acara

I use a sort of combination of above,kick start the filter with gunk from another filter,and feed the tank with fish food as though the fish were actually in it.I set up a nano 2nts ago,and the fish were in it before the filter was plugged in. I never waste my money on all those magic little bottles.

Tanks looking very nice,one thing I would do,is put a background on it.That will relax the fish a little,and improve the overall appearance.I use dark(charcoal,black)card,it highlights the colours in the tank,and gives a greater depth of field.

How about assasin snails?Dosn't take them long to munch through a tank full of snails.

I would look at getting a reverse osmosis unit,that will remove aprox 98% of anything in the water.Couple that with the carbon,just to be extra safe.Only thing is,I usially mix my RO water with about 20% tap water,to help re-mineralise it a bit.That tapwater is always treated with Stresscoat,or JBL Biotopol.If you keep Rift Valley fish,then you will need to buy re-mineralising stuff. Of course the RO unit will only be good on piped water,not bottled water,as it needs the pressure to run. Can't go wrong with the RO.

You don't actually need an air pump at all. If you have the filters running so that they give some surface agitation to the water,then that should be sufficient for gas exchanges. I use a lot of sponge filters,and usually run them off a large airpump,as has been mentioned.This has a series of 'taps' and valves on the airlines,that enable me to adjust the amount of air going to each one.Running these sponges also does the job of what an airstone would do,ie,surface agitation. They are generally quite cheap,although it probably wouldn't be much use me giving you the sites I use,as I'm in Europe.I do use ebay a bit,and get kit out of Asia though.

Have a look on finarama.A friend of mine keeps wild angels(altum and leopoldi)and also wild discus.I am in process of building shed,and when done,will be getting a shipment from Colombia,including leopoldis.

I would never buy another one,tried a couple and not that impressed. They interferred wuith my tv,can anyone explain that!?

As has been already said,excellent water quality is the best. Fast growth is not always best,or good for fish.We feed our fish on foods which are considerably more nutritious than what they would be getting in their natural habitats.As a result they can suffer from health problems and often don't last as long.I had a great chat last year with Dr Anton Lamboj about this,and he only feeds(adults) about 3 times a week,with great results. Betta,in particular,are very prone to obesity.

Don't rule out Samsung,great value for money.They make the screens for Sony(particularly LED).I wouldnt buy anything Sony again,overpriced,and when you ring them with a fualt they tell you their products arn't faulty.

I must agree with Fruju's comments. I live in Ireland,and many species of pirhana are readily available here,the red-bellies being the most common.My LFS has a stunning display with them,lots of bogwood,which has stained the water,looking very natural.They have even spawned on a few occaisions in there.However,as has been mentioned,they are boring.Very boring.I've been in shops when these morons are asking how many pirhanas can they fit in the cheapest plastic tank the shop has.They're usually drug dealer types,and the pirahna help them maintain that 'tough man' image.However,the classifieds are full of people selling them,not quite the constantly ferocious creatures they imagined. As a youngster in Gisborne,I had a mate who's father had apparantly kept them in the past,I think he had a license(or whatever) if I recall correctly.

Just catching up on this thread now.Back a couple of pages ago you put up a link to a 'fish wardrobe'.I had considered something like this as a temporary measure in an uninsulated shed,but ruled it out as I was afraid the fish would become startled each time the door was opened.They would not be use to movement.Not a good idea imo.

I bought some in a pharmacy last week,2 euro for a small bottle. Try asking at you local pharmacy.

Christmas is (meant to be) a religious day.It is illegal to discriminate against an employees religious beliefs.Dosn't your daughter have to go to mass on Christmas Day?Just a thought This is my 14th Xmas away from NZ,and it looks like I'm finally set to get a white one,snow is due to hit this city this afternoon.We had it hard over the last few weeks,it hasnt snowed so bad in this part of the country for decades.I ust check the pond and moved the goldies into a tank if need be.Last winter we had a big freeze,and my mate lost a lot of very nice koi.

I target feed with a pipette as mentioned.Bbs once a day,and crushed flake.Micro-worms at first,then grindal worms.I would be very careful feeding them whiteworms,as with any fish species,as they are very fatty.I dont feed whiteworms more than once or twice a week to any species.My whiteworms are fed only on flake,a great way to get rid of out of date flake.Grindals would be my choice. The small tubs of bbs you keep in the fridge are dead handy,think they're Ocean Nutrition brand.

An excellent reply from Jennifer.One of our cats(male,and 'done')was urinating a lot,usually on something on the floor,a piece of clothing,shopping bag,shoes,etc,and was in pain when this happened,constantly loicking himself,and dribbgling down below.It turned out to be a kidney problem,we now feed him a special food(Royal Canin Urinary)which has a lower content of the 'good stuff' in food.This has stopped the problem completely,but unfortunately the food is only available on prescription,and so we can't shop around for price,but at the end of the day,moneys not that important when it comes to health. I shouldn't think this would be the problem in such a young kitten,but you should explore all options.Whisky was nearer to a year old when we noticed it with him. I hope you get it solved soon.

What our local shops have started doing is posting their suppliers lists on the forum,we can then contact them with any requests,they can work it out and get back to us with a price.That list I posted,they are special order(there was arrowana on it too,you dont want to see their prices!),and the buyer must collect on morning they are delivered to shop,ie you will get them in the bag they came in,a bit less stress for the fish.A friend has just got an import license and we did a test order from Columbia,horrifically cheap prices,but theres all the add ons,fees,packaging,vet fees,transport,etc,etc,then when they get here theres paperwork,VAT,etc,etc. Maybe you could approach your shops and see if they could do something similar?Saves getting down there to find the species you wanted has sold out.

If that happened here you would simply sue,and you'd be in line for at least €7,500. Sounds good,but I hope that culture dosnt reach NZ.

Nice find,thanks for sharing.A few friends keep wild discus and altums.After seeing them,I just cant understand how people keep,or develop,those horrific jelly bean forms.Each to their own I s'pose. Heres a pricelist a friend of mine recently posted,to see if anyone wanted to order any.These are in Euro,so I guess double it near enough for NZ dollars! Blue DiscusTapajosXL€80 Blue DiscusTapajosL€70 Brown Discus (solid red/brown)Xingu XL€80 Brown Discus (solid red/brown)Xingu L€80 Heckel cross baby AmazonasM€60 Heckel cross AmazonasXL€60 Royal Alenquer TapajosXL€250 Super Red AlenquerTapajosXL€250 jeebus crisps! Semi Royal Alenquer TapajosXL€130 Red Alenquer TapajosXL€130 Cuipeua royalalenquerXL€250 cuipeua super redalenquerXL€250 inannum giant discusAmazonasXL€130 green royalteféXL€190 semi royal spot teféXL€130 tucurui red discustucuruiXL€80

Wildwoods had one over in the UK for many months,I just checked their site,and it's not listed anymore,if I recall correctly it was about £1200 Sterling.A gorgeous fish,but stupid money.

I've used it in mixed Sth American community tanks,most fish seem fond of it.A friend uses a lot for discus,or did,we've switched to Tetra Pro Crisps,with great results,even very fussy fish take it.Well most do,still struggling with a couple. I use a lot of Tetra products,and food,and can't say I've a complaint about anything,other than the internal filters,pretty useless.

Another method of saving on heating(I havnt actually tried it yet,the relevant tanks are sitting empty),is to get a larger tank(in my case 48x18x15,last being height)and dividing them.I have some divided into 3 tanks,and will try a heater in the end 2 portions,and hopefully won't need one in the middle tank.If it dosnt heat too warm,which I wouldnt expect,then you can keep species requiring cooler water. Thats the theory anyway!

Jager heaters are much longer and thinner than other brands,it could be that the heat transfers more readily in them,therefore they wouldnt need to run as long? Incidentaly,they're one of the cheapest on the market too.

Hang lights to cover more than one tank,using lower wattage tubes,or even better(but more expensive to buy)use led tubes or spots.Dont buy all those fancy 'gro' tubes in pet shops,go to an electrical shop and get plain tubes,cost 10% of the fancy ones.Check the light specs on them if you dont believe me. If you use dechlorinator,get the pond stuff,much cheaper,goes further. Buy food in bulk,decant into smaller containers and use those on a daily basis,to avoid opening the big one. Culture as much live food as you can,especially for fry raising.Micro,grindal and white worms,fairy shrimp,brine shrimp,daphnia,etc,are all brilliant(although feed whiteworms in moderation).Earthworms are one of the best,and the whole tank goes into a frenzy,again though,moderation. As mentioned,insulating tanks will help.

I did about May '08.However, I had them delivered to a friend in the UK,and flew across and picked it all up. I had no problems with them. What is it you're looking for exactly,I am always buying stuff online from around Europe(live in Dublin)and am pretty up to date with sites here,and prices.

Had to stop there as lunch break was over A lot of people use a small fan heater to heat their fish rooms,the small 2kW type,and on a timer,again like the extractor,you would set it to come on for a short period every hour or so,whatever needed to maintain the room temp.But I would rather pay a little extra and heat each tank individually.My main reason for this is after reading a post by a fellow forum member who lost hundreds of fish,everything from breeding groups of L-nos,corys,etc through to very rare and quite expensive species of all sorts,when he went away for three nights and returned to find the heater had stuck on,and he had a very expensive mess of cooked fish to clean up,utterly heartbreaking.Also easier to have different temps for different species. For a similar reason,you'd obviously be best to filter each tank individualy rather than a centralised system,in case of disease,etc. The Eheim Ecco Pro range of externals are good value,and are very low wattage,often less than much lower rated internal.