Ianab

One of the pages that Pete posted has a list of the conservation status of some the native fish. http://www.nzfreshwater.org/index_aquaria.html If you find any of those species in your back garden then DOC would probably be quite pleased to get a call from you Chances are anything you catch in an urban or farm stream is probably not an endangered species. Cheers Ian

Yes, but that only applies to actual whitebait, you dont want to get busted catching them out of season. I believe inunga and kokopu ( the adults ) are OK to catch any time. Basically... yes 8) Cheers Ian

Plecos do tend to change colour depending on their mood, mine look very faded some days, then back to dark the next. Check that her belly is still well rounded and she is eating. If there are no other signs of illness I wouldn't worry Cheers Ian

As your fish seem pretty happy and settled in their current tank, you dont want to mess with it too much. Sounds like time to get another tank :lol: Thats how it begins... But if you want to get into breeding fish you really need to get another tank set up, breeding in a community tank is usually a problem. Even if you can persuade them to breed, the fry will most likely get eaten. Cheers Ian

Yes, but as long as you dont get carried away with the feeding the loaches and pleco will clean up any leftovers before it rots and pollutes the water. Cheers Ian

I've had it happen occasionally with my guppies too Doesn't allways seem to be age related, but does seem to be more like an injury related to spawning rather than a disease or water problem? They usually die, so concentrate on the little ones that she dropped, you will soon be over-run with replacements Cheers Ian

Couple of thoughts. Make sure the heater is in front of the filter outlet, good water flow around it will mean more heat transfered to the water. Crank the thermostat up one more click. If you had it set for 25 deg, move it up to 26. Wont hurt the fish, and then it will only drop to 22 on the cold nights. Slow daily temp swings dont seem to affect fish, in their natural environment they will get temp changes over night, even in the tropics. I have a 50w heater in a 70l tank, it keeps the temp OK (23-26) here in Stratford, but the filter outlet is pointed right at the heater tube. That does seem to help. Cheers Ian

Also depends on what fish you are keeping... some love a strong current in the tank. Some will live quite happily in whitewater. I recently had problem in my 80l tank where the flow control on a 1200 lph filter didn't work properly and just went full power. The guppies all got dizzy and seasick and started getting sucked into the filter The big Pleco thought it was great, untill he was overrun with half dead guppies :-? A few guppys gave their all in that experiment, but the pleco and the Neons are all fine, and I have now got the flow control back to non-cylonic speeds. Cheers Ian

I would just keep the chunk frozen, pull it out and slice off a thin, still frozen, slice of meat. Let it defrost and give it to the fish. Keep the rest in the freezer. If you have bigger fish then you could chunk it up and freeze it, but small pieces dry out faster in the freezer. A big frozen chunk you could slice off a sliver each day and make it last a month. Cheers Ian

Like Mako says, if turtles start establishing wild populations around the country they may get declared a noxious animal and get banned from import or sale. Same reason we cant keep Koi carp, some idiots kept letting them go. :evil: Now they are the fish that ate the Waikato river! You wont get into trouble for catching one, but you might not want to make a song and dance about it either - and draw more attention. Catching one in a pond is going to be a mission though, The stray we re-captured was in a shallow stream, we could just jump in and just grab it. In a pond they would dive and vanish :-? Cheers Ian

We caught a fair size turtle in the stream through our garden here in Stratford. Not sure how long it had been living there, but it had coloured up to match the sand and mud. Dont know if it would have survived winter, but many of the turtles are not actually tropical and can live through the cooler months. Neighbour took this not so little red-ear down to a local pet shop (that stocks turtles) for re-homing. Regional council and DOC wouldn't be happy with a wild turtle population establishing itself, so you aren't going to get into any trouble capturing one. Cheers Ian

Does it fluctuate with the room temperature? Mine will vary 2 deg between a warm day / cold night. The simple aquarium heaters aren't exactly a precision device, and having the thermostat in the same tube as the heater element must cause some innacuracy. I would also suggest that if it's room temperature variations it's not going to harm the fish, it's almost like the natural cycle they would get in a stream or pond. If you aim for 25deg (or whatever your fish prefer), 24-26 wont hurt. If the temperature variations are random though it could be a sticking thermostat, keep an eye on it and maybe replace it. Cheers Ian

Ive got a few of those in one of my tanks, was in a hurry to set up a tank and just grabbed some gravel from a local stream. Actually up on a gravel bank several feet out of the water. Anyway a few snails appeared later that look just like those. They haven't grown very much, that explains why. They just mooch around the tank acting like snails, they haven't multipied much as the pleco keeps the algae down. I bet there is something in NZ rivers that eat them, ecosystems just work that way. I wonder if the Yanks need a bucket of Koura sent over to take care of them.. but I guess that could the the Cane Toad thing all over again :lol: The Crayfish that ATE the States Ian

My friend has a little common Pleco (was only about 2cm) in her tank. She knew it was still there as we could see it out cleaning the glass from across the room. But it would allways hide when you got close. Eventually discovered where it was hiding... She took out the filter to clean it, and he was sucked onto the back. Didn't notice untill she had walked into the kitchen and the poor little fellow ran out of suck and fell into the sink. Luckily she caught it before it made it to the plug hole and dropped it back into the tank none the worse for it's trip. Cheers Ian

Synodontis are usually considered peacefull... But at a certain stage small fish start looking like food. I dont think any fish under 2-3 cm would be at risk, but smaller fish might be. Cheers Ian

There must be an ongoing source for the ammonia. Still something hidden and decomposing in the tank? Large dead fish and/or old food under a log or something like that. I would suggest they empty the tank, wash out the gravel etc. Keep the cycled filter intact in a bucket of water. Then refill with the now clean gravel, rocks and fresh water. Use the established filter and the cycle to re-establish the tank. Hopefully then the water will be OK for a couple of fish in a few days time and carefully build up the stock again. I'm thinking that in a daycare centre you cant really be sure whats been dropped into the tank. :-? But I suspect something must have been. Cheers Ian

Your pleco looks like a Gibby to me.. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=148 The common 'gold spot' looks like this http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=177 The two species are obviously closely related, you might even say they are just reversed colour schemes. Care and feeding are basically the same for both, although I think the gibby can grow a bit bigger. Cheers Ian

I was assuming he's going to cycle the tank fishlessly... (dump in a bit of ammonia or a frozen prawn)... but I can see how it actually reads now :lol: Ian

It's not an exact time thing, too many variables. Tank size, filter size, water parameters, amount of ammonia added etc. The tank will be ready when it's ready. You have to rely on water tests, after you have seen levels of ammonia and nitrite rise in the tank, and they have dropped back to zero again, then you can assume the filters are working and it's safe to add some fish. Proably take several weeks for this to happen. You can speed it up if you use a filter or media from an established tank though. Same as with cycling with fish. Cheers Ian

Do you mean these? Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=177 They are a natural species, related to the Common Pleco and the Gibby. They are commercially bred in outdoor ponds in Northern Aussie, Florida and Asia so are reasonably cheap readily available. I agree they are great fish, good algae eater, hardy and not very shy. They can also live for 10-20 years. Be aware that they do grow BIG (30cm). I have 2 of them, approx 10 and 15 cm, and a 4ft tank ordered for them to move into :roll: If you want to give them a treat try a chunk of white button mushroom weighed down so it sinks. They will eat other veges too, but mushroom has been the most popular with mine. Cheers Ian

Axolotls wont handle normal tropical temps, they are best around 16-18 deg. They will live OK between 10 - 22 deg though, so can live happily in an unheated indoor tank. I guess you could set your tank temp 20-22 deg, thats near the top for the axolotyl and the lower temp range for some pleco speceies. But it's balancing a pretty fine line and chances are neither species would be very happy. I wouldn't keep them together. Cheers Ian

Warning - link not for spider phobics Collections/InsectsSpidersAndSimilar/Spiders/Spiders_Web/What/'>http://www.tepapapicturelibrary.co.nz/TePapa/English/CollectionsAndResearch/ Collections/InsectsSpidersAndSimilar/Spiders/Spiders_Web/What/ Might help you ID it. The water spiders ( Dolomedes aquaticus ) actually lives under water - but usually in rocky bush streams. I guess it might catch small fish, but I think it's mostly after insects. The Nursery web spider is similar and common in gardens, one might have wandered insde. They are harmless, just catch it in a container and throw it outside again Cheers Ian

How big is your tank? Most of the fish you have live in the middle and top of the tank.. so maybe some bottom living species. One of the smaller plecos (like a bristlenose) would be fine. You will want some bogwood in there for it to hide in and feed on. Added bonus is it will eat any algae growing in the tank. Be aware those little baby common plecos in the fish shops can grow to a foot long fairly quick, so make sure you check what species you are getting. Kuhli loachs - I think they prefer to be in a group of 3 or more but they dont grow too big Corydoras catfish - again get a small group of them. Avoid anyting that has a reputation as a fin nipper.. those guppy tails will just be too tempting :roll: Cheers Ian

6.5 pH might the the 'ideal' reading for discus, but they can handle about 5.5 to 7.5 as long as it's steady and all the other tank parameters are normal. Some bogwood or driftwood (which the plecos will want too) should help keep the pH down in a more natural way. Otherwise a bit of peat in the filter will have the same effect. But like the others said, 7.0 is close enough and well within the discus' range. Cheers Ian

You should be OK with Oscars and a knife fish together. A couple of bigger plecos or other bigger cats/loaches makes for an interesting tank. But dont plan on having real plants in there. You can put 6 small oscars in that tank OK, but you will need to re home some as they grow. If you want to breed the Oscars you probably need a seperate tank just for them though. Be aware that Knife fish do grow BIG too. You know you are going to end up with multiple tanks You can set up a basic 3-4ft tank pretty cheap, simple tank, heater, filter etc. Just gives you the options to seperate fish and breeding pairs. Cheers Ian