Jacko

I’m only guessing here but perhaps what some people have found abhorrent in this video is the fact that the mouse is torn apart, rather than being consumed in one go. fishboi is that why you found it sick, or is there another reason?

I don't know Mystic, here is the rest of the text I found on Piranha facts: Stories about schools of piranhas turning horses or people into skeletons within seconds are the result of numerous re-tellings and exaggerations over the years. While piranha schools can reach over a thousand in count, and bites do happen, there are no documented reports of someone being killed in a piranha attack. There are, however, documented cases of people dying from other causes and then being consumed by piranha (they just happened to be the scavenger that got there first). I personally wonder how much those doco producers whip up the animals they are filming to make it look more interesting for their viewers. I went suba diving with reef sharks last year, and I can tell you I was a bit apprehensive at first, having seen a few doco's on them. But they turned out to be so docile it was a little let down in the end! :-?

Maybe the guy who featured in the video

Unfortunately Wok, you better hope that those Scum Bags can't swim as the piranha will not touch them... Alleged danger to humans Piranhas generally pose no threat to humans. Natives frequently swim in piranha-infested water without attacks or scratches. However, it is not recommended to swim where piranha live in drought season because of increased aggressiveness caused by food scarcity and increased tendency to form large schools. Piranha fish also have the same sensory system that enables sharks to detect blood in minuscule amounts, so it is believed that swimming with an open cut may enhance the chance of an attack, yet Piranha fish rarely try to eat animals much larger than them.

Thanks Penejane As I say it was just a matter of interest. I work out that a tank with those dimensions is around 477 L the website quotes that it is approx 400 L. I have the space and a perfect place....just not the money

Warning this is quite graphic...... I searched on Piranha at www.break.com It returned a number of video's like this one. http://my.break.com/Media/View.aspx?ContentID=127534 Best to have broadband to view.

What is the largest commercially made tank you can buy in NZ? You know like those Juwel’s where you get the stand and all the gadgets included. I note that Aqua 1 market a 'R2 180' which is 540 litres, anything larger than that?

Hi Caper Yep got our tank. Posted a couple of pic's: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/jackos ... 14205.html Goldfish now in and I presume happy???? Regards Paul

Well everyone, we went to Organisms today and bought ourselves a 60L Aqua World tank, along with filter, substrate, some plants and a small piece of driftwood. My daughter is now a fully fledged Organism Club member and we also eyeballed a few other species which should be suitable residents when we get the tank established. We have also bought some MDF to place under the tank, hopefully to distribute its weight. I know MDF is not ideal with water around, but I have given it a few coats of paint. If it doesn't work I will try some of that melamine shelving you can buy at Placemakers. We have washed the substrate and a few rocks we intend in placing into the aquarium all ready to setup over the next few days. For the backing we went to the Stationary Warehouse and found some of that corrugated plastic sheeting (sort of like corrugated cardboard) We are not too sure if it can be painted, but we will try using acrylic, if not, the blue colour is probably OK anyway….The rot sets in.

Yep we will be doing the rounds this weekend looking for a tank to buy Are there any other fish/creatures we can stock with our goldfish other than snails, which are readily available from a LFS?

Fantastic idea Caryl. Just the activity for the school holidays!

Excellent info everyone Thanks. Seems this is for my daughter's proposed new goldfish tank, I will probably stick to something simple. Cheers Paul

Thanks Caryl. Forgive my ignorance, but with the last option you mention, would that be placed inside or outside the aquarium? If inside would you attach it to the back with silicone?

Hi I was wondering what the forum consensus is on backings for tanks. Do many of you experts go for those commercially available products? Or do you create your own. I have done a search on this site and read the article by Rob Torrens. His advice around painting a sheet of polystyrene and taping to the back of the tank seems logical and to me. Any other thoughts/suggestions? Regards Paul

Yeah Caryl, I was thinking about the weight today. The current tank sits on a chest of draws, hardly designed to take a large weight. The other thing that occurred to me was in the case of a reasonable size earthquake there may be an issue with large tank, although the draws aren't too tall, probably a metre by 600 deep. I'm guessing that a 60L tank would probably be the maximum I would want to risk. I can quite happily sit on the top and weigh round 83Kg and the ‘foot print’ of the tank will be considerably larger than my backside.

Hey everyone, thanks for your great advice. Suphew, I have just looked in the phone directory and there is a place called Canterbury Aquariums in CHCH, which evidently makes custom made glass aquariums. Does anyone know if they would be a goer for my situation? Anyway on the above advice, I will probably buy a larger aquarium than I initially intended and will look at a new one rather than second hand....probably best for a newbie. Thanks again. Regards Paul

So a 4 foot tank would be around 200L? And you are right Magenta, I haven't yet worked out how to hide the purchase of a glider in the normal household budget...not to mention how I hide it in the garage :-? Now if I was to buy a glider and a tank at the same time and mumbled something about the tank being more expensive than I thought...

Thanks for the info Sharn. So you feed twice a day? Would that be standard for most community tanks? We have realised that we are over feeding our gold fish and cut it down considerably. :oops: I quess tropical fish are different. Regards Paul

No Magenta I haven't heard of Organism. Will check them out sometime soon. And Sharn you can be rest assured that if I go for the tropical fish, I will start with something pretty simple. BTW, do any of the forum members notice a difference in their power bill with all these electrics running? And how much work is something like a community tank? What would be a typical week of maintenance? Does the size of a tank increase the work? Regards Paul

Yep, went to Redwood Aquatics today...though I left the chequebook at home Had a walk through their tanks, and quess what, we have the perfect space in our living room for a Vision 450L I'm confusing the wife now though, as I have been talking about my dream glider which happens to be a Discus, and there is a cool picture in the Juwel brochure of a Vision 450 stocked with..... discus 8) Paul

I've just come across this site by doing a Google and thought I would join up. I was really just looking for information on gold fish. Perhaps I should introduce myself first. My interests most revolve round sports, I have mountaineered for the last 20 years both in NZ and Europe. I have pretty much retired from that as the dangers are quite unacceptable when raising a family! I also rockclimb which is quite safe and fantastic to do on a nice sunny day (not many of those recently). Since giving up mountaineering I have taken up flying gliders (sail planes) and this takes up quite a bit of time....and money I also swim in a squad, which is really the closest I have been to any sort of aquatic pursuits! Not to mention skiing and cycling! We purchased a small plastic tank (I think 10L) for my daughter in September last year and the two surviving gold fish are getting really big. So I started to look on trademe for a small aquarium...and followed links and was impressed by some of the pictures I saw...never know may become another MTS in the making Anyway I note in the questions on trademe people quite often ask about the age of aquariums. Is this because the silicon deteriorates over time, or is it because the glass has more chance of having clips etc which could affect integrity? What do the experts think of this one? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... d=60812797 Should I ask the seller to fill it first to make sure there are no leaks? What would the experts suggest we use as a lid? (do we really need one?) I though we could move up to a 30L aquarium, they seem to be retailing for round $60, is this a fair price? Would I need to buy a better filter, the one we have came with the set and just sticks to the side on suckers? I would assume it is the lowest spec model. Anyway thanks in advance for your comments/suggestions. Regards Paul