skippy

Following on from a thread in the Off Topic section, there seems to be a bit of interest in setting up a Northland Club. Have started this thread and copied a couple of my posts in the Off Topic thread as I figured that anyone interested in a Northland Club is more likely to look in here. Anyone interested in a Northland Club PM me and we'll see where we go.

Quack PM JetskiSteve to see if he has a 6500K bulb. I bought 3 14000K 250W off him and they are excellent (actually bought 4 as I broke one fitting it into my Arcadia fitting! - was not a happy camper :evil: ) I know he sells other bulbs as well but not sure what Cheers Skippy

Good thread Ben, hopefully it will keep going. There seems to be a few converting to marine from fresh - GO the dark side

Bummer Evil, It is a shame that you are giving the marines up but I can understand your take on it. It does cost $$$ to set up, stock and maintain a marine tank and I guess a part time job (even a very well paid one) could make that difficult. It may have been the temperature that caused the major problems. Came back from 6 days away to find my tank at 29.9 deg even with a chiller and that was at 5.30pm. Also major case of red cyano. Dropped the chiller thermostat, siphoned and washed the sand and changed 90 litres the next day and it all seems to have come right. Keep on talking to us here and carry on with the "other side" (freshies)

Hey Sixline, welcome to the site. (Is that you in the top right hand side of your photo? Next to the top of the cool column )

:lol: :lol:

Suphew, thats exactly what mine did. Hid in a hole in the sand under a rock for a few weeks. Then there was only one and about a week later both were gone - never to be seen again Hopefully yours will resurface soon Helifax.

I got my Bourneman and a couple of other books from Amazon. Way cheaper than what I could get them for here and surprisingly, they arrived in about 5 days - I was astonished at how quick they got here.

Thats the chap - thanks hazym. And yes I agree his other book on Marine Inverts is good too - I 've got both and refer to them all the time. Haven't personally got anything by Fenner or Calfo but I have heard that they are also very good. There you go ryanjury - we've spent at least $300 for you already

Hi Fish-unit Welcome to marine world Without being rude, if you are a bit tight on the $$ you may want to hold off on the marines. However you go with a marine tank it is going to cost some to set up right and you will have significant ongoing costs (power, lighting bulbs, upgrades (cause you will want to soon enough) ) If you have some money to spend, I suggest that you buy some books and do some reading and research before you get a tank. That will probably save you money from the get go. There is also a wealth of information to be gained from the people and links on this site. Don't be worried about all the techno-speak that you will read here - you can get away with a relatively simple system to start with - but if you have a good understanding as to what you are doing before you start you'll be better of than when many of us started. You have asked what lighting skimmer etc you will need. You will get as many different answers as you get replies. It really depends on what you plan to do. No corals and you wont need metal halides. Corals and you will. As I suggested earlier read and research it before you spend your $$ Putting you off yet? Lastly - ask plenty of questions on this forum. There is some seriously knowledgable marine folks on here that will be able to tell you at least 4 different ways to do everything - comes down to preference. Good luck - it is a great hobby Cheers Skippy

Damsels are a safe bet - if you get a yellow tail blue they will add a bit of colour (only 1 though or they'll kill each other in a tank your size) and they are pretty hardy (and relatively cheap as marines go). Chromis are even cheaper and you can get a little school (say 3 in your tank) - always looks neat. Yellow tang always adds interest and colour but be prepared some $$. If you get a sand shifter like a shrimp goby that will help with tank maintenance (assuming you have sand of course) and the ones I have had always have personality. Have you got any books on marine fish? There are a few good ones around but probably the best reference that I have found (in regards to fish) is Marine Fishes by ??? (forgotten - will post the author tonight when I get home unless someone else can post it before hand). It gives quite detailed info about a wide variety of fish, how adaptable they are to aquarium life, whether they are reef safe, fish size and recommended minimum tank size, eating habits and preferences, etc, etc. If you plan on getting into corals, Bournemans Aquarium Corals seems to be the bible and someone i selling one on TM at the moment.

My one sits in a fair amount of current from one of my streams. It seemed to be perfectly happy there until it suddenly pegged out. The other heads still seem to be OK

Is the red one new. Did you sell it to him Steve?

Yeah that's what it normally does - sort of wraps the edges round to create exactly what you are saying - like a ball with a hole in the middle. My damsel is quite keen on swimming in there and mucking about (so was my anthias until it got eaten! ) This time it was different. It had taken up so much water it is fully extended in all directions. It hasn't balled up this time just been on the piss and bloated :-? No hole to swim into (except I guess the mouth). Back to normal this morning. Accounted for all my fish except 1 of the chromis and my dottyback. The dottyback hardly ever goes around that side of the tank and is pretty shy so unlikely to have been gobbled. It was early and the light hadn't come on yet so they were probably still sleeping - I hope

Nice

You got too many fish in your tank Rocketman? Need to get rid of a few? This mushroom has eaten at least one of my fish - I watched it spit the skeleton out Theres also been a couple of firefish that vanished completely without a trace. The sh'room is the prime suspect.

Mine have split twice since July - its cool eh I like your clown - is it red or just the camera?

Its still doing it Hope it hasn't scoffed a fish :evil:

That is probably your best option. May as well do it now as you will do it sooner or later :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: I've got 370 litres and want about 2.5m long and 1 metre width. Go with the upgrade ryan........................go on.....................do it , do it now.................you know you will want to............one day

No the way you are thinking is fine. When I moved from Auckland to Kerikeri I just took the whole rock with the coral, put it in a poly box, with a bit of tank water in the bottom, covered with newspaper wetted with tank water and sealed with the lid and a bit of tape so it didn't fall off. Just make sure you wedge the rock so it cant roll and crush the coral. What size is your tank? Your clowns will be (relatively) easy to get and look after. Nemo is a percula (or false percula) clown - can't remember which. The true percula has heavy black lines between the orange and white bits (almost or sometimes fusing) while the false has pencil thin lines between them. A small Dori (the blue tang) should be OK in your tank if it is bigger than 100 litres but remember it will outgrow it in time. The book that I have recommends a minimum tank size of 100 gal or 379 litres. Guess it is up to you whether you put a small tang in there but you will probably have to get rid of it at some stage :-?

Suphew wrote: A different tang could definitely be a possibility and I agree - PBT's are very handsome fish. Would they not scrap with a naso as they are kind of similar in shape, markings and colouration (kind off :-? )

Cheers TM xenia - cool Torch coral - didn't notice any "jelly like" stuff on it and it seemed fine when I did a water change last weekend (nothing out of the ordinary). Have just checked the rest of the torch heads and can't see anything on them either. Tangs - thought as much about the naso's - probably not a good idea Have always seen multiple yellow tangs in a tank at the LFS's and wondered whether more than one is a good idea. The yellow tang used to live happily in the tank with a scopas and a blue tang (unfortunately both deceased) and is now getting on fine with the naso after a bit of a sorting out period so maybe he would be OK if I introduce them like you suggested Maybe I can get the old boy to buy a whole new tank for his place and I can look after it for him (he lives in a flat attached to our place so essentially lives with us).

Just took these pics of my elephant ear mushroom. Have seen it doing all sorts of weird things in the past (turning into an inside out ball and an outside in ball and everything in between) but have never seen it take up this much water before. Its pretty bizarre It is about the size of a dinner plate across so gives an idea of size. Side view Top view

Noticed yesterday that my xenia that Puttputt gave me have spawned! or do they self frag? Puttputt gave me a couple of wee stems back in July that have fused together and are now about 15cm high. They are awesome and pulse nicely almost all the time. I now have three new ones about 0.5cm high with 1 or two "heads" each - also pulsing Do they normally self frag? Not complaining mind, rather pleased about it. On another coral topic, one of the heads of a torch coral that I have suddenly up and died this week. The coral has (had) five heads and the rest seem to be fine. The one that snuffed it looked a bit on the "shrivelled" side last week but all the heads seem to look like that on occasions so I didn't worry about it. Then during the week all the tentacles receded, the "foot" started to "shred" and it was all gone in about 2-3 days. Given that the other heads are (at least seem to) be fine, what is likely to have caused this? Finally, on a fishie note, my new naso tang has impressed the hell out of my old man and he has said if I can find another one he will pay for it (or possibly a second yellow tang) (Aren't Dads great) Only thing is, my book suggests one per tank unless you have a "large tank" Mine is 370 litres. Any recommendations as to the suitability of putting two nasos or yellows in the same tank, remembering that the existing ones have been there a while now (particularly the yellow tang who is at least 2 years old in my tank) Be interested in any comments

Fair enough - can't let that happen Nice clowns, they are somewhat inconsiderate when you try and take pics of them to show them off :-? I do quite like the black ocellaris