Ianab

Local shop had albino BN for $20, normal ones for $10. Cheers Ian

If you ask on a forum like this you may get some different opinions, but if I give you actual 'Wrong' advice.. I will get shot down pretty quick by the other members Your tank is a sensible size, but normal comet goldfish can grow to 30cm long and live for 20-30 years... yes, even the $2 ones from the pet shop. The minnows are actually a better option for an aquarium, they only grow to 5cm and will breed quite happily in a tank like yours. I have the same issue with my Plecos. I bought some of them as little sucker fish, 5cm long. The biggest one is 20cm now and still growing. They are in a 200l tank now, but will outgrow that in time too. At least with goldfish they can be moved to a pond when they get to 15cm or so and buy some more baby ones I'm planning how I can fit a 2metre tank in my lounge for my plecos which can grow to 30-40cm :roll: Beware.. it's a slippery slope into MTS (multiple tank syndrome) Cheers Ian

Like the folks say, in a community tank most of the fry will get eaten, either by the parents or other fish. If you have a second tank, or a breeding net that hangs in the tank, fill it up with some plants (java moss is good) and put the female in there. When you see some fry hiding in the moss, pull the female out and start feeding them some very fine food. That way you can save most of them, and after a few weeks they will be big enough to survive in the main tank. Cheers Ian

NO.. "too hard" is trying to do it without a properly set up tank. If your tank isn't filtered in some way you will have heaps of problems, as you are having now. Set it up right and it will take 15 mins a weekend to maintain and your fish will be healthy and long lived. Keeping fish isn't hard, but you do have to do it right. 8) Cheers Ian

Thats more like 90 litres by my maths. Not huge, but much more sensible for some small goldfsih They will still outgrow it, but if you are happy to give them away or move them to an outdoor pond and replace them when they get bigger it will be OK. Large goldfish will eat WCMM eventually anyway :-? Feeding... basically give them what they can eat in 5 mins. Any more and it will sink to the bottom, get lost and go rotton :-? Once a day should be fine, you can feed them more often, but make sure it's small amounts and they eat it all. The fish really need only a small amount of food to survive, but goldfish can eat plenty in 5 mins, so there is a pretty wide range of acceptable feeding. Just avoid too much. I would leave the pH as it is, it's not critical for most fish, and goldfish can handle a wide range of water conditions. If you try and adjust it you usually end up with the pH fluctuating up and down, thats much worse than a steady reading slightly off centre. Get a power filter of some type and your tank should settle down to where partial water changes and syphoning the dirt out of the gravel is all thats needed. A few snails will be fine if thats what you want. If you want to keep corys I would suggest a heater to stop the water temp going below 20C in the winter. Your goldfish and WCMM will handle water down to about 5C and up to 25C in the summer, but Corys are actually tropical. But they can handle the lower end of the tropical range around 20C, but will get very unhappy (dead) if it goes much below that. Cheers Ian

If the tank is smelling 'off' with 100% water changes each week you may be feeding them too much. Any uneaten food will decay in the tank.. yucky, and toxic to the fish. Maybe cut down on the feeding, small fish will only eat small amounts. I would suggest you get a small internal power filter, or even set up an undergravel filter with an airpump. A bit of decent filtration and water movement will help heaps. With a small tank like that I would give away the goldfish, they may be OK when they are small, but they will get too big for it pretty fast, especially if it's not filtered well. You could stick with the WCMM, a bunch of them will be fine in that size tank, and will probably breed if you look after them well. Cheers Ian

Most likely they are young fish, if the fish are only part grown. compared to their adult size, then it's safe to assume they are young. If it's an adult sized fish.. who knows? Also if it's a new fish it could have been injured during it's many moves before you got it, but has only just succumbed to it's injuries. I lost a new little Bala shark a few months back, it never setted into the tank or started eating. No obvious cause, but it's mate and other tankmates are still happy and healthy. Just one of those things. :-? Some fish live for decades, goldfish and large plecos can live for 20+ years, but others like guppys and WCMM will only live a couple of years. Cheers Ian

Yeah.. to late to fertilise them now... But if you do want to breed them it's a good sign that your female is keen and in good coondition. Pair her up with a male in a suitable sized tank and see what happens. She will probably be ready to lay more eggs in a month or so. Cheers Ian

A saying from the days when I was farming. "If you have livestock.. you are going to have deadstock" Sometimes they die for unknown reasons inspite of our best efforts. Sometime they die of old age. Check your tank conditions and the other fish to make sure its not something wrong there, otherwise not much you can do Cheers Ian

Will be like chickens, they lays eggs whether they get fertilised or not. You have a female that would like to be breeding.. just lacking a mate :-? Cheers Ian

Conch is correct, a lightly stocked tank is MUCH easier to look after. If you miss a water change occasionally, no big deal. If your tank is at the max then you HAVE to keep a good eye on the water quality, there is no margin for error or slack maintainance. You are allways 1 dead fish hidden under a log away from a disaster. Also you need to think ahead a bit.. sure you can work out your stocking rate and go and buy the fish. But in 6 months they might have doubled in length.. and be EIGHT time the weight, and eat 8x the food, produce 8 time the poo. The answer is actually simple though.. when in doubt, get another tank 8) If you are worried you have too many fish for your 100l tank, upgrade it to 200l and keep the same fish. They will thank you for it Cheers Ian

OK.. it's just a way of approximating the actual size of a fish - not just it's length. I used a discus and a kuhli loach for example. Both might be 4 inches long... But they aren't the same size. Kuhli = 4" long x 1/2" tall x 1/2" wide = 1 cubic inch. Discus = 4" long x 4" tall x 1" wide = 16 cubic inch. It's not an exact science, but it does make more sense that you can keep more long slim fish than big fat fish. I guess if you actually weighed the fish and worked out a rule that way it would be better, but who wants the try and do that :roll: I think you are better to just keep a few less fish and not have to worry, or over filter and keep an eye on water tests, they will tell you if you have too many fish. If ammonia or nitrite start to go up then you dont have enough filtration for the fish you have. If nitrates climb too fast, then you have too many fish for the tank. Cheers Ian

Have you dont the maths using the cubic inches? I suspect you will be closer to that guidline. Cheers Ian

Problem with that is it treats a 4" discus the same as a 4" kuhli loach. It also says I can keep a 12" pleco in 12 gallons (50l).. but only 12 x 1" neon tetras. A better idea is to allow 1 gallon of water for 1 CUBIC 1" of fish http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88431 That gives your 12" pleco 12"x2"x2" = 48 gallons (200litres). Much more sensible. Neons might be 1" x.5"x.5" = .25 gallon or 1 fish per litre of tank, again more sensible. Of course this is just a guideline, depends on your filters, water changes and what the particular fish are. But at least it's a starting point. Maybe we need a metric version. Cheers Ian

You could put 4 small ones in initially, but you might have to take 2 of them out later if the others pair up. With a tank that size there isn't enough space for a pair to set up a territory AND the other fish to keep out of their way. Cheers Ian

For a 90cm tank one centre support will be fine. Just clad the back and sides with ply and it wont move. Your Dad will understand using ply for bracing, thats how they keep houses standing up these days Cheers Ian

Sweet, they probably have all the stuff you need in the back shed already :lol:

This thread has a couple of my homebuilt stands and others as well. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/tank-stand-other-than-official-cabinets-vt21305.html Might give you some more ideas. Cheers Ian

The basic 4x2 and plywood stand is plenty strong and easy enough to build 8) As long as you have some basic carpentry skills it should be no problem, although I would do the doors differently unless you have a big table mounted router and the raised panel bits for it. You can build simple doors out of T&G panelling much easier. Yup, about 10 times stronger than it needs to be, but who cares :lol: Cheers Ian

Yup.. big external filters are good, but expensive.. more than a whole 60l tank setup :-? Your filter will be fine, just rinse out in tank water when you do water changes, and dont put too many fish in there. No Problemo 8) Cheers Ian

Black ghost knifes like a planted tank... Oscars like plants to, but mostly to rear up and eat. :-? Cheers Ian

Sounds like a decent sized tank Gives you a lot more options than the smaller tanks. Keyholes are about as peacefull as a cichlid gets Should be fine with your other community fish. BGK will get too big for that tank eventually, and eat the smaller occupants Cheers Ian

It's designed to mix with clear epoxy and be sprayed on spa and swimming pools. Try a specialist paint shop, or automotive paint supplier, they may not stock it, but if 3M have it in NZ they should be able to order it in for you. Those places usually stock 3M tapes, sandpapers and protective gear. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ColorQuartz/HomePage/Products/Crystals/ Cheers Ian

Carbon Filter if you read through the techno-babble :-? Dont know how effective they really are, if your filters are working properly there whould be no Ammonia or Nitrite for them to remove? Cheers Ian

It's not an additive.. it's a thingy. Looks like a little plastic ball, all I can think if is it's a filter substrate thing. Might work, but there is probably cheaper options that work better. Cheers Ian