Ianab

Yes... they will handle a wide range of temps, but 19 C would be about the lowest. Tropical only in NZ. Cheers Ian

Been a few years since I had golden barbs, but if I remember right, I was able to raise them using liquid fry food and newly hatched brince shrimp untill they were big enough to take fine flake food. Cheers Ian

Copper sulphate (bluestone) can be used VERY dilute to kill algae, but it's also toxic to fish in slightly higher concentrations. Also it will only clear the algae out temporarily, once the copper is removed from the water it will just grow back. If it's a cold water tank, get a magnetic glass cleaner. If it's tropical, get a little bristlenose pleco Mechanical or biological control is much safer Cheers Ian

Depends on the breeding of the goldfish, but they could grow to 6 - 12" eventually. Makes the danios that grow to 2" a better choice for the small tanks Ian

A 90 litre tank is 4 times as good as a 22 litre tank No problem with keeping a dozen or so smallish fish in a tank like that. Also opens up the option of going tropical and keeping a few different fish, smaller loaches and catfish, dwarf gourami etc. Main problem with the small tanks is that the fish can quickly outgrow them. Sure you can put four 1" goldfish in a 22l tank, but not once they grow to 6" fish I wish fish shops would just start recommending decent tanks, it's no more work to look after a basic 2 or 3ft tank than trying to keep fish alive in a little plastic bubble If your fish have lived in the little tank for a year then you must be doing things right. The lower temp will slow their metabolism a bit, meaning they eat less and grow slower anyway. There is also a pretty wide range between what they NEED to survive happily, and what they CAN eat if they get a chance It's probably better to er on the lighter feeding side than to have problems with un-eaten food. Cheers Ian

Are you able to catch rainwater from your roof? A large plastic barrel under the downpipe may be all you need? Cheers Ian

Yup.. I find they will go paler when they are obviously stressed, like being moved to a new tank. But sometimes they change colour for no reason that I can work out. :-? Cheers Ian

Check the amount of water coming out of the filter. It will slow down over time as the media (sponge) gets full of gunk :-? Have you taken the filter apart and cleaned out the sponge? Just gently wash it out in a bucket of tank water you have syphoned out of the tank. You dont want to over clean it and kill the bacteria living in it. Dont let it dry out or clean it with hot water. Cycling is the process of building up those bacteria in the filters after the tank is set up. These bacteria digest the ammonia that the fish excrete into the water. There are several methods, but basically you need to slowly increase the bio-load (amount of fish) to let the good bacteria establish in the filter. Although a tank might hold say 20 fish once it's cycled, if you just dump that amount in, the ammonia will build up faster than the bacteria can multiply and most of the fish will die I'm not familiar with the tank you have.. how big is it? That basically determines how many fish it's safe to keep in it. Cheers Ian

My plecos change shade depending on their mood/ time of day/lights/gravel colour etc. It seems normal. Cheers Ian

Basically feed your fish so that they eat it all within 5 mins. The main danger is missed food getting lost in the tank and polluting the water. This doesn't apply to plecos as their food is usually sunk to the bottom and left overnight. If there is some left in the morning, then cut back the amount. If they ate it all, try another pellet. Also try some fresh veges for the pleco, cucumber, courgette and mushroom for starters. Rubberband a piece to a rock and sink it into the tank, leave it overnight and take out whats left in the morning. This way they can eat as much as they want overnight and no danger of polluting the water. You can alternate pellets and veges for a balanced diet. I feed my fish small amounts and often, usually at least 3 times a day. With the small feeds it's more likely that they clean it all up, rather than dumping in 2 days food all at once. But make sure it's only small amounts each time if you do this. Cheers Ian

Here are a couple of articles on building oversize tanks. They are made of plywood, lined with fibreglass and a large glass or perspex front window inserted. http://members.shaw.ca/wmastop/bigtank/Startb~1.htm http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/tang_1500.html I'm guessing that at a large fish centre they have large amounts of stream water available. It may be simpler to just cycle fresh stream water through the tank, no filtering problems, you are just diverting part of the stream though another pool. Cheers Ian

Any activated carbon will work, it's basically just charcoal thats been heated again. The carbon has minute holes in it that physically absorb the chemicals from the water. This means 2 things, it has to be in the water flow to work as the water has to flow over/through the carbon for it to work. Eventually the carbon will become 'full' and not work anymore, and maybe even release the stuff it's already soaked up. Thats why it needs to be changed from time to time. Keep doing the water changes (every day wont hurt) and let the carbon do it's work. After a week it will be clear again. Cheers Ian

It's a balancing act. If you want to grow plants then you need lots of light... but eventually the plants will absorb a lot of the nutrients out of the water and reduce the amount of algae. If you dont have live plants then you can cut down the amount of light and that will reduce the algae growth. I would be more concerned about why your fish are dieing? If the tank has been set up for 4 months it should have cycled by now, but what water changes are you doing and is your filtering working properly? A lot of algae may be a sign of high nutrients in the water. Algae itself wont normally harm the fish, but it may be a sign that something else is wrong. Otherwise you can use 'biological control' with a bristlenose pleco or some Otto catfish. They will clean 99% of the algae of the glass, but I wouldn't like to add more fish untill you work out why you are loosing so many. Cheers Ian

I have plecos in all my tanks, no plants but very little algae. Dont overfeed them, if they are a little hungry they will be more inclined to hunt for algae. Of course make sure you get one thats sized right for your tank, a sailfin that can grow to 18" may not be the best long term choice for a 2ft tank The Otos or bristlenoses are fine for a smaller tank though Cheers Ian

Yup, raw white buttom mushroom from the supermarket. My goldspots and commons love em Cheers Ian

Boring Sunday afternoon, crap weather, new camera, hungry pleco....What do you get? Cheers Ian

Otos stay pretty small, under 2" I think. Putting 6 or so in a big tank like that would be no problem. When they are in a group like that they tend to be active and play around together, very cute little fish, and they might even eat a bit of algae in their spare time Cheers Ian

It doesn't get rid of ammonia as such, I think it converts it to ammonium (which isn't so toxic) then lets your filter take care of that. http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Prime.html I cant vouch for how well it works, I dont need to use it here, but it has to be better than topping up a tank with 3ppm ammonia Cheers Ian

Sounds like a case where you definately SHOULD use water conditioner - BEFORE the water goes anywhere near the tank Ian

Wind the temp down a bit and put a bunch of White Clouds in there Bit of luck they will even breed, just take out the extra from time to time. Cheers Ian

Just set up a new 4 ft tank, at the moment its only got a 6" pleco and 6 tiger barbs in it. Getting another 8" pleco soon that I'm rehoming for a relative.. and I'm cogitating on what else to add :roll: Some small chiclids, a red tail shark, maybe some loaches... Ian

My goldspot pleco has outgrown my other tanks, so saved up a few pennies and got a bigger one. Still have some work to do, tidy up the stand with a nice wooden surround and build a light hood for it. New Tank Water is a bit cool out of the hose this time of year - think I'll leave it with the heater on untill tomorrow :-? Captured Plecy without too much trouble. He wasn't initially impressed with his new home and sat under the filter giving me the evil eye :evil: He wasn't upset enough to pass up a slice of mushroom overnight, so I dont think the move has upset him too much. Even has some new tankmates to give the middle of the tank a bit more action. They are an active bunch of rouges and they are eating after about 2 hours in the tank 8) All seems to be settling in OK, I am using a big internal Aqua-One filter that I had previously established in another tank for a couple of months so it should be OK building up the fish numbers slowly. Any ideas on what other fish I could get? "Boisterous Community on a Budget" is probably the look I am going for I have a couple more Plecos that will end up in there and some kribensis which I will probably try and breed in one of the smaller tanks. Cheers Ian

Give it a wash / scrub and sink it in a bucket of water for a few days. Then you can check if anything is going to leach from it. It will proably be fine, but if its going to foul up the water it's better to find out in the bucket first. Cheers Ian

Survival of the fittest.. yup.. the Pleco Ian

Yes, that extra dose of chlorine can happen if there are problems with the treatment plant. If for some reason the filters are out of action they can step up the chlorine dose to at least sterilise the crud going to the taps. It smells and tastes horrible, but wont kill humans (which is the main concern). It can kill fish though. Be very carefull with your tap water during bad weather, power outages or any time the local council advises that there are water problems. I fill from a bucket and have a look / sniff of the water as I fill it. If it had a chlorine smell - no water change today. Cheers Ian