jn

ok.. will find some suitable flakes. Thank you.

Hi everyone, I've got some black moors and am just wondering what food people prefer for their 'fancy' goldfish. I know they can have trouble with swimbladder issues and it seems sinking foods are best, the options seem a little limited though (and I dont need stuff with orange coloring for black fish!). And boy their eyesight is REALLY bad. no way they see the things floating down in the water, so they must be going by 'smell' Do you guys have any favourites? Is feeding peas good too? If so how often? I've currently got Wardley's sinking granules, but the granules are a little small and I think some of them are getting 'lost' in the gravel once they reach the bottom!

Thanks Caryl, I've been away from the forum for a long time so I wasn't sure if he was still active here. I will PM him. Right now the rivers are near flooding again and totally raging with mud from all the rain but I'll go on a plant hunt at the next sign of decent weather!

Thanks Caryl, I'm happy to provide a salad bar for them, I'm sure they'd appreciate the variety. I'm hoping that if I try to plant densely enough that the nibbling will get spread out enough for things to still do ok (and look ok). Has anyone ever put duckweed into a tank? Does it end up blocking too much light? I hear the goldfish will eat it at a good enough rate that it shouldn't take over the whole surface. I wonder if being 'easy access' for them they might leave some of the 'planted' stuff alone. So does anybody have some of these plants they can sell me? I picked up my fish this morning and they're going to be finding it a bit bare in their tank right now! There's only very slim pickings on trademe right now and the plants at my local animates were totally covered in snails! Does anyone know if 'alanmin' still sells plants?

Aaaargh! You said the dreaded "A" word. Ok I dont want to encourage algae. I'll at least wait until the tank is settled. As for trimming, I have some in a smaller tank (just floating in a big mass!) and I'd swear that my BN's chew on it? Is it possible that some fish might be natural 'mowers' for the stuff? I mentioned in another thread, I'm planning on some fancy goldfish (blackmoores)... I wonder if they'd nibble? Mind you I always did want an excuse to buy some of those long handled scissors someone is selling on TM for aquascaping!

Thanks. Actually, I've got some in my pond! I'll dip it for snails etc and move some inside. Had forgotten about that! What else ?

So does/has anyone here had a moss wall for a longer term? Or does everyone eventually give in and tear it down. I bought some gutter guard and suction cups but I'm having second thoughts cause I'm concerned about keeping it clean. Would love to hear from someone who's been happy with theirs! (crikey.. sorry 'bout the typos!)

Hi all, I'm looking for some hardy plants with tough leaves that goldfish would be less likley to nibble on. Do any of you have suggestions for what might e suitable? They would be need be able to handle 'cooler' temps (20'ish) and medium light levels. I've but an WTB ad in the private Trade/Exchange page but thought I'd post here to get some plant recommendations. I think anubias and java fern would be the easiest. I think there might be a tougher leaved hygrophila variety but I don't know what it's called . I'd probably be wary of crypts cause I think my temps are a bit cool for them. I've got some snippets of ludwigia repens that should grow in soon enough I hope. I also have java moss (was thinking of making a moss wall but I'm not 100% sure yet) Happy to receive any advice!

Interesting isn't it This could be the first un-official study into the 'handed-ness' of fishkeepers. Now to know for sure we would have to know if there is any natural skew in the NZ population showing a disproportionate # of lefties in NZ compared to the rest of the world.... OR it could be that lefties, being know to be more creative are more naturally drawn to setting up and enjoying aquariums. We need to lobby the census takers to add a question to see how many kiwis (including foreign/imported ones like myself) are left handed.. maybe NZ naturally appeals to lefties in general?

Reading a thread Caryl posted down there I see a couple of lefties and just wonder if there might be a disproportionate number of lefty fishkeepers. I'm a software engineer and there are definitely more lefties than one would expect to find in the general population in my office... so lets see if it applies to fishy people too! Lefties: 1 Righties: 0

Ahhh... here you go: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... ctylogyrus the Merck manual is like the medical bible.. there's a human cversion too of course..its a primary reference so should be suitable evidence!!

I have treated for gills flukes with Droncit - use 2mg prazi /litre of water (I think each tablet was either 25 or 50mg of prazi per tablet.. check though) I dosed 3 days in a row (2mg/l each time) with no water changeds in between. Then leave it until a week from the first treatment.. do a water change and a good vacuum) 25-50%. And repeat this. Do the same until yo uhave 3 weeks or treatment. If your tank is not heated yo umay want to warm it as much as yo uare comfortable with as this speeds up the lifecycle of the flukes. I have used this on WCMM's and goldfish with no ill effects. I haven't tried it on borneo suckers yet. Droncit is VERY gentle and doesn't deplete the oxygen in the tank so yo udon't have to fret about extra aeration. Use google and look up Merck Vet manual. It wont give dosages though... cause there's really very little 'official' literature on the subject. But he can also look up prazi-pro which they sell in the US for flukes.. it gives instructions and is readiliy used over there without concerns.

Is the plastered wall new'ish? If so it may leach for a while and then settle. Maybe you can take take a water sample in to a shop and have them test on a high range pH kit if you don't have one.... I could be wrong but I think some folks here use peat to make water more acidic.. but at a pH of 7.8 you should be fine with goldfish. The pond at our rental is concrete and the pH stays around that level. Plants etc do fine all the same.

Thanks again.. i knew what the rx/tx was and actually just after I posted to ask what a servo was the 'offending party' entered the room here so I asked him... he looked at me like I was an eeeeeediot and explained what a servo was So much for trying to help him out eh !! I was looking at this rx/tx set: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =146399454 and not knowing anything about it I didn't know if it was decent or not..any opinions? Then I saw the freeware flightsim software and USB cable so I wondered if that would be a good starting point. the cub I spotted for sale was this one: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =146399454 and it seems like a reasonable price. Any idea if its respectable one? keeping in mind he only wants to buzz it around the paddocks for wee while and then probably hang or shelve it somewhere as a novelty!!!

heee hee!!! Ok.... I was expecting that.. was just trying to work out a way to 'enable' him Thanks for the links loopy. I did suggest we buy one for display purposes.. I even offered it a proud spot in the living room.. he said nah.... There's also one for sale currently on TM.. needs a prop and tx/rx. What's a servo? :oops: :oops: :oops: And how would one go bout choosing an appropriate receiver/transmitter set? I may just buy one regardless... and then he may decide to buy himself a trainer when he gets tired of seeing the cub sitting up in the living room and decides he needs to learn how to fly it. How about the RC flight simulator software? Is that much help?

Thanks Ira.. I ended up buying him some good quality tools... he's very stubborn...and mostly he wants a Cub cause he's a cub 'enthusiast' (he's part owner of one being restored as we speak.. I think its a '56 model J3. He brought it back as a project from the US some years ago!) So I'm not really sure what to do with him He wants one.. but knows its likely to break....but then he doesn't' want some other RC plane just for the sake of an RC plane.. GAAAA!!!! Men!!! I said he can buy a trainer and sell it when he's ready for a cub... but he just shrugs!! Thanks for the suggestion though.. I showed it to him.. he sees the sense in it Does any real world flying experience make up for lack of RC skills ??

My better half has a birthday on the same day as the Easter Bunny... I'd like to buy him a Piper Cub RC plane (it has to be a j-3 cub). Where can I get one in chch? I'd prefer something that didn't need much building..he's not one for reading instructions and dealing with bits and pieces!! Anything else to look out for? He's never owned an RC plane before but we have 10 acres here that he can fly it around for practice

Danilada, maybe you can buy a cheap plastic rubbish bin or something to catch the water that you send out the window.. then use it to water stuff in the garden later....

I have a half barrel. It was 'clean' when I bought it.. (ie: not freshly stained from wine!) so I didn't line it. Afterall, barrels are made to hold liquids by design! I did however fill it and let the water sit for a couple of weeks and checked the pH and then did a big water change before adding fish to it. If its red from wine and not old and weather and not well and truly leached out like mine was it could pay to line it. Although I imagine it would only leach tannins which some people actually ADD to their aquariums anyway! I have heaps of plants and the barrel stays clear without a filter (it gets alot of shade but the nitrates are also 0 due to all the plants and only a few fish). The first year I did water changes every 2 weeks. I had a piece of clear hose that I used to syphon stuff out of the bottom. I have barely bothered this summer but it does get water changed by using buckets of water from the barrel to water nearby plants and then topping it up. I will probably give it a decent syphon from the bottom before winter. Good luck with yours.

Just an update in case anyone was curious.. I couldn't find any single furan tablets to buy so decided to wait it out. As I sit here.. the pop-eyed flag fish is spawning (or trying to spawn.. I never do see anything come out of either fish but the chasing is very elaborate!!) So he still seems quite well (I have kept a close eye on him and his behaviour never deviated from normal). His eye got a bit worse after my inital posts, but has gone down a bit in the last 2 days. Everyone else in the tank is also well.. so I think there must have just been a 'punch-up' with unfortunate consequences for mr. fishy! If it recovers completely I'll post again but I'd be very surprised if the damage wasn't somehow permanent. Still good that he's ok and its not another problem in my tank!

there's another faucet type cleaner that gets sold here, I think the members name is fuglydragon.. (mikefish on TM) he may have tap adapters that fit as he sells the other type of cleaner (brand name eludes me right now!)

Welcome lang, Caryl is an absolute guru...you're lucky to have her nearby so take full advantage !!! So what fish would you all recommend that would amuse his 2yr old if goldies are no good? Little fishies might be hard to focus on or follow no? WCMM (in my experience don't really school all that much so would be spread around the tank and sort of get lost amongst the backdrop) Maybe a siamese fighter? Or maybe 2 fantails would be ok in 65L? Or maybe some of the barbs? How about platies or mollies?

go superphosphate!!! :evil: yeah I'm not far downstream from dairy farming... what a shame that lining the pockets of the 'few' comes at the expense of good water for the 'many'!

jayci - I apologise in advance for being cheeky :-? but you did say to correct you if you were wrong... you mean trout PELLETS I think

HOw about battery powered air pumps? If you put the filter media in a bucket of tank water and ran an airstone it might help preserve the bacteria? I had a 5 hour unsuspected power outage a month ago and I had ammonia spikes in both my tanks 24 hours later.. small ones though. But my tanks are lightly stocked. As long as you know there a chance it will happen.. have your test kit ready and be prepared to do some water changes to help it along.. should be no worse then adding a few new fish!