[Hollywood Fish Farm]

I've been going there for approx 21 years because they have consistantly given the best service.

I've always been impressed with the knowledge of the experienced staff and their training of their new staff. And it's been interesting to overhear some of the teaching sessions throughout the years.

Other LFS have come and gone, through good and bad financial times, but one shop has always been there.

[Hillstream loach questions?]

Have you taken a look at http://www.loaches.com/articles they have some excellent articles.

The main reason for the high flow is to have highly oxygenated water, you need to have disturbance on the surface of the water to drive off the CO2 and help the O2 dissolve.

I've also found that the imported hillstream loaches can be sensitive to nitrates, so water changes are really important, even more so in a 2ft tank.

And I wouldn't worry about them escaping.

Personally I would prefer a three foot tank as a minimum size; but I like big tanks and consider 3ft to be small. I'm also not sure about sand, I use 3-5mm brightstone with large river worn rocks for my substrate.

[Post some pics of your guppies]

Pics of my young males who are just starting to colour up. I've just uploaded the pics

[Post some pics of your guppies]

[growing emergent rushes/reeds in aquarium]

Oi Oi is Apodasmia similis the other native rushes that I can think of are Baumea articulata B. tenax and B. teretifolia, Juncus gregiflorus J. sarophorus and J. pallidus.

But I can't remember their common names and the sizes, I think one of those is Raupo.

[Xing powder blue dwarf male gourami and dwarf honey female]

honey gourami is Colisa chuna

dwarf gourami is Colisa lalia

blue Gourami is Trichogaster trichopterus

The difference in the Colisa species is mainly seen in the tail shape. I think you have two species as the male looks like a dwarf gourami.

The dwarf gourami has a royal red and cobalt blue variety which cross to look like the normal 'wild type'. The normal strain when crossed with a cobalt blue gives the powder blue type. And there is a similar intermediatry type between the royal red and normal types.

The honey gourami also has a few colour variants but I haven't had experience with breeding them.

[Water change with a garden hose.]

They add Fluoride to the water in Auckland, not Chlorine/Chloride.

The only way that you get a Chlorine/Chloride problem up here is if they disinfect the plants and fail to rinse the system properly (non technical version).

[Algae on my Koura]

:lol: Goatee and hairy knees :lol:

[Whos working christmas?]

From 4pm on the 26th December 2008 until 4 pm 2nd January 2009. Literally 24/7.

The 3 am call when you're supposed to be in at work at 7:30 am is the worst.

[New Year '08]

:cry:

I'm Working on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and the day after.

I've been on call since Boxing Day and working during the days as well.

Those 3:30 am calls are the worst.

:cry: :cry:

[Algae on my Koura]

use a syringe to squirt some flourish excel directly on the algae, it'll turn red and die

[Algae on my Koura]

I have visions of a koura with a nice distinguished black beard or even a goatee. :lol:

Or was that a young koura with a bad case of spots :lol:

But if it was green algae you could get a algae eater which he could snack on later. :roll:

Seriously what kind of algae?

[Adtape]

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=23656

Adtape: the brand name for liquid prazi. It's concentration is 37.5g/L. Use 26ml per 100L this gives 9.75mg/L.

[KH and GH]

As an example the water in Christchurch is about 45ppm (about 2.5 GH).

West Auckland tap water has a GH/KH of zero (well, my house does).

[Festive Fishies]

Blue Christmas lights make good moonlights.

[Whats up with these 3 whiptails?]

Its got the same fin shapes

In Sturisoma it all comes down to the fin extensions which you can't see on the pics. But its also the patterns in the armor on the top and underside. I think they're three different species.

[I am sending you this drawing of a spider]

:lol:

[does anyone replace their flouro lights every 6-12 months]

I do. I've got T5 plant pro lamps on two of my tanks (12 bulbs total) and T8s on my other tanks. I write the dates on the lamps and have started to stagger the changes to spread the cost. I've definitely noticed the difference between new lamps and those over 12 months.

[Who else uses this site during work time?]

Yes I do :bounce: .

But I often find things on the forums that are work related. I also log on when I've got a spare 5mins when waiting for someone to show up or if I need to have break from looking at spreadsheets.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

[Whats this ?]

Just guessing, but I think it might be a flower spike from the val.

[native fresh water shrimp]

From the carpark take the footbridge over the stream towards the playground. Shrimp like to hide in the grass that overhangs the edges. I climbed into the water (knee deep) and dragged a net through the underneath of the grass.

[native fresh water shrimp]

so does anyone know where in west Auckland area i can find some or have some spare available

Titirangi Beach and Mill Bay have them, I could show you where one weekend if you want or you could have a couple of mine. Where did you find the limpets?

[open cell sponge for filter]

Pararubber in Carr Rd, Mt Roskil.

They have various thicknesses and pore sizes and can cut the slabs to size. They often have offcuts as well.

[Eheim v Fluvall]

I've got a CF2400 a CF 2200 and 3 FX5's and I wouldn't recommend the AquaOnes to anyone. I've put the 2400 on my ouside pond because it's too noisy, and I find that they're a pain to start after maintenance (by comparrison). I'd ditch the CF2200 if only I could fit a FX5 in it's space.

People who visit are amazed at how quiet the FX5s are and I've had no problems with any of them. But I haven't had any Eheims so I can't do a comparison. All I can say is that I'm very happy with my FX5s and i have no hesitation in recommending them.

[Spawning Bully Pics]

He's Da Man 8)