davidb

hey all- I AM FINALLY GOING MARINE! I just got myself a 200L tank with return pump, stand, lights and sump. I haven't picked it up yet but the only lighting on it are three flourescent tubes (no metal halide). Am I right that if I want soft corals which are easy growing I will get away without a metal halide, and for hard corals a metal halide is compulsary. Also I do not have a skimmer- I have read that a skimmer is essential if you are keeping corals, is that correct? Or is there some corals you can keep without a skimmer. The sump is a 60 30 40, and it comes with a refugium included. I think that is all I can tell you at the moment- I let you know more when I know more but yeah.. can some smart cookies answer my questions please? :lol: :lol:

this one is cool: oh yeah and the Aphyosemion loennbergii is here!

no i don't belong to nzka yet- i'm not even a member of auckland fishkeepers yet because I am always busy when they have their meetings- I'll be there at the Jan meeting though-PROMISE- Na haha I really want some Aphyosemion loennbergii but apparently they are really difficult to keep in aquariums... any lyretails would be cool though. I am completely out of money though now, as I have decided to set up marine tank. by completley I mean I have $5 IN SPENDING ACCOUNT AND NON IN SAVINGS!!!!!!!

I got the java moss from hollywoods in mt. raskil(no.2) I can't remember what was in the tank with it though which is annoying lol. It will be booted when I get my killies though lol- Unless it is really rare!!!

crazyest ever- I was just doing some work on my small planted tank today and I see what I first thought was a baby tadpole swimming around. I thought that was a little odd as my tadpole tank was next to my planted and I couldn't see how it could have jumped. my mini planted tank doesn't and never has had fish in it. Upon closer inspection I saw it was a little baby fish of some description! Its really strange because the last plants I bought which it could have been in was some java fern about 3 months ago! so yeah I have a new baby!

I was just thinking that I could have 4 silver dollars with a couple of sharks (red tailed) and maybe some rainbows.. would that work? I like the look of rainbowfish... I want fish that are reasonably large...

yeah the only problem with it is that it is pick up only

yes le me know aswell. So far it looks like my puffer isn't interested in any food- live or dead. I think he has eaten 3 wcmm's since i have had him (since sunday)

hey I am setting up a 180 litre tank and want 4-5 silver dollars. what other fish will be compatible with this fish. I also want some black ghost knives and some tire track eels, will these be compatible?

na he definatley is an arrowhead-he looks just like yours with a arrow on his head but the arrow isn't as definate as the marking on your puffer. my puffer prefers to hide in log tunnels during the day

why are you running 200 watts on a 50L tank?

you can use flora root as a substrate fert (its made by red sea). I dose with fourish and flourish iron. (Wunder also makes dosage fert which i have used in the past instead of flourish)

yeah thats what I heard, however I haven't een my puffer dig... my pH is about 7.2 also, temp 25-26, ammonia,nitrates and nitrites = 0ppm

i'll try to snap a pic when he comes out tonight. Do you add water hardner fishy-T? Auckland tap water is really soft- it has a GH of 3 to 4...

haha- Looking after the green spotted puffers at the zoo is good fun... The coolest is our octopus at the museum though!!! I really like puffers because they have so much personality, I remember reading in PFK that they are likened to helicopters if other fish are areoplanes because of the way they swim and their shape

yeah I put some of my snails in... I will prob get him some small angels or white cloud mountain minnows

I am getting some glosso and I want some riccia. would Java ferns be ok with glosso and riccia in a 38 L tank or would it grow to big( given that I need more light and CO2 for the riccia and riccia

well he had been feeding him live food but he also said he had been feeding dead-food

hey as some of ya know I picked up an arrowhead/mekong/pignosed puffer om the weekend. He is happy and fine and swimming round the tank but he does not seem interested in food. I know he can go a week or so without eating but I get paranoid I have tried him on mussels and mussel pieces and even ox heart (i know its not the best for them but thats what the guy said he was being bed) he seems more interested in doing acrobatics jumping out of the water to greet me rather than eating. I am thinking perhaps I will get some live fw shrimp and get him to try and eat that... Any thoughts?

hey does anyone use that betta peaty water? Can you even get it in new zealand? I saw in PFK a few months ago and it is apparently really good for fighters. it is in concentrate form...

yeah haha he just PMed me :lol: :lol:

apparently the guy I bought it from had 2 and mine ate the other one he had it with an angelfish and I asked him if it was ok with them, he repled "well i used to have four of them..."

I picked it up today and yep its a Arrowhead/ pig-nosed puffer (Tetraodon suvatii) He is so awesome, however he likes to stay in one of those big plastic fake logs I put in there. I will start up the lights and start feeding him tomorrow. The guy who had him had been feeding him lots of ox heart which I think has too much protein for the puffer so I will be trying to get him to eat freshwater mussels, crabs legs, krill, shrimp etc... does anyone else have one of these puffers?

nice tank. how many litres is it?

it could just be static from the stand. Often when I go to work in the mornings at the museum I have to touch all the metal display lids with a piece if wood or something to ground it. I don't know the science behind it as I am a biologist not a physicist but it seems to stop me getting zapped when I'm feeding the fish :lol: :lol: