whetu

Nope, not in my experience anyway. I had it mixed in with my gravel and it stayed the same colour for many years.

In general I agree - no need for a fuss. But I have already seen two instances where people pereived a security risk, contacted google and they sorted it out very promptly. First case was a guy who happened to be getting expensive camera equipment out of the back of his stationwagon when the google car went by. They have now blurred the contents of his stationwagon. Another case was a guy who was getting ready to leave for a motorbike event and had a trailer with several high-spec bikes on it in his driveway. The bikes are usually kept well out of sight in a locked garage so again it was just coincidental timing. Apparently google completely removed the image of the house and everything around it so now there's just a blank space! LOL!

I went to the US a few years ago and had some wonderful snake experiences (for someone who had never seen a snake before in my life!) First I stayed with some friends and shared my bedroom with an 8-foot long boa! One of those ones with a very pretty horsey kind of face. Unfortunately the snake hadn't been fed for about eight weeks so it had to stay in its cage for the duration of my visit. Apparently it gets quite grumpy when it's hungry and "likes to eat kiwis as a midnight snack" I also visited a pet shop that sold a wide variety of small snakes. The assistant let me handle a couple of them and I have photos of them climbing up my arms, then all over my head and shoulders. Unfortunately one of them mistook my pinkie for a pinkie It thought my little finger was a baby mouse (its favourite food) and took a bite. The assistant was very quick to get the snake off my finger (I couldn't have done it myself as its teeth kind of slant backwards and it had a good grip on me). They rushed me out into the back room because I was dripping blood on the floor and upsetting some of the other customers. It wasn't the snake's fault and I felt bad that one woman grabbed her children and rushed them out of the store. She apparently thought they were going to be gobbled up by a foot-long baby snake. :lol: Anyway, I suppose there aren't many kiwis who can say they've been bitten by a snake, so it gave me a good story to tell when I got home.

Hi Alan, my local fish store (Hollywood Mt Roskill) sells Crossocheilus Siamensis as Black Line Flying Fox. More info in this thread here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/siames ... tml#369511 As usual, better to use the Latin name rather than the common names to save confusion! Also if you're going to buy one, make sure you have checked out photos and descriptions of the real ones so you can compare the ones in the shops. Better than relying on the shop staff who are often misinformed.

Firstly, congratulations on an excellent post! You've done your research and given us lots of useful information about your tank & conditions. Secondly, the algae problem. If it's the standard brown algae that comes with a new setup, it will take care of itself and will be nothing to worry about. By doing all the other things that make your fish happy and your plants grow, you will find that the algae will simply disappear after a while. If it is beard algae, that's a different story. You will really need to nip it in the bud before it becomes established, as it can be a real pain to get rid of once it's securely attached to everything. I didn't succeed with the Flourish Excel method, and ended up getting a bunch of Siamese Algae Eaters to do the hard work for me. They have done an excellent job. (I have three of them in a 200 litre heavily planted community tank.) Now for two cautions: 1) I don't know how Siamese Algae eaters will handle a cycling tank. In general they seem very hardy, but perhaps someone else can advise? 2) Make sure you get a Siamese Algae Eater (known in some shops as a Black Line Flying Fox) and not a Chinese Algae Eater (which will not eat Beard Algae and will grow very big and aggressive!) There are posts on here and on other sites that will help you to tell the difference.

As others have said, it will get easier once plants are established. Just vacuum the areas that need it - above the gravel in open areas (you don't need to dig right down to the roots) and above the actual plants if you're finding stuff gets caught in the leaves. I suspect if too much stuff is getting caught in the plants it's possible you're feeding too much. My fish spend the next 30 mins or so after they're fed looking carefully through the plants to find any food they have missed! :lol: It's also possible that the stuff in the plants is something like bristlenose poo - the bane of my existence. :roll: They chew on the wood and leave lovely woody doo-doo all over the tank. Won't hurt anything (in fact it probably makes lovely compost for the plants) but I can never get the tank looking really clean, so I try not to stress about it.

Funny you should mention this... I work with the director (David Blyth). We were talking about this doco recently and I mentioned I hadn't seen it. Next morning there was a copy sitting on my desk. I really enjoyed watching it, and I also have the accompanying DVD called "Fish Tank Telly" which pretty much turns your TV (or computer screen) into a fish tank! The DVDs can be ordered through the Digital Wallpaper website: http://digitalwallpaper.net/

I generally feed my fish twice a day, but I don't stress if I miss a feed or two. When I'm away over Christmas/new year they don't get fed at all. So far I have never lost a fish during that time, or seen any sign of stress so my theory is if they're well conditioned beforehand I'm happy to leave them unfed for up to a couple of weeks. Also I prefer to do two small feeds a day rather than one big one. Gives me a chance to watch the fish and make sure everyone's eating well and looking healthy. My usual feeding routine goes something like this: Sinking food in the morning - Wardley spirulina discs or - JBL Novo Tabs or - Nutrafin "Complete food tablets" Floating food in the evening - Nutrafin "Complete micro granules" or - Flake food (random brand) I also feed fruit & veges in addition to the prepared food, and sometimes I feed frozen food like bloodworms or shrimps. On the day I feed frozen food, that will be their only food for that day (I want to be sure they have a good incentive for a thorough clean-up!)

After not showering for about six months I work like human fly-paper. The flies stick to me and are eventually suffocated by my B.O.

I also use the cheap daylight tubes from the hardware store and write the date installed on the end. I have three tubes going at any one time, and stagger the replacements - probably one every six months, so each tube would be about 18 months old when it gets changed.

We don't use any airborne insect repellents in our house. Can't remember the last time I owned a can of fly spray. When we leave the windows open in summer I use a topical insect repellent and simply rub it on exposed skin. (Remember to wash it off before fiddling with the fish tank though!) I have a lovely smelling herbal repellent with things like citronella in a base of beeswax. Yummy!

It depends on the design of the stand. You would need solid timber framing, and make sure the MDF never spans a gap of more than about 300 - 400 mm without support. Also make sure it is sealed all over (including underneath and any cut ends). A good strong design and solid construction is the key. There are a few threads about home-made tank stands on here, and some of them contain very valuable tips so it's worth a search.

When I was in the US a few years ago I noticed the pet stores had a huge range of really realistic-looking silk plants. If for some reason I had a tank that I couldn't grow live plants in, silk would be my preferred option. Apart from having a realistic appearance they were also soft enough to move in the water current, which made them look more appealing than the stiff plastic plants IMO. I haven't seen the same range of silk plants in NZ. I think generally we're more into the live plants than a lot of the people I saw in the US so maybe there isn't the same demand for alternatives.

Hi aaron, it would be quite helpful if you began new subjects in a new thread. You might find that more people read a thread with a subject line that they can relate to - so you might get more answers.

LOL I knew there was no such thing as FREE beer! I may be free on the afternoon of Thursday 11th and/or the morning of Friday 12th. Depends on what work I have on at the time (I am a contractor and work from home on those days). I would be happy to help with any water syphoning/bucket carrying/fish catching duties. Unfortunately (but funly) I travel by motorbike so I cannot bring buckets or other equipment with me. But I am happy to lend my hands if needed.

Poor fishie! Thanks for the great photos though. I have never seen heater burn on a fish, so this may help in the future if one of my fish has a mysterious injury. It surprises me that a fish wouldn't move away from a source of pain - but perhaps the heat receptors in their skin aren't very well developed? In the wild they would be unlikely to encounter anything that would burn them so maybe they have no need to sense heat... My advice for good healing: be really, really strict with your water changes until it has healed up completely. Maybe increase your water change regime to make sure the water is as fresh & sparkly as possible to avoid infection. You can add stress coat to the water to help its protective slime to recover - may be expensive if you're treating the whole tank rather than isolating this particular fish, but I take your point about not being able to catch it without stressing everyone (including the human!) Good luck to you and the pretty fish.

Hail to Alan and your excellent plant knowledge! The leaves of the java fern are so tough it doesn't surprise me to learn that they can grow emersed. I believe anubias are the same? I would LOVE to have an indoor waterfall or an open tank with a fogging system and these plants growing over a natural-looking rock fall. *daydreams*

You'll probably have trouble keeping them anchored to the substrate. Also that much light in a 60cm high tank is really not very much. I have that much in my 45cm high tank, and medium-light plants seem to do well. A lot of plants grow kind of tall and spindly if they don't get enough light. On the other hand it can't hurt to experiment. Try the glosso and see how it goes.

Mine doesn't even need to be tied on. I tied the 'mother' plant onto a piece of drift wood, but when she had babies I just detached them and sat them on top of another piece of wood with a stone on their roots to anchor them. Within a few days the roots had attached themselves to the wood, so I just took the stone away and the plants stay there.

If it looks like green cotton (long threads) it could be hair algae. Trim off the worst affected leaves and remove them from the tank, then you might have to remove the plants and dose them with hydrogen peroxide or potassium permanganate to try to get rid of the algae. Or for a really bad infestation you might be best to throw away the plants and start again.

Hi Annae, welcome to the forums. I don't know what the strange white growth is - especially since you started out with a sterile tank. Very mysterious. As for adding the fish, how many fish do you have arriving at once? And what types? And are they full grown or juveniles? And how big is your tank? If you're thinking of adding a lot of fish at once to a small tank, you will need to go very carefully, do a lot of water changes, and test the water often. By having the filter running on the empty tank you have successfully aged the water (so it won't have chlorine in it any more) but you have not started cycling the tank.

Do you prefer lots of smallish, colourful schooling fish? Or are you a big fish fan? Personally I adore the look of a school of smaller fish, so my tank has colourful barbs & tetras. If going for this option, choose only one or two different varieties and get as many of them as you can. A couple of big schools is much more impressive than a whole lot of different types of fish with just a few of each type.

My boyfriend had a fighter in his tank and he put a pretty glass bottle in the bottom. His fighter would come & go from the bottle whenever it wanted to - it spent most of its time in the bottle though. Funny how they seem to like those confined spaces.

Go to a reference such as Tropica.com. Once you have identified your plants, take a look at their recommended height and spread to see how much space they will need. Also if your tank has low light you might find each plant needs more space than if you have plenty of light.

You pulled his whiskers?!