Janelle

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification, ryanjury. I was thinking of only schooling fish like danios, and possibly having a Krib just for something more interesting to look at. My original idea was a dwarf gourami but I hear they're pretty susceptible to disease and since it's a tank that I won't be keeping at home I didn't think it would be a great idea to have a feature fish that's prone to becoming sickly. It will only be a small tank, probably under 60L. Still just in the planning stages doing my research, thanks.

Welcome! Great to see another Chch'ian, and into Marine, wow.

OK, for those who are wondering if I'm being general with cichlids, I am particularly interested in the Kribs, and other cichlids I have no knowledge or experience with, so I did not know what else could be kept comfortably in a community tank. Definitely not interested in Oscars or Arowanas though, thanks!

Since my flatmate got some Kribs, I've been getting more interested in cichlids (especially Kribs). Whenever I look up information on them though, it always talks about cichlid pairs, but never about keeping one cichlid. So what I'm wondering is, how cruel is it to keep a cichlid on its own? Do they have to be in male/female pairs to be happy or can you keep one on its own in a community tank without a problem? I read a lot of info on the net but not once did I find info on someone keeping just one cichlid...

Thanks for the offer, jim r. I think I will just make sure her other filter still works first. It was a small filter with a spraybar which was a good size for her tank, but it has been so clogged with goldfish waste that I'm not sure it was actually working and not just making motor noise. Ianab - I did originally get those WCMM to breed from. If I heavily plant the tank maybe I can also sneak in my platy trio under the guise of feature fish too. Surprisingly, she did like the WCMM even though they're not the brightest or flashiest of fish, just because they are very active in my tank. Thanks for that suggestion, I quite like it. =)

:lol: jn, she won't be "looking after" them! It will be like another tank for me but staying at her place. Plus she has a lot of fish enthusiasts staying at her place. By enthusiasts I mean people who want to help out with the fish but are all really hopeless! But maybe I can teach them proper care of fish. =) Believe me, I will make sure the fish go to good new homes before I move too far away to take care of them, haha.

I measured my mum's tank and I think it is 50L. The tank is old so we just want to make it subtropical like mine, and then she can have some of my fish too. I'm going to give her my old ADV Shark powerhead filter which will give the tank a very strong flow. If it's too strong I'll just see if I can make her old filter operational again (not sure if it's still working). I need to downsize my own tank so I want to give her some of my fish. I'm happy to let her have any number of the following: 4 pearl danios 3 platies (1 male, 2 female) Up to 3 of my 7 peppered corys Almost forgot to add: 6 white cloud mountain minnows If I definitely give her the pearl danios, what others would you recommend I give her, and what could we get for a feature fish? I will be giving them pillboxes with pre-measured feedings for the week, and coming around to maintain the tanks once a week, but otherwise they will be in the hands of enthusiastic but inexperienced fish people. I have no idea what would make a good feature fish for a 50L tank. Thanks for any suggestions.

It's been a while yet and it's stopped growing but it hasn't shrunk either. Still doesn't have any colour.

Except for being washed-out looking, and the weird bump, he is fine. He is still eating food I put in for him and trying his darndest to swim through the sides of the container. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens to the bump.

I have a White Cloud Mountain Minnow who looked and acted perfectly healthy except for a small bump on his side. Over the period of about a week I watched the bump grow to some considerable size, and afraid that it was something that would burst out and infect my whole tank, I have removed him for quarantine. Now he is alone he has washed out and won't eat, and he looks quite sick. I'm afraid that just the act of quarantining him will make him more susceptible to... whatever it is that's growing on his side, but I'm even more afraid it might spread to my other fish. What do you think it might be? There is no surface marking, it looks like it's beneath his skin, actually inside him, like a tumour that's pushing outwards. He was acting perfectly healthy until I separated him. It's sort of on his upper left side in the middle of his body. Do I have a parasite or could it be something else?

:lol: Exactly, it's the Circle of Life, and the Omega-3 is good for the brain and joints, both things that I need help with, haha. j/k about the whole Circle of Life deal. But there's no denying that eating fish is good for you. But probably not Nemo fish.

I will endeavour to supply at least tuna sandwiches and possibly salmon on cheese crackers, and some juice. I like fish in more ways than one.

Are you coming to Chch sometime, evilknieval?

I will be giving away my pearl danios to anyone who wants them and my goldfish is negotiable to a good home or long-term foster care until I have somewhere better I can keep him. =)

I struck a deal with my mother that she could have some of my fish if she moved her large goldfish back out into the pond where they belong!!! It seems to be working so far, so I will probably be rigging up and cycling her tank for subtropical soon, and then I will have some place for my excess fish to go. No worries, my mum has admitted she has no idea how to look after fish, so I'll be doing the maintenance on her tank once a week when I visit. =) This way I can sort of have another tank, it will just be somewhere else.

OK, well we're just down the road from Loopy's and around a couple of corners. 5 Dalkeith Street, Hoon Hay. Link to a map: http://www.smaps.co.nz/nz/christchurch/hoon+hay/dalkeith+street/5/ Basically, go past Loopy's house heading towards the Cashmere hills, make a right into Lewis Street where The Corner Bar is (look for the Speights sign), then take the only left into Wyn, then first right into Dalkeith. Our gravel driveway is about the 2nd pole on your left, tall brown fence with white letterboxes for 5 and 5A, and we're the FRONT house, so just come up the drive to the door at the concrete steps. I'll try and remember to signpost it for everyone and we'll put the light on in case people come after dark.

I'm no expert, but I think it just comes down to personality. Some grow up aggressive and some grow up peaceful. I came to this conclusion since they remind me so much of cats.

There is a site I came across, and I hope it isn't against the rules to link to it here. http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/brineshrimp.htm This person did a lot of experiments with hatching brine shrimp. If you go down about halfway, or use your find function to look for "Brine shrimp hatching solutions" he has a little paragraph there where he found baking soda is actually a good substitute for salt water and they will hatch in fresh water with the right hardness which baking soda can create. I might try this myself and see if it actually works. ? But first I need to get some brine shrimp eggs and an air pump.

Hey guys, my flat would be fine with hosting the September meeting if you like. We've all been to at least one meeting, no children live here, but we don't have the best layout for seating or the greatest number of seats. I'm sure we can pull in a few extra chairs from various places though, and rearrange the lounge to accommodate more people. The only problem I can see is if we have lots of members (Loopy =P) who are allergic to cats as I have a fairly large cat who is still shedding the last of his winter coat (despite being short-haired). Anyway, the offer is there, although we will completely understand if it's not ideal. No obligation to accept. =)

Sorry I can't help... My theory is that since he is a fancy goldfish his insides may have grown wrong and something has ruptured internally. I'm not really sure of this though, and I hope it isn't the case. Good luck.

Caryl - I am fine with survival of the fittest for any other babies they drop, but I've already felt I've "rescued" this one, and it's just the one so I would like to try and raise it now it's there. Cam - I'm dropping microworms slowly through the net, so the baby has first chance before the other fish and I've ground up a very small amount of flake for it too.

I like the platies, lol. They are about the only splash of colour in my tank. I only got the male recently, so maybe I can swap him out for another female instead or just get rid of him completely.

OK.... I'm thinking.... Find a new home for the goldfish and the pearl danios (lovely fish but not my favourites), and take the number of wcmm down to eight. That will give me about 20 fish and the platies will be the largest so with my usual regular cleaning it shouldn't overload the tank too much. How does that sound?

I'll ask my flatmates if they'd be okay with people coming along for a meeting that day. We have a big lounge but might have to organise some extra seating. I'll let you know, but at least it's not far from your place if things change. =)

That IS funny, bd! I got my Elite 5 filter from Organism too! How was Fiji?