purplecatfish

I've got hold of some more rare hillstream loaches so I'm making that tank more favorable for them, the borneo suckers and the spotted sewellias. So I'm going to part with my kuhli loaches and I'm letting 75 small blonde guppies play with the pantadons (fav games: chasey and hide and seek :evil: ). It's ok that leaves about 50 left in the 3 ft tank, some of which are looking for homes. I've moved my two hara hara cats into the big tank as I think they'll like the reduced flow. And I'm still trying to decide what corys I'm going to introduce. But I'll have to part with the dwarf gouramis to do that. Once they've gone I'll also add another 30 cardinals to double the size of the school 8) . The only other change is to try and aquire a male pantadon so the resident girls can play house as well :lol: .

One of the weird things about water is that it is at it's densest at 4 deg celcius. This means that it is warmer at the bottom of a pond when it freezes over.

I'm adding potassium sulphate (which I get from Stokers) on a daily basis. And I've got aqua basis and those JBL balls in the substrate (it's less than a year old). Also I'm probably going to start adding trace elements and epsom salts soon. As for light I've got 8 x 54w t5s on my 700L tank. p.s. I've been involved in horticulticure for 25 years and I've got a botany degree.

Always read the instructions with medication. If you don't do the second course you run the risk of creating a resistant bacteria/fungus. I think (don't trust my memory: read the packet) that Furan 2 needs more than one dose with a water change in the middle and then a second course.

I've already added more than enough fish . I'm just wondering about replacing the need for flourish excel. Maybe I can convince the wife to let me splash out on a really good system if it'll pay for itself by saving on the excel :lol: Honest it's an investment :lol:

Flourish excel is a carbon molecule that is readily absorbed by some aquatic plants which allows them to out compete the algae thereby starving them of other nutrients. Perhaps an analogy would be that you're giving the plants bread to make a sandwich and by the time they've sorted out the filling the algae is still baking its bread. From a more technical aspect flourish excel is a carbon molecule that is easily converted to a carbohydrate that is further down the photosynthetic pathway from the raw CO2 that the algae has to start with. Some plants are better at utilising it and any other plants are still competing with the algae.

The Waikato river only supplies 10% of Auckland's water and because of the new membrane filter they only have to put in 60 to 70% of the normal chlorine load to get it up to standard. Just remember that its not the source that counts its what's in the water after it leaves the bulk supply points (treatment plants). Bacteria are easy to remove whereas heavy metals and pesticide residues are hard. In Waitakere we're lucky to have several lakes as our raw water supply that have no human activity around them. There is one that gets closed down because of algae blooms, not because of the bacteria, but because the toxins that they produce create an unpleasant flavour.

How does this relate to aging water? From what I understand, you're saying although the chlorine will evaporate there will still be some chloride remaining in chloramine form which should be removed by water conditioners.

I'm thinking about investing in a CO2 set up but I'm wondering what are the potential problems? e.g. I've heard that if you run out of CO2 then the pH can crash. (One of the well known LFS had that happen and they lost all the fish in their demo tank.) Also what are the must dos and definitely don'ts? And if you weren't limited by money how would you set up a CO2 injection system? (i.e. no budget driven shortcuts.)

Hi alanmin4304, hope you can answer these two questions for us? Can you please explain the term "HTH"? If the Chlorine and Fluoride molecules don't evaporate why do some people age their water before adding it to their tanks instead of adding conditioners?

I've just made a correction to my previous post. (My aged mind is forgetting the difference between chlorine, chloride, chloramide and chloramine). That'll teach me to rely on memory rather than check my facts before a rant. By the way both Onehunga and Huia Village have fluoride free water. And Watercare make their own sodium hypochlorite on site (see your household bleach label)

Auckland's water supply has fluoride added, (and sometimes aluminium sulphate, lime, caustic, iron and manganese) and conditioners do not claim to be able to remove this. I've been told that fluoride will evaporate in 24 hours if water is left to stand. Sometimes water treatment plants clean their plant with chloramine which is extremely toxic to fish. There is an element of russian roulette in that if you happen to do a water change after they've cleaned the treatment plant and there happens to be too much residue washed into the system that happens to reach your house (which can be up to five days later), well... The chlorine that they use to disinfect the water is supposed to be at a within the range of 0.3 to 1.5 mg/L but if you look at the annual reports then you can see that it has peaked at over 2.5 mg/L on rare ocassion. (By the way the pH is supposed to be 7.5 to 8.5 except for Rodney where it can get to 9.5) In my opinion you probably run more risk of killing your fish with natural pyrethrim in fly spray used at the other end of your house. But I use conditioners and I won't even store fly spray in the house. (I also fill my tanks directly from the garden hose). As Discusguru said, how valuable are your fish? For most people, the money that they saved from not using conditioners could replace their guppies etc several times over.

Well it seems that we all have guppies that just decide to die . I've noticed that whenever my population gets too large several will die, sometimes with no warning. I can have no problems for several generations then some will start to get skinny and lethargic or some will start rubbing against things. So I've found it pays to be ruthless and just remove them. I've been told that imports are bred in outdoor ponds where they feed in the muck that has been there for years, so they often come with parasites. For that reason I've avoided getting any new guppies for more than a year. I try to minimise the risk of inbreeding by having several males and females breeding at the same time. It's taken longer than normal to develop my blue tailed blondes but I have less bent backs and other problems than when I first started . Knowing what I know now, if I was to start again I would pay the price to get some really nice guppies and immediately dose them with prazi then levamisole and then furan 2 to treat any possible gill flukes, internal worms, bacteria or fungi . And if I was to introduce any new ones I'd put them through the same regime. I'm not a fan of random dosing but for those starting with a really good strain of guppies I'd follow the "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure philosophy". I'd usually fall into the opposite camp and say that you shouldn't treat unnecessarily and I certainly won't try to defend random dosing as it is generally unethical. But my experience with guppy borne parasites getting into my community tanks has shown me that I would not have needed to treat all of my fish so many times if I had dosed the guppies for everything at the start. Perhaps better strategies would be to quarantine all new guppies for longer than normal or preferably breed them in a different tank and add the new fry to your population rather than introduce the outsiders directly to the gene pool. And I apologise for the long rant. :lol:

Mondo isn't an aquatic plant either. Time to get an new LFS .

I find that mine are the best loach for those tiny snails. Better than shunks, yo yos, angelicus or clowns.

Yes, definitely. Planet catfish has pictures of 2 different hybrids: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/index.php?task=&genus_id=1&family_id=1

That's what i was told when I bought mine from the first batch brought into NZ. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that several shops had them in stock last week . It gave me the chance to get some more females and some S. sp "spotted" :bounce: . I think the wholesaler is supplying them to the LFS as 'Chinese Butterfly Loach'. Maybe HummingBird, Catbrat or one of the others who work at Jansens or Hollywood Fish Farm could let everyone know. I'm sure that those South of the Bombays would like to ask their LFS to get some in.

Hi HummingBird, are they these? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sewellia-lineolata They're my favorites and I've managed to get them to breed . Or are they these? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sewellia-sp-spotted I've just managed to get some of them last week for my second river tank :bounce: . Beside being bigger and brighter than normal borneo suckers, Sewellias glide through the water as well as cling to the glass and stones like other hillstream loaches. I'd say that fist sized river stones and some algae are the important features of the tank because the feed on micro-organisms that live in the algae (not the algae itself). They love to sit in some current. And they thrive when your filter disturbs the surface which creates more dissolved oxygen. Mine love to sit in the flow from the garden hose :-? when I fill the tank after vacuuming the gravel/water changes. Even to the point of climbing above the level of the tank's water surface as the water from the hose hits the glass.

The Hillstream Loaches are one of my favourite groups of fish (I've currently got over 70 from at least five different species). If your looking for information check out these links from Loaches Online: http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane Most of the borneo suckers in NZ fish shops are from the Gastromyzon genus and usually one of the following three: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-ctenocephalus http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-scitulus http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-zebrinus But my favourites are the Sewellia species.

Hi Lady-Lene, Sorry, it was my spelling mistake :-? . It's JBL SintoMec and MicroMec. MicroMec provides 1500 square metres per litre of colonisation surface and SintoMec provides 1200 sq m per litre. You can imagine how big the biological filter is when you fill a basket with each type 8) . It costs a bit but I think it's worth it and the fish seem to appreciate the low nitrate levels. I've bought mine from several LFS.

Is the list on the MAF site out of date? And how do we find out what the current one is? I heard today that they have decided to stop imports for: Guppies :-? Ancistrus Corydorus and some others. But the list in Appendix D, (which is dated 21 March 2007,) has them on it.

Hi, I know what you mean about the instructions. I have the 2200 and a 2400 plus a science degree and it took me days to decipher the pamphlet. (At least if you spend the extra money for a fluval fx5 you get some understandable information.) Anyways here's my 2 cents worth of advice: a) There is supposed to be a foam pad in each tray. It's more about stopping the ceramic/pumice from falling through to the bottom. b) The short black tube is supposed to be tight into the hole where the impellor goes. c) The water flow is: down through the trays, and then up through the white tubes/holes in the baskets, through the black tube, then through the impellor. The black tube goes from the black inner seal to the impellor. The impellor doesn't sit on the black seal. d) It sound like the black tube is dropping out of the hole which would allow for water to return to the tank without going through the media. e) I find that it takes days for the last of the air bubbles to work their way out of the canister. f) I ditched most of the media (especially the carbon and pumice/ceramic rocks) that came with the filter and invested in several packets of the JBL microtec and sinotec. g) I had to get another impellor for my 2400 as the first one was out of balance and too noisy. h) I prefer my 2200 to my 2400 but both of them are a good price for the flow rate and filter media capacity. Hope this helps. Oh I forgot to mention that if you didn't wash the filter media before putting it in the filter then you'll get white sand like grit getting into your tank.

Just a little update. I had to remove a few plants to put in some flat rocks for the fry who now number in excess of 50 ... ...And I discovered 7 baby lemon tetras :bounce: I'm wondering if anyone else in Auckland has a "river tank" set up?

Spiderman Dog or Cat?

Check this article out http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane then look at these http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-scitulus http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-ctenocephalus http://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-zebrinus They're the main borneo suckers that come in but there are other gastromyzon that I've seen in the LFS. My hillstream loaches all eat JBL flakes.