Organism

Hi Joe, there was probably something lost in translation as we have not directly spoken to you. As has already been said these guys are pretty hard to sex. And we were just confirming that a pair had been put aside for you, not a male female pair specifically. In saying that we made a best guess as to a male/female. Hopefully that turns out to be the case. Kind Regards John

Lol, the order is placed. Now all we can do is cross our fingers. Regards John

If my word counts for anything i can confirm the conch definately had L270s spawn, ive seen them. The parents were purchased from me although i dont remember the exact time. When they were passed on to Mike they were the really big fat and healthy. Regards John

Nanos can definately be done but as i said to you Dixon i think it helps if you have quite a bit of experience with marine tanks in general. This gives you the background knowledge to know whats "going on in a tank" I have an 8 litre pico which has been up and running for the best part of a year and i find it rather easy to maintain and very enjoyable. I think it is important to realise the limitations of a nano, in terms of what you can keep and what the system will handle. I imagine if you had no background it may be very easy to overfeed or get bad coral combinations, fiddle too much etc, that sort of thing Things can definately go bad quickly if you are not watching things closely. In saying that i have not found it any less stable than a larger tank because the bioload is in proportion to the size of the tank. The only thing receiving direct food is one sun coral polyp. The only tricky parameter i have found is temperature. When i had it in a hotter spot it definately wasnt happy. Now i have a good spot it is doing great. All my corals are second or third generation frags so they are hardier than wild corals. Currently i have Green Star polyps, Candy Cane, Rhodactis and Discosoma Mushrooms, Zooanthids, Torch Coral, Xenia, Yellow Sarcophyton, Blue Turbinaria,Yellow Sun Coral, Yellow Polyps,Orange Monti Cap and Some Blue Tip Acropora. The Tank has a Hush 5 Power filter running Seachem Seagel, a 9w Pc Blue/White bulb and a elite mini heater. I do a 50 % water change every fortnight and feed the tank 1 drop of JBL Koral Fluid every day and feed the suncoral a couple of brineshrimp 3 times a week. The seagel is changed every month. Thats all i do for maintenance. I think another point worth adding is this is the only tank i have to look after( with the exception of the shop) so it gets my undivided attention at home. Also i am happy with what it can keep and dont want to try pushing it with too much livestock etc. If i was starting with marine i think there maybe a tendancy to want to keep more corals, fish etc and you may not be happy with a small tanks limitations. Ok i have waffled on a bit more than i planned, just wanted to get my experiences with my pico tank across. Kind Regards John

Haha, you really must let me know when she has your phone. Regards John

Hello, i am now posting marine livestock instore in the commercial section. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/8-vt18 ... ?start=105 Thanks Kind Regards John

Hello, no crowntails at the moment and no sorry we do not currently ship. Kind Regards John

Hey Helena, im not too sure how long you have had your CF100 running for but my guess is that it hasnt yet had time for beneficial bacteria to colonise the filter media and process the turtles waste. The fact that things got messy when you swapped your filters indicates that your previous filter had a good compliment of bacteria, hence clean water. Just try not to touch the filter media in your new filter media for a while (dont wash it for a few weeks at least) this will give time for the bacteria to become established. A bacterial product will help here. TLC seems very good. Do plenty of water changes with a gravel siphon to dilute wastes in the water until those bacteria have a chance to get going and as the "conch" says remove any uneaten food as it will just rot and pollute the water. When you do come to cleaning the filter just rinse the media in some water taken from your tank. (dont use tap water as the bacteria are quite sensitive to different temperatures and water composition, and if you are on chlorinated tap supply then it is a definate no no) There is no need to get the media super shiny clean like new as this will just wash away too many of the good bacteria and set progress back again. In 3 to 4 weeks you should notice that things start to come under control again. ie clearer water with less water changes to keep it that way. Look after those bacteria and you wont have problems, Hope this helps a bit. Kind Regards John

Just a note Caryl, we only open at 10.00am on the monday. Kind Regards John

I believe it is actually Nitella sp, a type of algae. It is quite common in creeks and streams. Kind Regards John

Hey Aaron, yep your friend is right, Volcano rasbora and Rosy barb, Kind Regards John

Hey Amazonian, do a google search for Barbus gelius and you will get plenty of information. Regards John

Dont worry Caryl, the tank already has some algae starting to grow. They also have JBL plecochips which contain wood lignin for digestion. We almost always recommend hardy algae grazing fish as starting fish. In this case GBAs locally bred and raised. This helps keep new tanks clean in the initial start up phase (when algae can often grow quite quickly) We also find that these types of bottom dwelling fish are better suited to picking up any "overfed food" which can happen with new tanks and new hobbiests feeding patterns. We also carefully explain correct feeding amounts and tank cycling procedures. We will be monitoring fluffypants water closely to pick up on any potential water quality problems associated with cycling before they become a threat. We use these types of fish and procedures time and time again with great results. Kind regards John

Hard to say for sure with these types of things, but it looks like it may be a feather duster worm that has lost its filter feeding appendage and left its tube. Have u had feather duster that has mysteriously dissapeared recently? As u say its movement is slow this further makes me think this is what it is as they have poor mobility out of their tubes.