Matt

Nice tank Clarkeymaster 8) , if those Japanese Rush do die you could possibly replace them with twisted vallisneria. Cheers, Matt

Hi Sean, The tanks looking good, the only thing I would be wary of is 4 Bristlenose in that size tank. They produce a huge amount of waste for their size, and you will also have to make sure you are feeding them Pleco Chips or some other algae wafers as they won't get anywhere near enough food from Algae growth alone. Bristlenose also need wood in their diet so a piece of driftwood in your tank wouldn't go astray, if you are feeding Pleco Chips you might be alright as they have wood in them. If I was you I would distribute the bristlenose throughout your other tanks, say one per tank. Just trying to save you from having fish deaths in the future . Cheers, Matt

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments. Cheers, Matt

Hi All, I have attached a few new photo's of my 250 Litre tank which has been up and running for a month now after shifting house and is going well (touch wood). I am planning on adding 5 discus to this tank in a month or two. Current Inhabitants are: 8 Rummynose Tetras 10 Cardinal Tetras 2 Blue Rams 2 Male Apistogramma Panduro 1 Male Apistogramma Cacatuoides 2 Corydoras Schwartzi 2 Corydoras Julii 1 Female Bristlenose 2 Blackline Flying Fox Any comments welcome. Cheers, Matt

I've got a Borneo Sword in my tank at work, my Amazon Swords are throwing out runners left, right and centre but my Borneo Sword has only grown two new leaves in a couple of years :roll: , stupid plant :lol: . It isn't dieing so I have just left it in there.

It looks like it might be a Borneo Sword. Cheers, Matt

Hi Mav007, Welcome to the forums. My tank is the same height and width as yours just not as long, 40x20x20 , and on that I have 4 x 30 watt flouros, 3x Phillips 6500k daylight bulbs and 1 x Gro Lux all purchased from an electrical wholesaler for about $8 each. My plants are all growing well, except the foreground plants which are surviving but not thriving as they need more light. Cheers, Matt

Hi Vapo, Your best bet for now would be to do a 25% water change straight away, then do another 25% change tomorrow, that should bring your ammonia level down. You didn't give much information, but it sounds as if your tank may still be cycling after reading a few of your earlier posts, so I wouldn't add any more fish until your tank settles down and don't feed them for a couple of days. What do you mean by your water parameters are almost normal? I hope this helps. Cheers, Matt

Hi Dubbieboy, I received my Riccia yesterday, I didn't expect so much and it to be so well packaged . Thank you very much, it is most appreciated Cheers, Matt

It sounds to me like some kind of toxic shock. Was there anything you used to clean the new tank that could be poisoning them? Is it possible that there was chlorine or chloramine in the new tank? Did you use a water ager/dechlorinator? I agree with Wok about transfering some (possibly 1/2) water from the old tank in to the new tank before moving the fish, just make sure there is nothing toxic in the new tank. I am glad to hear that they both are recovering. Cheers, Matt

I would also love some when you can, I am in the process of shifting my tank at the moment so I will probably have plenty of algae to deal with once I set it up again :lol: . Cheers, Matt

Yes, Livebearers i.e. Guppies and Platies get pregnant because the eggs are fertilised inside the female by the male fish. Egglayers i.e. Neon Tetras eggs are fertilised outside the female at spawning time. Basically she lays/releases the eggs and the male comes along and fertilises them. Cheers, Matt

Hi Caper, It is definitely not dropsy . They aren't pregnant as such, they are just full of unfertilised eggs, which basically means that you are feeding them correctly. For info on breeding them see here: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/neon.htm . Cheers, Matt

Hi Caper, Your Neon is fine, it is just a female that is full of eggs. If it had dropsy its scales would be protruding like a pine cone. Cheers, Matt

I checked the tank last night and noticed Mr Keyhole has had the ends nipped off his fins and a bite taken out of his tail, I guess the Angelfish picked the wrong fish to mess with . I must apologise to my Congo Tetras for wrongly accusing them :lol: . Cheers, Matt

Hi Frenchy, I think you have the marks the wrong way around. The should be at the end with no spaces. I could be completely wrong though as I have just woken up :lol: . Cheers, Matt

Hi Alan and Rob, Thanks for your replies, I thought I might have been had. If only I had done some research before rushing off to buy them.....oh well I probably would have bought the two of them anyway. Thanks Rob I will give Tropical Blues a ring. Cheers, Matt

Hi everyone thanks for your comments, Bill: I never suspected the Keyholes but they can be pretty moody, one minute they are all over each other and the next they can't stand each other :roll: . I thought Mr's Keyhole was dead after I got the Angels as she disappeared for two weeks, maybe it was her revenge for having her tank taken over. Cheers, Matt

I purchased a couple of these beautiful little fish last week and was sold them as a pair. I didn't know the sex differences at the time but upon getting them home and doing some research I think I might have two males. Am I correct or does the female only change colour to yellow when she is ready to breed. Could it be that they are both still too young? Does anyone know where there are any more of these in NZ? Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers, Matt Larger of the two - definitely a male Smaller fish Together:

About 40mm long, I am starting to suspect the Congo Tetras. I went to drop a mosquito I squashed into the tank and one of them bit it out of my fingers before I even touched the surface of the water , gave me a hell of a fright

Sorry for the lack of info, I was in a bit of a hurry. The other occupants of the tank are 2 Keyholes, 1 Cockatoo Cichlid, 1 Blue Ram, 4 Congo Tetras, 4 Corydoras, 2 Rummy Nose and 1 Large Female Bristlenose. The Angelfish basically looked like half it's skin had either been shaved or melted off. I suspected it might have been the Female Bristlenose, the Congo's or some sort of disease. I didn't see any of the other fish attacking it after I noticed it was sick. One of the Rummy Nose also looked like half of its face had been eaten or burnt, I found it in the mouth of one of the Congo's shortly after. I purchased 9 baby angelfish a month ago, 4 veiltails, 3 Leopards and Two Koi. All I have left now is one Koi, they all seemed to get sick and die one by one. The Two Koi Angelfish definitely seemed to be the strongest , healthiest and least quarrelsome out of all the others. The tank is 250 litres with A Fluval 404 and Aquaclear 150 and is heavily planted. Ph 6.8 Ammonia 0 tanks has been running for over a year now. Cheers, Matt

Perfectly happy and healthy one night, missing half its scales and fins the next and dead the next morning, any ideas? The other Koi Angel seems perfectly fine.

Hi Freshwest, I would be interested in buying some of you, let me know the price. Cheers, Matt

Hi Aqua, The best and cheapest planted tank substrate in my opinion is Aquatic Potting Mix with some Peat Moss mixed in then covered with at least 4cm of gravel. I have used this mix in two of my tanks and am getting really good growth, plus you can pick up both from a garden centre for about $15 and have plenty left over. My method is: put a 1 cm layer of gravel down and then add 1 cm potting mix and a few handfuls of peat moss and mix in and then add about another 4 cm of gravel on top and you shouldn't have any problems with it leaching and clouding your water. You can make it deeper at the back so it slopes from back to front, this will give you a nice deep substrate for your plants and all the leftover food etc will accumulate at the front for easy siphoning. Cheers, Matt

Indian Fern is very easy to grow and has nice long dangly roots, you can grow it floating or planted in the substrate. The last plant I brought up here was $4. Stay well away from Duckweed. You can look it up at www.tropica.com under Ceratopteris thalictroides Cheers, Matt