they'll take back any fish that didn't work out for you. But if a fish looks slow or tired, dont buy it. Also they carry rarer species, animates carry the standard stock (e.g. tetras and barbs) whereas I bought two Bloodred Oscar cichlids from Hutt Pets on tuesday as an example. Animates is more expensive, but the fish are always gorgeous and well cared for. They also have a very good range of plants. There are other good stores in Wainuiamata and Paraparumu but I've only been to them once, so can't really comment So in short, Animates for beginners, Hutt Pets for the enthusiast (IMO)