Ianab

Yeah.. a 300 watt heater is plenty for a 4 ft tank. I doubt mine is on even 50% of the time. My Jager is rated for tanks up to 600l, so in a 200l it's just cruising. Probably the biggest factor is the difference in temp between your room and tank. If the room is kept at 18-20deg, and the tank at 22, the heater will hardly be on. But some mornings my kitchen may be 8C and the heater is running flat out to keep the tank in there at 25. But that 80l tank only had a 50w heater - now it has a more sensible 100w, that should only need to run at 50% - even in the coldest weather. Also the power needed is not directly proportional to the size of the tank, more with the surface area of the glass/water. A large tank has less surface area per litre of water. If you double the dimensions of the tank, you will have squared the surface area (2x2) you will need 4x the power to heat it, but you will have cubed the volume (2x2x2=8x the water). So a 200l tank doesn't need twice the power that a 100l does. Too many variables to calculate exactly :roll: but that gives you some idea. Anyway the tank will use less power than a plasma TV, and the program will be more intelligent. Cheers Ian

A one degree drop at night is nothing to worry about, you may even find a bigger heater does exactly the same thing in this cold weather. It's only 2 or 3 months out of the year that it's problem. A bit of insulation on the back / sides will help too. If you can cut down the heat loss by 30% or so, thats less power needed. If you are still worried put another 100w or so heater in there with your 150. Will give you more total power and a backup in case one fails. Cheers Ian

I have a 300w Jager in my 4ft tank, seems to do the job fine and they are a good quality heater. 2 x 150 will cost a little more, but does give you a backup in case one fails. Cheers Ian

Some guesstimates about running costs... Heater 200watts runs 50% of the time = 2.4kwh / day Lights 40 watts also 50% on (12hrs) = 0.48kwh/day Filter 20 watts running 100% = 0.48kwh/day Total power = 3.36kwh/day Per month =~ 100kwh Power costs about 20cents per kwh = ~$20 per month I wonder if Bluetom did the same maths for his guess? Of course that depends on the season, the 50% heater cycle is probably about right for winter, in the summer it would be much less and might get close to zero if your house is warm. Also the power used doesn't just vanish, it actually warms up your lounge, maybe not enough to notice, but if your lounge is 1/2 a degree warmer in winter it's not a bad thing. Cheers Ian

Sounds similar to my new tank - holds a bit over 200 litres. Bluetoms calcs are correct, but you have to use the inside measurements and subtract something for the rocks, gravel and airspace at the top. Probably weighs ~250-300kgs when full, so unless your floor is really dodgy it's no problem. It's going to use a little more power than a small tank, bigger heater, bigger lights etc, but realistically you are probably talking about a few dollars a month extra. If you can afford the tank, you can afford the power to run it too I think it's a good sensible sized tank, big enough for most types of fish, reasonably priced (when you go bigger you need the thicker glass, much more expensive) and doesn't need a whole room to itself. As you already have a tank set up it makes cycling the new tank much easier, you can run two filters or move media around (and fish) around to get the new tank running. Cheers Ian

26 should be fine for a bristlenose. I keep my tanks around 24-25 the various plecos are happy with that. I think they can handle a pretty wide range, anything 22-28 should be OK. Cheers Ian

Sounds like you were doing everything right... Sometimes fish just die despite us doing everything the best we can. :-? Ian

What was he eating? Most plecos need lots of roughage in their diet and are mostly vegetarian. I think bristlenose need some wood to chew on to to keep their digestion going. If they get the wrong diet they get constipated, bloat up and die Some whole cooked peas with skins taken off can help with the constipation thing.. if you catch it in time. Sorry for your loss though Ian Edit.. I see you have driftwood in your tank, so thats OK

Might take the new ones a few weeks to catch up, but they will eventually clean up that new algae. I have found that that a SMALL pleco (and I assume borneo suckers) will live quite happily on the algae and food scraps in a community tank. I had a 3ft tank under a window sill and it got REALLY green, took a little goldspot pleco about 2 months to get it clean, but it grew an inch doing it :lol: But as they get bigger or you get more there just isn't enough food to keep them going and you need to start supplementing their diet with wafers and veges. My big goldspot will hoover his 4 ft tank clean and still be looking for some discs or a slice of mushroom, usually both :lol: Cheers Ian

By definiation tropical fish are fish from the tropics... Most every permanant bit of fresh water has some sort of fish living it it. The more interesting ones get caught and sold to fish keepers, or bred on fish farms then sold. To research any particular fish you can go to a page like the Wikipedia link above and look up that species. The description will include it's native range. So I can look up my Gibby catfish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygoplichthys_gibbiceps and find that "In the wild these fish are found in shoals in sluggish rivers of the Amazon and Orinoco river systems, they also occupy flooded land during the wet season. " As there are hundreds of common species it's probably best to just pick a few well known species and research where they come from and get a good spread around the world. Cheers Ian

Hard to beat guppies for breeding. Like the folks say, plenty of plants will improve the survival rate. Another thing I have found is to take out the full size adults. The 1/2 grown ones will breed, smaller spawnings, but the smaller adult fish dont seem to eat the fry like the BIG MOMMAS do. One of my tanks got so out of control with guppies I had to put a kribensis in there as birth control Cheers Ian

Initial problem.. the fish were declared as dyed when they were imported. Not easy to tell a dyed fish from a GE coloured fish. But when the fish bred true to the colour, then it became obvious that they weren't dyed and must have been GE. Given the fuss over the GE corn a few years back, MAF isn't going to just let this slide. I would guess they are steralising tanks to prevent any eggs/fry being left behind, and taking normal danios as well incase they are 1/2 GE offspring that still carry the GE genes. While I feel a bit of sympathy for the people innocently caught up in this, the fish ARE illegal, even if you bought them in good faith. Trying to hide them isn't going to do you any favours, MAF in some ways have more powers than the police. If I had any I would be isolating them from my normal fish NOW, then handing them over to avoid further legal troubles. Buying some in good faith, OK they should destroy them and let you off, deliberatly hiding them WILL get you prosecuted for sure. Cheers Ian

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/yasuhikotakia-morleti They do seem to be rather 'boisterous' I think they would be better in an 'active' community tank, maybe with tiger barbs and smaller cichlids, a tough pleco, that sort of thing. Cheers Ian

The total number of bacteria will take a hit in the planned change over, but you should be OK as your existing filter is cycled and the bacteria in the filter will multiply and spread to new substrate. It's not like cycling a tank from scratch. Best to go easy on the feeding for the first week to avoid any serious ammonia spike, but your plan should work OK. Cheers Ian

Yes.. goldfish and koi can survive down to 4C ( ice on top of the pond). Their metabolism slows right down when this happens, but they can handle it for a few months over winter. They wont eat much when they are like this, and tend to stay at the bottom where the warmest water is. My goldfish used to live in in an old ParaPool that would form 1cm of ice, sometimes lasting for several days, but they didn't come to any harm. Cheers Ian

Everything you ever wanted to know about Cory's. You can click on each species to see more pics and info about their preferences. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus.php?genus_id=1 Cheers Ian

Yes.. many corys prefer the cooler end of the tropical range, 25c seems about their max. 20-25c seems about the norm, but some will handle down to 15c. I think they would still like a heated tank in the ChCh winter though Setting the temp to about 22 should be OK for all the fish you have and many other cooler tropical species. Keep an eye on the goldfish though.. as it gets bigger the WCMM will start to look like a tempting snack. I can see a 2nd tank appearing in the near future Cheers Ian

Tanks are put together with silicon, not even ants eat that. But they could be going after algae thats growing around the tank and on the glue where it's hard to clean off. Find where they are coming from, there will be a nest outside or under the house and you will see a trail of ants leading to it. Then you can lay poison baits beside the trail, well away from the tank. Another alternative is 'Ant Sand', get it from a hardware shop or supermarket. It's just diatomacious sand, but the sharp grains of it get stuck in the ants as they walk though it and stab the little blighters to death. Works best if you can sprinkle it on the concrete outside around where they are coming in. Safer if you are worried about putting down poison baits. Cheers Ian

true - dont try and get them really clean, just scrape / rinse out the worst and bung them back in. Cheers Ian

I usually rinse mine out each week when I do water changes. But I just give them a quick rinse in the bucket of old tank water to get rid of the worst of the gunge. That way most of the bacteria survive and you dont kill off the cycle. Cheers Ian

Sounds like you are lucky If the ammonia has dropped to almost zero and the fish are happy then things are going OK. Some nitrite must have been produced, but hopefully it has been converted to nitrAte before it has built up. Just feed the fish lightly and do some water tests occasionally for another week, just to be sure. Cheers Ian

Topping the tank up with fresh water should cause no problems if the filter is properly cycled. Just think of it as a 60% water change with a big delay in the middle. BUT topping up in stages might be wise, could save a lot of water ending up on the floor again if the repair doesn't hold I would top up to just above where it leaked and then wait a couple of days. Cheers Ian

Yes you do need a filter. What the guys are suggesting is that you keep an extra little filter in your main tank, all cycled and ready to go. When they set up their Q tank it's all ready to pop in with the new fish. Otherwise it's frequent water changes to keep the water fresh. I prefer to have the tank set up and fully cycled, but their ideas aren't wrong either. Cheers Ian

I understand your point.. but... A fish tank is an ecosystem, it contains all sorts of life other than the fish you put in there. Have a look at a speck of crud syphoned off the bottom of an established tank under a microscope. It's a whole other ecosystem in a drop of water. Thats the natural state of a fish tank / pond / lake / river. Fish live in that and it's a naturally balancing environment. What you are effectively doing is bringing the new fish home to a partially cycled 'sterile' tank, but still bringing in an establised filter with it's load of organisms from an established tank + whever the new fish is carrying. Isn't it possible that this will stress your new fish even more and make them more prone to some disease? Or some bacteria may flourish in the improperly cycled tank? Where putting them in a properly established tank they may settle faster and not get sick at all. Most of these bacteria / fungus organisms float around in the air / water of the tank anyway, but dont attack healthy fish. I think the whole idea of quarantine is to make sure you dont bring home some strange exotic disease with the new fish, infect your main tank and kill your valuable existing fish? So you pop them in the Q tank for a couple of weeks, if they stay healthy then all is good, move them to the main tank. In the relatively unlikely event that they are carrying something, you can treat them/ send them back/ have a nice funeral without endangering your main tanks. THEN it's wise to NUKE the tank from orbit and set it up again. You are not really trying to quarantine your new fish from whatever is in your established tanks, they will just have to live with that eventually anyway. I just think it's better to get the fish into a properly established tank ASAP, while still maintaining your quarantine to protect your main tanks. Cheers Ian

My thoughts are to keep a couple of crash test dummy fish that you can drop in the Q tank when it's not needed for quarantine. Then you can just keep it set up and cycled like a normal tank. It's only there as a precaution, 9 time out 10 there will be no problem with new fish and the tank can just be left set up with a couple of spare fish in there. When needed they go back in the community tank, the new fish are quarantined, if there is no problem they move on, the crash test fish go back in till next time. If you have something nasty happen you can nuke the Q tank, set it up clean and let the crash test fish cycle it again. It's also there and ready to go as a hospital, breeding or time-out tank if needed. Cheers Ian