Ianab

Excellent, a little piece of river re-created in your tank 8) Ian

Here's a couple of my macro shots, just taken with a Sony H7 with standard lens. A baby weta on my hand. And my pet kitchen spider shot I took a couple of minutes ago. (OK I just haven't swept him away from his spot above the window yet :roll: ) Ian

There are a couple of books available. http://www.reed.co.nz/title.cfm?titleid=778 and http://www.reed.co.nz/products.cfm?view=1295&catID=26 At least with an ISBN number you have chance of getting a shop to order it or a Library to cross-borrow a copy for you. Ian

Cool 8) Have a look at Stella's web page, lots of pics of the native fish there to help with the ID. But I'd guess that if it's a bully and has red fins, it's probably a Redfin Bully http://picasaweb.google.com/nznativefish Ian

I suspect you are right, they probably claim the territory they can defend, under a single rock or log. No more than a square meter anyway. So your pond has plenty of space for 3. From what I observed as a kid hunting them in the small streams on the farm, there would be several living in a small pool, maybe 1m x 1m x 15cm deep. There seemed to be one under each rock. So I guess with a decent size tank you could keep several, as long as they have a bit of space to call their own. Ian

A couple more pics. Busted trying to escape via the airline. With the escape thwarted it returns to the bottom of the tank. It's really getting used to people being about now and will wander around the tank in full view. And make another expedition up the airline. It seems that they are pretty good algae eaters, you can see how far from the airline it can reach to eat the algae. Cheers Ian

Personally I dont use it, but it really depends on your local water supply. I dont think any of the local councils in NZ use Chloramine as a water treatment, and by world standards our water is pretty good to begin with. The local water is generally only chlorinated, so the old school way of spraying it into the bucket with lots of splashing or letting it sit for a while will dissapate plain chlorine. If the original water source is suspect, then chlorine may form low levels of chloramine in the water and you should use water conditioner. Likewise take care in bad weather or any time the council is working on the water system, extra chlorine may be added to make dirty water safe to drink. If it smells funky coming out of the tap, dont use it. I live in Stratford, and although our water technically doesn't make the drinking water grade due to the filters not straining out ALL the floaty bits, the water is generally very clean and I have done 90% water changes without loosing any fish. Water conditioner will never cause any harm, but for most people in NZ it doesn't seem to be vital. Ian

The water changes are the best thing you could have done. I would do another one today and try and get the ammonia level down below 1. Hopefully what you have done is enough to save the rest of your fish. The bacteria in your filter will have taken a hit if the filter has been off 24hours+. It basically needs to re-cycle itself again. So you may need need to do some extra water changes over the next week or so. Like Ryan says, if you can get some filter media from another tank and swap it into the problem tank that will speed up the recovery. I have two filters in a couple of my tanks, very handy in this sort of emergency. They dont have to be flash ones, just a cheapy internal filter can save the day if it's already cycled and ready to go. Ian

Any filter media will help with the Ammonia level, as long as the filter is cycled. That means it's been left in the tank long enough to build up a population of nitrogen cycle bacteria. Thats the best way to handle ammonia in a tank. Nitrate is best controlled by water changes. You can get filter media to absorb nitrate, but it's a one use thing. Much easier and cheaper just to change larger amounts of water. Ian

Yup.. thats the sort of thing you need.

Yeah.. that black ironsand would be a pain if it got into a filter with a magnetic drive (most of them). It's not actaully magnetic, it's just mostly iron and acts like the iron filings in a science experiment. Ian

Yes.. the bristlenose will need a heater for a NZ winter. Just set it at about 21C, then it will only come on when it's needed. The Goldfish will be fine at that water temp, it will just seem like summer all year round. My kitchen temp was 10C when we got up this morning, no worries for a goldfish, but it would have been dead plecos without a heater. Ian

I think thats a video shot in a river in Mexico where plecos are an introduced pest Other than that it's a great video :lol: Ian

The 1" rule is pretty much useless when it come to working out how many fish a tank can actually hold. It doesn't take into account the actual mass of the fish. 10 x 1" neons isn't the same as 1 x 10" oscar. It doesn't take into account what filtration you are using, double up the filtering or get a good cannister filter. It doesn't take into account what water changes you are prepared to do, change 20% per fortnight, or 50% twice a week? Of course there are limits as to how many fish you can keep in a tank, and the closer that you get to that limit the more carefull you have to be. But like Ira said, I've had tanks WAY over the 1" number. I sold some guppies last month, 40 of them, about 1" long. From a 80L tank. And that was only 1/2 of them. There was also a kribensis and a small pleco in there. Now that tank had 2 filters , a bubble wand and got 50% water changes every week, but the fish were fine. Ian

Ahh... OK The 'stuff' you are moving over will be both a source of ammonia and have some bacteria attached, so yes it will work. Just you will end up with a kinda messy new tank. I like to shortcut the cycle with filter or media, instant cycle and just add the first few fish at the same time. Cheers Ian

Used tank water isn't the best way to cycle. It may contain a few cycle bacteria, but 99% of them live on the solid surfaces in the tank. Most of them are in the filter media as that has the high surface area, and the best water flow. If you want to jumpstart the cycle in a new tank, take some media from an established filter and swap it into the new tanks filter. You can also use gravel from an established tank, or even better run a spare filter in an established tank to precycle it for the new tank. Thats what I do, just keep a spare internal filter in another tank, then it's ready to go whenever I want to set up a new tank. But once you have an established tank there is really no reason to have to start from scratch again. You have lots of real live bacteria in your established tank, its just a matter of moving a few to the new tank. Ian

It does, but they wont all instantly die off. Just dont leave it to long before you get some fish in there. 24-48 hours is OK. Ian

I dont think any of those are especially fussy about water quality, and your ammonia and nitrite should stay close to zero anyway. That was the whole idea of the fishless cycle. Your well water should be fine, no need to treat it. No chlorine has been added. A little nitrate is not a problem. Ian

I agree with Naz, stop adding ammonia now. If the ammonia and nitrite drop to zero within a couple of days then you have some level of cycle working. That means it's safe to add a few fish after you do a large partial water change to reduce the nitrate level. You dont really know exactly what level of cycle the tank is at, but you have some, and if you now build up the fish numbers slowly as you normally would, no problemo. Ian

There has been some rain, but the streams here rise and fall very quickly. After 24hours they are back to normal. Ian

One trick is to quietly place a net 6" behind them, then scare them with a stick. They will flick backwards to escape the stick, right into the net if you are lucky. Ian

Try the little side streams, the ones about 6" deep that you can step over. The trout wont be in those tight spaces, but eels, koura and galaxids will be. Ian

I suggest you use plywood. It is a bit more resistant to water spills than MDF. Simplest / strongest design would be to frame up a box with 4x2s and clad the sides, top and back with the best plywood you can get. Glue and screw the play in place. The ply braces the 4x2s so the box cant fold up under the tanks weight. Leave the front open and you can build a face frame around the front and make some simple plywood doors for the cabinet. Ian

Slow - been home alone baby sitting all week :roll: Might get some time to work on it today though 8) The wooden panels about each tank is removable, going to be held in place with magnet catches. It will limit how big a rock you can manouver in, but it still gives good access. Ian

They will be living in muddy streams and even swamps. You just may get a bit dirtier looking for them Maybe a plastic 'baitcatcher' left in the stream overnight with something tasty inside? Ian