Ianab

Well the water tests look OK, and it sounds like you have done the right thing by slowly adding fish to the tank, so I'm not sure exactly what is wrong. However when I get a problem like that I usually revert back to the old standby of 'do more water changes' :-? You wont harm anything by changing 50% of the water, every day if you want. Effectively you just dilute whatever is causing the problem and keep the fish alive untill things settle down. Someone else may have a better idea, but I've never killed a fish by changing water Cheers Ian

You could allways get one of these. http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=MS6115 It's a plug in power meter that measures the peak and average power thats being used, and you can program it with the local power prices and KNOW exactly how much you have used. Cheers Ian

Michaels maths is a bit out, although the heater is 'on' all the time, it's only heating when the thermostat is actually switched on. Thats may only be 25% of the time, especially if you have a bigger than minimum heater. That takes his $100 of heater power down to $25 and total bill to around $50. Realistically the tank may use as much power as a computer or TV set, yes it uses power, but not a HUGE amount. Also any power you use heating the tank isn't actually wasted, it keeps your room warmer too. Bottom line is, if you can afford to buy a tank that size, the extra power bill isn't going to break you Cheers Ian

Yeah.. I was thinking of the ledgendary Western Springs Eels. The one in my picture is in Central Stratford, between my house and the sports field. You might be surprised how many eels actually live around Auckland city, any little drain or stream that has permanant water probably has some living in it. They only need a couple of inches of water, and will actually travel quite a long way out of the water if they have to. You find them in farm ponds that are 100s of metres from any stream. They will travel overland through dew covered grass quite happily and live out of water for hours as long as they are damp. One of the reasons they are such good escape artists, if they dont like where they are living in the wild, they will just climb out and head overland looking for someplace better. Not so good in your lounge, but if they made it to the lawn they would be off looking for a drain or swamp, and probably make it. Cheers Ian

No need to treat the rainwater - it's pretty close to pure water already. The only thing to watch for is that it's so pure there is no mineral pH buffering. This means that it's easy to change the pH and it can swing pretty fast. If you have problems with this there is a treatment thats is used with Reverse Osmosis filters. You add a little bit of this and it it puts a trace of hardness back in the water and makes it more pH stable. But if you aren't having pH problems its not really needed. Cheers Ian

Most any stream will have some unless it's REAL polluted. This one lives down the bottom of my garden. The neighbour has been feeding it raw chicken offcuts for years, so it's pretty tame. It's about 90cm long. Cheers Ian

No problem doing it with a wooden stand. Lots of 4x2s and a couple of sheets of plywood.. no worries. A single 4x2 will support something like 500kg, it's just a matter of bracing them, thats where the plywood comes in. Think about how a house is built, 4x2s and ply bracing in modern homes, safe in storms and earthquakes You do need to build it accuratly , but as long as you can cut all your 4x2s the same length, the the top will be flat. Seriously, save up, get a monster tank, then look for some fish to fill it. Not the other way around. Cheers Ian

They shouldn't harm the fish, they live in most natural ponds. The 'cure' is probably worse than the problem :roll: Cheers Ian

The clever part about metrics is that things all match up. One ml of water = 1cmx1cmx 1xcm So if the tank is 60cm x 38cm x 38cm = 86640 ml = 86.64 Litres (Glad my calculator agrees with Conch's ) Knowing this, you can work out any tank volume. But to be more accurate measure inside the glass, and only up to where the high tide mark is. Cheers Ian

The problem is that although you could fit those fish in the tank now, they are only babies. Give them six months and you are going to have serious overcrowding happening. Long term an arowana is going to want something like 1,000 litre tank. Even the Oscars can grow to 30cm, thats going to make the tank look pretty small Cheers Ian

Also, when you say 0 Nitrate, you actually mean less than the test kit can measure. It could actually be 1 or 2 and not show on the test untill it gets closer to 5. I know our tap water here has 0.5 nitrate built in, but you need a much more sensitive test to pick that up. Anyway, lower is better, but dont sweat it if you have 20-30. If you get into bigger fish that can eat in one mouthfull what all your danios eat in a week, then nitrates become an issue. With small fish, light stocking and plenty of plants it's easier to keep them low. Also, nitrate is one of the main fertilisers that plants need to grow, so if you are growing plants you may actually want some nitrate reading to encourage the plants. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm Cheers Ian

Then the other tank cant have many fish in there... Once the fish and filters take off the Nitrate WILL go up. Then you start doing water changes. Lower you can keep it the better, but anything under 30 is probably fine. Cheers Ian

Nope, the pleco will live fine on veges, algae and leftovers. Try the tablets at night, I guess you will never really know who is eating them, but if the tank is dark I bet it's the pleco Also if the plec gets really hungry it will take on a goldfish over food :lol: Cheers Ian

Put the food in at night, plecos are generally nocturnal and feed at night while the other fish sleep. Mix up the veges and feed them every 2nd night. Cucumber, courgette, mushroom, kumera, green beans, peas.. they eat them all. Finally have a look at the plecos belly... if it's rounded then it's getting enough to eat. Cheers Ian

Yup.. I like the big ones as well. 3 Goldspots, 2 Commons and a Gibby. Bigger ones are about 20cm, and yes I'm looking for a bigger tank 8) Oh.. and 2 BNs in the smaller tanks as well. No algae, but plenty plenty of pleco poop :-? Cheers Ian

Red Algae. Looks ugly but wont harm the fish. Usually the treatment is worse than the problem. http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/red-algae.html Cheers Ian

Water resistant, yes. Good enough to survive the occasional splash or spill. Cheers Ian

Yes Thats what most of the commercial ones are :roll: Just make sure it's designed so it's braced properly. You probably want a support in the middle to stop the top sagging, and use the back panel to brace everything. Make sure it's painted or polyurethaned properly, MDF and water dont mix. Cheers Ian

Mozzie larvae are pretty much the natural food of Bettas, leopard fish and guppys etc. As long as they aren't contaminated with somthing they are good food. Just rinse em off in some fresh water and watch your fish go crazy :lol: Cheers Ian

A bristlenose Pleco will be fine in there too, and they love that soft brown algae. Just dont accidently buy one of the other plecos, they are OK, untill they get to be over a foot long :-? Cheers Ian

What are you feeding the Bristlenose? They need a bit more vege in their diet than most fish and it's recommended that you have bogwood in the tank. They graze on this and the lignin / fibre they get from it helps their digestion too. Too much high protien food is very bad for them. Apart from that there is no real reason you cant keep them with goldfish with the tank around that temp. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=49 Cheers Ian

Sheesh.. I've had 2 guppys jump out of the tank at feeding time :bounce: Gram for gram they are more crazy than most big fish :lol: Cheers Ian

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=33220 This is a page about them. They are kinda rare, and even if you knew where to look you still might not find them. Cheers Ian

Excellent The pics work now. Keep us posted about how it goes. Cheers Ian

If you want best music quality then get some better earphones. The ones that come with the expensive players are usually pertty good, but the cheapy ones are pretty crap. Thats the main reason the cheap ones sound so crappy. Cheers Ian