bdspider

I had a spare piece of poly I painted black and used as a background. It's solid, so not fiddly like material or paper. It's matte so doesn't look yuck if water drips down. I didn't want to paint anything on my tanks cos I figured they'd be harder to sell if I ever wanted to do so.

Get Totally Tanked in Christchurch 2010! Queens Birthday Weekend Fri 4th - Sun 6th June Earlybird registration is passed, it is now $60 for the AGM The conference starts on Friday night where we will initially meet for supper, tea and coffee as well as doing the conference registration. This is at The Equestrian Hotel in Hornby, where we will host the AGM. It’s a great location, across the road from Hornby Mall & Dressmart. There is a regular bus into the central city so any families who have travelled to Christchurch will be able to get around easily while we do the fishy talk. On Saturday we will again get together in the hotel’s conference rooms to begin our AGM. ($60) We will be hearing our club member, Donna Moot (the turtle lady) talk about her turtle rescue & rehoming and some of the turtles she has helped save. As well as all the official proceedings, we will have raffles and auctions with fantastic prizes. Everyone attending this will also receive a delegates bag full of goodies Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided by the hotel’s restaurant. You will also have the option of having dinner here too, at the Ironhorse garden Cafe, ($22.50pp) although there are plenty of other restaurants and takeaway eateries within walking distance if you choose not to dine at the restaurant. On Sunday we will embark on a bustrip to some exciting attractions around Christchurch! We start the day at Orana Wildlife Park (http://www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz), where we will get to watch animals like the tigers and meerkats being fed. You will even be able to handfeed the majestic giraffes. For lunch, we will dine in the restaurant here with views of rhinos and gibbons while we eat. Our second destination is the centre of town, where you will be able to look around the historic buildings at the Arts Centre (http://www.artscentre.org.nz) and have a chance to do some shopping. We can then wander towards Cathedral Square (more shopping!) before heading to Southern Encounter Aquarium & Kiwihouse (http://www.southernencounter.co.nz), where we will even get a guided behind the scenes tour. (You will get entry to the attractions, lunch and transport for $45pp) To wrap up the evening, you can choose to join our group meal at the Hornby Juction Buffet restaurant. (27.50pp) Although this is officially the end of the conference, for those who are still in Christchurch on Monday, we would like to invite you on pet shop crawl. Numbers may be limited to who we can fit in cars so if you’re interested, let us know! This will include visits to some of our fave fish shops. Non-members are also welcome to attend any of these events. eg If you live in Christchurch, feel free to come along to one of the dinners or on the bus trip to meet everyone. You don't have to do the whole thing. For those coming from out of town, you can either stay at the conference location, the Equestrian Hotel, ($45pp per night... Various room options available) or organise your own accommodation. If you need transport from the airport, train station etc to the hotel, fill in your travel details on the booking form & one of our club members will pick you up. Families and children are welcome. For anyone is bringing their children, please contact myself or Carznkats with the ages of your kids & we will let you know their accommodation, meal and bus trip prices. You can find booking forms + how to make payment here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=Conference or look out for details in the February FNZAS magazine. Pricelist: Accommodation = $45pp per night Saturday AGM = $60pp Saturday evening meal = $22.50pp Sunday bus trip = $45pp Sunday evening meal = $27.50

Yeah, I had such a fun day. Especially all the bbq food & Jennifer's cheesecake... omg so good...

Argh, I pity you. I hate the 'car enthusiast' neighbours who are always either revving their cars or playing loud bass music or their kids are screaming on the trampoline. Noise control?

They aren't that slow are they? A friend had some & I remember one grew real fast & one stayed smaller, but the fast one got to double size of other in not that much time.

Maybe butterfly fish for the surface?

I'd be concerned once he starts growing. Lots of tasty snacks in there for him. + he'll outgrow the tank.

I kinda like them all too, but I like native birds, insects and reptiles better.

They're horrible because they're a pest maybe.... Funny how they're as bad as possums or rabbits but everyone seems to love them :roll:

Well, I've already seen other people post about it on Cadburys facebook.... But if you also feel the need to confirm.... Just make sure you don't waste your money on a 4 pack. Oh yeah, they've gone up in price too. ($1.29 instead of $.99... unless they'll lower it closer to easter)

Yes, definitely. But y'know, Cadbury had it's revamp & now the Dunedin factory specialises in boxed chocs, the Aussie factories do the bars & slabs, there's a few in SE Asia that do something else, but all the Creme eggs are now from UK Stupid Cadbury... I still bought their chocolate when they had the palm oil debacle, but this time there will be no forgiveness EDIT: See, here's the link that has a diagram at the bottom about where everything is made now http://choclovers.co.nz/press-release/

++++++++++++++WARNING SAD POST+++++++++++ Ok, I got some creme eggs yesterday cos they are my absolute favourite and I lucked out on genes so can eat whatever I want and usually eat about 1 a day til easter.... And they were such a disappointment! Now that they're UK imported ones they are completely different. They didn't have the yum gooey bit in the centre, which was the best part about them. There's now just a little bit of orange dye on the white part. So sad

Yeah, we're talking about salespeople here, not people who have learnt a trade. You've missed the point a bit.

Poor Bud. My thoughts are with you, hope he feels better soon.

I'm another who doesn't like being approached! If I need a sales person it's only ever to direct me to where in the store I need to go. I don't want any sort of advice from them! Don't you guys realise their 'advice' is just trying to get you to spend more money? (Did I mention I'm a cynic? ) besides, most of them aren't even experts at what they sell. If you're a weekend shopper, chances are your salesperson is a student who only works 10hrs a week or something. That's why the internet is great, if I need unbiased advice I can find it. That said, I do like to have friendly service if I do ask directions and when I'm at the checkout.

Yeah, some people think I'm weird for keeping fish/frogs....

Sorry, I'm just feeling particularly cynical about pet shops at the moment. Just got some new babbies: and have discovered that pet shops don't even stock food that is nutritionally complete for rats, sell unsuitable wood shavings as bedding, too-small exercise wheels etc, I could go on. They are rescue rats who spent their first 6 months living with 2 others in a cat carry cage so I'm also feeling disappointed that there are people out there who don't give their pets the best care possible and treat them like they're disposables. Now that's off of my chest, I must say I'm looking forward to meeting everyone this weekend. And I must admit I'm really tempted by the bbq beef flavoured bubble mixture Animates sells... So hilarious. (Also comes in peanut butter, catnip and smoked bacon if you're not into beef)

I've always been reluctant to, just in case they bite the frogs on the way down. If you're having trouble finding enough food for them you could consider making a fly trap? eg http://insected.arizona.edu/flyrear.htm I personally use one of my fish nets to catch all the annoying flies in my house. Reasonably easy.

A good route could be: Spoon - Redwood Aquatics - Organisms - Critter Kingdom - Animates Tower Junction (tho why would you bother?) - Animates Moorhouse (same again) - Donna. Depends how long you want to spend at each one?

An let us know where we're starting the crawl and what time

Just in case any TT members missed the e-mails, or if anyone else in Christchurch wants to join the fun, we've decided that instead of having a meeting in actual Feb, we'll just use MACs visit to Chch this coming weekend as an opportunity to catch up. Everyone is welcome! Keep an eye on http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43519 for details.

YAY CREME EGGS! IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrr, I love froggies, how dare you guys say such things in front of me! Yeah, you shouldn't have any trouble selling them to a pet shop or on trademe... Once they're sold on there's no guarantee others won't later free them in the wrong place but I guess there's not much to be done about it.

It's a big no-no to release frogs to spots other than where they came from - spreads froggy disease such as the chytrid fungus.

If I have to have the radio on, Hauraki is the ONLY station I'd choose. The rest have way too many ads, really annoying hosts & play awful music... Even the Rock plays nasty pop like jack johnson and my chemical romance! But usually I'd listen to my mp3 player so I can listen to what I want & skip songs & not have ads.