Adrienne

What are you using to cycle the tank - neons?

A few days short of 3 months old and I have had two seperate the two biggest males - the first picture shows them squaring off against each other this morning. The reason - a huge bubble nest and a lovely female full of eggs and barred up. Heres the last pic - the next one will be when they are ready for selling in 5 weeks.

nz couriers - don't ring and ask if they will take it as depending on who answers they might say no. bag and heatpack it, tape the box securely, label it 'fish; address it and take it to the depot late afternoon but before 7pm. They do take them, I've been using them for about 3 years with no problems.

You're welcome. I came home tonight and have bubble nests in both my 4ft tanks. Hope they don't think they are going to breed while I'm gone!

Heres another updated pic. Two are significantly bigger than the rest (body 3cm+) and then theres about another 4 (all males) and then the rest. I can identify 3-4 females already so am pleased. I was going to divide off part of the tank into three (for the 3 biggest and nicest males) using the dividers that you used to be able to buy. The tanks 30cm x 30cm but I can't get them up here, apparently they aren't imported anymore. If anyone has three dividers that I could buy please let me know. So instead I bought a lot more floating plants for the tank.

Has anyone been to Mykonos - I'm wondering what the airstrip is like.

Yeah suppose so. IMO its a shame he woke me to put the fish back in instead of doing it himself! :roll:

One of my SAE jumped out on Wednesday night. Still don't know how. My son was up watching tele at midnight and when he turned it off he could hear a funny noise. Searched around and saw the fish in between the tank and the wall. Thank goodness for nets with long handles! Shoved him back in the tank, fluff, dust and all. He wasn't moving really but apparently half an hour later he swam off. Still looks a bit scraped but is okay. No idea how long he had been out for.

Hubby and I are off to the above in two weeks. Flying into Rome via Seoul, then onto Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Samos, Kusadasi, Istanbul via Troy and Gallipoli, Cappadocia, Venice, Milan, Bologna and back to Rome then home. Any suggestions of places you think we should visit while we're passing through. Doing the Vatican, St Peters, The Last Supper and of course the Ducati factory already and also ballooning over Cappadocia. We've been to Istanbul before so are heading off to the Grand Bazaar as well.

They are very very nice looking curtains!

From your description I would think that he had some sort of stroke, sometimes they survive like it and sometimes they don't. IMO 1 1/2 - 2 years old is pretty good for a fish kept in captivity. I am surprised that you could get a surviving spawn off him if he was older than about 10 months as I find at that age they really don't do any good at raising fry.

Do you mean the flourish excel? discus can handle it but not double doses. Best to mix it with some tank water before putting into the tank so that it is not as concentrated. JBL fertiliser balls work well on the heavy root feeders like sword plants, just be careful not to disturb them unless you want dirty water.

no CO2, and I no longer have the twisted val as it didn't like the flourish excel. Will be revamping it later this year and hope to get hold of a bigger variety of plants.

mines painted on the outside of the tank.

How big was he?

Sams right - will be back mid Oct. I didn't add that theres about 120 flighters in those two tanks! :oops:

Heres mine Used Daltons propagating sand as the gravel. The bottom pic is the original setup. The tanks 450 litres, and I run an FX5 on the tank. Lots of driftwood keeps the pH at 6.

I've closed down 15 of my tanks and only have 2 running atm.

Congratulations, he's gorgeous.

If females get too fat they won't breed as the egg tube (ovipositor) becomes obstructed by the fat. Unofortunately if that happens they will not be able to release the eggs either and will become eggbound. As I've said before the only time my fighters get dropsy is if I feed bloodworms and then its never just one fish but two or three within about 10 days. No bloodworms - no dropsy! But then again others feed it everyday and if their fighters get dropsy they aren't saying. Its a fine fine line between conditioning and aiding their early demise ime.

Jebo also do a small heater.

You've got to be joking! Theres no way all that would fit under that tank!!!

try Billaney - I'm pretty sure he's bred them in the last year

try your local dr's or chemist for a polybox, heatpacks from your lfs.

NZ Couriers does take them, don't ask them just arrive at the depot with them packed and labelled and tell them they always take them. Will cost you around $22 - $25 to send once only. I manage to do it for slightly cheaper but not much by purchasing books of tickets which cut the courier price by about $2 and purchasing bulk heatpacks.