whetu

First!

Very, very nice! Good work and congratulations to all who were involved.

I find those chemical-free cleaning cloths work really well. There is a cloth with a coarse weave (I can't remember if it's sold as a "glass cleaner" or a "bathroom cleaner"). My tank glass has never looked better!

LOL excellent description. Can you post pics? I suggest you give them a go in the tank, but keep an eye on them. If they start to disintegrate they can block the filter and cause problems with water quality, so be ready to take them out. Do you have a spare tank setup you can play with, to save messing up your main tank? Also some plants can be ok if they are acclimatised slowly and the ultimate temperature is not too high. It might be better to collect them from the stream later in the summer when they are already acclimatised to warmer temps.

Just think about where the output is pointing, and where the current will be strongest. You can point the output down-ish, and maybe put a pile of rocks there to break up the current. Most torpedo-shaped fish handle a strong current really well, it's more the ones with the very fancy fins that might have trouble with it. Just make sure you have some quiet areas in your tank where your slower fish can go to get out of the current and have a rest.

Wow! 23 days is an amazing test of the tank's resilience and your patience. Well done. How long ago did this happen? ie how many days since the power came back on? Are you continuing with water changes and/or other measures while the filters re-establish themselves?

105 litres is too small for goldfish as they produce a lot of waste, and can live for a long time and grow quite big. You can keep many varieties of tropical fish in a smaller tank than goldfish. Whether your fish are cold water or tropicals, all fish need care such as making sure the tank is properly cycled, they are put with compatible species, and the tank and filter are properly maintained.

Hi Leah, you work at Bunnings, right? So you are in a good position to increase the amount of light in your tank by making up your own wonderful light fixtures and putting a whole lot of different tubes in them! Hooray for you! Because you're setting up your tank right from the start, now is the time to think about what substrate you are going to grow your plants in. Most other things can be changed around as you go, but substrate is way easier if you set it up properly right from the start, because you would need to take everything apart if you wanted to change it later. My suggestion would be Dalton's Aquatic Mix, covered with a layer of gravel. There are a few threads on here talking about Dalton's, but just ask if you need more info.

:lol: Best job ad I've seen in a while. I wonder if he actually does any work or spends all his time talking!

Hi Leah, and welcome along. Go ahead and ask as many questions as you want, we're happy to help. Oooh Bunnings *Is jealous of all the cool things you can get at Bunnings* :bounce:

So just to clarify: you have a bare tank and you are looking for landscaping ideas? So you'd like advice on substrate, background & decor?

I have reported this listing as a breach of TradeMe's conditions. "Pets and animals Dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, horses and ponies, may not be auctioned. These animals must be listed in their correct category as a classified ad. This is to prevent the seller from being obliged to sell the animal to an unsuitable home. You are able to include your contact phone number in the listing." This listing inherently requires the animals (in this case fish) to be sold to an unsuitable home because the 'home' they are in is unsuitably small. I know it's a stretch but it's the best I could do!

Can you put some other potted plants around the outside of the tub too? That will provide some shade (and look nice IMO). The plants in the tub will provide shade for the fish (and maybe give them a chance to hide from predators) but won't stop the water from heating up.

Oooh listen to that! I think I hear excuses! :lol: Our bodies are perfectly well adapted to losing a bit of blood once in a while and replacing it. That's what we have bone marrow for! Being a blood donor (whole blood or components) will do you no harm at all.

Everyone here who is a trademe member should report that listing on the basis that it is cruel to the live animals for sale. That's what I am going to do.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I might try putting him in a separate tank for a while so there's nobody competing with him for food. Although I don't know that competition is really the issue because even when the food's right there in front of him he just doesn't eat it. I've been reluctant to move him from the main tank because I feel like the other loaches with their big appetites might be a good example for him. I was kind of hoping he would learn from them, and with loaches being such a social fish I didn't want to stress him by keeping him on his own. Hmmm... perhaps live food like microworms are the answer, at least until I can get some condition back on him. Thanks again. Any other ideas will be gratefully received.

Afterthought: The creditor who is threatening to bankrupt her is probably pretty desperate too. The consequences for him/her would be pretty unfavourable if your friend has no assets. Effectively the creditor would be writing off the debt. I wonder if they are just using this as a threat to try to scare her into beginning repayments. Sounds like your friend is getting herself into deeper and deeper trouble as long as she has this threat hanging over her. Whatever she does, she needs to take some action and not just carry on as she is doing.

Obviously I don't know the specifics of ttk's friend, but I get really upset when people declare bankruptcy as the 'easy way out.' I'm sure we would all love to spend someone else's money and not have to pay it back, but most of us have higher standards than that. Tiny, I think you should have a stern word with your friend about what she is doing and its consequences for herself and others. Also do tell her that there are other ways out with the help of budgeting services etc. I know sometimes a situation can seem desperate and it's so far out of our control that we just want to give up trying, but if your friend can see how she can regain some of that control it might help her.

Actually that looks awfully unappealing. Why would anyone consider buying it based on that photo?! (Except Dixon of course )

I would imagine the positioning of the bath would be quite important. You'd need to make sure it wasn't in full sun in the hottest part of the day. You could also plant something around the outside of the bath so the leaves would shade the tub and protect it from the direct sun in summer. I wish I had a bath to play with. A bathtub pond sounds like fun. :bounce:

I'm A+ Common as muck! I used to be a whole blood donor but then I changed to being a plasma donor when i lived closer to the proper facilities (you can only donate whole blood when you go to the mobile vans). I used to enjoy donating plasma when I was a student because you could donate every four weeks (they put all the red cells back in you, so you don't have to wait for them to regrow before you donate again). So every four weeks I would give plasma then they let me have as much tea and biscuits as I wanted AND read their newspaper!! Luxury for a poor student! It was my Big Day Out every month! lol! I also think the machine they use is really fascinating. They take out your whole blood, centrifuge it on the spot, then reverse the pump & put the red & white cells back into you and they just keep the plasma. Amazing. They used my plasma to make Factor VIII & Factor IX for people with haemophilia, so I felt quite useful. Unfortunately I can't donate any more as I had cancer a few years ago so I got disqualified as a donor

Without seeing your shelving system I can't comment on its overall strength and stability. All I can suggest is that you secure it against the wall at the top if you are worried about it tipping. You will need to find a wall stud to secure it to.

I've had my biggest three clown loaches since about 2001, and another two since 2004. They have always been piggies when it comes to food, and will eat anything. In June this year I got a new little loach (named Trigger) to join the gang. Trigger never seems to join in the feeding frenzy with the rest of the fish in the tank, and even when a flake floats right past his nose he just ignores it. He doesn't have a go at peas etc sitting on the bottom of the tank, even when there are no other fish around and he has a clear run at it. I noticed this behaviour as soon as he was introduced to the tank, but it didn't bother me because his tummy always looked full and I thought he would catch on soon enough by watching the other fish. But just recently I have noticed he's looking very skinny and I've started to worry. It's a heavily planted community tank with the clown loaches already mentioned, gold barbs, cherry barbs, neons and a couple of bristlenoses. Trigger is bigger than the neons but smaller than the barbs. I feed a variety of dried food including flakes, spirulina discs, JBL novo tabs, Nutrafin sinking tabs & micro granules. I also feed veges like spinach leaves, peas, corn & courgette. Apart from not eating, Trigger's behaviour seems normal. He is active and inquisitive, and does spend time foraging around in the gravel and plants. Any idea how I can get him to eat?

Personally I would use physical methods of removal before resorting to chemical methods. Try scrubbing the ornaments first (use an old toothbrush to get into tricky corners). You can use bleach if necessary, but it is very important to use the right stuff! There are two kinds of bleach you can use: Oxygen bleach - Hydrogen Peroxide. This is my preferred method as it is less harmful to the environment than chlorine bleach. Just rinse well afterwards to make sure any residue is washed off. Chlorine bleach - Sodium Hypochlorite. Make sure you buy plain bleach with no added perfumes or other ingredients. Rinse well after use and leave in the sunshine to deactivate the chlorine.

Oh by the way if the algae is 'bubbling' this might indicate it is rotting and letting off nasty toxic gasses. I would suggest trying to physically scoop as much of it out of the pond as possible, to remove the nutrients already contained in it, and take them out of the pond system. The algae you collect could be used as a garden mulch - just make sure you don't put it anywhere that the nutrients will run back into the water. So that's three steps: 1) remove as much algae as possible 2) aerate using the fountain 3) try to prevent nutrient-rich water running into the pond. In my opinion those three steps should solve the problem quite effectively.