rollergirl

It's a gardneri blue Still in there as of this morning and seems to be happy as!

It's been a while since I've posted but I just had to share my amazement at what I found today with you guys.... I moved house about 3 months ago and in the process broke down the little 21 litre jebo tank I had been using to breed killies. It has since sat in my cold basement bedroom, half full of water, unlit, unheated and unfiltered, the whole time. Well today while doing water changes on my other tanks, I thought I might as well set it up again for a nice crowntail fighter when one comes along...Imagine my surprise when after filling it up and turning everything on, I see a tiny wee killie fry happily swimming about on his (her?) own! :bounce: :bounce: I know killies like it cold but the water was blimmin freezing (well it felt like it to my hands anyway- was sitting at 18 C on the thermometer so all things considered that's probably quite balmy, lol) Still put a smile on my dial anyway! My little survivor is now darting in and out of the plants in his newly decorated tank, slowly being brought up to a slightly more tropical temp (have set heater to 20C so it doesn't give him too much of a shock) So it looks like I won't be adding that crowntail for a while now, lol Anyone else got any stories of survival against the odds they'd like to share? I've heard some crazy ones about convicts breeding outside in inch deep water before...that's !!!!

I think I sold you those rams on trade me? Good to hear they are doing so well for you, were gorgeous little fish!

I really enjoyed it Some of those planted tanks were awesome

Half left is still great going, I doubt if there'd be that many left in the wild at this stage! Congrats on your good work so far and Good luck!

Killies, betta or honey dwarf gouramis?

Hehe thanks it made an awesome festival dress...I felt like a giant lollie! :lol:

First time I've done this so let's see if it works! Me up a tree at Splore Festival 08..

They have a pretty good range! Think I'll still go for the Granite as it looks to be closest to what the inspirational picture has (anyone checked it out btw?) ... It's very much black gravel. But may pop into Stone and Water word and check out what their darker stuff looks like wet anyway, I'm always keen for a bargain 8)

I'm pretty sure that is the Brightwater type gravel which I have in some of my tanks and does look lovely...Just not quite dark enough for what I want this time around

Ohhh FACEPALM lol I totally read the auction wrong. Too late for me maybe! :lol: So you don't think granite will raise Ph too much then? I think it looks pretty good in that case!

Thanks DantezGirl, it looks dark enough just worried it might make the Ph too high for my apistos, being Calcium Carbonate...Hmmm...

I mean really dark! Looking at setting up a new planted freshwater tank (well actually just merging a couple of smaller tanks into one larger one) and I have been trawling across planted tank forums for inspiration. I found one that I absolutely love the look of (heres the link if anyones interested: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myTanks/20-yoink.html ), he calls the substrate "Tahitian moon sand"...but I doubt this is available in NZ? I was just wondering if anyone here knows of where I could find something of an equivalent shade? The darkest I've seen is Brightwater gravel which is more of a muddy grey colour as we know... I really want something a bit more dramatic. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

They might live for a while in tropical but if the temp gets too high and they cark it there is the potential of them polluting your tank... Which wouldn't be good!

I'm not an expert, but you might find that increasing your numbers of each type helps to spread aggression amongst them and stops the 'runts' being picked on as much? As this is typical schooling fish behaviour (from what I have observed anyway)- the biggest and strongest are constantly picking on the littlest in the group and they end up a bit disadvantaged. If you have a bigger group there's less chance of it always being the same fish getting picked on..

There are some pretty good silk plants out there these days that look very similar to the real thing

You might be able to get your TDS level tested for free at a swimming pool shop? The one I used to work in up here tested for TDS... Can always try

I don't have an undergravel filter so will just go for it then 8) Cheers for the quick replies!

I had a re-arrange of my planted tank today and got rid of all the indian fern that was growing along the back of the tank and blocking the light from my plants at the front. Now I've decided I like the slightly barer look better, I want to move my 'showpiece' sword slightly back so that it is more centred. It's pretty well established (grown in tank from 10cm to 25cm+ over about 4 months), I think the variety is Marbled Queen Sword. I'm assuming it will be pretty well rooted, do I just dig around the bottom of it to get the roots loose then move over? Don't want to damage it if possible. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Only small, it's a 120L hex. He is going to go into a 4+ foot FOWLR when we buy a place (which fingers x'd should be within the year). He's only a bubba (about 5cm long maybe) so has plenty of room for now :lol: I'll try and borrow a cam to get pictures of him so I can show him off

I have one in my fish only (well mostly fish only, tank has a few softies in it but he hasn't eaten any *yet* :lol: ) Called Spike Lee. He is so great, I could spend hours watching him flap his little fins around. Knows me already and swims up and down the glass begging for food whenever I come near 8) I definitely recommend them if you have a spare fish only tank, personality wise he is the coolest and most 'interactive' fish I've got. PS I was lucky enough to have my fiance buy him for me too :bounce: Hehehe we are lucky girls Jasmine!

If you're worried about nitrite level a water change won't hurt

Nice tank Sapphire, loving the rockwork

The male also gets long red extensions from his tail fin as he matures which the female will lack... Bit hard to tell when they are young though.

Is there any redness around the gills of the fish? This can indicate ammonia in the tank...Might be best to have the water tested just in case (hopefully your pet shop should do this for you and save you having to buy the kit if the results show no ammonia or nitrite- this would indicate that the tank is cycled). Keep up with water changes in the meantime, and maybe lay off washing the filter sponge (even if it is in aquarium water) until things have settled, I think in my tanks I wash the filter out maybe once every 2 or 3 months (when the flow decreases basically). What size is the tank btw? And what are you feeding the fish? Could be diet related... Hope this post hasn't confused you, good luck with your fish I'm sure you will find a whole lot of helpful advice on this forum