Ianab

The snails will be producing some bioload, they eat and poop just like fish. Not a heck of a lot unless you have about a zillion of them, but the filter will cycle to some small degree with them in there. After 3 weeks it should have a low level of bacteria just from the snails. I would check the water parameters, if they are OK, add a couple of fish and check again in another week. It would take a LOT of snails to fully cycle a tank, but a mob of them are probably equlivant to a couple of small fish in there. Cheers Ian

Yup, in the garden centre with the potting mix It's normally used for growing plants Ian

It would be better to have a full water test to see what is actually going on in there. If the filters are cycled then you should be starting to see some NitrAte in the water. If you have any ammonia or nitrIte in the water, due to the filters still being new, that can explain the fish deaths. I would increase the number of 25% water changes temporarily, that will do no harm to the fish, and if you do have ammonia/nitrite problems it will reduce the levels. You can do water changes every day if you have to. Cheers Ian

Peat and driftwood will both tend to lower the pH gradually. The idea is the same with both, acidic tannins leach into the water and gradually change the pH. Better for the fish that this happens gradually rather than dosing with chemicals and changing it suddenly. Using a small bag of peat in your filter you can adjust the amount to balance your water changes and still keep the pH fairly stable. Remember pH will also tend to fall over time due to the Nitrates, so the tank should be slightly lower than the tap water anyway. Like the Alan suggests a rainwater barrel fitted to one of the house downpipes will generally catch plenty of nice soft water. With a decent barrel you will have enough for several water changes even after a short shower. If some mozzie wrigglers appear in it... bonus live food Cheers Ian

Best part of the cow or chicken to feed your fish. It's all muscle and hardly any fat. Cheap to buy from a butcher or supermarket as it's classed as offal Like the others have said, sausages probably isn't the best food because of the fat in it, but an Oscar will usually eat anything thats even close to edible :lol: Ian

Nope.. guppys are pretty much bottom of the fishy food chain. Especially the males, they are a convienent snack size and their long fins slow them down. Angelfish may look all placid and 'angel like' but they are a predatory cichlid at heart. Their natural food in the Amazon is small fish like Neons, so keeping them with those is generally a bad move too. Cheers Ian

And with somthing slow and puny like a male guppy, they will chew on it untill it does fit :-? Ian

Goldfish will survive under ice for a while. They go into a semi hibernation state in the cold water where they dont eat and their metabolism is slowed. So they can survive cold water for several months without eating. Obviously there is a limit, but if the pond is deep and only iced for a few days they survive. One of my old Goldfish is still alive in a pond at my ex's farm. It has survived -12 freezes in a cow trough and is about 6 years old now. As long as your pond is deep enough the water at the bottom will stay at 4C, and the fish can survive that. Cheers Ian

Yup the used filter wool will have a population of bacteria, so that will help seed the new tank. I just run the original sponges in my big aquaone internal, they seem to work OK. The sponges do function as biological media, just not as well as ceramic noodles etc. Only thing with those Aquaone internals is they dont have a lot of media, they make up for it by moving a LOT of water. I have a 103F in my 4ft tank, and even though it's technically too small for the tank, it moves a LOT of water around. I had it in an 80l hex tank and it started making the guppys dizzy :lol: Cheers Ian

99% that the 'found' pebbles will be fine. I dont think you have limestone formations in the Queenstown area, and they wont truck park pebbles very far If you want to make sure, drip a bit of vinegar on some. If they fizz, dont use them, if nothing happens they are just rocks and should be fine. If you run your filter for a while in the established tank, or swap some media from the established filter, if possible, it will greatly speed up that first stage of cycling. Otherwise it sounds like you have a good plan Cheers Ian

Sorry.. a small round container with no filter is a bowl - and is really just a slow way of killing your fish. I make it about 40 litres :-? I'm not trying to have a go at you, but you did ask why your fish are dieing If you get some form of powered filtration in there you can probably keep the goldfish healthy over the short term, but goldfish grow BIG and are messy fish. They will outgrow the tank fairly quickly still. If you actually want to keep goldfish alive get yourself a decent sized tank (200l) or so with a good power filter. They should be able to live in that for years. It's very seldom that you need to strip down and empty a tank. Just get a gravel vac and syphon out the crud from the bottom along with 20-50% of the water. Then top up with fresh water. Dont mess with plants unless you have enough lighting for them to grow, if the aren't growing then they are dieing and polluting the water more. Oh, and ditch the dissolving air-stone things, pretty much useless. Even a simple airpump and bubbler is more use. Sorry for being harsh - but you cant keep goldfish alive the way you have been trying to. Cheers Ian 40 litres is about 10 gal - pretty small for goldfish, even is it was filtered.

Yup that works well. Some pics from last night. Cheers Ian Plecos are easier because they sit still Faster moving fish I keep the camera lens against the tank glass and use the flash. Because the lens is on the glass you dont get a reflection off the glass. Cheers Ian

Start keeping loaches Seriously, loaches natural food is snails. It's not the answer for everyone, but it's a good option for many tanks. There are several species of loaches that grow to various sizes, so you can keep a group of them in most tanks. Otherwise, set up a snail trap thats baited with veges and catch them that way (and give them to someone that has loaches ) Ian

It can be. If they dont get enough roughage in their diet they can get constipated, swell up and die. Try feeding them more veges, peas are supposed to be good, and make sure they have some driftwood to chew on. Cheers Ian

My lounge walls are painted a fairly dark blue, so I haven't bothered with backgrounds, the blue wall behind looks pretty good as it is. Cheers Ian

Three different things. A surge protector is often built into fancy multiboxes. If a high voltage comes into the multibox the electronics in the surge protector absorb the excess and hopefully stop your computer or stereo from blowing up. They can only handle relativly small spikes, a good lightning hit just blows them up along with whatever you are trying to protect. A RCD breaker is the little gadget with the test and reset buttons. It works by monitoring how much current is flowing on the phase and neutral wires. If there is a difference it assumes there is a fault where current is flowing to earth, possibly through a person, so it cuts the power to prevent you getting electrocuted. A usefull thing to have if you are using power tools in a damp area etc. A normal circuit breaker just works on current. If you try and draw too much current, it pops open and cuts you off. It's main purpose is to protect the wiring in case you get a short or connect too many devices and overload the circuit. You will be protected by the C/B in the multibox and also on your house distribution board. Or if you have an old house like mine you have fuses, but they do the same thing. They just take longer to reset :oops: Cheers Ian

Only unsafe if the wiring or multiboxes are damaged or worn out. Like Conch says, you need to do a rough reckoning to estimate the total power draw of the devices. They will either have the wattage or amperage on each device. Things like heaters and lights are easy, a 200w heater draws - 200watts A wall outlet will supply 240v x 10amps = 2400 w. So you could plug in 12 x 200w heaters and not overload anything. Make sure your multibox has a circuit breaker (usually a little red button). If you try and draw more than 10A through it the breaker will open and cut the power off. Surge protectors wont help you much, they are there to try and stop power spikes from the mains from blowing up your computer etc. They are only limited use for this though. So check the wiring, makes sure nothing is getting warm or looking scorched. Tidy things up with some cable ties so it's not a mess of spagetti. You should see my lounge 3 outlets and I think 8 multiboxes, 4 fish tanks, 4 computers and network gear, TV and stereo, and chargers for phones, cameras etc. But total max load would be less than 2,000 watts, so it's not a problem, apart from the amount of spagetti behind the furniture :-? Cheers Ian

Normally you wouldn't do big water changes like that, but in this case it's the lesser of the 2 evils. The tap water is better quality than the toxic tank water you have, so the fish stand a better chance in the fresh water. I would even consider taking the fish out and stripping the tank, washing the gravel properly and refilling with 75% new water. Drastic, but if there is still food lost in the gravel it's an option. Just take good care of your filters while you are working ( run them in the tub where the fish are stashed ) Cheers Ian

Best not to. 2 reasons: 1 - turtles natural food is fish :-? 2 - turtles are messy animals, it's hard to keep the tank water clean enough for any fish thats big and tough enough to avoid being eaten in the first place. Cheers Ian

Had a re-organise of the tanks / fish today. My sailfin pleco was outgrowing the 3ft tank he was in, so got moved into the bigger tank, and a couple of smaller ones shuffled through various tanks and moves. My big Goldspot, he got hauled out of the tank cos he was hiding in the same log as the little common I wanted to move. Was easier to drop them both into the bucket and then grab the Goldspot out again. This is my big Sailfin Gibby being moved into the big tank. Nets just dont work with plecos, best to just grab them :roll: He seems to have settled into the new tank OK, hopefully there wont be any big war with the other plecs :-? Advice for anyone else wanting to move big plecos. Put towels on the floor first and wear a raincoat Cheers Ian

All of those fish are fairly hardy and suitable for a new tank. Like was said in the other threads, start with just a few and they will be OK. The catfish you are talking about is a Pleco (Loricariidae) catfish. Just be aware that there are many different species. The best one for smaller tanks is the Bristlenose pleco. They are hardy and dont grow too big, (about 12cm max). Many of the other cute little plecos in the shops will end up 30cm or MORE long. I have several that are 20cm and still growing Cheers Ian

Yup.. in fact if you have fish tanks I would suggest getting a DH unit is a GOOD idea, just to keep the house dryer. The DH may make the tank water evaporate a little faster especially if you dont have good lids, but not enough to cause a problem. Cheers Ian

Generally you have to feed 'algae eaters' extra food anyway. A normal tank just wont grow enough algae to feed a reasonable sized fish. Starting up the tank with a small pleco isn't a silly idea, they are pretty tough and will keep the algae under control from the start. Cheers Ian

Le Chatelier's wont be what affects things It's not the air pressure / closed system thats going to affect the evaporation rate, it's the relative humidity. If the R/H in your room was 100% then ZERO water could evaporate. The room would be pretty damp and mouldy, but no evaporation. If the room was 0% R/H water would evaporate relatively fast, depending on air flow and temp. In a normal room the evaporation rate will be someplace between the to 2 extremes, but you can change the evaporation rate by changing the R/H. So- YES a dehumidifier will make the water evaporate a little faster, and the fish tank will make the DH unit work a bit harder. Best option, a tight fitting lit on the tank to reduce the evaporation. Cheers Ian

In a word - NO I would suggest what they really mean is 'introduce the fish OVER a month' What the folks above have said about the filters and nitrogen cycle is all correct. You have to get that established properly before your tank can support a full population of fish. But it's a chicken and egg situation - the cycle wont start untill there is some ammonia in the tank. Ammonia can either come from a bottle or from fish poop. If you fill up your tank and leave it for a month it still wont have any nitrogen cycle bacteria. So you have effectivly just wasted 4 weeks and probably grown some algae. My advice - Set up the tank and wait a day or 2 for the water to settle and the temp to stabilise. Then add a couple of small hardy fish. Feed them etc and watch them swim around for a couple of weeks. If all is well, add a couple more each week. Buy week 6 you should have a cycled tank full of fish. The key is to not rush things. If you set up your tank and just dump in a full tankload of fish - the ammonia will build up faster than the bacteria that process it - and most of your fish will die. Starting out with just a few small fish give the bacteria a chance to multiply before the ammonia builds up to dangerous levels. Zebra danios seem to be the default fish for cycling tanks, they are cheap, hardy and make good community fish once the tank is set up. There are ways to shortcut things but they involve having a tank thats already cycled, not much use for your first tank. Cheers Ian