whetu

By bleach I assume you mean that strong chlorine smell (like an over-chlorinated swimming pool)? I tend to believe my nose and if I can smell chlorine I won't put it in my tank. I endorse others' advice: - Get rid of the sponge as the chlorine will be trapped in it and it will be very hard to get rid of. - Rinse, rinse, rinse the cannister in lots of hot water. - Use double or triple-dose chlorine remover. - Leave it in the sun (when you find it :lol: ) UV and aerated water are both good ways to remove chlorine. Again, trust your nose. It's not worth the risk of chlorinating your fish!

Oooh nice looking tank. A good big piece of driftwood really makes a tank look great IMO. Well done.

I'm sick of not being able to get my washing dry! I'm sick of the inside of the house getting steamed up from showers etc then opening the windows only to have the rain come in! I'm sick of the leak my car seems to have developed so I've got a swimming pool in the passenger foot well! I'm sick of all my shoes being muddy and mud trampled through the house! gggrrrrrr I'M SICK OF THIS WEATHER!

That looks pretty much like my bristlenose (although yours doesn't have bristles on its nose!) Why do you ask?

I think that was David's point. You can't judge everyone by stereotypes. What if I have a lowered fish tank? :-?

What size is the tank, and what shape? Both the clown loaches and the red tail shark establish their territory based on the base area of the tank, and they can both get quite big. As mumzy said, make sure they all have plenty of places to hide - plants and 'soft furnishings' as well as caves and tunnels, just so they can get out of each others' sight-lines and ease off the aggro a bit.

When you select a thermometer at the pet shop, take them all off the rack and line them up in order of the temperature they are currently showing. Then buy the middle one. Also, use the thermometer to judge the water temperature, not the thermostat on the heater. I have NEVER had a heater that is even vaguely accurate when set to a certain temperature.

I don't think people are worried about anaerobic gases hurting their plants - I think it's more an issue of the fish being harmed when the gases build up then suddenly release.

I think it might be a form of Lilaeopsis ... isn't there one called zealandia? Like this one: http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type ... tic&id=608

No I'm not a bike! :oops: But I do ride one. Over the harbour bridge twice a day, rain or shine or crazy wind!

I totally, absolutely agree. If in doubt, turn your lights on! (Not your parking lights.) This especially applies to dark coloured cars but really everyone should do it. As a motorcyclist I always ride with my lights on and it amazes me to see people who haven't turned them on in the pouring rain and gloom. You see one car go by and then another in the distance and then ZOOM you realise there was another one in between that was invisible!

Wow. Give it a few years and that root-ball will make great driftwood for your tank

Oooh beautiful plants! That lotus really comes into its own in an open-topped tank - you can really appreciate the size & markings on the leaves.

Personally I would put the chilly bin in a warmish place, wrap it in a blanket and leave it. No need for a heater. If you put a heater in there you are running the risk of it touching the plastic sides and causing problems. Your heater would be more useful in the new tank to stabilise the temp before transferring the fish.

:lol: I've had three of my loaches for seven years, two for four years and one itsy-bitsy recent acquisition. Interestingly one of the seven-year-olds is about 12 cm long, but the other two seven-year-olds and the two four-year-olds are about 9 to 10 cm long. So there is obviously individual variation in growth rates, and they also go through growth spurts rather than growing steadily. When I started they (the first 3) were in a two-foot tank. In a couple of years I got a three-footer and now I have them in a four-footer. In another couple of years I anticipate I will have to get them a six-foot tank. Sweetysmum on this forum has a clown loach that is 25 years old and about a foot long, so mine are just babies compared to hers.

hmmmm... well if the pH is around 7.0 then I can't see that being the problem after all... And the addition of media from the other tank should mean you've minimised any ammonia spike... You're going to double-check your temperature... And I thought rasboras were pretty hardy... Sorry, I think I've run out of ideas!

JK, with regards to clown loaches: I agree that they would be ok in this size tank for a while as they do grow slowly. But they need to be in a school, and they do live a long time and grow very big, so eventually virgil will need to up-size the tank or get rid of the loaches. Some people find it difficult to part with a fish they have had for a long time, so there are a lot of clown loaches living in tanks that are too small for them in less than ideal conditions. The idea that fish constrain their size according to the size of tank they are in is out-dated in my opinion. This is something people often say to justify keeping fish in unsuitably small tanks. It goes along with the goldfish-in-a-bowl kind of thinking that was popular many years ago. When there are so many other kinds of loaches, cories etc to choose from for the bottom of the tank, I think it would be a shame for virgil to see clown loaches as one of the best options when (IMO) they are not. Edit: sorry JK I just re-read that and it sounds a bit harsh :oops: I didn't mean it to sound so critical, it's just I have clown loaches which I've had for about seven years and if I had really understood then what I know now, I probably would choose a different kind of loach that wouldn't grow so big.

More neons! Always more neons! There's nothing as gorgeous as a huge school of neons! (I think you get my drift :lol: ) Also tiger barbs can be aggressive and nippy, especially if there are only a few in the tank. So now you'll need more tiger barbs! :lol: Ok now you've got some active, colourful fish for the middle of your tank so you'll be needing - Something for the top layer - Something for the bottom - Something to keep the tank clear of algae I would recommend a bristlenose as your algae-eater because they're tough and cool-looking and you don't need a whole school of them, and they will stay smallish. But wait until your tanks a bit more mature, boost your other schools, and wait for the algae to begin growing before you get a bristlenose. (probably a few weeks will do it)

I'm with you Caryl. They make me laugh to read them here but anyone who actually used one of these lines on me would stand no chance of ever recovering from that moment of poor judgement! :roll:

Yeeahboy didn't you just do a blackout and algae-fix treatment to get rid of green water? Sounds like something has got seriously out of whack in your tank! Can you describe the slime some more (a photo would be even better). - What shade of green is it - dark, light, bright? - What is it growing on - glass, plants, water surface, substrate? - How does it behave - does it peel off in sheets? Does it break up in the current or hold together?

I second (third?) the pH suggestion. There aren't many things that will kill a fish that fast. Take a sample of the tank water to the shop where you bought the fish and ask them to test it, then compare it with the shop's water. A pH difference shouldn't prevent you from keeping these fish - it just means you have to acclimatise them VERY slowly. Please let us know what the results of your water test are.

I actually got some washing dry yesterday! I know... amazing isn't it! :roll:

Near large plants I sometimes just dig my fingers in around them to make sure they have enough air reaching their roots. The only time it's a problem would be if the plant died off and left a dead mass of roots under the surface that started to rot. Live plants do an excellent job of keeping the substrate aerated.

Oh my goodness those are TERRIBLE. I was on a train in the USA when a guy sat down next to me. Him: "Did it hurt?" Me: "Did what hurt?" Him: "When you fell down from heaven" I actually burst out laughing because I couldn't believe anyone uses lines like that. Unfortunately the train took 24 hours to get to its destination and I was stuck with the guy next to me the whole time. Turns out he was just as sleazy as one would expect using a line like that. :roll:

If you're syphoning the gravel regularly & stirring it up a bit, there is no reason why it should develop dead spots. If there are some areas you can't reach with your syphon, just run your fingers through it once in a while to make sure oxygen can get in. You should never need to change your gravel.