Adrienne

I've only ever seen them as singles in a tank and they look great as a group

IMO it would be worth contacting New Pupuke Aquarium Centre in Auckland and asking Ron the owner (discusguru on these forums) to ship you a high quality fighter down. There is no one in NZ more experienced than he in Betta Splendens.

Good advice from Colour-genes. I bred 1000s over about an 8 year period. There is info in anabantoids on breeding, an article which Josh wrote - its accurate. Moneywise - if you put time, lots of time, and patience into breeding high quality Crowntail you will most likely recoup your costs. It is hard to find high quality male fighters, crowntails with good, strong and even rays to breed from and many of the NZ bred crowntail will not be pure, they will have been crossed with something else ie halfmoon, veiltail - but it is certainly possible. Be prepared for as many as 300 fry from a single hatching and be prepared that it is likely 80% of these will be males, possibly requiring seperation and individual containers from as young as 9 weeks. It is possible to keep a hatch together for longer however they grow at different rates and therefore the biggest but not necessarily the best fins/tails will survive. Once separated or split it is more likely young males will fight.

Post some pics once you are up and running. Everyone likes pictures

I would wait until ammonia was down to 0 as .25 will likely do some damage to the gills of the fish - even if it is not immediately obvious. You could see if a water change brings it down to 0 as it could be a slight discrepancy in the way you have tested. If it does then all will be good to go, just check every few days for the next couple of weeks. What a great sized tank

Hi Frank, not long back from overseas holidays. Give Stowers Plastics in Carbine Road a call 0800 082 000 They might have something suitable but they are not cheap.

Unfortunately there are so many cross bred cichlids in NZ it makes for near impossible ID.

Fighters - long fins/long tails- don't handle a lot of flow directly into the tank as they struggle to swim upright and once tired get sucked in against the uplift strainer. Sponge filters are good, cannister filters where the inlet isn't blowing right across the tank but where the flow is broken down works well. Sponge filters mean more maintenance as they do not pick up all the muck but are very gentle.

I cant help a lot sorry as this was not the tank I converted. I converted my custom 450 litre and had Raymond Klein do the conversion. He designed the sump and did all the plumbing plus I got the skimmer, wavemakers, lights etc from him. He is aquarays (has a website) and valray on trade me. I am so glad I used him, yes I could have gone overseas and purchased directly but it would have given me no back up and he is always available for advice which is great as he knows the set up so well. I know people have converted the aqua ones, I think most put in a sump under the tank. Try asking in the saltwater section as there are a number of experienced marine keepers on here.

We have very limited medications for fish here in NZ as anything with an antibiotic in it is vet only prescription which requires taking said fish and paperwork showing what you think is wrong with it to a vet. In NZ we have praziquantel available from a licensed pet shop but I see you have Kisuri wormer available in Australia. Having used this on my discus when we could get it here I can vouch that it is effective. This vet is reknowned for his work even here in NZ http://www.thefishvet.com.au/

The answer to your question is no, it is not okay. It is very thin and this is possibly due to internal parasites. Have you wormed your fish?

The filter is an internal filter so if its not working it is likely a replacement pump is needed http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/detail/view/aqua-one-ar620-filter-pump/m/2079/

I'm not sure if you are financial members and if not, if you can see the magazine link on the tool bar above - and open it to see the content. I wrote an article for one of the Aquarium World magazines on rainbowfish and pretty much dedicated it to the ones we have in NZ. The magazine is the one with the rainbowfish on the cover. Have a look and see if you can see it, then have a read if you wish.

Black Ghost Knife are semi-aggessive fish which prefer plenty of hiding spots and low lighting, are nocturnal feeders, and due to their size at maturity it is best to keep them in a tank around 600 litres. Kribensis when breeding can also be aggressive and will fiercely protect any eggs. 3-4 males would be good but if you are getting male and female only get a single pair otherwise the males will fight over the females. Cory are peaceful ground dwelling catfish and I recommend a group of six. A 240 litre tank could handle two bristlenose. They are hardy but males grow to 10 - 12cm at maturity.

How big and old are the discus you are purchasing? Small, young discus are notoriously difficult to raise in a planted tank as they require frequent, often daily water changes. Once they reach 6cm you would be able to get by with 20 x 50% water changes per week until they are fully grown (12cm at around 12 months). If you are buying they should be showing 1cm growth per month of their age ie 2 months 2cm, 3 months 3cm. Discus are prone to flukes and internal worms. Going dark suggests that they have died from this problem. Flukes which is a parasite will make them flick around, rub and often one gill fin is clamped. As suggested above you will be getting ammonia readings, even with prime as it locks the ammonia in a non-toxic form however the readings will still show. I would ask the council about ammonia in the water and see what they come back with. With regards to using rainwater be careful how you collect it as sometimes run off can have contaminants in it.

Whats the media in the internal filter?

UV works brilliantly if the algae is free floating in the water column as it is zapped passing through the uv sleeve, and if the flow rate through the uv is slow enough to give it enough exposure. Your problem could be stem plants rotting. These are generally the cheaper plants sold in shops ie 5 for $... And without much of a root structure. Most of these are grown emersed and either take a long time to convert to submersed, if at all.

Rice fish were in the shops 2014 or 2015 until MPI removed them. I can't confirm that they managed to track down the ones already sold.

All rainbow fish are fast constantly moving fish and noes mani get quite large so when planting give consideration to the fact that you will need to leave a large space in the tank for them to zip up and down in. I think that your dwarf gourami, unless they stay well out of the way, may be frightened and injured. This is just from my previous experience in keeping rainbows in s 450 litre tank

Tank is slow progress - at the ugly stage currently. Having a few lighting issues but will sort them next month

If the heat causes a fire good luck trying to claim on the insurance.

If you cover your tank you will need to have your lights off won't you? What's your room temp? I have noticed my heaters on a lot more of late, my tank is sitting at 25.2atm - heater is on. Try cutting out as many drafts around the room as you can and make sure your lid is tight fitting to keep heat in. Has the price of power risen a lot in Auckland - I don't pay power so have no idea of the cost of it

Whats the random filter? Could be pulling more power. A meter will help you isolate which device is sucking up the power.

From your description I would think he has had a stroke. I had a female like that for months - probably six or seven before I used clove oil and put her down.. I don't believe tonic salt is the same as epsom salt, however tonic salt may have some epsom salt within the mix.

I'm not familiar with the tank you are getting - if it is a tank designed to go specifically on a stand as some tanks are with the plastic frames, then they are not designed to go on another surface and particularly not have anything under them ie polystyrene. I would put a solid surface under it. If you get any quakes in that area you will be asking for a cracked tank.