purplecatfish

For a grass like foreground plant my favorite is Echinodorus tenellus var. "tenellus" but Lilaeopsis novea-zelandiae is just as nice. For the mid ground then Cyperus helferii would be ideal as it looks like a tussock type of grass. Dwarf sag would be my other recommendation for midground as well.

I've always had the best results with furan2

Where is the nearest place to Auckland that we can go whitebaiting?

I don't have different cycles because its not really practical for most people. You'd have to take a dead fish to a biologist who could identify it. Most people would be better to adopt a program like: It means that you are treating for both those with short and long lifecycles.

The dose rate for tablets would have to be calculated from the concentration of prazi in the tablets which should be on the packet and the volume of your tank. You need to add enough to get 2 to 10mg/L. If someone can post the concentration of droncit tablets we can add a number of tablets per litre figure to this thread. I suspect that is using the weight of the whole tablet not the weight of the active ingredient (prazi)

I've recently had a great talk with a vet who knows about fish... Drontal: don't use it because it has other ingredients besides prazi. Droncit: the better tablet because its prazi only Adtape: the brand name for liquid prazi. It's concentration is 37.5g/L. Use 26ml per 100L this gives 9.75mg/L. Praziquantel: The textbook dose range is 2 to 10mg/L. The treatment cycle depends on the species of parasite. Some will need a dose every three days, others will need a dose up to 3 weeks apart. 2 or 3 doses are usually all that is needed. Dose for 4 hours (watch the fish to make sure they're ok) then do a 25% water change and use carbon to remove the remainder of the medication. I bought some Adtape which is nearly $500 for 5L (it doesn't expire until 2010) which is the smallest amount you can buy over the counter.

If you want a custom tank talk to Greg from tanks2U. He had the best prices when I had mine made. And I had my steel stands made by Tomo Ventures.

If you exclude Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen (CO2 and H2) then plants consist of approx 30,000 ppm Nitrogen; 20,000 ppm Potassium and 150 ppm Iron. But iron is the critical component of chlorophyll and thus photosynthesis. Nitrogen from ammonia, nitrite or nitrate is esential for protein production and leaf growth.

I was told today at the lfs that a new list/regs came in to effect on 1st Aug and it now means that guppies can no longer be imported amongst others. Can anyone confirm this?

Sweet as, just add male and female bristlenose and wait for the eggs.

Echinodorus tennulus "tennulus" the narrow leaf chain sword

This is definitely my favorite site because: -I've been able to learn a lot from other people with the same hobby. -It put me in contact with the AK Fishkeepers. -I've been able to source cheap plants. -The molly hunt. -It gives me something interesting and constructive to do when I'm at work :lol: Thanks everyone for sharing their technical knowledge and practical experiences.

I'm guessing that the move to the new tank induce the tetras to spawn. And if the fry have survived for that long they've learnt how to avoid the neons. They could be returned to the tank since there's enough plants cover for them to hide in. What do others think?

I used JBL Aqua Basis for my tanks about a year ago, but only because I hadn't heard about the Daltons mix. It has worked really well but you can imagine the cost when setting up a 2.5m long tank (and a 5ft tank, and a 4ft tank and a 3ft tank). There's another JBL product in a small round plastic tub which is basically the same, but you mix the granules with the stones/sand and it goes a lot further.

From Botany 101: Cyanobacteria are one of 5 groups of photosynthetic bacteria and are not a symbiotic bacteria/algae. They have chlorophyll a (the same as all photosynthetic eukaryotes), carotenoids (the yellow and red pigments in autumn leaves), phycocyanin (a blue photosynthetic pigment), and generally phycoerythrin (a red photosynthetic pigment). Cyanobacteria are different to other photosynthetic eukaryotes in that they don't have chloroplasts. The other pigments allow the cyanobacteria to utilise other wavelenths of light. Eukaryotes are organisms who have cells with a membrane bound nucleus e.g. plants, animals and fungi. Prokaryotes are bacterium. source: Biology of Plants by Raven, Evert and Eichorn.

One of the misconceptions about borneo suckers and other hillstream loaches is that they are algae eaters. From what I've read and observed with mine is that their main diet is the microscopic organisms that live in the algae. As a result of their feeding they do keep the algae down but they won't feed on specialised algae based foods. Mine will eat JBL flake if it's crushed into smaller fragments and they will also eat shrimp pellets once they've disintegrated. They'll also nibble on bloodworms and mysis shrimps. Their love of sitting in a current is from their need for highly oxygenated water and their type of hemaglobin. Check out the links at Loaches On Line http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane

One of my first tanks that I set up had no spikes at all. We eventually worked out that the bog wood was keeping the water acidic and the plants were using any spare ammonia and nitrite.

I'm probably stating some obvious things but have you tried -seeing if there is anything blocking the pipes or intake basket? (take them outside and try running the water from a garden hose through them) -cleaning around the impellor? -check the valves are opening fully while they're off the filter.

This is one of the times that I would recommend dosing with stresszyme or cycle as it has the bacteria that you need to convert the ammonia and nitrite. It would be better than using the nitrazorb which will slow down the cycling process.

Go for the corys. I've recently sold over half a dozen of kuhlis because I never saw them and there's still four left in the tank as they're hard to catch. I'm looking at adding another group of corys to another tank (which already has a group of peppered corys in it) cause they're so cool when they wink at you. There's also the possibility that the corys will spawn.

So sorry to hear that dude . We were talking about that at work today and I think I might go and invest in a small generator. Someone was saying that a .5 kW one from the Warehose was only a hundred bucks.

I have a tank setup which I estimate to be a 1000kg which is on a stand with eight legs, this equates to 125kg per leg or 30kg per sq cm. When I was asking the same question as you, I was told that the force per sq cm of a woman in stilettos is greater than that of an elephant . Would you be happy with a group of women in high heels standing where your fish tank is going to be ? Some things you need to consider are the type of floor? how far apart the joists and the piles are? is the tank going next to a load bearing wall? Most of the sites I saw that mentioned strengthening floors seemed to be referring to apartments in older buildings in the U.S. and you can imagine the potential law suits their advice was meant to prevent :-? . Depending on your stand, I would guess that you will be o.k. 8) (note: no liability is accepted should you heed my dvice :lol: )

All of my young bristlenoses are from the same pair and I sometimes I can believe the differences, some have spots that are bright others have faded ones and some have white bands on their fins. I can't work out if any individuals have happiness problems :lol: so I'm going to watch this thread with interest. Personally I wouldn't worry and if there's any babies in the future then there's the ultimate proof.

Try: java fern 'windelov', anubias (esp nana) or some floating plants such as fine or broad leaf indian fern. Check out http://www.plantgeek.net/