SpidersWeb

Don't really need sun. To breed they'll want warmer water, but if it's just for growing out young it'll be fine. Just as long as they have food.

Yeah can get replacement keyboards, and they're usually easy to change. So look in to doing this before you throw it out

You can say trademe, the rule is more pointed towards people advertising listings for purposes other than information or research. And yeah most light units for sale are either T8, or PL (which is T5 tubes bent in a loop). He's after T5 (and you should get T5HO while you're at it, higher output hence the HO).

150 should be ok on it's own, 150 + 55 or 200 would be a wee bit safer. If you get two, I'd get 100 for each side. Running two is better than one, because if one sticks on it doubles the time you have to fix it before you cook the fish. It also provides more even heat distribution. If you keep the 150/55 combo, then set the 150, and set the 55 to turn on about a degree lower, so it'll only flick on if its damn cold.

Should clarify. There biggest gift to the aquarium world is cheap water flow. It pulls water up and exposes it to the air above, which causes it to pick up oxygen. More airflow means more CO2 evaporates, if you're doing CO2 you want as little surface movement as possible without your fish gasping for air. If you leave the CO2 on at nighttime, you'll want an air pump that runs hard when the lights go off (to get rid of the unused CO2 that could cause a pH drop). If it's just DIY CO2 you can probably not worry a bout the last step, I wouldn't.

Sounds like a loose connection.

T5?

In my experience, and also from what others have said, the lighter coloured ones are likely to pass away at some stage as they're weaker. Get the same thing with GBAs as well. If you get them to adult size you're doing very well. Sounds like you've got a good batch

It's a common pond snail. I keep them around to help keep fry tanks clean. Once they're in a tank you can't really get rid of them easily, so keep that in mind. Would've snuck in on a new plant most likely. They don't grow much bigger than that, and will die off or breed depending on food availability.

If you're doing it yourself (including wiring), I'd look at switched on gardner, see if you can get some reflective foil for cheap. Then I'd hit the electronics wholesalers, they'll definately have the connectors you need, and the electronic ballasts required. I'm not familiar with the stores in Auckland though sorry. If you're not keen to do the wiring of the ballasts and power point yourself, then you'll need to buy a pre-made unit.

Yep what the others have said in reply Having two pairs is fine, but you'll find only the dominant male will breed, and the eggs provided by both females. Bristlenose don't form pairs like cichlids do. You'll find (well I found) the males will often fight for this position and for the best cave. They're not serious fights, they just try and push each other out of the cave and pull out their spikes, haven't seen any damage from it but the harrasment is annoying to watch. I think the preferred ratio is 3 girls to 1 male in a tank. Means he'll be busy with eggs a lot of the time. So up to you what you do with them, I don't think the other male will have a negative impact unless they're fighting a lot (like my ones are at the moment ). Anyone want a male GBA?!!?

Well the pH will stay high until the water is changed, or some of the calcium etc is absorbed in to the peat which may not happen as it's under the gravel. I always use a high pH kit, because usually the water was around 7.5 to 7.8 which is fine for most fish that I've owned and the degree of hardness is just enough to keep pH stable but without going overboard. It can be on the bad side of a normal pH kit. If your pH is over 8, then there must be something seriously adding hardness to the water, such as shells. Something else that used to stuff me up a few times, is making sure the tube and lid you are using are completely rinsed with clean water before use. The left over chemicals from other tests can often interfere and give crazy result readings. If your pH is in the 7's I'd say your fine, but over 7.8 and you've got a problem (unless its intentional).

Feed it in moderation, its fantastic fry food because it is high in protein. Haven't raised fighters in the past but my first thoughts are to vary the diet a wee bit, and make sure that you're feeding enough to keep them fed, but not too much that any are dying and going off in the tank. I'd think that much protein could leave fish constipated as well? Just some thoughts anyway, like I said I haven't raised fighters myself.

I haven't had a problem with jumping danios, but they do strike me as the type of fish that would. Could be any reason. Sorry for your loss, but only real solution is to cover your tank a bit better and get some new little guys. Doesn't sound like a stress problem to me from what you said, probably saw a sandfly and went 'oh yum'. My ex keeps a danio on its own, I was concerned at first but he's actually quite a happy fish. Greats her at the front of the tank, and has little spats with the Blue Rams. Sounds like your guy is doing the same with the tetras.

Cannisters are easy to clean as well without getting any water spill at all. Just unplug, turn off taps, take it outside, then lift each tray out and just clean things that need cleaning. I'm inclined to use a sump on my next big tank (giant gourami) but I'm someone who enjoys fiddling around with things, and being creative. Definatley look in to a sump and see if it appeals, but if you're more inclined to a cannister filter don't be discouraged, they work great. Don't make your project less fun for yourself if you don't think you'd enjoy the sump creation process.

enzoom - congrats The young ones are very handy for keeping tanks tidy. The adults do tend to poop a lot though. My recommendations are a small slice of corgette weighted down with something, change it every 2-3 days. Make sure not to overfeed your other fish with flake food etc, when flake food is left over I tend to find my bristlenose have the tendancy to bloat, so I'm very anal about what goes in to the tanks. Cam - you can't just throw them together and make them breed. It will take time, its usually best to concentrate on something else and leave them to it, they'll do it when they're ready. Mine just do it when they feel like it, water changes or food don't seem to make a difference, just one day 'tada'. The eggs take a week to hatch, and often if you find young bristlenose swiming around they could already be a few weeks old Something else I do is when I see the babies hiding in the cave with dad OR eggs, is move the cave and male bristlenose to a new tank of the same temp (preferably already cycled). The best bristlenose producing factories I've seen are generally well stocked community (nothing that bites, so fish like neons and guppies) that are just left alone. After about a year you'll have too many bristlenose to know what to do with like Ira said. When I get the space I want to setup a 2ft planted guppy tank with my GBAs, and leave them to it. The good thing with BN and GBA is that they don't eat each other (although males do fight)

I can never bring myself to part with $50-$150 for a concert, but did see Evanescense when they first came to Auckland, didn't pay for it though, got a free ticket in exchange for taking a female friend along. Was awesome tho

Sweet cheers HanS Would rather use the cheaper MicroChip MC's but not sure how to run a temp sensor off them yet. PICAXE has a readtemp and readtemp12 command which makes it damn easy.

Careful, Flourish and Flourish Excel are different products. I assume you mean Flourish Excel (as thats the dose rate on the excel bottle). Daily dose rate on the bottle is good, and you'll get a much better effect with good fert + T5 or better lighting. You can dose significantly higher than the bottled rate (for killing black beard algae some members recommend 5mL per 20 litres of water, 10 times the normal daily dose). I don't like adding much more than the rate on the bottle, as I find some more sensitive fish find it slightly harder to breath. I'd start with the recommended rate, then once you've seen the improvement, slightly increase it, and see if you see another step in improvement. There is only so much it can do, as plant growth requires light and fert as well

Think they're anti-bacterial, not antibiotics (which are prescription only). Sounds like you've done a good job. As long as your ammonia and nitrite are ok, I can't think of much else that could be done (sorry).

Only by a laptop if you travel a lot. If the laptop spends 99% of its time at home its a bad purchase outright. Laptops are harder to repair, more costly to repair, harder to upgrade, and due to heat, size, and battery restrictions are slower and less capable than a desktop of the same price. Laptops are still capable computers, but if you don't NEED portable, you're wasting money.

DIY CO2 with yeast is a great experiment, and it works (but not as good or controlled as direct injection). Once you've done it though, you're unlikely to do it again. To get serious growth with it you need to dissolve the CO2, not just bubble it, which gives you serious amounts of it in the water, but then it needs to be controlled and you can't control DIY CO2... if you just bubble it I never found it really did much. Reason it needs controlling in heavy doses is that its acidic, and will stuff with your pH. I get better results from Flourish Excel.

Yeah I got my starter kit from SurplusTronics, was like $40 which is cheap enough. Just realised I'm actually going to need the 18X and build a small EEPROM interface. Means I can use 12bit temp sensing, and remember settings on power off. Sure I can still have lots of fun with the 08M though Can you copy and paste that info, I'm not a member (and don't really want to sign up).

I'm not vet, but my first thoughts are: - run carbon in filter in case a chemical was introduced - do biggest water change you can, using warm water of correct temp + ager - salt bath (I just use lots of table salt in a bucket of water) for 5 minutes (shorter if the fish goes sideways and starts to float) Up to you weither you take my advice or not, I can't guarantee success, but it has worked for me a few times, and failing that it'd be vet treatments (e.g. antibiotics).

Definately will, might be a while until its finished though